Method for cooling hot strip

A method for cooling a hot steel strip conveyed on a run-out table after a last finishing stand comprising:

• (a) ejecting rod-like flows of cooling water from a plurality of cooling nozzles to an upper surface of the steel strip at a speed of 7 m/s or more such that the flows of cooling water are inclined toward a traveling direction of the steel strip having an angle between the steel strip and the flows of the cooling water ejected from the plurality of the cooling nozzles of 60° or less, wherein the plurality of cooling nozzles are arranged in a number of nozzle lines and are positioned after the last finishing stand;
• and
• (b) draining the cooling water using a pinch roller disposed downstream of the cooling nozzles, wherein the plurality of cooling nozzles are arranged in a manner such that the plurality of cooling nozzles are provided in a steel strip width direction and that the plurality of cooling nozzles form a plurality of rows in the steel strip traveling direction, and positions of the plurality of cooling nozzles provided in the plurality of rows in said width direction are set in a manner such that the positions in said width direction in an upstream row and the positions in said width direction in an adjacent downstream row are staggered,
• wherein the cooling nozzles and the pinch roller are placed such that the cooling water ejected from the plurality of the nozzles in a last nozzle line reaches the steel strip at a position upstream of the position where the pinch roller comes into contact with the steel strip while being rotated, and
• wherein the pinch roller is slightly lifted while the pinch roller is rotated substantially at the same time as when the leading end of the steel strip is taken up into a coiler.