A UK patent has been granted for tension control equipment developed during one of the first Faraday Packaging Partnership projects. Faraday partners Tim Clarke and Graham Long, of York Electronics Centre, University of York, are named as inventors for the novel web monitoring apparatus.
In 1997, one of the first projects supported by the FPP, funded by EPSRC (the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), aimed to investigate the use of an optical system to measure variations in the lateral tension profile of web material. The Vision System uses a non contact method in which a cross-mounted air nozzle displaces the material as it passes over. A thin strip of light is projected obliquely onto the opposite side of the material, perpendicular to the rolling direction.
When viewed, the line image on the web is distorted proportionately with web displacement. A camera system automatically monitors the line distortion and passes precise details to a computer for analysis. This enables the web profile to be adjusted as soon as any inconsistency is detected.
Project partners Alcan and Kodak proved the accuracy and robustness of the system on pilot installations at their Glasgow and Harrow plants.
EPSRC is continuing to support this research with further funds to demonstrate commercial use of the system. Faraday Packaging Partnership is seeking companies interested in taking up the opportunity to test the equipment.
Faraday Packaging Partnership, established in 1997, is an R&D network led by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. It offers a resource to generate new thinking for the design, manufacture and supply of packaging for fast moving consumer goods.
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