Braking system for decelerating long products, such as bars, exiting from a rolling mill configured to manufacture said long products and method to operate the same

A method of contactlessly decelerating metal products, exiting a rolling mill, wherein the mill is configured to manufacture the metal products, the method comprising the steps of:

• arranging a braking module comprising a plurality of electromagnets in a series along a braking line, wherein the braking line is positioned between the exit of a rolling mill and a cooling bed for the metal products,
• wherein each of the electromagnets comprises an open magnetic core and a coil around the magnetic core, the open magnetic core comprising a gap formed by two opposed poles of each of the electromagnets;
• inducing by each of the electromagnets a magnetic field flowing across the gap;
• feeding the metal products exiting rolling mill to the braking module by letting the metal products contactlessly slide through each of the gaps of respective open magnetic cores;
• exerting a braking magnetic force on the metal products by the electromagnets while the metal products contactlessly slide through the gaps, while exerting the braking magnetic force opposite to the direction of movement of the metal products;
• arranging at least the braking module comprising a plurality of the electromagnets in a series along a braking line comprising the steps of:
• disposing the electromagnets in a staggered array along the braking line in a first row and a second row arranged to form an alternating arrangement along the braking line;
• the arrangement enabling the contactless passage of the metal products through the gaps of the series of electromagnets by offsetting from each other the electromagnets of respectively the first and the second rows in a direction transverse to the braking line such that all of the gaps formed by the two opposed poles of each electromagnet are arranged to form a contactless passageway for the long products;
• and
• applying on the metal products an overall braking magnetic force that is the sum of the braking magnetic forces developed by each of the electromagnets.