Method for measuring a thickness of a film or plate, system for manufacturing a film or plate of this type, and method for operating a system of this type

A system for manufacturing a film (90′) or a sheet (90) made of foam as an article of manufacture made from a foam block (80) provided as a source material, wherein the source material has a source-material length (81, 85) extending in the longitudinal direction (x;

• x′), a source-material width (82, 86) extending in the latitudinal direction (y) and a source-material height (83, 87) extending in the vertical direction (z), the system comprising
• a conveyor unit (30) for conveying the source material along the longitudinal direction (x;
• x′),
• a cutting unit (50) for cutting out the film (90′) or the sheet (90) from the source material along the longitudinal direction (x;
• x′), with a blade bar with a circumferential blade or oscillating blade,
• a measurement device (60, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71) for measuring on a surface of a measurement object, and
• a control unit for determining a thickness of the film or the sheet, the thickness determined based on a difference between a measured value representing a preliminary source-material height and a measured value representing a subsequent source-material height,
• wherein the conveyor unit (30) is set up in such a way that, in order to cut the source material, the source material is conveyed along the longitudinal direction (x;
• x′) past the cutting unit (50), wherein the measurement device (60, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71) is set up and arranged for measuring the source-material height (83, 87) in such a way that the measurement device (60, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71) is configured to measure the preliminary source-material height (83;
• 87) before the cutting of the source material and the subsequent source-material height (87) after the cutting of the source material.

A method for operating a system for manufacturing a film (90′) or a sheet (90) made of foam as an article of manufacture made from a foam block provided as a source material, the method comprising:

• conveying, by a conveyor unit of the system, the source material along a longitudinal direction, wherein the source material has a source-material length extending in the longitudinal direction, a source-material width extending in a latitudinal direction and a source-material height extending in a vertical direction;
• cutting, by a cutting unit of the system, out the film or the sheet from the source material along the longitudinal direction, wherein the cutting unit includes a blade bar with a circumferential blade or oscillating blade and wherein the conveyor unit is set up in such a way that the source material is conveyed along the longitudinal direction past the cutting unit;
• measuring, by a measurement device of the system, on a surface of a measurement object, wherein the measurement device is set up and arranged for measuring the source-material height in such a way that the measurement device is configured to measure a preliminary source-material height before the cutting of the source material and a subsequent source-material height after the cutting of the source material;
• and
• determining, by a control unit of the system, a thickness of the film or sheet from the difference between a measured value representing the preliminary source-material height minus the measured value representing the subsequent source-material height.