Wrinkles
Wrinkles are one of the big problems in our web-handling lives.
The different types of wrinkles are described in TopWeb. In this example we show how TopWeb helps you solve the issues of Type 1 wrinkles, ones that go harmlessly over your rollers.
In this example we have an ordinary PET web producing wrinkles between two rollers that are separated by a span of 1m.
The root cause of these wrinkles is that fact that there is a Misalignment of 1000µm, i.e. 1mm, between the ends of the rollers. That's an error of 0.1%. The program helps you diagnose the problem because the angle and wavelength of the wrinkles are calculated for you. Note, too, that TopWeb predicts that with this amount of misalignment you will have a slack edge.
The root-cause cure is to align your rollers properly. But in the short-term what can you do? It's easy to play with the various sliders and discover their effects on the wrinkles. If, for example, you really must get rid of the slack edge, you find that you need to increase the tension to 220N/m:
As you'd expect, this also decreases the angle and wavelength of the wrinkles.
Note all the other information available to you to help sort out problems of slip, roller taper, thermal expansion etc. If at any time you want to know how these things are calculated, pressing the Fx button reveals, for example:
