A high-speed laminating machine for a fabric coating and conversion process is considered. Following analysis procedures, state-space and the admittance transfer function descriptions for the system are derived. Regulation of the fabric tension owing to heat shrinkage and environmental and coating variations is necessary. An optimum, minimum control effort strategy is proposed, enabling simple cost effective regulation, without the use of active elements. The speed of response of the system is improved by the use of feedback compensation. Design validation, via simulation, obtaining the open- and closed-loop system responses is employed, demonstrating the achievement of smooth, almost monotonic variations in tension following reference changes, as specified.
