Advanced automation concept of runout table strip cooling for hot strip and plate mills

With their operational experience of the classical automation concept, SMS Demag AG have further developed theirs for the automation of cooling sections. An essential aspect is the use of the thermophysical process knowledge for setup calculation and for control during production. The cooling section is therefore regarded as a system through which unsteady energy flows. This system definition also allows the flexible use of the final control elements, since the temperature profile between the pyrometer of the finishing train and that of the coiler can be continuously calculated, i.e. observed during production and compared and controlled with a reference temperature profile. This has enormous advantages as the influence of process disturbances, e.g. by power speedup and speeddown, is effective simultaneously at each point within the cooling section. The advanced control concept combines proven model technology with new features that provide a high degree of flexibility concerning dynamically changing process parameters and transient conditions. In 1999 SMS Demag AG received two orders for runout-table cooling on the basis of the advanced automation concept