Systems and methods for dynamically setting air system pressures based on real time sheet acquisition time data

Abstract

A sheet feeder feeds sheets separated from a stack to a feed head which is translatable toward take away nip rolls. The sheets are separated from the stack by fluffers and acquired by an acquisition surface of the feed head which is in communication with a vacuum pressure. An air knife is used, in conjunction with a corrugation surface, to separate any secondarily acquired sheets from the acquisition surface. The time for acquiring the sheet is determined from the opening of a vacuum valve in communication with the feed head to the acquiring of the sheet by the acquisition surface. The time for acquiring the sheets is dependent on the sheet characteristics. A controller adjusts the pressure to the fluffers, air knife and the vacuum pressure to control the sheet acquisition time based on the sheet acquisition times of a predetermined number of previously successfully fed sheets and a standard deviation as compared to a table of predetermined sheet acquisition times and standard deviations for the particular sheet characteristics.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.