How To Guide: Add Operational Agility To Your Converting Line Using Simulation
Every converter knows the golden rule of web handling: fix your tension, or else! Defects, wrinkles, and roll scrap appear long before the root cause is obvious. Add in today’s realities of new substrates, faster changeovers, and supply chain variability, the traditional “set and test” approach just can’t keep up.
Simulation offers a smarter path. By creating a digital model of rollers, drives, and control loops, teams can match machine performance and find a reliable path forward cutting down physical testing. As companies introduce these virtual tools the payoff is clear: greater agility to handle material or product changes without risking productivity.
Why MapleSim for R2R
Not all simulation is equal. Finite element analysis (FEA) software focuses on the material structure; and at the plant level, material flow models based on discrete-event simulation (DES) help plan sequencing and resource management. But only system-level, physics-based modeling can reliably capture the dynamic interplay of web, rollers, drives, and controls – that all influence tension. The web handling modeling tools inside MapleSim software can arrange rollers, spans, dancers, load-cells, and nip stations into a digital model of your equipment, then excite them using driven rollers, real speed ramps and load cases. Engineers can then evaluate setpoints, verify controller gains, and see how inertia, wrap angle, and roller layout affect tension - without having to test on a production machine.
The web handling modeling tools inside MapleSim software can arrange rollers, spans, dancers, load-cells, and nip stations into a digital model of your equipment, then excite them using driven rollers, real speed ramps and load cases. Image courtesy of Maplesoft.
What Insights can Simulation Provide for Roll-to-Roll Systems?
Speaking the Language of Tension Zones
Converters often apply closed loop control, and build in dancers and load-cell feedback. However, the web tension is also affected by downstream and upstream zones, and can also fluctuate during unwinding. In MapleSim, you can visualize the tension in each span, and learn the drive, brake, and PID definitions that minimize disturbances from splice events, accumulator motion, or stop-starts.
Faster Decisions, Less Scrap
Variant studies can run “what-if” scenarios safely: switch from one to two driven rollers in lamination, change modulus or thickness, alter wrap angles, or retime speed ramps. You’ll see where traction margins disappear, which profiles create slack/over-tension, and how accumulator duty cycles couple into tension spikes. The outcome: fewer trials, shorter changeovers, and stable quality at higher speeds.
How to Get Started with Simulation
The key to adopting simulation efficiently is to start small, scale fast.
Pick one zone in your converting operation, then introduce MapleSim to model the elements, and apply the known line values. You could choose to simulate roller inertia and wrap; compare dancer or load-cell feedback; or tune your PID to reject your worst disturbance. Validate against a single data set, then expand to adjacent zones and build up to the most critical processes.
For complex lines or where a new process is being developed, Maplesoft offers engineering simulation experts to work with your team to get settled with using the models effectively.
The end result is improved reliability and the ability to quickly respond to change in materials and your customer specifications. That’s operational agility — delivered.
More information on MapleSim simulation:
https://www.maplesoft.com/rolltoroll
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Application Example: Tension Variations During Buffering
A large international manufacturer of printing machines experienced high tension fluctuations within a buffer system that used a reciprocating high-speed cart. The resulting acceleration and deceleration of the rollers had a great effect on the web tension. Working with Maplesoft, their engineering team first gathered data from an existing machine, and used the MapleSim software to create an initial model of the system. They found that the yielded tension results in the simulation exactly matched their expectations. They used the model to find ways to reduce the tension variations, and the company has now included MapleSim simulations in all new machine developments.
