Strip temperature control for a heating section in CAL

A new type of strip temperature control system for a heating section in the continuous annealing line (CAL) has been developed and tested on the No.1 CAL at Sumitomo Metals´ Kashima Works with satisfactory control performance. The system is characterized by transition control to optimize the adjustment timing of the furnace temperature and the line speed based on the prediction of the strip temperature transition. The optimization is achieved by the Fletcher-Powell method. The prediction model fully includes the dynamics of the strip temperature transition due to the furnace temperature response and the heat transfer between the strip and hearth rolls