Improving Bridle Low-Speed

Regulation by Implementing
Cascaded Current Major
Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

Brian T. Boulter
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

Abstract - The torque or current references to
the current loops of drives providing power to
helper-rolls in bridles are usually slaved directly
from the current reference of the master speed
regulated roll. At low line speeds the current
required to overcome losses in the master speed
regulated roll will differ significantly from the
current required to overcome losses in the
helper-rolls, resulting in overall erratic speed
regulation in the bridle. A scheme based on
cascaded current major loops is described and
shown to provide a substantial improvement in
low-speed regulation. An additional benefit is
that higher speed-loop bandwidths are made
possible by the de-coupling effect provided by
the cascaded current major loop.
1. INTRODUCTION
solution is to operate the line at very low speeds (1
to 3 [ft/min]) and let the strip accumulate in a small
loop when a coil change must be made. To avoid
marking the strip in the leveler when operating at low
speeds precise regulation of entry and exit bridle
speed is required over a 1500:1 range. Precise entry
and exit speed regulation at the low end of a large
speed range is only possible if the entry and exit
bridle helper-rolls and respective speed regulated
rolls operate with no relative speed deviations. A
diagram of a typical 4-roll bridle is presented in
Figure 1. Figure 2 shows a single-line diagram of the
control structure of a 4-roll speed regulated bridle. In
this example, the output of the speed minor loop
(SML) of roll 4 provides the current references to the
4 current minor loops (CML’s). The SML regulates
the speed feedback w4 to match the speed
reference

Bridles function as tension amplifiers or line-speed

pacers in metal strip process lines. The typical
speed regulated bridle consists of several rolls, each
of which is driven by an individual power source.
One of the rolls in the bridle is speed regulated. The
other rolls in the bridle are operated as open-loop
current followers that follow the current reference
generated by the speed regulator (Figure 2). By
slaving the helper-roll current references from the
current reference generated by the speed regulator,
each roll load-shares according to a predetermined
ratio. The load-sharing ratios are a function of motor
horsepowers, roll diameters [1], and gear ratios. In
some applications fine-tuning of load-sharing is
accommodated by individual gains on the current
references.

In applications where low-speed bridle speed

regulation can have a strong impact on the quality of
the processed strip, it is imperative that the bridle
helper-rolls and the speed-regulated roll operate
with little or no relative deviation in speed. The
following is a good example of an application that
has such a requirement.

Assume that, because of space constraints, it is not

possible to furnish accumulators in an independent
tension leveling line. The line operates with a
maximum line-speed of 1500 [ft/min] and is used to
pre-process aluminum strip in preparation for
painting. A requirement for continuous operation is
the result of a market need to manufacture custom
coil sizes for small volume buyers. A plausible
For many applications the control topology in Figure
2 is adequate. However, for extremely low-speed
bridle applications such as that described above,
this architecture will not provide satisfactory speed
regulation. An explanation for this can be given in
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls
terms of the differences in system losses that occur
from one bridle roll to the next.
The majority of system losses that occur in the drive
trains and motors of a bridle can be lumped into the
following friction classes: 1) viscous friction (BV), 2)
coulomb friction (BC) 3) static friction or stiction (BS),
and 4) square-law windage losses (BW). A popular
equation ([2],[3]) combining these losses into an
expression for the loss-torque in a drive is:
Plotting equation (1) results in a torque loss
characteristic curve similar to Figure 3.
Each driven roll in the bridle will have differing
values of BV, BC, BS, and BW. This results in differing
torque loss characteristic curves from one helper-roll
to the next.
Very low tension drops across bridle rolls can occur
in some applications. This may require the drives to
operate with very low drive currents, and, as a result
of the extremely non-linear relationship between
current and torque that transpires when DC drives
operate in the discontinuous conduction region or
AC drives operate with small Iq currents, a
significant difference in the actual torque from the
desired torque can result. This implies that a feed-
forward current reference will not always produce
the desired torque, and hence, the desired speed in
the driven roll The relationship between torque and
speed in a bridle roll is given by equation (2) and the
block diagram in Figure 4.
If we assume that there is no strip attached to the
driven roll (i.e. the strip tensions equal zero; Ti+1 =
Ti = 0) and ‘n’ rolls are considered, it is clear from (2)
that, for a common motor toque ti and inertia Ji for all
‘n’ rolls, the speed of each roll will depend on the
integral of the system losses. Assuming, as
described above, the value of tLOSS in each section
differs, then as the ratio of tLOSS to ti increases, a
more pronounced difference in speed between each
driven roll will be observed.
From the above description of the typical bridle
control topology it is clear that, at low speeds and
low values of load torque {(Ti+1 - Ti)*Ri/GRi)}, the
ratio of tLOSS to ti can be high enough to create a
condition where the speeds of the rolls in the bridle
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

