Dynamic Roll Alignment and Lateral Guides for Strip Geometry Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hot rolling processes in hot strip mills and Steckel mills face challenges in producing straight near-net strips without wedging or lateral curvature due to variations in rolling stock quality and roll gap geometry, leading to lateral deflections and curvature issues.
Innovation Solution
The integration of dynamic roll alignment control (RAC) and hydraulically adjustable lateral guides in roughing stands allows for systematic adjustment of strip geometry, ensuring constant strip thickness and preventing curvature by measuring differential forces and adjusting roll alignment and lateral guide positions and forces automatically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If automatic position control is used to maintain strip centering, then lateral deflections are reduced, but wedging of the rolled strip develops
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies dynamic adjustment of the roll gap geometry during rolling operations. The roll gap is dynamically modified based on detected strip geometry conditions (cambering, wedging) to systematically influence the near-net strip geometry while preventing harmful effects like wedging during position control
Solution Approach 2:
The invention implements a feedback control system that detects strip geometry conditions (cambering, wedging, lateral curvature) and uses this information to automatically adjust the roll gap geometry and lateral guide forces, creating a closed-loop control system that prevents wedging while maintaining position control
2Manufacturing precision
If lateral guides are used to control strip position, then lateral curvature is reduced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention combines multiple control functions into an integrated system. The roll alignment control (RAC) system merges position control, geometry correction, and wedging prevention into a single coordinated control mechanism that manages both lateral guides and roll gap adjustment together
Solution Approach 2:
The lateral guides serve multiple functions simultaneously: they control strip position, prevent lateral curvature, and work in coordination with the roll gap adjustment to correct geometry defects. The system is designed to handle various strip conditions (cambering, wedging, curvature) with a unified approach
Data Source
AI summary
When rolling hot-rolled strips, different draughts per pass might occur during the rolling operation over the length of the roll gap, due to changes in the hardness of the rolling stock, to the roll gap itself or to the geometry of the incoming rolling stock. These different draughts per pass lead to lateral deviations and shifts of the rolling stock in the roll stand and to a lateral bending of the outgoing hot-rolled strip. In order to avoid these defects by intentionally influencing the geometry of the rough-rolled strip, it is proposed to interconnect in at least one roughing-down stand a dynamic positioning in the roughing-down stock (1) with fast and powerful lateral guides (8,9) arranged before and after the roughing-down stand (1), by corresponding regulation operations, in such a way that a grainy or tapering bloom (4) is shaped into a straight and taper-free roughed-down strip (5) in one or more passes, in continuous or reciprocating operation.