Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Actuator System For Use In Control OF A Sheet Or Web
Forming Process
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems for controlling the
cross-directional profile of sheet and web materials and
more particularly to a cross-directional profile system
that uses actuators and in which the power and/or
communication to the, actuators may be wireless or
contactless and/or on the same cable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that on-line measurements can be
made to detect properties of sheet and web materials
during manufacture thereof. For ease of description the
term "sheet" is used herein including in the claims to
refer to either a sheet or a web. Generally speaking,
on-line measurements are made to enable prompt control of
sheet and web making processes and, thus, to enhance
sheet quality while reducing the quantity of substandard
sheet material which is produced before undesirable
process conditions are corrected. In the papermaking
industry, for example, on-line sensors can detect
variables such as basis weight, moisture content,
caliper, coating weight, finish, color, and converting of
paper sheets during manufacture.
To detect cross-directional variations in sheet
materials, it is well known to use scanning sensors that
travel back and forth across the sheet in the cross
direction while detecting values of a sheet property
along each scan. The term "cross direction" (or "CD")
refers to the direction across the surface of the sheet
perpendicular to the machine direction, that is, the
direction of travel of the sheet material.
Measurement information provided by the scanning
sensors is assembled for each scan to provide a "profile"
of the detected property of the sheet in the cross
direction. Each profile thus comprises a succession of
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sheet measurements at adjacent locations or slices, the
profile extending generally in the cross direction. From
such profiles, cross directional variations in sheet
properties can be detected. Based upon the detected cross
directional variations, appropriate control adjustments
can be made to the sheet making machine. Such adjustments
are made by pluralities of cross directional actuators,
such as motor driven slice lip profile control actuators
located at the discharge of the headbox of a paper
machine; inductive heaters for controlling the diameters
of calender and/or other paper machine rollers along the
length thereof; and coating blade actuators for
controlling the CD weight profiles of coatings applied to
one or both surfaces of the paper. Pluralities of cross
directional actuators are also used in other industrial
sheet forming processes such as plastic extrusion, metal
rolling, etc.
As can appreciated in all of these sheet forming
processes the actuators are used to adjust, flatten and
shape the cross direction properties, such as density,
moisture content, thickness, and optical properties, of
the sheets that are being manufactured. In many cases
these cross direction actuators will number from 20 to
over 200 at one location on the sheet forming machine.
There may be several actuator systems at various
locations along the sheet formation process.
Most of these industrial sheet forming processes
operate under severe environments that require actuator
designs to be waterproof, corrosion resistant, vibration
resistant, high temperature resistant, extremely
reliable, as small as possible, and very easy to maintain
and service. A critical and expensive portion of any
actuator system is the power and communication
distribution cables and connectors for the 20 to 200
actuator zones in a typical system extending across the
sheet forming machine. Presently only special cables and
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sealed, industrially hardened, pinned connectors can be
used to meet this requirement. Two examples of actuator
systems that use power and communication distribution
cables and connectors for the actuator zones are shown in
U.S. Patent Nos. 5,771,174 and 5,381,341.
Thus in order to substantially increase the
reliability and serviceability of an actuator system it
is desirable to either reduce the number of or eliminate
the actuator system cables and connectors. Further
reducing the number of or eliminating the actuator system
cables and connectors will greatly reduce the cost of the
system and the cost and time for system installation.
There is described in C. Apneseth et al, "Wireless -
Introducing wireless proximity switches", ABB Review
2/2002, pp. 42-49, a wireless proximity switch for use in
a cell on an engine assembly line. As is shown in the
figure on page 44, there is installed around the cell
four primary loops that are fed by two power supplies
that set up an alternating current in the loops to
thereby produce a magnetic field throughout the cell.
Inside the cell is a robot with several wireless
proximity switches clustered at the robot gripper. The
switches each have small coils that pick up the energy
from the magnetic field and convert it to electric power.
The switches each also have small radio transceivers and
low power electronics that handle the wireless
communication link between the switches and an input
module outside of the cell. The switches communicate
with the input module by way of antennas mounted in the
cell.
Summary of the Invention
A sheet forming system that comprises:
one or more quality control systems for use in
forming the sheet;
at least one actuator driven device having a
plurality of actuators each associated with formation of
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the sheet;
a module for providing power to the plurality of
actuators without having a cable connected between the
power providing module and the plurality of actuators;
and
a drive signal module connected to at least one of
the one or more quality control systems for providing bi-
directional communications between the at least one
quality control system and each of the plurality of
actuators.
