Process for controlling the formation of sheet material

Claim 1

A process for controlling the configuration of a thickness-regulating member which is coupled to a plurality of actuators, the process comprising: (a) determining the desired configuration of the thrickness-regulating member; (b) determining the actuator movements required to substantially obtain the desired configuration of the thickness-regulating member according to the following equation: ##EQU3## where: Z=required actuator movements; Y=required displacements of the thickness-regulating member at each actuator; E=modulus of elasticity of the thickness-regulating member; I=cross-sectional moment of inertia of the thickness-regulating member; k=spring constant of an actuator; l=distance between actuators; [A]=a first predetermined matrix; [J]=identity matrix; [Ra]=a second predetermined matrix; wherein said first and second predetermined matrices are determined by modeling a thickness-regulating member and actuator system as an elastic system, without basing the determination on any of the following parameters: spring constants of the actuators, elastic modulus of the thickness-regulating member, and cross-sectional moment of inertia of the thickness-regulating member; and, (c) controlling the actuators based upon the required actuator movements.