# US 12,766,548 B2 · Method for managing coating gloss on a coil-coating line

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- Number: US 12,766,548 B2
- Document ID: US12766548B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/716,389
- Filed: 2022-12-09
- Published: 2025-01-16
- Granted: 2026-10-20
- Earliest claimed: 2021-12-15
- Assignees: ArcelorMittal
- Applicants: ArcelorMittal
- Inventors: Fabrice Farina; Jacky Mallegol; Eric Silberberg; Charles Hanquet; Thomas Defize
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12766548B2

## CPC

- B05D 3/067: {Curing or cross-linking the coating}
- B05D 3/0263: {with IR heaters}
- B05D 5/06: to obtain multicolour or other optical effects (B05D5/02 takes precedence)
- B05D 7/14: to metal, e.g. car bodies (involving a chemical reaction between the metal and the coating C23)
- B05C 1/0826: {the work being a web or sheets (B05C1/0804, B05C1/0808, B05C1/0813, B05C1/0817, B05C1/0821, B05C1/10, B05C1/12 take precedence)}
- B05D 2202/10: based on Fe
- B05D 2252/02: of indefinite length
- B05D: PROCESSES FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL (conveying articles or workpieces through baths of liquid B65G, e.g. B65G49/02)
- B05C: APPARATUS FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL (spraying apparatus, atomising apparatus, nozzles B05B; plant for applying liquids or other fluent materials to objects by electrostatic spraying B05B5/08)

## Abstract

A method for managing the gloss of an organic coating formed on a moving strip on a coil-coating line, the method including the steps of: 1) Setting a set gloss value Gs, a set gloss range Rs and a proportionality constant K of a predefined linear mathematical relation between the temperature of the wet film before UV curing and the gloss, 2) Collecting the measure of the temperature T of the wet film in at least a width portion of the moving strip upstream of the UV curing device and collecting the measure of the gloss G, 3) Correcting a deviation of the measured gloss G beyond Rs, this step including a sub-step of calculating the corrected temperature Tc to be reached by the wet film in the width portion upstream of the UV curing device according to equation: Tc=T+K(G−Gs).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for managing gloss of an organic coating formed by application and curing of a wet film of a radcure paint on a moving strip on a coil-coating line having, sequentially along the path P of the moving strip, a paint applicator, a heating device comprising an infrared heater, an Ultra-Violet curing device and an Electron-Beam curing device, the method comprising the steps of:
setting a set gloss value Gs of the organic coating, a set gloss range Rs of the gloss of the organic coating and a proportionality constant K of a predefined linear mathematical relation between the temperature of the wet film before Ultra-Violet curing and the gloss of the organic coating after Electron-Beam curing;
collecting a measure of the temperature T of the wet film in at least a width portion of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device and collecting a measure of the gloss G of the organic coating in the at least a width portion downstream of the Electron-Beam curing device;
correcting a deviation of the measured gloss G beyond the set gloss range Rs, the correcting step including a sub-step of calculating a corrected temperature Tc to be reached by the wet film, in the at least a width portion downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device, according to equation 1:
T
c
=
T
+
K
⁡
(
G
-
G
s
)
(
1
)

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising an initial line setting step wherein:
a plurality of process parameters or of specifications of the strip are collected,
at least one initial line condition among the initial power PW0 of the infrared heater, an initial UV dose D0 of the Ultra-Violet curing device and an initial length L0 between the Ultra-Violet curing device and the Electron-Beam curing device is set, taking into account the collected process parameters or specifications of the strip.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the correcting step further includes adjusting a power of the infrared heater so that the wet film reaches the corrected temperature Tc in the at least a width portion of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the coil-coating line further includes an inductor upstream of the paint applicator and wherein the correcting step further includes adjusting a power of the inductor so that the wet film reaches the corrected temperature Tc in the at least a width portion of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method as recited in claim 1 wherein:
the Ultra-Violet curing device includes a UV module,
the setting step further includes setting a maximum temperature Tmax for the radcure paint,
the collecting step further includes collecting a UV dose D of the UV module,
the correcting step further includes the sub-steps of:
evaluating if Tc is superior to Tmax,
if not, adjusting a power of the infrared heater so that the wet film reaches the corrected temperature Tc in the at least a width portion of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device,
if Tc is superior to Tmax:
calculating the corrected UV dose Dc to which the wet film in the at least a width portion must be exposed in the UV module according to equation 2:
D
c
=
f
1
(
D
,
G
,
G
s
)
(
2
)

