How Mechatronic Engineering Led to 'Intelligent' Paper Roll Clamps, 1993 Finishing and Converting Conference Proceedings

New trends in handling large and costly paper rolls have forced new requirements upon the design and manufacture of lift-truck attachments for the paper industry.

The search for higher productivity and greater cost-effectiveness, the increasing speed of web-fed printing presses, and the need to reduce paper-handling damage are critical industry concerns. Just how these concerns are transposed into new paper-handling hardware is the challenge facing attachment manufacturers; Auramo Oy, Finland is one of them.

The basic design of hydraulic paper roll clamps has changed little over the past 20 years, which raises two questions: 1) Are these well-proven paper-handling products still economically and technically justified; and, 2) Has the time come to take a giant "technological step" forward.

If the problem is tackled through state-of-the-art developments in hydraulics and electronics, the answers are obvious. Not only does modern electronics provide new and better methods of enhancing the performance of mechanical equipment, it also presents solutions to problems that have been considered unsolvable.

The name given to these integrated developments in many industries, and now, in the lift-truck-attachment industry as well, is "mechatronic engineering." The name given to a new generation of computer-enhanced, paper roll clamps is the Auramo "intelligent" clamps.