Flat Rolled Stock Evaluation Using Robust Error Metrics

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for determining functions from measurement data of flat rolled materials are prone to being heavily influenced by disturbances, leading to inaccurate evaluations and control issues in rolling mills.

Innovation Solution

An evaluation method that minimizes the sum of individual ratings, where each rating increases less than quadratically with the difference between measurement data and the function value, using recursively reweighted least squares methods and weighting factors to reduce the impact of outliers.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If the least squares method is used to determine function parameters from measurement data, then the function can be determined mathematically, but the evaluation becomes heavily influenced by disturbances and outliers leading to inaccurate results

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefunction determination accuracyVSAvoidrobustness against disturbances
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the evaluation criterion from minimizing the sum of squared deviations (quadratic) to minimizing the sum of absolute deviations (linear). This parameter change in the optimization objective function transforms the least squares method into a least absolute deviations method, which is inherently more robust to outliers and disturbances in the measurement data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent converts the harmful effect of outliers and disturbances into a benefit by using an evaluation criterion that is less sensitive to extreme values. The linear evaluation criterion naturally downweights the influence of large deviations, turning what would be harmful disturbances into manageable variations that do not dominate the optimization result.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

2Ease of manufacture

If quadratic evaluation criterion is used, then mathematical optimization is straightforward, but disturbances have excessive influence on the result

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveoptimization simplicityVSAvoiddisturbance influence
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the exponent parameter in the evaluation criterion from 2 (quadratic) to 1 (linear). This simple parameter change maintains mathematical tractability while fundamentally altering the sensitivity to disturbances, reducing the harmful influence of outliers on the optimization result.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If linear increase of individual evaluation with deviation amount is used, then robustness against outliers is improved, but mathematical optimization becomes more complex

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverobustness against outliersVSAvoidoptimization complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the quadratic mechanical analogy (minimizing squared errors) with a linear statistical approach (minimizing absolute errors). This substitution maintains the core optimization framework while changing the mathematical foundation to one that is more robust to outliers, achieving improved reliability without excessive complexity increase.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentEP4474765B1Evaluation of spatially resolved measurement data of flat rolled stock
Publication Date: 2026.03.25 PRIMETALS TECH GERMANY GMBH
  • EP4474765B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4474765B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP4474765B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

A detection device (3) acquires measurement data (yi) of a flat rolled stock (1), each data point being assigned to a specific location (xi) in the longitudinal (rL) and/or lateral (rB) direction and/or thickness (rD) direction of the flat rolled stock (1), such that the measurement data (yi) form a corresponding spatially resolved distribution. An evaluation device (4) receives the measurement data (yi) from the detection device (3). The evaluation device defines parameters (a) for a function (f) that varies with the location (xi) in the longitudinal (rL) and/or lateral (rB) direction and/or thickness (rD) direction of the flat rolled stock (1) such that the deviation of the function (f) parameterized with the optimized values ​​(aopt) of the parameters (a) from the measurement data (yi) is minimized according to an evaluation criterion. Based on the function (f), the evaluation device (4) performs further evaluations.The assessment measure is determined by a sum of individual ratings (di). The evaluation unit (4) determines the individual ratings (di) based on the absolute value of the difference between a given measurement date (yi) and the value of the function (f) at that measurement date (yi). While the individual rating (di) does increase with the absolute value of the difference between the given measurement date (yi) and the value of the function (f) at that measurement date (yi), the increase is less than quadratic.