will differ significantly. This occurs as periodic abrupt

excursions of speed from zero to a value greater
than the linespeed set-point as the driven rolls move
in and out of their respective static friction regions.
For most metal application bridles, the speeds at
which this occur are below 1 [m/min]. Figure 5 is a
plot of measured currents and speeds for a 4 roll
entry bridle in a tension leveler, configured as shown
in Figure 2,with a line speed set-point of 2/3 [m/min]
(2 [ft/min]).
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

de-coupling effect afforded by cascaded current-

loops is provided. The third section presents results
from a field trial, the fourth section provides some
concluding remarks.

2. ANALYSIS

2.1 NOMENCLATURE

JMOTOR The motor inertia [kg m^2]

JLOAD The reflected roll (load) inertia [kg m^2]
Vi The i’th roll surface velocity [m/min]
ωi The i'th motor rotational velocity feedback
[rpm]
ωCS The i'th motor stiction critical slip velocity
[rpm]
Bv Viscous friction [kgf m sec / rad]
Bw Square-law windage friction [kgf m sec^2 /
rad]
BC Coulomb friction force [kgf m]
BS Stiction friction force [kgf m]
A significant improvement in low-speed speed Wri The i'th motor rotational velocity reference
regulation can be realized by cascading a current [rpm]
major loop with a speed-loop. A single-line diagram ωCMLi The i'th CML bandwidth [rad/sec]
of the proposed control topology is presented in ωSMLi The i'th SML bandwidth [rad/sec]
Figure 6. The output of the cascaded current-loop ωCCLi The i'th CCL bandwidth [rad/sec]
(CCL) provides a trim to the speed reference for the
ωSi The i'th speed-loop PI lead freq. [rad/sec]
speed minor loop (SML) of each roll. The bandwidth
KSi The i'th speed-loop PI prop. gain
of the CCL is designed such that it is at least 10
times less than the bandwidth of the CML. The WCi The i'th cascaded current-loop PI lead freq.
assumption that the CML is an order of magnitude [rad/sec]
more responsive than the CCL ensures that the KCi The i'th cascaded current-loop PI prop. gain
command reference to the CML will be Ri The i’th roll radius [m]
approximately equal to the actual current. Given that GRi The i’th roll gear ratio
the command reference to the CML is the output of Li The i’th tension zone length [m]
the SML, the SML output can be used, in place of Ti The i’th tension zone tension [kgf]
the measured current feedback, as the current ti The i’th roll reflected shaft torque [kgf m]
feedback for the CCL. This is highly desirable in
tMAX The i’th motor maximum torque [kgf m]
applications where the actual current feedback is
ii Instantaneous CML current [A].
small enough to be significantly corrupted by noise.
iMAX Maximum CML current. [A]
The improvement in speed regulation is realized by Ei Strip modulus of elasticity [kgf/mm^2]
utilizing individual speed-loops for each driven roll. Ai Strip cross sectional area [mm^2]
The speed-loops provide a way to compensate for s The Laplace operator
the losses in each roll on a rollto- roll basis and LS Maximum line speed [m/min]
ensure that there will be little relative deviation in roll LSi Operating line speed [m/min]
speed throughout the bridle over the full line speed
range. tv= Strip-span velocity time-constant
[sec]
The remainder of the paper can be summarized as
follows:
Section two contains an analysis of the tuning
strategy for the CCL. In addition, a description the
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

JI JMOTOR + JLOAD Reflected Inertia [kg m^2]

KTi = The I’th strip-spring constant

[kfg/m]

WI The span natural frequency

[rad/sec]

KtI = t MAX / iMAX ; Torque loop gain [kgf m/A]

2.2 MODELING THE BRIDLE

Equation (3) is commonly used to describe the

dynamics associated with the conveyance of strip in
metal strip process lines ([3], [4], [5], [6]). It is based
on the principle of conservation of mass in a mass-
flow system.

where:

In Figure 7, an s-domain block diagram of equations

(2-4) is presented. It includes the ‘hooks’ needed to
couple multiple sections together, it does not include
any strip material damping terms. Note that a
rigorous representation of equations (2-4) requires
the integrators in Figure 7 to be preset to their
respective initial conditions.

For a given operating line velocity LSI, an

approximate linear representation of equations (1-3)
can be obtained [7]. A block diagram of the
linearized model is shown in Figure 8.

