Cooling of an obliquely positioned flat rolled product

An apparatus for producing a flat rolled metal product, the apparatus comprising:

• at least one rolling stand, the rolling stand comprising rolls which are rotatable about respective horizontal axes, such that the flat rolled product on the rolls is oriented horizontally during the rolling in the rolling stand;
• a cooling zone arranged downstream of the rolling stand;
• between the rolling stand and the cooling zone and also in the cooling zone, transport rollers that are operable for feeding the flat rolled product to the cooling zone in a horizontal transporting direction (x) and the flat rolled product is guided through the cooling zone;
• wherein the transport rollers have first axes of rotation;
• wherein the first axes of rotation form a first acute angle (α) with the horizontal (H), or the associated transport rollers are pivotable about an axis running in the transporting direction (x) so that the first axes of rotation form the first acute angle (α) with the horizontal (H), at least in a central section of the cooling zone, and before a run-in into the cooling zone and/or during the run-in in the cooling zone, the transport rollers are oriented in such a way that the first axes of rotation of sequentially arranged transport rollers progressively run more and more obliquely until the first acute angle (α) is reached, or the associated transport rollers are pivotable about an axis running in the transporting direction (x) so that the transport rollers are oriented in such a way that the first axes of rotation of sequentially arranged transport rollers progressively run more and more obliquely until the first acute angle (α) is reached;
• and wherein the first acute angle (α) is in the range 5° and 30°, whereby the first acute angle (α) is great enough so that coolant drains away reliably from a top surface of the flat rolled metal product, and low enough so that the flat rolled metal product continues to be reliably guided by the transport rollers.