A manufacturing system is disclosed including a conveying apparatus with a plurality of rollers that form a travel path along which a ribbon is configured to be conveyed in a travel direction. The plurality of rollers including at least a tensioning roller having a shaft and a rotation wheel with a plurality of spokes that extend radially outward from the shaft, the plurality of spokes being configured to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the shaft to cause the ribbon to be conveyed in the travel direction. The manufacturing system further including a flow generator configured to direct a flow of fluid to the plurality of spokes to cause rotation of the plurality of spokes.

Embodiments herein describe automated systems and methods to assemble a garment, such as a T-shirt. Some embodiments provide for systems and methods for transferring and manipulating fabrics and joining garment components during garment manufacturing in a way that is more suitable to automation. Some embodiments provide for garment manufacturing systems and methods that are reconfigurable to enable both mass production of customized garments and small batch processing with reduced human intervention.

A printing apparatus (printer) is provided in which a base material is conveyed by a roll-to-roll method and feedback control is performed on a tension imposed on the base material, and which includes a control unit, a first drive motor (front drive motor) configured to control a speed of conveyance of conveying the base material, and a second drive motor (feeding motor, rear drive motor, winding motor) configured to control the tension imposed on the base material. In a case where a conveyance operation for conveying the base material is stopped based on detection of a foreign object, and when a speed of the first drive motor is at a predetermined value or less, the control unit stops the tension control performed by the second drive motor.

In a printer, an accommodating portion accommodates roll paper. A supply roller pair is disposed upstream of a recording unit in a transport direction, and nips the roll paper. The intermediate roller pair is rotatably disposed between the supply roller pair and the accommodating portion, and nips the roll paper. A second motor and a third motor apply tension to the roll paper between the intermediate roller pair and the accommodating portion. A control unit can switch between a first mode and a second mode. In the first mode, first tension is applied to the roll paper between the intermediate roller pair and the accommodating portion. In the second mode, second tension smaller than the first tension is applied.

A control system is provided for a converting line. The converting line has an unwinder for unwinding web material from a roll of web material and at least one independently driven roll for directing the web material unwound from the unwinder to the converting line. The control system has a controller and a tension sensor configured to be arranged downstream of the at least one driven roll. The tension sensor is configured to sense a tension in the web as the web is passed downstream of the driven roll, generate a signal indicative of sensed web tension, and transmit the signal of sensed web tension to the controller. The controller is configured to a generate and transmit to the unwinder a signal to change the speed of the unwinder based upon the tension sensed by the tension sensor.

A tension applying device is attached to a sheet conveyance device. The sheet conveyance device includes a feeding roller for feeding a continuous-form sheet and a winding roller for winding the continuous-form sheet fed from the feeding roller. The tension applying device applies tension to the continuous-form sheet between the feeding roller and the winding roller. The tension applying device includes a guide rail, a slider, a tension bar, and an angle adjustment mechanism. The guide rail is inclined downward toward a continuous-form sheet. The slider slides along the guide rail. The tension bar is supported by the slider and brought into pressure contact with the continuous-form sheet by weight of the slider. The angle adjustment mechanism adjusts an inclination angle of the guide rail with respect to a horizontal direction.

A web handling system and method for controlling tension in a web of material is disclosed. For instance, the web handling system is particularly well suited for maintaining web tension within predefined setpoints during temporary interruptions in the process, such as during splicing operations. The web handling system includes an accumulator or festoon that accumulates amounts of the material as the material is being fed downstream. At least one guide roll within the festoon is coupled to a drive device, such as a motor. The system also includes at least one tension sensing device. The drive device accelerates or decelerates the guide roll based upon information obtained from the tension sensing device. In one embodiment, the system further includes an electronic gearing configuration between a roll of material being unwound and the guide roll within the festoon for better synchronization and further minimizing tension swings. The electronic gearing can include a diameter calculator for the roll of material being unwound based on speed feedback of a driven guide roll.

In order to provide, to a roll-to-roll printing apparatus which seamlessly performs printing on a base material using a roll-to-roll method, performance for finely controlling the tension of the base material, the roll-to-roll printing apparatus includes a drive roll (74) that supplies a base material (B) to a plate cylinder, a drive roll actuator that rotates the drive roll (74), a dancer actuator (84) that changes a path line length of the base material (B) to vary the tension of the base material (B), a tension detection device (78) that detects the tension of the base material (B), and a tension control device (80) that controls the drive roll actuator and the dancer actuator (84) in accordance with a result of the detection by the tension detection device (78) to compensate for a variation in the tension of the base material (B). When compensating for the variation in the tension of the base material (B), the tension control device (80) uses the drive roll actuator to perform relatively rough control, while using the dancer actuator (84) to perform relatively fine control.

A transport device includes a transport roller configured to transport a roll paper, a winding unit configured to wind the roll paper transported, a tension applying unit configured to apply tension to the medium between the transport roller and the winding unit, and a control unit configured to control the tension applying unit. The control unit is configured to control the tension applying unit to maintain a state where the tension is released, at least during an acceleration period of rotation of the transport roller within a period in which the transport roller applies a transporting force to the roll paper.

An apparatus is provided for handling overlay sheet material on a cutting apparatus including a conveyor for moving work material in a longitudinal direction and a support for positioning a tensioner frame adjacent the conveyor. A tensioner frame, attached to the support, has a nip wheel and a drive for rotating the nip wheel with a tangential speed in excess of the longitudinal conveyor speed attached to the tensioner frame. The nip wheel engages the overlay sheet material applying a tension thereto in the same longitudinal direction as the conveyor.