Date of Award

2001

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Paper Science and Engineering

Abstract

The goal of this project was to take the first step in analyzing this vibration. This meant setting up measuring equipment and analyzing basic blade vibrations.

In this experiment, a laboratory coater (Dow coater at Western Michigan University) was used instead of a tissue machine because it was readily available and easy to control and modify. An accelerometer was used to measure the vibration of a blade on the coater. A computer using Labview was used for data acquisition. Trials at various speeds were run with a piece of tape on the coater roll to cause and distinguish vibration at a given frequency. Spectral analysis was used to recover the given frequency.

Analysis of the data showed several things. First, it was apparent that the data were not as hypothesized. A distinct disturbance was found, but it was the same frequency regardless of coater speed. Since the first thing done in the experiment was to use a signal generator to make sure the data was being read properly, it is speculated that the fault lies in the accelerometer. It is very possible that the accelerometer is not sensitive enough to detect vibrations at such low frequencies as it was designed for high-frequency tissue applications. More experimentation needs to be done to explore this.

Download

Share

COinS