Control Systems in Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Processes

Roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing enables continuous processing of flexible substrates for applications ranging from printed electronics and solar cells to functional coatings and battery diaphragms. Central to this technology is precise management of web tension, speed and alignment to ensure uniform layer thickness, accurate registration and minimal defects. Control systems in R2R processes must accommodate time-varying parameters such as changing roll radius and inertia, external disturbances from slippage or thermal deformation, and strong mechanical coupling between driven rollers. Modern approaches integrate feedback loops with advanced controllers—proportional-integral (PI), fuzzy logic and decoupling schemes—to maintain a stable web span. More recent developments employ disturbance observers, active disturbance rejection control and Kalman filters to enhance robustness against model uncertainty and environmental fluctuations. Thermal effects within drying units and dryer-induced strain deviations are addressed through computational fluid dynamics and structural optimisation, reducing web unevenness and wrinkle formation. Collectively, these advances underpin high-volume, high-yield R2R production across diverse sectors and drive ongoing research into adaptive, sensorless and decentralised control architectures that can respond in real time to multimodal disturbances and complex process interactions.

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Technical terms

Web tension: The longitudinal force applied to a flexible substrate as it travels through rollers, crucial for uniform coating and minimal defects.

Dancer roll: A movable roller used in a web span to absorb tension fluctuations and provide feedback for tension control.

Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC): A control methodology that estimates and compensates external disturbances and model uncertainties in real time.

Disturbance Observer (DOB): A technique that reconstructs the effect of unknown disturbances on a system to enhance robustness of feedback control.

Decoupling control: A strategy that separates multi-variable interactions in complex systems, allowing independent control of each variable with reduced cross-coupling effects.

References

1. A Decoupling Control Algorithm for Unwinding Tension System Based on Active Disturbance Rejection Control. Mathematical Problems in Engineering (2013).
2. Web Unevenness Due to Thermal Deformation in the Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Process. Applied Sciences (2020).
3. Strain Optimization of Tensioned Web through Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Roll-to-Roll Drying Process. Polymers (2022).
4. An ADRC Parameters Self-Tuning Controller Based on RBF Neural Network for Multi-Color Register System. Machines (2023).
5. Kalman-Filter-Based Tension Control Design for Industrial Roll-to-Roll System. Algorithms (2019).
6. Decentralized Controller Robustness Improvement Using Longitudinal Overlapping Decomposition - Application to Web Winding System. Elektronika ir Elektrotechnika (2018).