Flatness Control Using Roll Coolant Based on Predicted Flatness Variation in Cold Rolling Mills

Flatness control for cold rolling mills is one of the important technologies for improving of product quality and productivity. In particular, poor flatness leads to strip tearing in the extreme case and, moreover, it significantly reduces productivity. Therefore, various flatness control system has been developed. The main actuators for flatness control are classified into two types; one is mechanical equipment such as roll bender, the other is roll coolant, which controls thermal expansion of roll. Flatness variation such as center buckle or edge wave is mainly controlled by mechanical actuator which has high response characteristics. On another front, flatness variation of local zone can be controlled by roll coolant although one's response is lower than the response of mechanical actuator. For accomplishing good flatness accuracy in cold rolling mills, it is important to improve the performance of coolant control moreover. In this paper, a new coolant control method based on flatness variation model is described. In proposed method, the state of coolant spray on or off is selected to minimize the flatness deviation by using predicted flatness variation. The effectiveness of developed system has been demonstrated by application in actual plant.