Rolling mill drive apparatus, rolling mill and rolling method

A rolling mill with two sets of rolling mill rolls and one rolling mill housing, each of said two sets of rolls being a roll group comprising a pair of work rolls and at least one pair of rolls supporting said pair of work rolls with at least one roll of each set being a driven roll,

• wherein a rolling mill drive assembly is provided for driving said driven rolls, said drive assembly including:
• an electric motor driven drive roller,
• a driven roller in driving surface contact with the drive roller, and
• a spindle connecting the driven roller with one of said driven rolls.

A rolling mill drive assembly for driving a first rolling mill roll, comprising:

• an electric motor driven drive roller,
• a first driven roller drivingly contacted with said drive roller,
• a contact imparter which in use imparts a contact load between the drive roller and the first driven roller, and
• a spindle connectible between the first driven roller and the rolling mill roll.

A rolling mill including:

• a first rolling mill driven roll which is rotatably driven during rolling operations, and
• a rolling mill drive assembly rotatably driving the first rolling mill driven roll, said drive assembly comprising:
• an electric motor driven first drive roller,
• a first driven roller drivingly contacted with said drive roller,
• contact imparter which in use imparts a contact load between the drive roller and the first driven roller, and
• a spindle connectible between the first driven roller and said first rolling mill roll.

A rolling method comprising:

• supplying strip material to a rolling mill having a first driven roll which is rotatably driven during rolling operations, and
• rotatably driving said first driven roll utilizing a drive assembly comprising:
• an electric motor driven drive roller,
• a first driven roller selectively drivingly contacted with said drive roller,
• a contact imparter which in use imparts a contact load between the drive roller and the first driven roller, and
• a spindle connectible between the first driven roller and said first drive roll,
• detecting an occurrence of plate rupture during strip material rolling operations, and
• selectively interrupting the contact load between the drive roller and driven roller to thereby stop rolling operations upon detection of a plate rupture.