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JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH, INTERNATIONAL. 2011, 18(4): 36-43

Adaptive Coordinated Control for Hot Strip Finishing Mills

JIAO Xiao-hong'

SHAO Li-ping' ,

PENG Yan'

(1. Institute of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, Hebei, China; 2. Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, Hebei, China)

Abstract: To further improve the control accuracy for strip dimension of hot strip mills, an adaptive control scheme is
investigated for a hot strip finishing mill based on the decentralization and coordination among the controllers of gauge, tension and looper. Consequently, the adaptive controller designed can regulate simultaneously the strip exit thickness, the strip tension and the looper angle to ensure better performance of the strip quality of finishing mills. Moreover, the control scheme is proposed in consideration of the essential nonlinearity and the unavoidable friction phenomena in the mechanical system, so the controller can be efficient in a wider range of working situations. The simulation results of a model obtained from a real hot strip finishing mill show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in comparison with the conventional control method. Key words: hot strip finishing mills; exist gauge; tension; looper angle; adaptive control

A hot strip mill is composed of a roughing mill, a

finishing mill and a coileg']. In the finishing rolling process which extremely influences product quality, control is accomplished to ensure that the product meets its required dimensions at the mill exit and that the strip is rolled in a stable mannerC2'. T h e schematic of two stands in the finishing mill and the inter-stand gap can be seen in Ref. [Z]. A looper installed at inter-stand can control the strip tension and the mass flow of the two stands. T h e mass flow out of the upstream and into the downstream stands is controlled to avoid any mass flow mismatch and disturbance to the inter-stand strip tension. To avoid a build up or reduction in the length of strip between the stands, the speed of the upstream stand is modulated to maintain the looper at a reference angle. T h e looper pivot torque is also modulated according to the measured looper angle to keep the strip tension at its setup reference. The stand gap is modulated to keep the exit gauge (thickness) at its setup reference. Conventionally, each of exit thickness, tension and looper angle is controlled independentlyC3'. However, it should be noted that the system is highly interactive or coupled, there exists a mutual interaction among the strip gauge, strip tension and looper angle. Hence, many multivariable control techniques have been

proposed for the finishing mill to consider the interaction between the looper angle and the strip tension, s i m u l t a n e ~ u s l y ~ " ~ ~ . in fact, when convenBut tional automatic gauge control ( AGC) works, the mass flow between stands is changed, and then looper angle and strip tension are disturbed. Therefore, the multivariable control, which takes into account the interactions among gauge, tension and mass flow, looks more effective such as Ref. [S] and Ref. [lo]. However, these methods are based on the linearization of system at the operation point and the neglect of nonlinear characteristic of system. Motivated by the analysis above, under the consideration of the essential nonlinearity of system and the presence of the unavoidable friction phenomena, an adaptive control scheme is investigated for a hot strip finishing mill. The control scheme proposed can realize decentralization and coordination among the controllers of gauge, tension and looper. Consequently, the adaptive controller designed can regulate simultaneously the strip exit thickness, the strip tension and the looper angle to ensure better coordination among thickness, tension and mass flow. Moreover, the control design is based on the essential nonlinearity model of system and the unavoidable friction phenomena in the mechanical system is
Received Date: April 18, 2010

Foundation Item: Item Sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (60774018) Biography:JIAO Xiao-hong(l966-), Female, Doctor, Professor; E-mail: jiaoxhaysu. edu. cn;

Issue 4

Adaptive Coordinated Control for Hot Strip Finishing Mills

' 37 '

under consideration, so the controller can be efficient in a wider range of working situations.

r,, = M , +-Ma

Modeling Hot Strip Finishing Mill

In Fig. 1 , geometrical quantities of the looper and inter-stand are defined for a pair of consecutive rolling standsL8'. In the following subsections, the dynamic models of each part of the system will be developed.

where M , and Ma are mass of the looper roll and arm respectively. T h e torque ru is provided through a hydraulic cylinder controlled by a servo valve, for simplicity, which can be represented as a first-order system.