A linear s-domain block diagram approximation of a driven

roll (Figure 9), as seen by a cascaded current-loop
regulator, can be obtained by closing a speed-loop around
the speed feedback ωi in Figure 8.
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

To simplify the analysis of the CCL several It can be shown that the bandwidth of the SML
assumptions have been made. These assumptions (without strip coupled to the bridle) is equivalent to
are reflected in the following quantities from Figure (6). Note that the PI lead frequency must be less
10: 1. The strip spring constants (KT) for the strip than the speed-loop bandwidth:
between each roll in the bridle are identical. 2. The
roll diameters (R), gear ratios (GR), and inertias (J)
for each roll in the bridle are identical. 3. The
bandwidth of each CML is high enough that in the
Substituting (6) into (5) yields:
frequency range of interest it behaves as a linear
gain element (Kt).

2.3 DERIVATION OF AN APPROXIMATE CCL

OPENLOOP TRANSFER FUNCTION, AND CCL
TUNING

For a small-signal steady-state analysis of drive

section two in Figure 10, the assumption is made
that all transients from input disturbances have died
out (i.e. V1 and V3 are constant). This best-case
analysis assumes that the up-stream and down-
stream load torques are balanced. Drive section two
can then be represented as shown in Figure 11.
If the speed-loop PI lead frequency is five times or
more less than the speed-loop crossover (i.e. ωS <
ωCO/5) the closed speed-loop may be modeled as a
lag with a corner frequency equal to the speed-loop
bandwidth (8):

Equation (7) reduces to:

Tuning the CCL regulator for a bandwidth of

The steady-state analysis of section two of the 4-roll
bridle shown in Figure 11 yields the following open-
loop transfer function (5) for the cascaded current-
loop:
approximately 3/2 times the bandwidth of the speed
minor loop and setting the CCL PI lead frequency at
twice the desired current major loop bandwidth (or
crossover frequency) yields the asymptotic Bode
magnitude plot of Equation (9) seen in Figure 12.
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

2.4 DECOUPLING EFFECT PROVIDED BY THE

SML
The tuning derived in section 2.3 was derived under
the assumption that the small signal response of the
CCL is not affected by the dynamics of the coupled
strip. Following is an analysis that demonstrates the
validity of this assumption and the de-coupling effect
afforded by the cascaded current-loop architecture.

Assume that a winder is coupled to an infinitely large

mass by a section of strip with a strip spring constant
equal to KT, solving equations (2-4) results in the
block diagram in Figure 13. The transfer function
from current reference to current feedback of the
CCL in this case is:

Solving (9) for the gain term KC2 that yields the open
loop CCL crossover shown in Figure 12 yields:

A general tuning for the SML and CCL is:

 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls
This analysis can be considered worst case in that
the upstream (T2) and down-stream (T0 = 0) load
torques are completely unbalanced.
For realistic physical systems KT >> KS ωS therefore
the terms labeled A and B in (11) approximately
cancel and can be ignored. The resulting asymptotic
Bode magnitude plot of (11) is shown in Figure 14.
Solving (11) for the gain term KC1 that yields the
open loop CCL crossover shown in Figure 14 yields:
For physically realizable metal strip processing lines,
ωC1 • KT >> ωS1 • J. This implies that the CCL PI
proportional gain terms expressed in (12) and (10)
are essentially equivalent. That is, the gain term that
was derived under the assumption that the small
signal contribution from the up-stream and down-
stream load torques cancel (best-case), is the same
as the gain term for a system with load torques that
are grossly imbalanced (worst-case). By inference,
the effects of coupling the strip to the bridle affects
the low frequency gain of the CCL, but has little
affect on the CCL bandwidth, as shown in Figure 14.
In bridles configured using the architecture shown in
Figure 2,the speed-loop bandwidth of the lumped
bridle system is significantly limited by coupling
effects resulting from the effective strip ‘springs’ that
couple the rolls together. As the speed-loop
bandwidth is increased, and by inference the loop
gain increases, system noise is amplified by the PI
controller and fed to the helper-rolls in their
respective current references. The injection of this
torque noise excites resonant modes in the bridle
and, if excessive, can cause the entire machine to
break into a violent oscillation. Filters can be
employed on the current references to help alleviate
this problem, at the risk of allowing damaging inter-
roll tension transients during line accelerations and
decelerations. Filtering or averaging the references
of the helper-rolls CML’s, without the inclusion of
inertia compensation, invariably leads to slippage in
the bridle at these times.
The de-coupling effect and damping of system
natural frequencies provided by SML’s in cascaded
regulation schemes in strip transport systems is
described in [8]. Wolferman [7] also alludes to these
phenomena. The SML’s provide the helper-rolls with
speed regulation to match the line speed reference,
therefore, a running average that acts on the helper-
roll CML references (see Figure 6) can be
implemented without the adverse affects that result
when using the architecture in Figure 2. Given that
the torque references to the CCL’s is calculated to
provide the drive with the torque required to maintain
a desired load sharing profile throughout the bridle,
the CCL reference can be considered a torque
“offset” that is added to the torque required to
overcome system losses and accelerate, decelerate,
or maintain the roll speed, as commanded by the
speed reference. The CCL references should ideally
have little or no dynamic component. A running
average of the CCL reference is highly desirable.
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