A sheet forming system that comprises:
a quality control part that has:
one or more quality control systems for use in
forming the sheet;
a modulator/demodulator associated with at least one
of the one or more quality control systems;
an actuator driven part that has:
at least one actuator driven device having a
plurality of actuators each associated with formation of
the sheet, each of the actuators comprising a
modulator/demodulator;
a cable for providing an electric power signal from
the quality control part to the actuator driven part, the
cable connected to the modulator/demodulator associated
with the at least one of the one or more quality control
systems for modulating the electric power signal to carry
communication signals from the quality control part for
the actuator driven part; and
each of the plurality of actuators further
comprising means for receiving the modulated electric
power signals from the quality control part 'without
having the cable physically connected to each of the
plurality of actuators, the modulator/demodulator
associated with each of the plurality of actuators for
demodulating the communications signals.
A sheet forming system that comprises:
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a quality control part that has:
one or more quality control systems for use in
forming the sheet;
a power and communications module including a
modulator/demodulator associated with at least one of the
one or more quality control systems;
an actuator driven part that has:
at least one actuator driven device having a
plurality of actuators each associated with formation of
the sheet, each of the actuators comprising a
modulator/demodulator.; and
a cable for providing an electric power signal from
the quality control part to the actuator driven part, the
cable connected to the modulator/demodulator associated
with the at least one of the one or more quality control
systems for modulating the electric power signal to carry
communication signals from the quality control part for
the actuator driven part and to each of the actuator
modulator/demodulators.
A sheet forming system that comprises:
one or more quality control systems for use in
forming the sheet;
at least one actuator driven device having a
plurality of actuators each associated with formation of
the sheet;
a module for providing power to the plurality of
actuators;
a cable physically connecting the power providing
module to each of the plurality of actuators; and
a drive signal module connected to at least one of the
one or more quality control systems for providing bi-
directional wireless communications between the at least
one quality control system and each of the plurality of
actuators.
Description of the Drawing
Fig. 1 shows a typical sheet forming machine such as
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a papermaking machine and various actuator driven
profilers that may be used on the machine.
Fig. 2 shows in block diagram form one or more
quality control systems connected to a machine for making
a sheet such as paper, one or more scanners and various
special function machines associated with the making of
the sheet.
Figs. 3 shows an embodiment for the present invention
in which there are a wireless connection of power and two
way communications between a quality control system and
one or more actuator driven devices and Fig. 3a shows an
embodiment in which the connection of power is
contactless.
Fig. 4 shows an embodiment for the present invention
where power is supplied to the actuators and bi-
directional communication between the control quality
systems and the actuators are both accomplished in a
contactless manner over a power cable.
Fig. 5 shows an embodiment for the present invention
where a single cable is connected to the actuators to
provide both electric power and bi-directional
communication between the control quality systems and the
actuators.
Fig. 6 shows an embodiment for the present invention
where electric power is provided to all of the actuators
over a cable and bi-directional communication between the
control quality systems and the actuators is provided by
the wireless antenna system of Fig. 3.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment(s)
Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown a typical
papermaking machine 10 and various actuator driven
profilers 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26 that may be
use on machine 10. More specifically, machine 10 as is
well known to those of ordinary skill in the art will
include an actuator driven dilution profiler 12 and an
actuator driven slice profiler 14 associated with headbox
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10a. The headbox 10a feeds a pulp suspension onto the
initial part of a lower wire (not shown in Fig. 1) . The
actuator driven profilers 12 and 14 and others of the
actuator driven profilers described herein are used to
control the transverse profile of the suspension.
Papermaking machine 10 also includes a Fourdrinier
table 10b and a press section 10c that may include one or
more actuator driven steam profilers such as profiler 16
of Fig. 1. The moisture profile in the cross-machine
direction (CD) is one of many important qualities of
paper products. It is not only important that the
overall moisture level be controlled, but also that the
moisture distribution throughout the sheet be controlled
both in the direction that the sheet is moving known as
the machine direction (MD) and in the CD. Variation in
moisture content of the sheet will often affect paper
quality as much or even more than the absolute moisture
content.
Steam ,showers profilers such as profiler 16 are
conventional profiling systems that work by selectively
delivering steam onto the paper web during production.
Profiling steam showers deliver a variable distribution
of steam in zones across the paper web. The amount of
steam passing through each zone of a steam shower is
adjusted through an actuator located in that zone.
