Method of and apparatus for producing plate material having uniform width and lengthwise thickness variation

An apparatus for producing a plate material having a uniform width and a lengthwise thickness variation, characterized by comprising a pair of widthwise rolling rolls disposed at the upstream side of the flow of a work;

• a pair of thicknesswise rolling rolls disposed at the downstream side;
• roll adjusting mechanisms for changing the roll gaps between two rolls in each pair of said rolls by controlling the position of at least one of two rolls of each pair;
• devices for measuring the travelling amount of a work which devices are disposed at the outlet sides of said widthwise and thicknesswise rolling rolls, respectively;
• a controller adapted to calculate at least one of command roll positions and/or the command roll gap for each of said widthwise rolling rolls and said thicknesswise rolling rolls from the travelling amounts and predetermined conditions, and to deliver the results of calculations as electric output signals;
• means for measuring the roll positoin and/or roll gaps adapted to measure the position of at least one of two rolls of respective pairs, and/or each roll gap between two rolls of respective pairs;
• and servo means adapted to compare the actual roll positions and/or roll gap as measured by said means for measuring the roll positions and/or each roll gap with said command roll positions and/or said command roll gaps, and to actuate said roll adjusting mechanisms to control the positions of the roll and/or each roll gap regarding said widthwise rolling rolls and thicknesswise rolling rolls so as to nullify the difference between the actually measured values and the command values.

An apparatus for producing a plate material having a uniform width and a lengthwise thickness variation, characterized by comprising a pair of widthwise rolling rolls disposed at the upstream side of the flow of a work;

• a pair of thicknesswise rolling rolls disposed at the downstream side of said flow;
• roll adjusting mechanism for each pair of said rolls and adapted to change the positions of both rolls;
• travelling amount measuring device disposed at the outlet sides of said widthwise rolling rolls and said thicknesswise rolling rolls, respectively;
• a controller adapted to calculate the command position of each of said widthwise rolling rolls and the command position of each of said thicknesswise rolling rolls in accordance with the travelling amounts as measured by said travelling amount measuring devices and in accordance with predetermined conditions, and to deliver the result as electric signals;
• roll position sensing devices adapted to sense the distance between predetermined reference lines and each roll of respective pairs of rolls;
• and servo means adapted to compare the actual roll positions as sensed by said sensing devices with said command roll positions as derived from said controller and to actuate said roll adjusting mechanisms to control the position of each roll of said widthwise rolling rolls and the position of each roll of said thicknesswise rolling rolls so as to nullify the differences between the actual roll positions and the command roll positions.

An apparatus for producing a plate material having a lengthwise thickness variation comprising:

• a pair of widthwise rolling rolls disposed at the upstream side of a flow of a work;
• a pair of thicknesswise rolling rolls disposed at the downstream side of said flow;
• roll adjusting mechanisms adapted to change the roll gaps in each pair of rolls through controlling the position of at least one of each pair of rolls;
• devices for measuring the travelling amount of work which devices are disposed at the outlet sides of said widthwise rolling rolls and said thicknesswise rolling rolls, respectively;
• roll position and/or roll gap measuring means adapted to measure the position of at least one roll position and/or roll gap in each pair of rolls;
• a main controller adapted to calculate at least one of the command roll positions and roll gas of each of said widthwise rolling roll and thicknesswise rolling rolls in accordance with the travelling amounts of said work as measured by said travelling amount measuring devices and in accordance with predetermined conditions, and to deliver the calculated values to respective servo means, said main controller being further adapted to produce, at the same time as said signal delivery to said servo means, a shearing position shaping signal which instructs to shape the portions of said work to be shorn;
• servo means adapted to compare at least one of the actual roll positions and/or roll gap as measured by said roll position and/or roll gap measuring means with at least one of the command roll positions and/or roll gap as given by said controller, for each of said widthwise and thicknesswise rolling rolls, and to actuate said roll adjusting mechanisms to control at least one of the roll positions and/or roll gap for each of said widthwise and thicknesswise rolling rolls;
• a shearing device disposed at the downstream side of said thicknesswise rolling rolls and having a shearing blade which is adapted to shear said work while being moved by a driving means at the same speed as said work;
• a shearing blade position detecting means adapted to detect the instant position of said shearing blade;
• and
• a shearing device controlling means adapted to control said driving means for said shearing blade, in accordance with the result of detection of travelling amount of said work as measured by said travelling amount measuring device after the delivery of said shearing position shaping signal and the result of detection of position of said shearing blade made by said shearing blade position detection means, such that, when the portion of said work to be shorn passes said shearing device, said shearing blade shears said portion of said work while moving at the same speed as said work.

