Edge Baffles Automation

František Menda1,*, Patrik Šarga2, František Trebuňa3

1,2,3Technical University of Košice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Applied Mechanics and Mechatronics; Letná 9,
04200 Košice, Slovakia;
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Received Month X, XXXX; revised Month X, XXXX; accepted Month X, XXXX

Abstract Tough competition in automotive industry requires to use all the possibilities for decreasing the
production costs in connection with the increasing of the quality. Contact strip edge guiding system used in steel
company is small part of the Galvanizing line but its replacement for contactless system will assure undeformed strip
edges which will be no more just a costly scrap. The concept of a baffle automation is therefore proposed in this
work.

Keywords: galvanizing, strip, contactless sensor

 length: 1210mm

1. Introduction
The most important part of galvanizing line is Process
section, where melted zinc is applied on clean and
blanching sheet metal. In these section there is an air
knives system consisting of two wiping jets (air knives) on
both sides of plate. Their function is to blow air or
nitrogen towards the galvanizing sheet metal to ensure the
desirable coating thickness. However, during the jet
blowing from both sides of the plane, problems occur at
the strip edges. Laminar flows turn there into turbulent
ones, therefore auxiliary baffles are used to prevent the
turbulent flow (Fig.1) [1].

Fig. 2 Kinematic layout [1]

 cylinder diameter: 25mm

 in the end position effect of constant
downforce 49N invoked by constant
Fig. 1 Usage of edge baffles [1]
pressure 0,1MPa on piston surface in
Galvanizing line is a continuous line, which means that cylinder
particular metal strip plates are weld together at an initial  movement: 300mm.s-1
section of line. Welds are marked by cut-out and their  signal for moving aside: 2s before
movement is precisely monitoring during whole progress detected weld
in a production line. The plate area just before and after  signal for moving forward: 2s after weld
the weld has not a sufficient parameters, therefore it is not passed
galvanized. During such section the edge baffles move 3. linear guidance for bearing carriage
away from the plate edge and the air knives are stopped.  guidance length, respectively the length
After weld passed edge baffles moves back towards the from the first end position (aside
plate edges. The detection of strip edge is provided by the baffles) to another one (closed baffles):
contact roll. Complex kinematical layout of currently used 1000 mm
contact system for turbulences prevention during 4. carriage
removing excess liquid coating metal as a continuous steel  bearing movement with guidance
strip exits a coating bath is in Fig.2 [1].  magnitude of force needed to overcome
Description of all parts with their parameters required rolling friction and actuate carriage
for next calculations [1]: carrying the baffle is F=4,3N
1. compressor- compressed air of 0,6MPa pressure, 5. gauge rod
possible to use nitrogen instead
 serve for determining the baffle end
2. pneumatic piston
positions
 two way, controlled by regulator 6. baffle with holder
  replaceable set in case of running Edge profile discontinuities in the range of ±0,5mm [2]
coating process can also occur.
 total weight in range 35 to 40kg Fork shaped inductive sensor BMI 4 produced by EMG
 distance between baffle and plate in [3], based on Faraday law was chosen as a most suitable
closed position: 3-5mm option for the required conditions. Fig.4 shows the model
7. contact roll of sensor with its placement on existing roll holder, with
 contact with the strip edge, not supplied the contact rolls left in case of sensor failure.
with end switch; constant downforce in
closed position which causes undesired
strip edge deformation
8. coating sheet metal
9. control unit
 PLC SIEMENS 416-2XK04-0AB0
 CPU 416-2, 2,8MB
 control of piston movement
automatically, based on information
about weld position acquired from main Fig. 4 Sensor assembly [1]
PLC, operator inputs available
 unit is placed in box well isolated from The chosen sensor is powered by AC voltage, two
negative outside conditions, near air shielded cables with the cross-section 2x0,5mm2 and two
knives system for end switching (4x0,75mm2) are supplied by the
manufacturer and are easily connected by the plugs.
 process only digital signals
Sensor holder for preventing the sensor damage by the
moving strip sheet was designed.
The contact system is quick and reliable. The problem
is the pressure of contact roll on the strip edges. This
downforce damages the edges which need to be cutoff as
a scrap at the end of line. Contactless strip edge guiding
3. Positioning
system for edge baffles is a solution for this problem. It Contactless strip edge guiding system for Galvanizing
covers replacement of the contact roll by a contactless line requires replacement of using pneumatic piston by an
sensor, replacement of used pneumatic actuator by an electromechanic actuator. This will enable precise
electromechanic one and new control algorithm. positioning according the continuous output signal from
contactless sensor. Input requirements for positioning
according the measurements on used system are:
2. Contactless sensor  downforce: greater than 20N,
Necessary parameters and factors for choosing the right  linear speed: greater than 300mm.s-1,
contactless sensor are:  length of guidance: more than 700mm,
 temperature nearby the sensor is 72°C, in case  precision, reliability, low cost.
of emergency up to 100°C, Linear stage represents the actuator in which the rotary
 sheet metal thickness: 0,3-2,0mm, movement is transformed into a linear one using screw
 possibility of pollution, and moving nut. This reduces general actuator dimensions
and makes it more compact. Sufficient product is
 continuous output signal required for sheet
motorized linear stage T-LST1000D from Zaber
metal monitoring,
Company. Main parameters are [4]:
 high reliability, accuracy and fast response,
 length of guidance: 1000mm,
 low costs.
 accuracy: ±125μm,
Due to the system parameters it is necessary to put the
sensors 876 mm above the edge baffles, therefore they  maximum speed: 420mm.s-1,
will detect the changes of a sheet edge profile with small  minimal speed: 0,0186 mm.s-1,
time deviation. This had to be also considered. From the  maximum force: 80N,
line datasheets we know that the deviation due to wrong  maximum load capacity: 1000N.
centering of the strip is max. 50mm from both sides of Linear stage is powered by stepping motor with 200
strip sheet. This deviation occurs gradually, not by steps steps per revolution. Control unit and the sensor of actual
[2]. position are integrated into device. High speed movement
and very short response enables to follow small strip edge
profile deviations detected by the sensor. Fig. 5 shows the
subassembly consisting of linear stage with the carriage
for edge baffles.

