A method for controlling and optimizing a transverse uniformity of a coating thickness on at least one side of a running metal strip in an industrial galvanization installation, the coating being deposited by hot dip coating in a pot containing a liquid metal bath, includes at least the steps of: heating the strip substrate to a temperature higher than a pot temperature; passing the strip through the bath by wrapping the strip around at least a first deflector roll or sink roll followed by at least one second deflector roll, the second deflector roll improving a flatness of the strip; wiping excess coating thickness carried away by the strip on one or both sides of the strip by wiping nozzles blowing a gas on the strip at an exit of the liquid metal bath; and measuring an actual distance profile between the nozzles and the strip.

A method for monitoring a manufacturing of a metal product, the metal product being manufactured according to a manufacturing process, is implemented by an electronic monitoring device. This method includes acquiring (100) a measured value of at least one representative parameter, each representative parameter being a parameter relating to the metal product or a parameter relating to the manufacturing process, determining (130) a status of the metal product among a compliant status and an analysis status, depending on the at least one acquired value and on at least one target, and when the determined status is the analysis status, computing (150) a corrective action to be applied to the product, among a set of corrective actions and depending on the at least one acquired value, the set of corrective actions including a product repair, a product downgrading, a product expertise and a product acceptance.

An apparatus for controlling coating weight coated on a strip by using an air knife disposed in a travelling direction of the strip in a continuous plating process in which the strip is dipped in a molten metal pot and is coated includes: a prediction model unit including a prediction model in which a neural network is trained with accumulated operation conditions; and an optimum air knife condition calculation unit configured to derive an absolute value of at least one of an air knife gap and an air knife pressure by using the prediction model based on an input operation condition.

An apparatus for controlling coating weight of a steel sheet by using an air knife includes: an air knife condition derivation unit configured to derive a first air knife gap and a final air knife pressure for target coating weight, and derive a second air knife gap for achieving the target coating weight at a current air knife pressure; and an air knife pressure response compensation unit configured to determine a final air knife gap according to a gap compensation amount that is a difference between the second air knife gap and the first air knife gap and a gap compensation ratio based on an air knife pressure variation amount for a control period, in which the control period is a period for updating an air knife condition for the target coating weight.

Provided are a method of predicting hydrogen content in steel of a steel strip etc. Provided is, in a continuous galvanizing line that performs manufacturing processes including an annealing process, a coating process, and a reheating process of a steel strip, a method of predicting hydrogen content in steel of a steel strip downstream of the reheating process, including acquiring at least one parameter selected from operation parameters of the continuous galvanizing line and transformation rate information measured in at least one of the annealing process and the reheating process as input data, and predicting hydrogen content in steel of a steel strip downstream of the reheating process using a prediction model of hydrogen content in steel that has been trained by machine learning and that outputs information on hydrogen content in steel of a steel strip downstream of the reheating process as output data.

An embodiment of a system includes a compartment-generating device, a compartment detector, and electronic computing circuitry. The device is configured to generate compartments of a digital assay, at least one of the compartments having a respective volume that is different from a respective volume of each of at least another one of the compartments. The detector is configured to determine a number of the compartments each having a respective number of a target that is greater than a threshold number of the target. And the electronic circuitry is configured to determine a bulk concentration of the target in a source of the sample in response to the determined number of compartments. Because such a system can be configured to estimate a bulk concentration of a target in a source from a polydisperse digital assay, the system can be portable, and lower-cost and faster, than conventional systems.

A system and method for affecting the crossbow in a metal sheet in continuous coating process. The system comprises strip distance sensors for determining distances to the metal sheet. A controller is configured to adjust the position of the correcting roll, based on the strip distances, to affect the crossbow in the sheet to help control the thickness of the coating on the sheet. The system may comprise a crossbow model to help determine the new correcting roll position. The distances determined by the strip distance sensors may be also be used to adjust the position of the air knives.

An embodiment of a system includes a compartment-generating device, a compartment detector, and electronic computing circuitry. The device is configured to generate compartments of a digital assay, at least one of the compartments having a respective volume that is different from a respective volume of each of at least another one of the compartments. The detector is configured to determine a number of the compartments each having a respective number of a target that is greater than a threshold number of the target. And the electronic circuitry is configured to determine a bulk concentration of the target in a source of the sample in response to the determined number of compartments. Because such a system can be configured to estimate a bulk concentration of a target in a source from a polydisperse digital assay, the system can be portable, and lower-cost and faster, than conventional systems.

An embodiment of a system includes a compartment-generating device, a compartment detector, and electronic computing circuitry. The device is configured to generate compartments of a digital assay, at least one of the compartments having a respective volume that is different from a respective volume of each of at least another one of the compartments. The detector is configured to determine a number of the compartments each having a respective number of a target that is greater than a threshold number of the target. And the electronic circuitry is configured to determine a bulk concentration of the target in a source of the sample in response to the determined number of compartments. Because such a system can be configured to estimate a bulk concentration of a target in a source from a polydisperse digital assay, the system can be portable, and lower-cost and faster, than conventional systems.

The invention relates to a method for patinating zinc surfaces of a structural element, including the steps of: providing a structural element with a zinc surface in a housing; providing an atmosphere around the zinc surface, wherein said atmosphere comprises carbon based gas and humidity; and heating the zinc surface for at least one hour, to provide a patinated zinc surface. The heating of the zinc surface occurs by heating the atmosphere to a temperature of at least 50° C., the humidity is at least 70%, and the carbon-based gas concentration is at least 5% by volume. The invention also relates to a patinated evaporative condenser in a closed-circuit cooling tower The patinated evaporative condenser in a closed-circuit cooling tower is by the method according to the invention. A system for patinating zinc surfaces according to the invention is also disclosed.