Method for controlling a two continuous strands rolling plant

Abstract

A slit plant comprises a rest bar (14), for regulating the transversal position of an inlet guide to the molder unit (12), a rolling unit for reducing the billet to a rolled section having two sections, a cutting box (13) for separating the two sections into two separate strands, one or more rolling units for rolling the two strands (1, 2), pairs of speed and/or section measurers (20, 21) downstream of the cutting box (13), a shear (15). The method for controlling the plant provides measuring the rolling speeds V1 and V2 of each of the two strands (1, 2) and/or of the respective sections A1 and A2 of the two strands (1, 2) downstream of the cutting box (13) by means of pairs of measurers; detecting the lengths of the two strands (1, 2) and calculating the difference in length thereof, based on which the plant, in a successive feedback step, is activated to decrease the difference in length between the two strands (1, 2).

Claims

1. A method for controlling a two continuous strands production plant, said two continuous strands being obtained by dividing a single continuous metal billet into two parts along a central longitudinal axis thereof, said production plant being provided with: one or more first rolling units for reducing the single billet to a substantially rectangular section, a rest bar having an inlet guide mounted thereon, a moulder unit for starting a deformation of the single billet so as to produce a rolled section consisting of two equally shaped parts joined along said central longitudinal axis, the rest bar being configured to regulate a transversal position of the inlet guide with respect to the moulder unit, one or more second rolling units for deforming the rolled section until achieving an almost complete separation of the two equally shaped parts of the rolled section, a cutting box for completing the longitudinal separation of the two equally shaped parts of the rolled section and producing two separate strands of the rolled section, one or more third rolling units for rolling said two strands, along respective rolling lines, comprising a last rolling unit of said plant consisting of a finishing block comprising two separate rolling sub-units which are regulated independently from each other, and positioned downstream of said first and second rolling units, a control system that calculates mass flow of each of said two strands based on measurements from a pair of speed sensors, said pair of speed sensors adapted to detect speed of the two strands for calculating the mass flow of the two strands, and arranged downstream of the cutting box, the pair of speed sensors including a first speed sensor arranged to detect speed of a first of the two strands and a second speed sensor arranged to detect speed of a second of the two strands, a cutting shear arranged downstream of said pair of speed sensors and of the last rolling unit, wherein said control method comprising: a step of measuring said speed of the two strands by means of the pair of speed sensors, step of calculating the mass flow of each of said two strands starting from said speed of the two strands and of calculating the difference of mass flow between said two strands, a feedback step on at least one component of said production plant which varies the mass flow along said lines so as to decrease the difference in length between the two strands as a function of said difference of mass flow between said two strands.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one component of the production plant is the rest bar and the feedback step provides modifying the position of the rest bar to obtain the centering of the billet in the moulder stand.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the feedback step provides a micrometric and automatic regulation of the rest bar.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said speed sensors are arranged downstream of the last rolling unit and the parameters for calculating the mass flow of the two strands comprise the rolling speed V1 and V2 of the strands.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said plant is further provided with a pair of section surface measurers adapted to detect section surface parameters of the two strands, the section surface measurers and the speed sensors being arranged downstream of the cutting box and before the last rolling unit for a case when there is more than one third rolling unit downstream of the cutting box, and the parameters for calculating the mass flow of the two strands comprise the surface of the sections A1 and A2 and the rolling speeds V1 and V2 of the strands.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one component of the production plant comprises the last rolling unit.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein there is provided modifying the working parameters of the last rolling unit, in particular the number of revolutions of, and/or gap between, the rolling rolls of at least one of the rolling sub-units.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said plant is further provided with a pair of section surface measurers adapted to detect section surface parameters of the two strands, the section surface measurers and the speed sensors being arranged downstream of the last rolling unit and upstream of the cutting shear, and the parameters for calculating the mass flow of the two strands comprise the surface measurements of the sections A1 and A2 and the rolling speeds V1 and V2 of the strands.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the at least one component of the production plant also comprises the rest bar.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said feedback step provides modifying the position of the rest bar to obtain the centering of the billet in the moulder stand.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the feedback step provides a micrometric and automatic regulation of the rest bar.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) Further features and advantages of the invention will be more apparent in light of the detailed description of preferred, but not exclusive, embodiments of a method for controlling a two strand production plant according to the invention, disclosed by way of a non-limiting example, with the aid of enclosed drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 diagrammatically depicts a sequence of rolling units for a two strand production of the state of the art;

