High-Precision Printing Force Control System for Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing

High-precision printing machines are essential for the fabrication of more sophisticated printed electronics. In particular, roll-to-roll printing with flexible substrates and nonideal rolls, which exhibit cylindricity, misalignment, and run-outs, produces nonlinear effects that are hard to manage with conventional control systems. For instance, printing rolls with cylindricity and run-outs cause large perturbations in the printing forces. In this paper, we propose a hybrid printing force control system that provides uniform printing conditions in the regions where printing occurs. The unique parallel arrangement of two force components provides excellent regulation of the printing force; this system also consumes less power. Our experimental results verify that the force control performance of the hybrid force control system is better than that of a conventional system. We also report the results of in situ printing quality tests with a pressure-sensitive film that confirm the effectiveness of the proposed system.