This paper is concerned with the active compensation of the roll-eccentrici
ty-induced periodic disturbances in the strip exit thickness of hot and col
d rolling mills. The roll eccentricity may be caused by different reasons,
e.g., inexact roll grinding or nonuniform thermal expansion of the rolls. T
he increasing demands on the thickness tolerances require new methods for t
he active compensation of the contribution of the roll eccentricity to the
final thickness deviation. The presented method is based on the factorizati
on approach over the set of stable transfer functions in combination with a
n adaptive least-mean-squares algorithm derived from the projection theorem
. Here, we take advantage of the fact that the eccentricity-caused disturba
nce is periodic with a frequency proportional to the measured angular veloc
ity of the rolls. Furthermore, it turns out that the presented concept fits
the conventional control circuit of automatic gauge control in an optimal
way. Simulation results for a cold rolling mill and measurement results for
a hot strip mill demonstrate the feasibility and the excellent performance
of the design.