Cooling device with breadth-dependent cooling action

A cooling device for a flat rolled product, wherein the flat rolled product passes through the cooling device in a transportation direction and at a level of a passline, the cooling device comprises:

• a cooling bed having a plurality of spray bars extending transversely with respect to the transportation direction,
• wherein each spray bar, when viewed transversely to the transportation direction, has only two outer sections and a central section arranged between the two outer sections, and the sections are arranged transverse to the transportation direction;
• a respective dedicated, individually controllable valve device for each of the central and the outer sections and each valve device is configured for injecting a liquid cooling medium into a respective one of the sections;
• the flat rolled product may be impinged upon with a central flow rate profile (V1) and outer flow rate profiles (V2, V3) of the liquid cooling medium;
• and
• when the valve devices are fully opened, first outlet orifices arranged in the central section of each spray bar produce the central flow rate profile (V1), which, when viewed transversely to the transportation direction, is at a maximum in a center of the central section and decreases toward edges of the central section, such that the central flow rate profile (V1) defines a central triangle in which one side of the triangle runs transversely to the transportation direction (x) and two other sides of the triangle are edges of equal length;
• second outlet orifices arranged in the outer sections produce the outer flow rate profile (V2, V3) of the liquid cooling medium, which, when viewed transversely to the transportation direction (x), are at a maximum at respective edges of the outer sections and decrease toward the central section, such that each outer flow rate profile (V2, V3) defines an outer triangle in which one side runs parallel to and one side runs transversely to the transportation direction (x), and
• wherein the central triangle and the two outer triangles combine to form a rectangle.