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July 20, 2005
The Web Handling Research Center @ Oklahoma State University
Not everybody in the "Converting" industry knows what "Web Handling" is. Even less know what about the WHRC, the Web Handling Research Center at Oklahoma State University.
The WHRC was founded in 1987 as part of a National Science Foundation program that created many UICRCs (University-Industry Cooperative Research Centers). [So it meets the government standard for acronyms...WHRC, a NSP UICRC.] UICRC were started under Pres. Reagan in an effort to increase university research, especially in engineering, applied to industry needs. Now, almost 20 years later, the WHRC is an exemplary example of of what the UICRCs were meant to do.
For more info on the WHRC, try:
www.engext.okstate.edu/info/WWW-WHRC.htm
I am extremely thankful for the many years that I attended the WHRC semi-annual review meetings as 3M's representative to the WHRC Industrial Advisory Board. Now that I'm not involved with a WHRC corporate sponsor, I still enjoy learning about their advances in web handling technology (and other advances worldwide) at the IWEB (Int'l Conf on Web Handling) that they host every odd-numbered year.
What has the web handling world gained from the WHRC?
More...
The biggest gains in my mind in the areas of winding and wrinkling. Before 1987, there were several papers on winding models and measurements, but the WHRC work, much led by Dr. J. Keith Good and his graduate students, have answered many of the un- or partially answered questions, such as:
What is the pressure inside a wound roll?
What material properties have the most impact on internal roll stresses?
What is the effect of the winding nip?
How is surface winding different from center winding?
How much air is wound into a roll with and without a nip?
What cause a roll to telescope or cinch?
...and many more.
Wrinkling? I'll have to work up another post on what WHRC has taught us about wrinkles.
tjw
Posted by Tim Walker at July 20, 2005 08:27 AM
Comments
Interesting stuff, more would be appreciated
Posted by: A. Cartellieri at August 8, 2005 12:11 AM