:I

glcos0

(5)

1 (6) ( rU - 1, F ) fU, r Ti, where, T , - , F r , 1, and u, represent the time conru=--

Fig. 1

Looper and interstand geometry

1.1

Looper dynamics T h e looper dynamics is modeled as follows. .. J 8 = Tu- f w, (1) where, 8 denotes the looper angle; J is the inertia; ru denotes the torque applied to the looper; w, represents the unmodeled phenomena such as the torque necessary for bending of the strip over the looper roll; and q o a d denotes the total load acting on the looper, which is composed of three main compo(2) T h e torque r,, by strip tension o (for a strip of width B and thickness h ) is modeled as: r,=oBhl[~in(B+8~)-sin(8-8~ (3) where 81 and 82 are evaluated as: lsin8f r- d 8 =arctan 1 lsinsfr-d] , 82 =arctan[ L -a -l c o d aflcod i where, 1 , r , a , d , L are defined as looper length, looper roll radius, the distance between looper and stand, the height from actuator shaft to stand shaft, the distance between two stands respectively. They are shown in Fig. 1. T h e torque rs by strip weight (for a strip density p> is: (4) r, =pghB[i, (0) +iz (~)]icOse where 1, (81, l Z( 8 ) denote the loop length between the ith stand, the ( i f 1 ) t h stand and the looper roll, respectively

stant, friction force occurring in hydraulic valve, actuator arm in electro-hydraulic servo and control signal, respectively. T h e friction force is represented as the well-known LuGre : dz (7) Fr = g o z 01 -f o u z dt where, oo is the stiffness coefficient; o1 is the damping coefficient; 0, represents the viscous friction term; and u is the relative velocity between the surface, namely, the servo valve spool motion velocity. From the schematic geometry in Fig. 1, it follows u=

(1fr)BsinB. z denotes the average deflection of the bristles and is modeled as :

(8)
where, the arbitrary steady-state behavior g ( u ) > O models the Stribeck effect with a Gaussian function; F , is the dynamical friction; F , is the static friction; and us is the Stribeck velocity.

>I

Strip tension T h e strip tension o is approximately proportional to both the Young's Modulus E and the strip stretch according t o the following equationE8':
[Li ( 8 ) f l z (8)-L-f(t>] (9) "(")=L+E(t) where f ( t ) denotes the deviation of the inter-stand strip length with respect to L and its dynamic behavior is described by the differential equation:

1.2

1, ( 8 ) = 2 / ( l ~ i n 8 f r - - d ) ~ f ( a f l c o s 8,> ~ 1, ( 8 ) = l / ( l ~ i n 8 f r - d ) ~ f ( L - a - l c 0 s 8 ) ~ T h e torque rl, by mass of the looper arm is:

i(t>=v'(t>-v+'(t)fw;(t) (10) where v ' ( t ) is the exit speed from the i t h stand and V'+'(t>the entry speed to the ( i f l ) th stand; w:(t> denotes unmodeled dynamics phenomena like, for instance, the effect of the temperature, the plastic deformation of the steel strip, the uncertainty of the geometric quantities, etc. The relation between v' ( t ) and work roll angular speed W * ( t ) and the relation between V t l ( t ) and w'" ( t ) can be defined as: vL t )= ( 1f f" W' ( t ) R ' , ( (11) V + ' ( t ) = ( l - y ) w ' + ' (t)R'+'

>

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Vol. 18

where, f v is the forward slip; and p is the backward slip. Furthermore, as is ~ s u a l [ ~ * *should be noted it ~ , that: 1) f ( t ) can be assumed to be very small in normal operation as compared with L , and consequently, it can often be simplified assuming L + f ( t ) = L . 2 ) w'+l ( t ) can be assumed to be invariable. But f and 9 would be changed by following the strip tension. Hence, their influence on the strip tension is represented as a term with the uncertain parameter. 3) There is the following relative representation:

the entry strip tension. Moreover, f ( t ) can be described as the following first-order system with the time constant Tf 1 f ( t )= - - f ( t > + U f (16)

