Web guide control refers to the technical operation for the coil materials and must always keep the edge of the coils neat and consistent during the spraying, printing, punching, laminating, slitting or other coil winding processes. Once the edges of the coils are not aligned, it will cause errors in subsequent steps, resulting in material waste. Therefore, when processing coils, it is necessary to do the correct deviations in time for the offset coils. The whole process is called web guiding. The equipment, which is used for the whole process, constitutes a set of web guide system. A typical system includes a controller, a sensor, a guide mechanism and a driver.

The importance of the web guiding system

The flexo printing machine often adopts an automatic web guide system to ensure the stable horizontal position of the printing material before entering the printing unit. It can detect the deviation of a certain horizontal edge position of the printing material and correct it in time, with an accuracy of ±0.5 mm. Generally, for opaque materials, such as paper and aluminum foil, photoelectric sensors are often used, for transparent materials, such as films, ultrasonic sensors are used. Once the printing material enters the printing area and die-cutting rewinding area, the stability of its horizontal edge position is guaranteed by the installation accuracy of the own processing machine and the parallelism between the rollers.

The working principle of the web guiding system

The web guide control system is a closed-loop controller. First, the sensor detects the edge or line of the coil, and the system automatically reads the deviation of the actual position and setting position of the coil and convert the offset into an electrical signal. The send the signal to the controller. After that the signal is calibrated by the controller, it is outputted to the linear driver. The linear driver drives the deviation correction according to the magnitude of the signal. Then the guide mechanism adjust the coil to the set position. The drive signal of the current drive is only proportional to the deviation of the coil, which makes it possible to provide precise control for various coils.

Applications of the web guiding system

The web guide system covers a wide range of applications and is essential in various industries such as packaging, printing, labels, building materials, paper pulp, non-woven fabrics, and corrugated paper processing.

For more professional knowledge, please visit the article page of web edge guiding system.