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method as recited in claim 5 wherein the correcting step further includes adjusting the power of the UV module so that the wet film in the at least a width portion of the moving strip is exposed to the corrected UV dose Dc.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method as recited in claim 6 wherein the correcting step further includes a sub-step of adjusting a setting of the coil-coating line other than the power of the infrared heater taking into account the calculated corrected UV dose Dc.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The method as recited in claim 5 wherein:
the UV module is movable along the path P,
the setting step further includes setting a maximum UV dose Dmax to which the wet film can be exposed in the UV module,
the collecting step further includes collecting a length L between the UV module and the Electron-Beam curing device,
the correcting step further includes the sub-steps of:
If Tc is superior to Tmax:
evaluating if Dc is superior to Dmax,
if not, adjusting the power of the UV module so that the wet film in the at least a width portion of the moving strip is exposed with the corrected UV dose Dc,
if Dc is superior to Dmax, calculating a corrected length Lc between the UV module and the Electron-Beam curing device according to equation 3:
L
c
=
f
2
(
L
,
G
,
G
s
)
(
3
)

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method as recited in claim 8 wherein the correcting step further includes adjusting a length between the UV module and the Electron-Beam curing device to the corrected length Lc so that the gloss of value Gs is obtained on the organic coating in the at least a width portion of the moving strip downstream of the Electron-Beam curing device.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the correcting step further includes a sub-step of adjusting a setting of the coil-coating line taking into account the calculated corrected temperature Tci.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method as recited in claim 8 wherein the correcting step further includes a sub-step of adjusting a setting of the coil-coating line other than the power of the infrared heater and than the power of the UV module, taking into account the calculated corrected length Lc.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method as recited in claim 1 wherein:
the heating device includes a plurality of infrared heaters IR, IR′, IR″ . . . IRi forming a row substantially parallel to the width of the path P,
the collecting step includes collecting measures of the temperatures T, T′, T″ . . . Ti of the wet film in a plurality of width portions P, P′, P″ . . . Pi of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heaters and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device and collecting the measures of the glosses G, G′, G″ . . . Gi of the organic coating in the plurality of width portions P, P′, P″ . . . Pi downstream of the Electron-Beam curing device,
the correcting step includes, for any width portion Pi independently from the others, correcting a deviation of the measured gloss Gi beyond the set gloss range Rs, the correcting step being defined as correcting step Si including a sub-step Ci of calculating the corrected temperature
T
c
i
to be reached by the wet film in the width portion Pi downstream of the infrared heater IRi and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device according to the equation:
T
c
i
=
T
i
+
K
⁡
(
G
i
-
G
s
)
(
1
i
)

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the correcting step further includes adjusting a power of the infrared heater IRi so that the wet film reaches the corrected temperature
T
c
i
in the width portion Pi of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater IRi and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method as recited in claim 13 wherein the correcting step further includes a sub-step of adjusting a setting of the coil-coating line other than the power of the infrared heater IRi taking into account the calculated corrected UV dose
D
c
i

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The method as recited in claim 12 wherein:
the Ultra-Violet curing device includes a plurality of UV modules UV, UV′, UV″ . . . UVi forming a row substantially parallel to the width of the path P,
the setting step further includes setting a maximum temperature Tmax for the radcure paint,
the collecting step further includes collecting the UV doses D, D′, D″ . . . Di of the UV modules,
the correcting step further includes the sub-steps of:
evaluating if
T
c
i
is superior to Tmax,
if not, adjusting the power of the infrared heater IRi so that the wet film reaches the corrected temperature
T
c
i
in the width portion Pi of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater IRi and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device,
if Tci is superior to Tmax:
calculating the corrected UV dose
D
c
i
to which the wet film in the width portion Pi must be exposed in the UV module UVi according to equation 2i:
D
c
i
=
f
1
(
D
i
,
G
i
,
G
s
)
(
2
i
)

