Monitoring upstream machine wires and felts

1. A method associated with a sensing roll and a mating roll for collecting roll data comprising:

generating a respective sensor signal from each of a plurality of sensors located at axially spaced-apart locations of the sensing roll, wherein each respective sensor signal is generated when each sensor enters a region of a nip between the sensing roll and the mating roll during each rotation of the sensing roll; the sensing roll and mating roll located relative to one another to create the nip therebetween, wherein a web of material travels through the nip from an upstream direction to a downstream direction and a continuous band, arranged to travel around in a loop pattern, contacts at least a region of the web of material upstream from the nip;

generating a periodically occurring time reference associated with each rotation of the continuous band around the loop pattern; and

receiving the respective sensor signal generated by each sensor and, after receiving the respective sensor signal:

determining a particular one of the plurality of sensors which generated the respective sensor signal,

based upon an amount of time that elapsed between when the respective sensor signal was generated and a most recent time reference, identifying one of a plurality of time-based tracking segments associated with the continuous band, wherein each of the plurality of time-based tracking segments is, respectively, associated with a different amount of elapsed time, and

storing the respective sensor signal to associate the respective sensor signal with the identified one time-based tracking segment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the continuous band comprises a press felt.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the continuous band comprises a wire mesh.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the continuous band does not travel through the nip.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received sensor signal comprises a pressure value.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

receiving the respective sensor signal for each of the plurality of sensors during each rotation of the sensing roll, and

receiving a plurality of the respective sensor signals occurring during a plurality of rotations of the sensing roll.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising:

for each one of the plurality of the respective sensor signals, identifying an associated continuous band axial segment and its identified one time-based tracking segment.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:

the continuous band comprises n axial segments, having respective index values: 1, 2, . . . , n;

a continuous band rotational period comprises m time-based tracking segments, each having a respective, unique index value x in the range of: 1, 2, . . . , m, and

wherein there are (n times m) unique permutations that are identifiable by a two-element set comprising a respective axial segment index value and a respective time-based tracking segment index value.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising:

for the plurality of respective sensor signals and for one or more of the possible (n times m) permutations, determining an average of all the plurality of respective sensor signals associated with an axial segment and time-based tracking segment matching each of the one or more permutations.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the continuous band comprises:

m circumferential tracking segments relative to a reference location on the continuous band, each having a respective, unique index value q in the range of : 1, 2, . . . , m, and, wherein

each time-based tracking segment is associated with a corresponding circumferential tracking segment.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the index value x of a particular time-based tracking segment is calculated independently from calculating the index value q of the corresponding circumferential tracking segment.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein:

each circumferential tracking segment of the continuous band contacts the web of material at an upstream location from the region of the nip; and

the index value q of each circumferential tracking segment is calculated based on a) a distance between the region of the nip and the upstream location and b) the index value x of the corresponding time-based tracking segment.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein generating a periodically occurring time reference comprises:

generating a trigger signal on each rotation of the continuous band as the reference location on the continuous band travels past a predetermined position.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:

each circumferential tracking segment of the continuous band contacts the web of material at an upstream location from the region of the nip;

one particular circumferential tracking segment contacts the web of material at the upstream location substantially concurrently with the signal generator generating the trigger signal, and

the index value q of each circumferential tracking segment is calculated based on a) a distance between the region of the nip and the upstream location, b) the index value of the one particular circumferential tracking segment, and c) the index value x of the corresponding time-based tracking segment.