Ti

Control Problem Formulation

From the analysis above, the dynamic description of the finishing mill can be represented as follows:

Moreover, the dynamics of the work roll angular speed w ( t ) can be described by a first-order system:

1' (13) +U, T, where, T, is the time constant; and u, is the control
w ( t >=- - w ( t >

c, 2 -h--ff-w, m, m,
0 .

1
ms

(17)

signal.

1.3

Stand model and exit thickness From Fig. 2 , it can be obtained that h ( t )=So

+2x,
where
fl

with exit thickness of the strip h ( t ) , the work roll displacement x , ( t ) and the initial roll gap So. By the Newton's second law, there exists

( 8 ) =L[sin(B+arctan

Lsidfr-d) L--a-LcosB

-sin(e-

Fig. 2

Single stand and gauge geometry

(14) m,x = ~ ( t- c s & -f(t> f w , ) where f ( t ) is the stress force provided by the hydraulic cylinder; c, is the damping coefficient; w, denotes unmodeled phenomena such as the gravity of the work roll, backup roll and mill housing; and P ( t ) is the rolling force and can be approximately evaluated according to the following equation:

..

P(t)= JR[H(t)-h(t)]B
where

(15)

Y, the is

constrained yield stress; Q is a cor-

recting coefficient; 1 / R L H ( t )- h ( t ) J is the contact arc between the work rolls and the strip; and Z ( t ) is

Issue 4

Adaptive Coordinated Control for Hot Strip Finishing Mills

39

1 E 1 w1= -w,, w, =-we, w = -ws. 3 J L ms T h e parameters pl , p 2 , p3 are unknown due to the uncertain parameters E , Y , , c, of the finishing w3 mill, and wl , w 2 , represent the external disturbances. Moreover, it should be noted that there exists the friction force, while the state z of the dynamic model of friction force is unmeasurable. Therefore, the design specifications of controller for the finishing mills are classified as follows: 1 ) Stable mill operation is ensured, i. e. the stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed under interactions, parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. 2 ) Proper strip quality, namely proper closedloop performance is obtained by the decentralization and coordination for the control loops of looper angle, tension and gauge, which means that the strip tension, the looper angle and the exit thickness can be regulated promptly to their desired values. 3 ) T h e friction force affecting the behavior mode of the looper mechanisms should be controlled to avoid looper's stick-slip motion. Based on the design specifications above, an adaptive control problem is formulated as follows: For the Eqn. (181, it is obvious the equilibrium 2 s 6 7 point is at X = O < x = [ x l x 5 3 5 4 x x x s 8 l T ) . T h e n , the control objective is to find a smooth adap-

z,

-P11

PI,

Pl,
P=O 0
-0

P,,
0 0

0 0

1
0

0 0 0 P,4
P5 ,

0 0 0

(21)

P,, P,,

tive coordinated controller u = a ( x , S ) , 6 = j ? ( x , S > with the system state z and the adaptive parameter estimates S= [pl pz p3 p 23 such that for all admissible uncertain parameter ties pl , pz , p 3 , friction force F f ( z , u ) and external disturbances w=[wl ze,, w3IT,the resulting closed loop system satisfies the following performances : 1) When w = O , the resulting closed-loop system is globally stable in the sense of Lyapunov, and the system states x can converge to the origin, i. e. x0 as t-m. 2 ) When wfO, the resulting closed-loop system
A A A A A A

-x3

1 r" I

- 40
k.154+ k , x s + > ( P , , x ,

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Vol. 18

+Pj5X5)] (25) Y renders the derivative of V 1to satisfy the following inequality

pl

) +{ (x4 + x 5 )