(3) FIG. 2 diagrammatically depicts a sequence of rolling units for a two strand production plant according to a first embodiment of the invention;

(4) FIG. 3 depicts a flow diagram of a method for controlling the plant in FIG. 2;

(5) FIG. 4 diagrammatically depicts a sequence of rolling units for a two strand production plant according to a second embodiment of the invention;

(6) FIG. 5 depicts a detail of the plant in FIG. 2;

(7) FIG. 6 depicts a detail of the plant in FIG. 4;

(8) FIG. 7 depicts a flow diagram of a method for controlling the plant in FIG. 4.

(9) The same numbers in the figures correspond to the same elements or components.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

(10) With reference to FIG. 2, a sequence is shown of rolling units, per se known, comprising, by way of non-exhaustive example, a rest bar 14, arranged after the rolling stand or unit 3 and immediately upstream of the moulder unit or stand 12. The guide device for guiding the billet 60, called box or rolling guide or inlet guide, installed on the rest bar 14, and the moulder unit 12 together define the deformation step of billet 60, thus defining a central longitudinal axis, so as to produce a rolled section 61 consisting of two equally shaped parts joined along said central longitudinal axis.

(11) The slitting process starts at the rolling stand 3 where the billet profile is generally shaped with a transversal section, for example substantially rectangular, which allows the material to be prepared for the subsequent division.

(12) In the next rolling step, performed by means of one or more rolling units 4, the rolled section 61 is deformed until achieving an almost complete separation of the two equally shaped parts of the rolled section 61, thus obtaining the so-called shaping of the double round rod 61 which is then improved and finally cut at the successive step where there is provided a cutting box 13, per se known, to which the step of separating the rolled material into two separate strands 1, 2 corresponds.

(13) Further rolling units with oval and round cross section are arranged downstream of the cutting box 13, sufficient in number to bring the strands to the desired final section, it being normal that the last rolling unit 11 be round in section. A cutting shear 15 is arranged downstream of the last rolling unit 11.

(14) Once separated, the two continuous strands 1 and 2 cross said further rolling units along respective rolling lines 100, 200. The last rolling unit 11 of said plant consists of a finishing block comprising two separate rolling sub-units 11, 11 which may be regulated independently from each other. In a plant of such a type, the control system is provided which implements the method of the invention.

(15) The control system, object of the invention, provides measuring the mass flow on two lines 100, 200 due to one or more pairs of speed and section measurers.

(16) For example, as depicted in FIG. 5, a pair of velocimeters can be used, arranged between the last rolling unit 11 and the cutting shear 15. In this case the process object of the invention is used in accordance with a first embodiment, of which FIG. 3 contains the related flow diagram, which provides the production of strands having identical section and the commercial length cut in cooling plate, downstream of shear 15. The control system starts with verifying the presence of the material, that is the strands 1 and 2, below the speed sensors or detectors (velocimeters), indicated with block 31. If there is material, the operation continues by taking the measurements, which in the case depicted, are the speeds V1 and V2, (block 32); if instead, there is no material below the sensors, the cycle resumes. Once the measurement has been taken by the velocimeter positioned between the last rolling unit 11 and shear 15 (block 32), the system performs a query relating to the entity of the difference in the speeds obtained (block 33) and if it is between +0.05% and 0.05%, that is V<0.1%, the system resumes with a new measurement. If the response at block 33 is negative, the system assesses if the speeds are such that V1>V2 (block 34). If V1>V2, it means that the mass flow on line 100, where strand 1 runs, is greater than the mass flow on line 200, where strand 2 runs, and hence strand 1 is lengthened more than strand 2. Hence the system gives the motor of the rest bar 14 an input so as to perform a micrometric regulation of the position of the rest bar transversally towards line 200 (block 35), thus causing the inlet guide to move transversally with respect to the moulder unit 12, and hence causing the rolling material to move transversally to increase the mass flow of line 200 and consequently decrease the mass flow on line 100. Instead, if the inequality V1>V2 is not true, it means that the opposite circumstance has occurred: the strand 2 of line 200, having a greater mass flow, is lengthened more than the strand 1 of line 100 and hence the system performs a micrometric regulation by moving the rest bar 14 transversally towards line 100 (case of block 36) to increase the inlet mass of the strand 1 on line 100 and decrease the inlet mass of the strand 2 on line 200.

