Sheet Formation Control and Cost Savings Using Agile Controls, PaperCon 2014

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Whereas it seems obvious that the delivery of a sheet with a defined fiber distribution and uniformity entering the press section, is the purpose of the forming section, in reality, sheet formation is an output variable. The input variables, and therefore the controllable portion of the formation equation, are the statics and dynamics of the two fluids, air and water, that will ultimately result in the quality of the sheet and the cost to produce it. This paper looks at Cristini’s methodology to control the movement of the air and water in such a manner as to determine experimentally, the rate of water movement at various points of the table, and to minimize the costs of driving the forming fabric and delivering differential air pressure to the vacuum elements in the forming section.