Decentralized Control of Print Registration in Roll-to-Roll Printing Presses
Roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing is a type of continuous manufacturing process extensively used to produce a wide variety of consumer products, such as plastics, paper, films, non-wovens, textile, etc. Recent advances in nanotechnology and material science have enabled the possibility of manufacturing electronics on a flexible substrate using R2R printing techniques. Even though the feasibility of printing electronics on flexible substrates has been extensively studied, continuous printing on a moving substrate using R2R techniques has not been adequately investigated. To facilitate progress towards high precision R2R printing, a systematic investigation of the various aspects that affect print quality and ways in which those can be influenced by different control configurations facilitated by choice and location of various components of the print section is necessary.