Steam showers are widely used on the Fourdrinier
table 10b to help drainage and increase production. In
the press section 10c, steam is added before the press
nips to increase the temperature of the web. The added
temperature makes the water removal by pressing much more
effective as the added moisture removal is much greater
than the added moisture due to steam condensation.
Further downstream machine 10 may also include an
actuator driven air water profiler 18, a calender profiler
20, a coat weight profiler 22, a finishing profiler 24 and
an induction profiler 26. Profiling steam showers, such
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as calender profiler 20, are also used in the calendering
process to improve gloss and smoothness of the paper
products. Moisture spray systems, such as air water
profiler 18, are also conventional profiling systems
normally used in the evaporating sections of papermaking
machines. The water spray systems are designed to apply
a profile of moisture spray in the cross-machine
direction to counter an undesirable moisture profile in
the paper web. These systems consist of a series of
flow-controlling actuators capable of independently
adjusting the amount of spray in discrete adjacent zones
in the CD. The induction profiler 26 is used for heating
the paper roll to provide caliper and gloss control.
While Fig. 1 shows a papermaking machine 10 with
various actuator driven profilers 12 to 26 it is well
known to those of ordinary skill in the art that some of
those actuator driven profilers may be used on special
functions machines other than machine 10, such as a blade
coater or a supercalender or a slitter winder, that are
also associated with papermaking. This use is shown in
block diagram form in Fig. 2.
As is shown in Fig. 2 one or more quality control
systems (QCS) 30a and 30b are connected by suitable means
32 which may be a physical cable or a wireless connection
as described below to a paper machine 34, a blade coater
36, a supercalender 38, one or more scanners 40a and 40b
and a converter 42. Paper machine 34 may have edge
control actuators and various actuator driven profilers
such as the slice profiler, dilution profiler, steam
profiler, air water profiler, coat weight profiler and
induction profiler shown in Fig. 1. Blade coater 36 has
an actuator driven coat weight profiler, supercalender 38
has actuator driven steam and induction profilers, and
converter 42 has an actuator driven slitter winder.
In accordance with the various embodiments of the
present invention described below the actuators of each of
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the one or more actuator driven profilers in papermaking
machine 10 or the various actuators described in
connection with the machines shown in block diagram form
in Fig. 2 receive power and engage in bi-directional
communications with the QCS system such as systems 30a and
30b of Fig. 2 as follows:
a. instead of a cable physically connected to the
actuators to transmit power to the actuators and
a cable physically connected to the actuators
for bi-directional communication between the
actuators and with the one or more QCSs 30a,
30b this embodiment uses as, is described
below, a technique hereinafter referred to as
"wireless" to transmit power to the actuators
and to provide bidirectional communications
between the actuators and with the one or more
QCSs - alternatively this embodiment may use a
closed magnetic path, hereinafter referred to
as "contactless" to transmit power to each of
the actuators - a subset of this embodiment is
a cable physically connected between the one or
more QCSs and the actuators for bi-directional
communications between the actuators and
wireless or contactless power;
b. contactless power and communication on a power
cable;
c. a cable physically connected from the power
source to the actuators to provide power to the
actuators and bi-directional communication
between the one or more QCSs and the actuators
using the power cable;
d. power provided to the actuators through a power
cable physically connected to each of the
actuators and wireless communication.
Referring now to Fig. 3 there is shown in simplified
block diagram form the embodiment where no cables are
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physically connected to the actuators are used to transmit
power to the actuators and no cables are physically
connected to the actuators are used for bi-directional
communication between the actuators and one or more QCSs.
The embodiment shown in Fig. 3 uses a technique referred
to as "wireless" for both the transmission of power and
the bi-directional communications and thus the embodiment
as a whole is said to be wireless.
Bi-directional communication with one or more QCSs
10 such as QCS 30a and/or QCS 30b of Fig. 2 takes place
through a primary signal antenna 44 which is in close
proximity to the array 46 of actuators 46a, 46b, 46c ... 46n
and by an antenna (not shown in Fig. 3) which is located
in each of the actuators. The primary signal antenna 44
interfaces with the one or more QCSs through a signal
drive antenna module 48. Power is transmitted to each of
the actuators 46a to 46n from power drive module 49 by a
transformer arrangement where the secondary side of the
transformer is embedded in each actuator 46a to 46n and
the primary side 47 of the transformer is located outside
of the actuator.
Alternatively as is shown in Fig. 3a, a closed
magnetic path may be used to transmit power to each of the
actuators by using small ring types cores 45 that consist
of two half circle parts 45a and 45b. One of the half
circle parts carries the secondary winding 45c and the
half circle parts can be clipped together around the
primary coil wire 45d. The arrangement shown in Fig. 3a
uses a technique referred to as "contactless" for the
transmission of power.