-28

-} ax,

aa3

F4
A

(x4

) (pZ

-$Z)

f
(31)

v, <- k ,
62 5
327

P2T 1x

( k , P,,

P,, )x;-&xi - k , P45i x (PlZx1 fPz,xz)z6( p l -$ 1

aa3
iz6

-( 2 4

+x5) }x, - p3 1 (p3

(k,p,5-p45)xg

f +,WTW+a3

-c1 ( P 5 2 4 f p5 x ) 2 6 f xi 4 5 5
A A - p3

)f

(Ptjx4 +P,ss~jIF4 ( 5 4 )(p2 -pz 1- ( P 4 5 ~ 4

Moreover, it should be noted that the friction force is described as the form Eqn. ( 7 ) -Eqn. ( 9 ) , then, the estimate f o r the friction force is constructed as

P55x5 1 5 (p3 x 1 (26) where k 3 > 0 , k z , k , should be chosen t o satisfy the condition k z P,, - P,, > O f k , P,, - P,, >0. T h u s , it
follows from the Eqn. (23) that the positive definite matrix P is chosen as:

PlZ

= Pzz = P4, = P,, = 1,

P44=k,+k5, 2 ) For the Eqn. ( 1 8 1 , a positive definite function is constructed a s the following form 1 1 1 v z ( x ) = v 1 ( x l ,x, ,x3 1x4 ,x:,>+-z;+-z;+-z~

P,, = k , f k , , ( k l ,k,>O, k , , k , > l )

then, considering the Eqn. (26) and Eqn. choosing the control law

(IX),

(27) and

A (pZ-p2)+{28

aa3 - (

5 4 fx5

1 )x5 (p3 - p 3 )

(33) 3) For the whole closed-loop system, a positive definite function is constructed a s
A A A 1 V ( X , =vzx ) + T ( 6 - 6 ) T r ( 6 - 6 ) ~) (

(34)

(28)

with 6= [ p l pz p3 2ITand r = d i a g { r , , r 2 , r 3 , r4} , r,>O ( i = l , 2 , 3 , 4 ) , and the adaptive laws are chosen a s follows

(29)

the following inequality can be obtained

V~x,6~<-~,x~-~(kz-l~5;-k3xi-k45~-~k,-

1)xg -k6 z: -k7 z; - k 8 z i -r4

(30) with any given positive constants k 6 , k7 , k 8 renders the derivative of V z( x ) t o satisfy the inequality:
-WTW

IUI
~

g(u>

(2-

A 2)'

Y2

(36)

4 ) Choose the penalty output signal y = [ p l x z pZx3 p3x5 1 ' with the coefficients p i , p z , p , > 0 , then the Eqn. (36) is rewritten a s

V ( x,6 )

<

Q(x> -r,

IvI( z g(u>

A z)

--

1 yTy f -wT w r" 2 2

(37)

Issue 4

Adaptive Coordinated Control for Hot Strip Finishing Mills

41

2.216 m , 1=0. 376 m , r=O. 083 m , d=O. 067 m ,

k , x;

+( k ,

1-+pi

1.x: f k , *; f k 7 z; f k , z;
*..

and the controller parameters k , ( i = l , 2 , chosen t o satisfy k z > l + g P i , k 3 > y1 , k , > l f 1 & , 1 & ~ kl , k ,
9k6 t k 7

