<p>The purpose of this thesis was to examine the demand for cross directional control of basis weight on a board machine. To analyse the demand, changes made by the control system are studied. The significant changes were expected to be present when a major event occurred on the machine. The events classified as major were changes in basis weight, of grade or of coating blade. Break of board and stoppage of the machine were also included. These events can be seen as large disturbances to the machine. </p><p>In order to identify the disturbances a methodology had to be developed. The methodology developed is to analyse the output from a model with the actuators of the control system as input and measurement of basis weight as output. The analysis of this output was done using the multivariate method of principal component analysis. </p><p>The data analysed in this thesis was collected on-line from a board machine operating within the Stora Enso group. Over a period of 3 months, a total of 47 sets of data were collected, each set representing 12-14 hours. The data analysis shows that the variations in the control system are greater than the variation in the measured basis weight. This is a strong indication that the control system is needed and in order to find disturbances in the cross directional profile it is not enough only to analyse the final product, the control signals also have to be analysed. </p><p>The large disturbances do not necessarily emerge from the major events as assumed. Other causes might havelarger impact to the process then first believed. </p><p>One of the major obstacles in trying to explain the variations is that the basis weight is controlled by using the centre layer of the board but measured on the final product. This leads to the fact that the errors seen by the measuring system can result from anything on the machine and be compensated by basis weight in the centre layer of the board.</p>

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the demand for cross directional control of basis weight on a board machine. To analyse the demand, changes made by the control system are studied. The significant changes were expected to be present when a major event occurred on the machine. The events classified as major were changes in basis weight, of grade or of coating blade. Break of board and stoppage of the machine were also included. These events can be seen as large disturbances to the machine. In order to identify the disturbances a methodology had to be developed. The methodology developed is to analyse the output from a model with the actuators of the control system as input and measurement of basis weight as output. The analysis of this output was done using the multivariate method of principal component analysis. The data analysed in this thesis was collected on-line from a board machine operating within the Stora Enso group. Over a period of 3 months, a total of 47 sets of data were collected, each set representing 12-14 hours. The data analysis shows that the variations in the control system are greater than the variation in the measured basis weight. This is a strong indication that the control system is needed and in order to find disturbances in the cross directional profile it is not enough only to analyse the final product, the control signals also have to be analysed. The large disturbances do not necessarily emerge from the major events as assumed. Other causes might havelarger impact to the process then first believed. One of the major obstacles in trying to explain the variations is that the basis weight is controlled by using the centre layer of the board but measured on the final product. This leads to the fact that the errors seen by the measuring system can result from anything on the machine and be compensated by basis weight in the centre layer of the board.