Multi-segment Filter Rod Cutting Control via Virtual Electronic Shaft
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern cigarette manufacturing machines with separate servomotors for each unit face challenges in controlling the cutting point of multi-segment filter rods to maintain consistent length within tolerance, as existing solutions are not applicable to these advanced systems.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing separate servomotors for the feeding unit, cutting head, and format tape, connected by a common virtual electronic shaft, where the control system calculates and adjusts the cutting moment based on sensor feedback to ensure consistent filter rod length, dynamically correcting the cutting point to maintain tolerance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate servomotors are used for feeding unit, cutting head, and format tape, then machine adaptability and control flexibility are improved, but cutting point consistency and manufacturing precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback control system where the position of segments and rods is continuously recorded by a stroboscope and display unit, sent to a computer, and compared with reference images. Based on this feedback, the cutting head position is dynamically shifted to maintain consistent cutting points despite variations in segment positioning, thereby resolving the contradiction between machine flexibility and cutting precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical coupling systems with separate electronic control of servomotors. Each servomotor is independently controlled through a virtual electronic shaft, allowing digital coordination rather than mechanical linkage. This substitution enables adaptive control algorithms to maintain cutting precision while preserving the flexibility of separate drive systems.
2Manufacturing precision
If mechanical linkage with differential gear is used, then cutting moment control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates complex mechanical differential gears and linkages by replacing them with electronic control systems. Separate servomotors controlling the feeding unit and cutting head are coordinated through a virtual electronic shaft and control algorithms, achieving the same cutting moment control function with significantly reduced mechanical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtual electronic shaft as an intermediary between separate servomotors. This software-based mediator coordinates the timing and position of different machine components without requiring physical mechanical linkages, thereby simplifying the power transmission system while maintaining precise cutting control.
3Manufacturing precision
If image comparison with reference is used, then cutting position accuracy is improved, but measurement and detection difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates optical copies (images) of the segments and rods using a stroboscope, displays them for recording, and compares these copies with reference images stored in computer memory. This copying approach simplifies measurement by working with visual representations rather than direct physical measurements, thereby improving cutting position accuracy while reducing measurement complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
After the start of manufacturing, the control system provisionally calculates a cutting moment necessary to obtain a proper length of the filter rod and compares it with the basic static relationship calculated earlier, after which it makes a gradual adjustment of the cutting moment in relation to the calculated basic static relationship and determines an averaged cutting point of a filter roller considering the information about actual dimensions of the segments and their actual positioning in the roller, conveyed by a sensor. During manufacturing, the averaged cutting point is compared by the control system with the cutting moment and, in order to keep the length tolerance of the filter rod, dynamically corrected considering the information about the segments currently conveyed by the sensor.