Methods and apparatus for monitoring and conditioning strip material

A tangible machine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

• receive information from a plurality of sensors positioned across a width of a strip material, each of the plurality of sensors corresponding to a different one of a plurality of longitudinal zones along the width of the strip material;
• operate a material condition monitor to:
• determine a plurality of wave heights of the strip material based on the information received from the plurality of sensors, each of the wave heights corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of longitudinal zones,
• determine whether a measured portion of the strip material is substantially flat based on a comparison of each of the wave heights to a threshold value separate from the wave heights, and
• when the strip material is not substantially flat, perform a plurality of zone-to-zone comparisons by comparing at least some of the wave heights to each other and generate a first signal to condition a first one of the plurality of zones of the strip material based on at least one of the zone-to-zone comparisons;
• and
• cause a controller to adjust a load applied to the strip material selectively in a second one of the plurality of zones based on the first signal to condition the strip material in the first one of the plurality of zones as the strip material moves.