, 8)

are

B=O. 359 m , R=O. 2 m , L,=O. 2 m , M , = 4 9 k g , H=O. 0136 m , M a = 1 6 8 k g , ,0=7800 k g / m 3 , g z 9 . 8 N / k g , f=O. 082, rns=400 k g , T1.=0.0232, T,=O. 1 5 9 2 , Tr=O. 0032.
An adaptive coordinated controller is designed a s Eqn. (28 1 - Eqn. ( 3 0 with Eqn. ( 3 5 ) according t o the design procedure presented in the former section, and the tuning parameters of the control law are chosen as: k1=4O, k Z = l O , k l = 2 0 , k4=4O, k5-15, k 6 - 5 , k7=5, & = 5 , p1=pz=p3=o. 1 , y = o . 5 , r l = l O , r 2 = 4 , r3=10, r4=l. And assume that the desired values of the looper angular position, strip tension and exit thickness in the rolling process are constant and here they are chosen as B d = 0. 436 3 rad, bd = 3.44 M P a , hd = 0.0111 m. I n simulation, the uncertain physical paramet e r s , mechanical friction phenomena and external disturbance will be considered. Moreover, several sources of characteristic disturbances will be included in the simulation analysis: disturbance on the strip tension, disturbance on the strip entry thickness, discretization of the looper angular position measure, friction torque present in the looper mechanism ( t h e LuGre model is used). T o this end, the simulations in the following five operating cases are presented. 1) System is operating from the initial condition to the desired equilibrium, and in the operating process, there exists uncertain external disturbance besides LuGre friction phenomena. Simulation results of looper angular, strip tension and exit thickness are shown in Fig. 3. 2) System is operating a t the equilibrium but the physical parameters perturbation occurs at t = l s. Simulation results of looper angular, strip tension and exit thickness are shown in Fig. 4. 3 ) System is operating at the equilibrium but the looper angular perturbation occurs for t>1 s and there

,k,>O.
A

T h u s , Lyapunov stability of the closed-loop system and the convergence of states x and z - z as well a s L2 disturbance attenuation are guaranteed. When w = O , it follows from Eqn. (37) that

V ( x ,6><-Q(x>

- r , vI(zg(u>

Z>~<O

(38)

t h u s , by Eqn. (34) and Eqn. (38), the closed-loop system consisting of (18) with Eqn. (28)-Eqn. (30) and Eqn. (35) is globally stable in the sense of Lyapunov a t x = 0 , 6 - 6 = 0. Furthermore, with the Eqn. (38 , it follows from LaSalle invariance principle that x-0, z - z+O a s t - a . T h e n , by the definition of z 6 , z 7 , z, , there exists x - 0 , x 7 + 0 , x8+ 0 , a s t - a . Hence, the result is concluded that the system states x can converge t o the origin and the state of friction force observer z approaches t o z. When w f 0, it follows from Eqn. ( 3 7 ) that Eqn. (191, i. e. the closed-loop system from the disturbance input w t o the penalty output y has L2 gain not larger than y.
A A

Simulation Results

T h e simulation research is done on a model of a hot strip finishing mill t o show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. T h e dynamic simulation model is constructed according t o the integrated dynamical description of the finishing mill presented in the previous sections. T h e physical parameters of the hot strip mill system are chosen a s follows: J = 7 kg m 2 , E = 5 0 0 0 0 M P a , L = 3 . 5 m , a=

0
(a)

Response of the looper angular position;

Fig. 3

( b ) Response of the strip tension; (c) Response of the exit thickness. System responses for two control structures in case 1

42

Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International

Vol. 18

-.
-0.1
0

g4
.p 3
5 m

d * 0 2
1 0

Tinids

(a)

Response of the looper angular position;

Fig. 4

( b ) Response of the strip tension; (c) Response of the exit thickness, System responses for two control structures in case 2

exis j viscous friction. Simulation results of looper angular, strip tension and exit thickness are shown in Fig. 5 . 4) System is operating at the equilibrium but the strip tension perturbation occurs for t 1 s. Simulation results of looper angular, strip tension and exit thickness are shown in Fig. 6. 5 ) System is operating at the equilibrium but the exit thickness perturbation occurs for t 1 s.