An apparatus for producing a plate material having a lengthwise thickness variation comprising:

• a pair of widthwise rolling rolls disposed at the upstream side of a flow of a work;
• a pair of thicknesswise rolling roll disposed at the downstream side of said flow of said work;
• roll adjusting mechanisms adapted to change the roll at least one of rolls of each pair;
• devices for measuring the travelling amount of said work which devices are disposed at the outlet sides of said widthwise rolling rolls and said thicknesswise rolling rolls, respectively;
• roll position and/or roll gap measuring means adapted to measure the position of at least one of rolls and/or the gap between rolls of each pair;
• a main controller adapted to calculate at least one of the command roll positions and/or roll gap for each of said widthwise and thicknesswise rolling rolls from the travelling amounts of the work as measured by said travelling amount measuring devices and from predetermined conditions, said main controller being adapted to deliver the results of the calculation to the roll adjusting mechanisms of the production apparatus and, at the same time, to deliver a shearing position shaping signal which instructs to shape the portion of said work to be shorn;
• servo means adapted to compare at least one of the roll positions and/or roll gap as measured by said roll position and/or roll gap measuring means with at least one of the command roll positions and/or roll gap as instructed by said main controller and to actuate said roll adjusting mechanisms to control at least one of the roll positoins and/or roll gap of each pair of said roll so as to nullify the differences between the command values and the actually measured values for respective pairs of rolls;
• a marking device disposed at the downstream side of said thicknesswise rolling rolls and adapted to provide marks on said work;
• a marking device control means adapted the operation of said marking device in accordance with the result of detection of travelling amount of said work made by said travelling amount measuring device, such that, when the portion to be shorn of said work passes said marking device, the marking tool of said marking device provides a mark on said portion of said work;
• a reading device adapted to read the mark provided on said work;
• and
• a shearing device adapted to shear said work at portion to be shorn in accordance with the signal from said reading device.

An apparatus for producing a plate material having a lengthwise thickness variation comprising:

• a calculating means for pre-treatment which is adapted to determine, from the desired shape of the product and also from various factors of the rolling condition such as the material of the work, rolling temperature, rolling speed, roll diameters of widthwise rolling rolls and thicknesswise rolling rolls,
• (a) a width function which represents the reduction of width in relation to the length of said work, said width function being so determined as to reduce the width of said work at portions thereof where the width will be increased as a result of a subsequent thicknesswise rolling so that, after said thicknesswise rolling, a uniform width may be obtained over the length of said work, and
• (b) a compensated thickness function which is obtained by correcting a thickness function representing the final shape of the product to eliminate the offset by the dimension from the designated dimension which is expected to be caused, when said thicknesswise rolling is effected in accordance with said thickness function, by at least one of change in the roll diameter and change in the roll deflection;
• a pair of widthwise rolling rolls disposed at the upstream side of flow of said work;
• a pair of thicknesswise rolling rolls disposed at the downstream side of said flow;
• roll adjusting mechanisms adapted to change the roll gap in each of said widthwise rolling rolls and said thicknesswise rolling rolls by controlling the position of at least one of rolls of each pair;
• a travelling amount measuring device for width control disposed at the outlet side of said widthwise rolling rolls and adapted to measure the travelling amount of said work;
• a calculating means for width control adapted to calculate at least one of the instant command roll positions and/or roll gap of said widthwise rolling rolls, in accordance with the output from said travelling amount measuring device for width control and said width function delivered by said calculating means for pre-treatment;
• servo means for width control having a roll position and/or gap measuring device adapted to measure at least one of the roll positions and/or roll gap of said widthwise rolling rolls, said servo means being adapted to control said roll adjusting mechanism for width control such that the output from said roll gap measuring device coincides with the output from said calculating means for width control;
• a device for measuring the travelling amount of work for thickness control which device is disposed at the outlet side of said thicknesswise rolling rolls;
• calculating means for thickness control adapted to calculate at least one of the instant command roll positions and/or roll gap of said thicknesswise rolling rolls, in accordance with the output from said travelling amount measuring device for width control, the output from said travelling amount measuring device for thickness control and in accordance with said compensated thickness function as delivered by said calculating means for pre-treatment;
• and
• servo means having a roll gap measuring device adapted for measuring at least the roll position and/or roll gap of said thicknesswise rolling rolls and adapted to said roll adjusting mechanism for thickness control so as to make the output from said roll position and/or roll gap measuring device coincide with the output from said calculating means for thickness control.