Processes that require rapid acceleration and/or deceleration, or processes that may deal with out of round rolls, all benefit from utilizing a dancer due to their web storage capabilities. A well designed dancer system with a quality dancer controller is an excellent method of managing web tension.
Unwind Zone, Dancer and Load Cell Feedback
However, no dancer system can tell you what your actual web tension is. The tension can be inferred, but without load cells providing direct web tension measurement from your material, actual tension will not be known. For some processes this is perfectly okay, as the dancer and dancer controller will provide sufficient tension control. But for processes requiring even greater process consistency, whether from run to run, or shift to shift, or if a range of materials are run on this same machine with varying tension requirements, or you simply require a greater level of precision and accuracy in your control, web tension measurement utilizing load cells is the way to go.
Some tension control suppliers will say it needs to be an either or decision, load cells or a dancer, as they do not offer a dancer controller that can capitalize on and utilize load cells or vice versa. Montalvo says you should, and can, have the best of both worlds.
A dancer controller that features inputs for load cells can provide actual tension measurement indication for operators, allowing them to ensure precise tension and process consistency while still taking advantage of all the benefits a dancer system can provide.
The Z4-UI Dancer Controller with Tension Indication also opens the door for even greater process and operator flexibility, consistency and precision through the addition of an I-P Converter to manage the dancer load, which gives your dancer system setpoint control capability.
To learn more about Dancer Control with Tension Indication, please visit the Z4-UI Product Page.