(17) It is understood that the mass flow can be measured with various combinations of speed and section sensors arranged downstream of the cutting box 13 and upstream of the shear 15, and that the process depending thereon is consequently adapted for achieving the same object.

(18) The second embodiment of the invention, made by means of the sequence of rolling units shown in FIG. 4 and similar to the one of the rolling plant in FIG. 1, is suitable for plants in which a commercial length cut is applied directly on line immediately outside the rolling mill with the shear 15, and in which it is therefore fundamental to obtain bars in line of the same final length required by the market and with a section which instead may not be identical but must in any event remain within the tolerance required by the market, whereby the cutting lengths between the two strands 1 and 2 are to be made equal.

(19) In this embodiment of the invention in which a detail is shown in FIG. 6, arranged immediately downstream of the last rolling unit 11 are sensors or detectors of the rolling speed V1, V2 of the strands 1, 2, both arranged before the cutting shear 15.

(20) It is also provided that the last rolling unit 11 for the two strands 1, 2 consist of a finishing block consisting of two separate rolling sub-units 11, 11 containing rolling rolls, the gaps of which can be regulated independently from each other. Furthermore, the rotation speeds of the rolling rolls of the two sub-units can also be autonomously regulated in each sub-unit 11, 11, thus allowing the differentiated regulation of the pulling action on the two strands 1 and 2.

(21) The finishing block 11 serves the main function of rolling the two strands separately and in control of the pulling action with respect to the oval rolling unit 10 preceding it, so as to impose two separate pulling actions and compensate any differences in rolling speed between the two strands 1 and 2, at the expense of the respective section of each strand, which will be slightly different due to an unequal flow of mass. The purpose is to have two strands 1, 2 with equal length, and this corresponds to an equal average rolling speed of the two strands: the control system serves the purpose of making the two average rolling speeds of the strands coincide. As mentioned, this last rolling unit 11 also has the feature of separately regulating the number of revolutions, and possibly the gap, of the two rolling sub-units 11, 11, so as to ensure flexibility in keeping over time of the section of the strands 1 and 2 on the respective lines 100 and 200.

(22) In addition to an increased speed of the strands 1 and 2, the increased number of revolutions of the rolls in the rolling unit 11 also results in a decrease of the rolled section because the material is increasingly pulled and lengthened. Therefore an attempt is made to eliminate the variation in length of the strands generated with a diameter variation thereof.

(23) The diameter of the strands must obviously remain within predetermined tolerance limits. This results in one of the two strands having a slightly larger mass than the other (always within the legal tolerances), but discards and material wastage are eliminated, thus in any event ensuring the length of the finished strand.

(24) This control system provides entering into action only if the following starting conditions are met:
0.5%<A1A2<0.5% and
0.5%<V1V2<0.5%.

(25) This occurs because the differences in section and in speed between the two strands can not be greater than 1% because this could result in a strand being outside the tolerances.

(26) Hence, starting with these conditions, the control system, the operation of which is indicated in the flow diagram in FIG. 7, starts verifying the presence of material (block 41) and, if it is there, detects the values of the sections A1, A2 and of the speeds V1, V2 of the strands 1, 2 with the respective sensors (block 42), otherwise the cycle resumes. Alternatively, the values can be continuously detected but only be analysed later in the presence of the material. Once sections A1, A2 and speeds V1, V2 have been detected, the control system verifies if
0.05%<V1V2<+0.05% (block 43)

(27) i.e. if the difference in speed between the two strands 1 and 2 of the lines 100 and 200, indicated in FIG. 5, falls within the range accepted by the control system (hence the control system limits the difference in speed to 0.1% so that shear 15 can cut two bars of equal length or at most with an acceptable variation). If the response is affirmative the system resumes from the beginning, instead if the response is negative another check is performed among the speeds of the strands:
V1>V2(block 44)

