A rolling mill stand has two working rolls forming a roll gap in which a rolled product transported in a conveying direction can be formed. The positioning of at least one working roll is variable in a plane perpendicular to the conveying direction. The rolling mill is used in a method which comprises: conveying the rolled product through the roll gap in the conveying direction and at the same time opening or closing the rolling mill stand by correspondingly increasing or decreasing the roll gap; during opening or closing of the roll stand, detecting a position of the rolled product in front of and/or behind the roll gap in the direction transverse to the conveying direction; and changing the positioning of the corresponding working roll depending on the detected position, so that the rolled product is stabilized at a target position during opening or closing of the roll stand.

When the strip head (7) of a metal strip (1) runs out of a roll stand (2a), a lateral position (y) of the strip head (7) is detected by a detection device (8) at at least one location (P) lying between the roll stand (2a) and a device (8) arranged downstream of the roll stand. A strip position controller (10) is designed as a model predictive controller which ascertains a sequence of adjusting commands (u.sub.k) to be output one after the other in a work cycle (T) on the basis of the detected lateral position (y) of the strip head (7), and the sequence is used to adjust a respective roll gap wedge. The number of control commands (u.sub.k) define a prediction horizon (PH) of the strip position controller (10) in connection with the work cycle (T). The strip position controller (10) at least supplies the roll stand (2a) with the control command (u.sub.0) ascertained to be output next.

A plurality of flat metal items to be rolled (3) are fed to a plurality of rolling stands (1, 2) of a rolling installation, one after the other over a feed path (4). The items (3) are rolled by the rolling stands (1, 2) past which they are fed. In the rolling stands (1, 2), the flat item to be rolled (3) is first rough-rolled in at least one roughing pass with a wedge-type roll gap adjustment (ds) and then finish-rolled in finishing passes. After the finish-rolling of the flat item, a thickness taper (dd) that is present in the respective finish-rolled flat item is recorded by measuring instruments. The thickness taper (dd) is compared with a target taper (dZ). On the basis of a deviation of the thickness taper (dd) from the target taper (dZ) and the wedge-type roll gap adjustment (ds), a new wedge-type roll gap adjustment (ds) is determined for the at least one roughing pass. The wedge-type roll gap adjustment (ds) for the at least one roughing pass for the next flat item to be rolled (3) is set to correspond to the newly determined value of the wedge-type roll gap adjustment (ds), so that the next flat item to be rolled (3) is rough-rolled in the at least one roughing pass with the newly determined value of the wedge-type roll gap adjustment (ds).

A method and a device for guiding and centering a metallic rolling stock in a rolling mill having at least one assembly that is arranged in a rolling line and at least one rolling mill stand for shaping the rolling stock are disclosed. The method includes the use of lateral guide means, which exert a lateral force onto the moving rolling stock at different locations of the rolling line, wherein the method further includes the process of centering the inflow of the rolling stock ahead of a first assembly and/or ahead of a first rolling mill stand of the rolling mill using first lateral guide means and the process of aligning rolling stock downstream transversely to the rolling line using second lateral guide means, wherein the process of centering the inflow includes a funnel-shaped, flat guiding of the rolling stock and a point-shaped guiding of the rolling stock.

A device for ascertaining the lateral strip contour and/or the position of the strip edges of a metal strip. It includes at least one sensing element for ascertaining suitable measurement data. The sensing element is integrated into a lateral guide together with a main part module of the metal strip conveying device. The lateral guide includes at least one wear element which is arranged in the lateral guide and which comprises a wear element adjusting device that can be rotated about a rotational axis substantially perpendicular to a guide plane of the lateral guide. The wear element together with the wear element adjusting device is designed as a sensing element. In an operating method, at least one sensing element is brought into contact with a lateral edge at a starting time, and suitable measurement data is ascertained using the sensing element while the metal strip runs past the sensing element.

A cold rolling facility includes: a heating device; a tandem mill including a plurality of rolling mills; a meandering-amount measuring unit; a meandering-movement correction device; a shape measuring unit; a shape controller configured to control a shape of a steel sheet after being cold-rolled by the rolling mill located on the uppermost stream side; and a controller configured to control operations of the meandering-movement correction device based on a measurement value of a meandering-movement amount of the steel sheet by the meandering-amount measuring unit to control a meandering movement of the steel sheet before being heated, and configured to control operations of the shape controller based on a measurement value of a shape of the steel sheet by the shape measuring unit to control the meandering movement of the steel sheet that is attributed to cold rolling of the steel sheet by the tandem mill.

When the strip head (7) of a metal strip (1) runs out of a roll stand (2a), a lateral position (y) of the strip head (7) is detected by a detection device (8) at at least one location (P) lying between the roll stand (2a) and a device (8) arranged downstream of the roll stand. A strip position controller (10) is designed as a model predictive controller which ascertains a sequence of adjusting commands (u.sub.k) to be output one after the other in a work cycle (T) on the basis of the detected lateral position (y) of the strip head (7), and the sequence is used to adjust a respective roll gap wedge. The number of control commands (u.sub.k) define a prediction horizon (PH) of the strip position controller (10) in connection with the work cycle (T). The strip position controller (10) at least supplies the roll stand (2a) with the control command (u.sub.0) ascertained to be output next.

[Object] To provide a rolling apparatus that enables an operator to recognize the rolling status such as the behavior of the steel sheet entering the rolling stand and enables a stable rolling process. [Solution] A rolling apparatus 10 includes a plurality of rolling stands 11 each including a pair of rolling mills 12, and an imaging unit 15 provided between adjacent rolling stands 11A and 11B, the imaging unit 15 being configured to image a steel sheet 1 entering a pair of rolling mills 12B of the rolling stand 11B from an upstream side of the rolling stand 11A located on a downstream side in a rolling direction. The imaging unit 15 is disposed so as to satisfy the following equation (1), on the upstream side in the rolling direction Z of the rolling stand 11B, in a central portion in the width direction of the steel sheet in an area P in which the steel sheet 1 is able to be conveyed:
2Ltan(/2)>W.sub.max(1)
wherein L represents a distance in the rolling direction between the rolling stand 11B located on the downstream side in the rolling direction and the imaging unit 15, represents a horizontal viewing angle of the imaging unit, and W.sub.max represents a maximum width of the steel sheet 1.

Apparatus to control and adjust the drawing action in a rolling mill provided with rolling stands through which a product passes. A video monitoring system acquires frames of the product; a processing system that processes the frames and defines a normal rolling range within which the product being rolled must be positioned; identifies the position of the product and its geometric characteristics; and identifies a possible variation of the position of the product being rolled over time based on the analysis of the sequence of frames acquired. An automation system is associated with the rolling mill, configured to receive data relating to the position of the product to determine the continuation of the rolling if the product is correctly positioned in the range, or a variation of the rolling parameters if the position of the product being rolled is able to generate a cobble which is outside of the range.

A flatness-measuring device for a hot-rolled strip within a hot-rolling mill includes an entry-side deflection roller and an exit-side deflection roller. A central deflection roller is arranged between the entry-side deflection roller and the exit-side deflection roller. The central deflection roller is used as a flatness-measuring roller. To prevent the hot-rolled strip from departing laterally during a flatness measurement, the flatness-measuring device has a sensing apparatus for sensing an actual position of the hot-rolled strip. An adjusting apparatus is connected to the sensing apparatus and to at least one of the deflection rollers. The flatness-measuring device is designed to vary an angle between a longitudinal central axis of the deflection roller respectively connected to the adjusting apparatus and a longitudinal axis of the flatness-measuring device based on a deviation of the actual position of the hot-rolled strip from a predefined target position.