Base material processing apparatus and method of predicting meandering

Abstract

A base material processing apparatus detects the amount of widthwise misregistration of a base material in each detection position (Po, and Pa to Pd) lying on a transport path, and then calculates a difference between a detection value in the reference position (Po) and a detection value in each of the remaining detection positions (Pa to Pd) as a meandering amount. Subsequently, the base material processing apparatus determines coefficients obtained when a variation with time in each meandering amount is applied to a predetermined model function, and thereafter calculates coefficients of the model function predicted as the meandering of the base material in each processing position (Pto P), based on the determined coefficients and a positional relationship between the reference position (Po), the remaining detection positions (Pa to Pd) and the processing positions (Pto P). This achieves the prediction of the meandering of the base material in the processing positions (Pto P) with accuracy without any detector disposed in the processing positions (Pto P).