ONLINE ADAPTIVE CENTRAL IN THE HOT-ROLLING OF STEEL

Hot rolling is a competitive business in which quality and efficiency are of paramount importance. Methods for improving the accuracy and pr ecision of the product can yield significant savings for the steel pro ducer. Automatic control of the process is now widespread, and the inc lusion of adaptive techniques to control systems has shown notable imp rovements in meeting tightening tolerances and reducing scrap. The pap er describes some of the techniques used for on-line identification an d control during the hot rolling of steel. A general adaptive control scheme is described which is applicable to the majority of rolling mil ls, and practical guidelines for success are outlined. Two case studie s are included: the first is the application of extended Kalman filter ing techniques to pass-by-pass adaptation within a section mill; the s econd is the application of similar techniques to feedforward adaptive control of a hot strip mill finishing train.