System and method for coating of continuous sheets of metal
AssigneeHatch Ltd.
InventorOwen Pearcey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for affecting the crossbow in a metal sheet in continuous coating process. The system comprises strip distance sensors for determining distances to the metal sheet. A controller is configured to adjust the position of the correcting roll, based on the strip distances, to affect the crossbow in the sheet to help control the thickness of the coating on the sheet. The system may comprise a crossbow model to help determine the new correcting roll position. The distances determined by the strip distance sensors may be also be used to adjust the position of the air knives.
Claims16
A method for a sheet coating process, the method comprising:
- a) submerging a sheet in a coating bath of coating material;
- b) contacting the sheet in the coating bath with a main roll and a correcting roll to alter the direction of the sheet and alter a crossbow in the sheet;
- c) measuring distances from a select location at or near a set of air knives to a plurality of points simultaneously on the sheet transverse to the direction of travel of the sheet and downstream of the correcting roll;
- d) determining by measurement the crossbow in the sheet based on the distance measurements from step c);
- e) prior to submerging the sheet in the coating bath, providing a crossbow modeling curve, the crossbow modeling curve comprising solutions for a correcting roll position that provides a minimum crossbow or a zero crossbow in the sheet;
- and
- f) changing the correcting roll position relative to the main roll based on the distance measurements and the crossbow modeling curve to impart a correction in the sheet to provide a minimum crossbow or a zero crossbow in the sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.