>

>

Simulation results of looper angular, strip :nsion and exit thickness are shown in Fig. 7. Moreover, to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller clearly, the comparison with the conventional PID control scheme is also given as the dash curves in Fig. 3 to Fig. 7. From the simulation results, it can be illustrated that the proposed adaptive coordinated controller can not only regulate promptly exit thickness, strip

$ 0.4

2 b

0.3

..
- -PID
control
4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

J 0.2
0.1

w
Tiniefs

0.011

(a) Response of the looper angular position;

Fig. 5

( b ) Response of the strip tension; (c) Response of the exit thickness. System responses for two control structures in case 3

I
0

!
1

I l l
6 0

Tirnels

(a) Response of the looper angular position; (b) Response of the strip tension; (c) Response of the exit thickness.

Fig. 6

System responses for two control structures in case 4

( i

Timefs
(a) Response of the looper angular position;

( b ) Response of the strip tension;

(c) Response of the exit thickness.

Fig. 7

System responses for two control structures in case 5

Issue 4

A d a p t i v e Coordinated C o n t r o l for Hot S t r i p Finishing Mills

' 43 '

tension and looper angle to the desired values in the presence of parameter variations, but also reject the stick slip motion from the friction force and attenuate external disturbance and the characteristic disturbances to a desired level.

Conclusion

For the enhancement of the stability and proper dynamical performance of hot strip finishing mills, an adaptive control scheme based on the decentralization and coordination is proposed for the tension, looper and gauge control systems via utilizing the nonlinear adaptive recursive design technique. T h e system with the proposed adaptive controller has an advantage both in regulating promptly strip tension, looper angle and exit thickness and in attenuating the unavoidable friction phenomena and external disturbance during rolling operation process. Irrespective of the rolling conditions with disturbances of looper angle, strip tension and exit thickness as well as additional external disturbance, the resulting closed-loop system can be rendered to converge quickly to the desired operating point.
References:
[l]

Choi I S, Rossiter J A , Fleming P J. Looper and Tension Control in Hot Rolling Mills: A Survey [J]. Journal of Process

Control, 2007, 1 7 ( 6 ) : 509. Heams G , Reeve P , Smith P, et al. Hot Strip Mill Multivariable Mass Flow Control [J]. IEE Proc-Control Theory Appl, 2004, 151(4): 386. Imanari H I Morimatsu Y ,Sekiguchi K. Looper H-Infinity Control for Hot-Strip Mills [J]. IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 1997, 33(3): 790. Asada H , Kitamura A , Nishino S, et al. Adaptive and Robust Control Method With Estimation of Rolling Characteristics for Looper Angle Control at Hot Strip Mill [J]. ISIJ International, 2003, 43(3): 358. Hesketh T , Jiang Y ,Clements D, et al. Controller Design for Hot Strip Finishing Mills [J]. IEEE Trans Control System Technology, 1998, 6 ( 2 ) : 208. Kazuya A , Kazuhiro Y , Taksshi K , et al. Hot Strip Mill Tension-Looper Control Based on Decentralization and Coordination [J]. Control Eng Practice, 2000, 8 ( 3 ) : 337. Janabi-Sharifi F. A Neuro-Fuzzy System for Looper Tension Control in Rolling Mills [J]. Control Eng Practice, 2005, 13 ( 1 ) : 1. Riccardo F, Francesco A C , Thomas P. Friction Compensation in the Interstand Looper of Hot Strip Mills: A Sliding-Mode Control Approach [J]. Control Eng Practice, 2008, 1 6 ( 2 ) : 214. Okada M , Murayama K , Urano A , et al. Optimal Control System for Hot Strip Finishing Mill [J]. Control Eng Practice, 1998, 6 ( 8 ) : 1029. Hearns G, Grimble M J. Robust Multivariable Control for Hot Strip Mills [J]. ISIJ International, 2000, 40(10): 995. Canudas De Wit C , Olsson H , Astrom K J , et al. A New Model for Control of Systems with Friction [J]. IEEE Trans Automation Control, 1995, 40(3): 419.