A user-friendly computational algorithm for the structural analysis of wrapping machine rotating rings

Wrapping machines usually consist of a two- or a four-column frame, supporting a huge rotating ring, connected to a prestretch unit with film coil carrier. Stiffness is a key point of packaging machines, since it is strictly related to the accuracy of the wrapping task. It depends on the stiffness of the frame, which can be achieved by the four-column architecture, and on the ring constraint system. As a consequence, the ring structures are usually highly statically indeterminate. Nowadays, there is an increasing demand for higher rotational speeds and more reduced operation times. Therefore, an accurate structural analysis of the ring, considering its actual loading and constraints is more and more important. The structural analysis of the rotating ring is treated by many references; however, such a statically indeterminate constraining makes this problem highly complicated. The goal of this paper consists in the development of a general and original computational algorithm for the structural analysis of rotating rings. The results are collected in a user-friendly way in terms of normalized internal loads, so that they can be of a great help even for not expert users. This model has been experimentally validated and easily applied to case studies and optimization tasks.