STRIP THICKNESS CONTROL IN ROLLING MILLS USING A GAIN SCHEDULING TECHNIQUE

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology of gain scheduling control for industrial rolling mills to test its feasibility and performance. Two controllers were proposed based on classical gain scheduling techniques acting on gap subsystem to compensate the process disturbances. One of them uses a proposed smoother control action mechanism to improve the process. A local control structure with an integrator in direct path between the controller and the plant was chosen to make the control synthesis more attractive. Optimal quadratic regulator method was used to get the local controllers gains. Simulation results are presented using real industrial data. They showed that the developed gain scheduling controllers are feasible for this process and lead to a less output thickness variations compared with another proposals. It is possible to use the developed control methodology for hot and cold rolling mills.