Finally, the CCL should be tuned such that it has a

bandwidth that is less than or at most equal to the
bandwidth of the speed regulator. By applying this
tuning strategy the outer current major loop will not
swamp the inner speed loop, thereby allowing the
speed loop to approximately compensate for system
losses. The speed loop PI integrator will be charged
by the vernier trim from the CCL to a value that
approximates the current offset required to maintain
the desired shaft torque that is being implicitly
regulated by the CCL.

3. FIELD TESTING RESULTS

An O.E.M. tension-leveling line entry bridle on a

tension-leveler was configured for operation with
both architectures (Figures 2 and 6). The motor
torque was calculated from armature current and
filtered through a 2-pole Butterworth filter with a
corner frequency of 62 [rad/sec] (10 [Hz]). The line
speed was calculated from speed feedback [r.p.m.]
and also filtered through a 10 [Hz] 2-pole
Butterworth filter. 12 [mill] x 36 [in] aluminum strip
was processed through the leveler at 2 [ft/min].
Figures 15 and 16 represent speed and torque for
the architecture in Figure (2). Figures 17 and 18
represent speed and torque for the architecture in
Figure (6).
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
The bandwidth of the speed regulator driving roll 4
for the results in Figures 15 and 16 was
approximately 10 [rad/sec]. The bandwidth of the
speed regulators on all 4-rolls for the results in
Figures 17 and 18 was approximately 30 [rad/sec].
The improvement in speed regulation is clearly
evident when the CCL architecture is employed.
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls
4. CONCLUSIONS
Significant improvements in bridle speed-loop
bandwidths and speed regulation can be realized
with the CCL architecture in multi-roll bridles. It is not
unrealistic to expect a 3 to 4 fold increase in speed-
loop bandwidth, drive-train integrity permitting, over
those possible with the architecture presented in
Figure 2. For bridle applications where excellent low-
speed regulation is critical to product quality, the
CCL architecture should be considered.
References
1. Boulter, B.T., “Diameter Sizing of Rolls in Bridles
ThatUtilize Powder Clutches”, I.E.E.E. I.A.S.
Transactions, pp. 2537-2540, March 1997.
2. Hess, D.P., Soom, A. “Friction at a Lubricated
Line Contact Operating at Oscillating Sliding
Velocities,” Journal of Tribology Transactions of
the A.S.M.E. Vol 112, pp. 147-152, 1992.
3. Majd, V.J.. Simaan M. A., “A Continuous Friction
Model For Servo Systems With Stiction”,
Proceedings of the 4th I.E.E.E. Conference on
Control Applications, Albany NY. 1996.
4. Carter, W.C., “Reducing Transient Strains in
Elastic Processes”, Control Engineering Mar.
1965. Pp. 84-87.
5. Fox, S.J., Lilley, D.G., “Computer Simulation Of
Web Dynamics,” Proceedings of the 1st IWEB
International Web Handling Conference Tab 20.
Oklahoma State University, March 1991.
6. Lin, K., “WTS 6.0 A Computer-Based Analysis
Program For Multi-Span Web Transport
Systems,” Oklahoma State University WHRC,
1994.
 Improving Bridle Low-Speed Regulation by Implementing Cascaded
Current Major Loops in Bridle Helper-rolls

7. Wolferman, W., “Tension Control of Webs - A

Review of the Problems and Solutions in the
Present and Future,” Tab 15, Proceedings of the
3rd International Web Handling Conference, Tab
17, Oklahoma State University June 1995.
8. Boulter, B.T., “The Effect of Speed-loop
Bandwidths and Line Speed on System
Eigenvalues in Multi-Span Web Transport
Systems,” Proceedings of the 32nd. I.E.E.E.
I.A.S Conference, September 1997.
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