Therefore the embodiment shown in Fig. 3 is wireless
as to both transmission of power and bi-directional
communications and the embodiment of Fig. 3a is wireless
as to bi-directional communications and contactless as to
the transmission of power as in both embodiments power
supplied to and bi-directional communication with each of
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the actuators 46a to 46n does not require the physical
connection of a communication cable and a power cable to
each of the actuators as in the systems of the prior art.
A subset of the embodiment shown in Fig. 3 is where
the power is supplied to each of the actuators in the
wireless or contactless manner shown in Figs. 3 and 3a and
the bi-directional communications between the one or more
QCSs and the actuators is accomplished through a cable
that is connected to each actuator as is shown in the
aforementioned U.S. Patent Nos. 5,771,174 and 5, 381, 341.
Referring now to Fig. 4 there is shown in simplified
form an embodiment for the present invention wherein power
is supplied to all of the actuators and bi-directional
communication between the one or more QCSs and all of the
actuators are both accomplished in a contactless manner
over a power cable. The simplified diagram of Fig. 4
shows a single actuator such as for example actuator 46a
of Fig. 3 which has included therein a part of a magnetic
core 50 that may be made from ferrite or a similar
material with a wire 52 wound on the core. The actuator
also includes a modulator/demodulator 54.
External to and not connected to the actuators is a
power and communication cable 56. At that end of the
system not shown in Fig. 4 where the one or more QCSs are
located and the system for providing power to all of the
actuators is also located a modulator/demodulator (not
shown in Fig. 4) that modulates the AC signal on the power
and communication cable 56 to provide communication to all
of the actuators and demodulates the communication signals
modulated on the AC power signal at the actuators to
receive communications from the actuators.
As is shown in Fig. 4, the communication and power
cable 56 includes adjacent to each actuator a magnetic
core 58 that may be made from ferrite or a similar
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material which core in combination with the magnetic core
50 embedded in each actuator forms a transformer that
allows the modulated AC power signal on cable 56 to be
received and demodulated by each actuator. Thus the
embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is also contactless as power
supplied to and bi-directional communication with each of
the actuators such as actuators 46a to 46n of Fig. 3 does
not require the physical connection of a communication
cable and a power cable to each of the actuators as in the
systems of the prior art.
Referring now to Fig. 5, there is shown in simplified
form an embodiment 60 for the present invention wherein a
cable 62 is physically connected from the source of power
to each of the actuators 64a, 64b, 64c in a manner well
known in the art to provide power to all of the actuators
and the bi-directional communications between the
actuators and the one or more QCSs also occurs using cable
62. Each actuator 64a, 64b, 64c includes an associated
embedded modulator/demodulator 66a, 66b, 66c for bi-
directional communications over cable 62 with the one or
more QCSs.
Upstream from the actuators 64a, 64b and 64c is a
power and communications module 68 that includes a
modulator/demodulator (not shown in Fig. 5) that allows
power to be transmitted over cable 62 to each of the
actuators and the cable to also carry the bi-directional
communications between the actuators and the one or more
QCSs.
Referring now to Fig. 6, there is shown in simplified
form an embodiment 70 for the present invention wherein
power is provided to each of actuators 72a, 72b ... 72n over
a cable 74 that is physically connected by associated
connector 76a, 76b ... 76n to each of an associated one of
the actuators in a manner well known in the art. A power
drive module 78 provides the power to cable 72.
Bi-directional communication between each of the
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actuators 72a, 72b ... 72n and the one or more QCSs is
provided wirelessly by the antenna system described above
for the embodiment shown in Fig. 3. As previously
described a signal drive antenna module 80 is connected
between the one or more QCSs and the communication antenna
82. Antenna 82 is in close proximity to each of the
actuators 72a, 72b ... 72n and each of the actuators include
an antenna.
While the present invention is described herein in
connection with a paper making machine it should be
appreciated that the present invention in all of the
embodiments described herein can be used with any process
that uses actuators in connection with a moving sheet or
web. Examples of such processes are the forming of
textiles and machines that printing on sheets or webs.
It is to be understood that the description of the
preferred embodiment(s) is (are) intended to be only
illustrative, rather than exhaustive, of the present
invention. Those of ordinary skill will be able to make
certain additions, deletions, and/or modifications to the
embodiment(s) of the disclosed subject matter without
departing from the spirit of the invention or its scope,
as defined by the appended claims.