(28) i.e. the faster of the two lines 100 or 200 is identified by calculating if the speed of line 100 is greater than the one of line 200. Should the response be affirmative, i.e. if V2<V1, there would be a need to increase the pulling action of the rolling sub-unit 11 on line 200, thus consequently decreasing section A2; but before performing this operation, the system must ensure that section A2 is not already at the lower limit: so it is verified if A2>(Set0.5%), (block 55), where Set is the nominal size of the section of the finished product or other predefined value. If the response is affirmative, i.e. section A2 falls within the accepted range, then the pulling action of the rolling sub-unit 11 on line 200 is increased (block 56), that is the number of revolutions rpm2 of the rolling rolls of the rolling sub-unit 11 is increased, and the control activity is resumed from the beginning. Instead, if the condition A2>(Set0.5%) is not met, it means that section A2 is at the tolerance limit and can not be further reduced. The control system then verifies if section A1<(Set+0.5%), i.e. if the section of strand 1 on line 100 is less than the upper limit or if instead it exceeds it (block 57). If the response at block 57 is affirmative, then the control system controls the two motors of the rolling rolls of the rolling sub-units 11, 11 and increases gap G2 of the rolling rolls of sub-unit 11 on line 200 so as to increase section A2 and result in it no longer being precisely at the limit of tolerability, but it also simultaneously increases gap G1 of the rolling rolls of sub-unit 11 on line 100 so as not to further increase the difference in speed of the two lines 100 and 200 (block 48). The gaps G1 and G2 can be increased by the same quantity or gap G1 can be increased a little more than gap G2 so as to increase speed V2. If there is a negative response at block 57, i.e. section A1 is excessively large and section A2 is excessively small, the control system does not perform any action and signals an error upstream (block 49). In this case, there is a need for an operation upstream.

(29) If the response at block 44 is negative, i.e. the speeds are V2>V1, the pulling action of the rolling sub-unit 11 on line 100 should be increased, thus consequently decreasing section A1. But before performing this operation, the control system must ensure that section A1 is not already at the lower limit: so it is verified if section A1>(Set0.5%), (block 45), where Set is the nominal size of the section of the finished product or other predefined value. If the response is affirmative, i.e. section A1 falls within the accepted range, then the pulling action of the rolling sub-unit 11 on line 100 is increased (block 46), that is the number of revolutions rpm1 of the rolling rolls of the rolling sub-unit 11 is increased, and the control activity is resumed from the beginning. Instead, if A1>(Set0.5%), it means that section A1 is at the tolerance limit and can not be further reduced. The control system then verifies if section A2<(Set+0.5%), i.e. if the section of strand 2 on line 200 is less than the upper limit or if instead it exceeds it (block 47).

(30) If the response at block 47 is affirmative, then the control system controls the two motors of the rolling rolls of the rolling sub-units 11, 11 and increases gap G1 of the rolling rolls of sub-unit 11 on line 100 so as to increase section A1 and result in it no longer being precisely at the limit of tolerability, but simultaneously also increases gap G2 of the rolling rolls of sub-unit 11 on line 200 so as not to further increase the difference in speed of the two lines (block 48). The gaps G1 and G2 can be increased by the same quantity or gap G2 can be increased a little more than gap G1 so as to increase speed V1. If there is a negative response at block 47, i.e. section A2 is excessively large and section A1 is excessively small, the control system stops and signals an error upstream (block 49). In this case, there is a need for an operation upstream.

(31) The regulations which are performed on the pulling action of the last rolling unit 11 are advantageously proportionate to the entity of the difference between the speeds V1 and V2, but are small in all cases, i.e. at most the pulling action varies by 0.5% (5 rpm over 1000); and the system must ensure that:

(32) a) the punctual values of the speeds V1 and V2 are as similar as possible;

(33) b) the average values of the speeds V1 and V2 are as similar as possible: at the end, the average values of the speeds between one cut and the next will determine the actual lengths of the cut strands.

(34) The two embodiments of the above-described invention in relation to FIGS. 2 and 4 can be combined to form a third one (not shown in the figures), in which the control system performs a feedback both on the rest bar 14 to equilibrate/balance the mass flows of the two lines 100 and 200, and at the level of the last rolling unit 11, which may be separately regulated on the two lines 100 and 200, to obviate the different residual mass flows. This third variant of the invention is also advantageously applied in plants in which a commercial length cut is directly applied in line, immediately outside the rolling mill, with shear 15.

(35) The main advantages of the method of the invention consist in being able to decrease the quantity of human resources required for the activity of controlling a two strand slit plant; being able to automate the command of the rest bar 14 with feedback control; balancing the mass flow at the outlet of the moulder unit 12, in the first embodiment of the above-described method; being able to manage the difference of mass flow in the production of bars cut in line at commercial length, in the second embodiment of the above-described method; minimizing/eliminating the discards in traditional plants, thus increasing the process performance.