Products Maintenance & Reliability
Voith WebDetect-nx helps to protect against machine damage

May 24, 2017 – With WebDetect-nx, Voith says it has developed a new solution that identifies web breaks in paper production in a more reliable and fail-safe manner.

It is based on a measuring process in which a multi-light sensor measures different light sources in the visible and infrared light frequency range and interprets the measurements simultaneously at high speed, which, Voith says, prevents potential impairment of the measuring result to allow reliable detection of faults. This results in fewer false positives and therefore less production downtime as well as a lower risk of machine damage due to undetected breaks, says the company.

Voith says WebDetect-nx solves the typical problems associated with previous web break detectors based on infrared light and standard sensors. For example, if the contrast between paper web and dryer fabric or basis weight is too low or the moisture content of the paper too high, older methods tend to trigger false positives. This in turn leads to frequent production downtime or even damage to the paper machine.

WebDetect-nx features interfaces like Profibus, Modbus-TCP or Standard I/O for simple access via the process control system, on which measuring processes can be visualized and the break sensors controlled interactively. Using programmable logic controller (PLC) function modules, the WebDetect-nx can be integrated into the Machine Control System (MCS) and therefore operated fully automatically. Voith says the technology is one innovation from its Papermaking 4.0 concept that allows papermakers to take a step towards the Smart Factory.