Delivering a New Generation of Cross-Machine Direction Control Applications With Evolving Technology, 2002 Technology Summit Proceedings

P. Tran, T. Mast, & S. C. Chen

With the dramatic advances in the computing and networking technology over the past decade, the process control technology applied in the paper industry faces an enormous pressure to adapt to the new technology and maximize the value of the existing investment in control applications. This paper focuses on how to deliver a successful application with state-of-the-art technology to one of the most sophisticated control applications in the paper industry: cross-machine direction (CD) control. The paper explores the implementation of a new generation of CD control applications that utilize low-cost off-the-shelf computing power, widely used Ethernet TCP/IP networking, OLE for Process Control (OPC) data access interfaces, and ActiveX human system interface (HSI). This implementation allows papermakers a seamless integration of process control systems in the evolving infrastructure, protects the value of their capital investments, and gives them a smooth path to utilize new technology.