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method as recited in claim 15 wherein the correcting step further includes adjusting the power of the UV module UVi so that the wet film in the width portion Pi of the moving strip is exposed to the corrected UV dose Dci.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method as recited in claim 15 wherein:
the UV modules are movable along the path P independently from one another,
the setting step further includes setting a maximum UV dose Dmax to which the wet film can be exposed in the UV modules,
the collecting step further includes collecting lengths L, L′, L″ . . . Li between the UV modules and the Electron-Beam curing device,
the correcting step further includes the sub-steps of:
if
T
c
i
is superior to Tmax:
evaluating if
D
c
i
is superior to Dmax:
if not, adjusting the power of the UV module UVi so that the wet film in the width portion Pi of the moving strip is exposed to the UV dose
D
c
i
in the UV module UVi,
if
D
c
i
is superior to Dmax, calculating the corrected length
L
c
i
between the UV module UVi and the Electron-Beam curing device according to equation 3i:
L
c
i
=
f
2
(
L
i
,
G
i
,
G
s
)
(
3
)

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method as recited in claim 17 wherein the correcting step further comprises adjusting the length between the UV module UVi and the Electron-Beam curing device so that the gloss of value Gs is obtained on the organic coating in the width portion Pi downstream of the Electron-Beam curing device.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the correcting step further includes a sub-step of adjusting a setting of the coil-coating line taking into account the calculated corrected temperature Tc.

### Claim 20

A coil-coating line comprising:
a paint applicator,
a heating device including an infrared heater downstream of the paint applicator, and
an Ultra-Violet curing device and an Electron-Beam curing device, downstream of the heating device,
the coil-coating line further comprising a gloss management tool for managing gloss of an organic coating formed by application and curing of a wet film of a radcure paint on a moving strip on the coil-coating line, the gloss management tool including:
a setting module setting a set gloss value Gs of the organic coating, a set gloss range Rs of the gloss of the organic coating and a proportionality constant K of a predefined linear mathematical relation between the temperature of the wet film before Ultra-Violet curing and the gloss of the organic coating after Electron-Beam curing,
an acquisition module collecting the measure of the temperature T of the wet film in at least a width portion of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device and for collecting the measure of the gloss G of the organic coating in the at least a width portion downstream of the Electron-Beam curing device, and
a correction module correcting a deviation of the measured gloss G beyond the set gloss range Rs, the correction comprising calculating the corrected temperature Tc to be reached by the wet film, in the at least a width portion downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device, according to equation 1:
T
c
=
T
+
K
⁡
(
G
-
G
s
)
(
1
)

### Claim 21

A method for forming an organic coating on a moving strip on a coil-coating line having, sequentially along the path P of the moving strip, a paint applicator, a heating device comprising an infrared heater, an Ultra-Violet curing device and an Electron-Beam curing device, the method comprising the steps of:
applying a wet film of a radcure paint on the moving strip with the paint applicator;
heating the wet film of radcure paint in the infrared heater;
exposing the wet film of radcure paint to UV in the Ultra-Violet curing device;
curing the wet film of radcure paint in the Electron-Beam device to form the organic coating;
a gloss of the organic coating being managed by:
setting a set gloss value Gs of the organic coating, a set gloss range Rs of the gloss of the organic coating and a proportionality constant K of a predefined linear mathematical relation between the temperature of the wet film before Ultra-Violet curing and the gloss of the organic coating after Electron-Beam curing,
collecting a measure of the temperature T of the wet film in at least a width portion of the moving strip downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device and collecting a measure of the gloss G of the organic coating in the at least a width portion downstream of the Electron-Beam curing device, and
correcting a deviation of the measured gloss G beyond the set gloss range Rs, this correcting step including a sub-step of calculating the corrected temperature Tc to be reached by the wet film, in the at least a width portion downstream of the infrared heater and upstream of the Ultra-Violet curing device, according to equation 1:
T
c
=
T
+
K
⁡
(
G
-
G
s
)
(
1
)