US 5,666,836 AGranted

Process and installation for planishing a thin metal strip

AssigneeClecim

InventorsMarc Bonnefont, Zalman Padwo, Jean-Baptiste Peyron, Paul Sabatier

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Abstract

A process for planishing under traction a thin metal strip in an installation including a planisher comprising at least one bending unit with two planishing sets and a multi-roller leveling assembly comprising two rows of rollers. The imbrication of the planishing sets and the multi-roller leveling assembly and two tension blocks, respectively, are adjusted upside and downside to obtain a prescribed elongation of the strip. Flatness faults in the planisher are corrected by adjusting the through-speeds and imbrication of the planishing sets, such that the prescribed elongation for planishing is substantially attained by the time the strip leaves the planisher. At least longitudinal camber faults due to the passage in the planisher are corrected in the multi-roller assembly by setting up degressive imbrications of the rollers between the input and output of the multi-roller assembly by swinging one row with respect to the other so as to cause progressively diminishing reverse bending effects without substantially increasing the elongation already produced in the planisher by traction-bending.

Claims13

Dependent claims

Installation for planishing under traction a thin metal strip by processing said strip along a feed direction, said installation including a fraction-flexion planisher comprising at least one bending unit with two planishing sets offset in height and a multi-roller leveling assembly comprising upper and lower sets of rollers, each supporting a row of rollers parallel and offset longitudinally and in height so as to determine, by imbrication of the rollers, an undulating path of the strip with reverse bend, means for adjusting the imbrication of the planishing sets, means for adjusting the relative heights of the two rows of rollers of the leveling assembly and two tension blocks placed in position respectively on the upside and on the downside of the installation on the path of the strip and associated with means for adjusting the through-speeds in said blocks so as to make it possible to apply tensile stress on the strip that can cause a prescribed elongation of said strip, wherein:

at least one of the two rows of rollers is supported by a crib mounted for swinging movement about a horizontal axis parallel to the axes of the rollers and associated with means for vertically displacing and swinging the crib in order to adjust the imbrications of the rollers of the two rows, by modifying the center-to-center distances at the input and at the output of the multi-roller assembly,
said means for adjusting the imbrications, respectively, of the planishing sets and multi-roller assembly, are associated, respectively, with positioning means controlled by a process control system comprising means for determining imbrications to impose on the different devices, taking account of all the parameters specific to the product and to the installation, and means for positioning the different devices according to the imbrication reference values generated by said determination means;
and
wherein the process control system is associated with a mathematical model on which can be entered, via a console, the parameters specific to the machine and specific to the product to process as well as the prescribed elongation reference value, said mathematical model generating imbrication reference values for each of the positioning means, said positioning means each forming a regulation means on which is entered the real position of the considered device and which commands the imbrication adjustment means to adapt the measured position to the corresponding imbrication reference value.

1 more element

Process for planishing under traction a thin metal strip by passing said strip along a feed direction in an installation comprising:

a planisher having at least one bending unit (30) with an upper planishing set (31) and a lower planishing set (32) respectively placed above and below said strip, each planishing set having a live roll bearing against supporting rolls,
a first adjusting device (36) for adjusting an imbrication of said live rolls by varying a level of at least one of said upper and lower planishing sets (31, 32),
a multi-roller leveling assembly (5) comprising upper and lower chassis (6, 6') each supporting a row (51, 51') of parallel rollers offset longitudinally and in height in such a way as to form, by imbrication of said upper and lower rollers, an undulating feed path of the strip with reverse bends,
a second adjusting device (64, 66) for globally adjusting a spacing between said roller rows (51, 51') and for modifying an inclination of at least one of said rows (51') for adjusting center-to-center distances between said rollers (51, 51') respectively (A1) at an input and (A2) at an output of said multi-roller assembly in order to modify the intensity and number of reverse bends on said upper and lower rollers (51, 51'),
two tension blocks (2, 2') respectively positioned on an upside and downside of the installation on the feed path of the strip to apply tensile stress tending to cause elongation of the strip, said tension blocks each having several rollers and being associated with a drive mechanism (21) for driving said rollers in rotation,
an adjusting device (76) for adjusting a winding speed on the downside tension block (2') higher than on the upside tension block (2), and to maintain between said winding speeds a differential determining a desired elongation of the strip,
an adjustment system comprising positioning means acting respectively (71) on the first device (36) for adjusting the imbrication of the bending unit (30) and (74, 75) on the second device (64, 66) for adjusting the respective imbrications at the input and output of the multi-roller levelling assembly,
each of said positioning means (71, 74, 75) comprising a regulator receiving a positioning order from a process control system (8) and a signal from a measuring device (M1, M4, M5) indicating the respective positions of the first and second adjusting devices (34, 64, 66) for commanding the correction needed in order to adapt the effect of the considered adjusting device (36, 64, 66) to the order simultaneously given by the process control system (8),
said process control system (8) comprising a mathematical model (80) for generating position reference values of each of said positioning means (71, 74, 75), a correcting device (82) for correcting said reference values and a self adapting system (85),
means (81) for introducing in said mathematical model a specific parameter of the product, a specific parameter of the machine and the elongation (A) that must be imposed on the strip to correct a flatness fault detected on the upside of the installation, said mathematical model (80) generating an elongation reference value,
said process comprising the steps of:
(a) adjusting the differential between the winding speeds of the two tension blocks (2, 2') in order to achieve a desired total elongation;
(b) generating in said process control system (8) the imbrication reference values of said first and second adjusting devices, taking into account the interaction between said devices and according to dimensional and structural characteristics of the strip, in such a way as to produce in the planisher (30) the elongation prescribed for the flatness correction while maintaining the tensile stress applied to the strip at approximately 60% of the elastic limit of the metal;
(c) adjusting the imbrications (A1, A2) respectively at the input and at the output of the multi-roller assembly (5) to correct camber faults while limiting the increase in traction in such a way that the supplemental elongation occurring in the multi-roller assembly does not normally exceed 0.2%.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.