Predictive functional control of tandem cold metal rolling

This paper deals with the thickness control of single cold rolling mills and with the combined thickness and tension control of tandem cold rolling mills. It is shown that PI(D) controllers can be effectively replaced by the predictive functional control (PFC), which can be easily implemented and tuned under industrial automation environments. The rolling mill was first physically modelled based on literature data. Data required for the model-based control are identified from a physical model of the processes. Simulations show the advantage of the PFC controller over the PI control.