AUTOMATION OF A LABORATORY PLANT FOR DIRECT CASTING OF THIN STEEL STRIPS

The automation of a double roller laboratory plant for continuous cast ing of thin steel strip is described. A nonlinear state-space process model which represents the dynamics of the solidification and forming process has been developed. Based on this model the control concept us ing the force as the controlled variable has been derived and applied to the plant. Furthermore, starting the process which is difficult to handle is treated as an optimization problem. The solution to this tas k is given as a nonlinear two-point boundary value problem which is so lved by means of a gradient method. A multi-microcomputer system based on the AMS-Bus has been developed to handle the variety of all tasks of automation at the laboratory plant.