Fig. 3 Continuously changing edge profile: a- increasing deviation,

b- decreasing deviation [1]
 5. Final assembly
The entire conception of contactless strip edge guiding
system on Galvanizing line number 3 is based on used
contact system from FOEN Company. The contactless
solution is designed with an effort for minimum
construction changes in existing system. Current
pneumatic cylinder and gauge rod need to be replaced in
case of using contactless sensors. For placing the sensor
cables, the cable carrier was designed according the
instructions from Kabelschlepp Company [6]. The cable
carrier is placed in a tray and connected with existing
carriage which moves the edge baffles and will also move
contactless sensors (Fig.7).
Fig. 5 Linear stage assembly [1]

4. Controlling
The most important part of whole contactless strip edge
guiding system is a control algorithm. The selection of
appropriate control unit has to consider following
conditions:
 capability to receive and process the analog
signal from sensor,
 analog data output for controlling the actuator,
 active communication with parent PLC in
production line.
In the selection it is important to count with the unit
protection against outside noise, pollution, temperature
and vibrations. Product SPC 16 (strip position controller) Fig. 7 Cable carrier assembly [1]
from EMG Company is a specially designed control unit
for using with sensor BMI4. Main parameters are [5]: For new system positioning was chosen linear stage T-
 power supply: 220V, 50Hz, LST1000D with regards to the performance parameters
and also the construction ones. The dimensions of actuator
 energy consumption: 70VA,
require reduction of one of the carrier guidance. The width
 range of outside temperature: 0-50°C, unit will
of specified profile will decrease by 5mm, which will have
be placed in special box situated in a sufficient
no effect on the function and construction of whole system
position ,
at all.
 8 digital inputs, 6 digital outputs, 5 analog Placing of proposed cable carrier requires changes of
inputs, system cover. New conception in detail with appropriate
 16 bit microprocessor. construction drawings was created. By using all selected
Replacement of currently used contact system requires parts of new contactless system a 3D model of strip edge
completely new control algorithm what will not be guiding system was created in Solidworks 2011 (Fig.8).
possible without new calibrations and testing, therefore it
is necessary to use new control unit instead of the old one.
Fig. 6 shows the description of a logical structure for new
system using UML language.

Fig. 6 Logical structure in UML language [1] Fig. 8 3D design of contactless strip edge guiding system [1]
 The cross-section view of a system cover with the which do not deform the sheet edges.
description is shown in Fig.9.

4. Conclusion
The article deals about the replacement of contact strip
edge guiding system in Galvanizing line used in steel
company by the contactless system. According the
measured and desired parameters the appropriate inductive
sensor, motorized linear stage and control unit were
chosen. 3D model with complex drawing database of
system assembly was created with an effort of minimum
construction changes in existing system. New automatized
control algorithm was proposed and also verified in
laboratory testing. System assures scrap reduction, which
positively affect the production costs and also increase the
Fig. 9 Cross-section of the system cover [1] quality of final sheet products. The solution was designed
in cooperation with the factory employees and recently it
is in the stage of assessment and is planned as a line
3. Scrap reduction improvement in near future.

The primary task of new contactless strip edge guiding

system is the scrap reduction, which means the increase of Acknowledgement
the production. By replacing the pneumatic cylinder with
the maximum movement speed 300mm.s.1 by motorized The authors would like to thank to Slovak Grant
linear stage with maximum speed 420mm.s-1, in addition Agency – project VEGA 1/0937/12 “Development of
to strip speed 3000mm.s-1, it is possible to calculate the unconventional experimental methods for mechanic and
scrap reduction. Edge baffles are moved away from strip mechatronic systems”. This contribution is also result of
due to crossing weld between two sheet plates and moved the project APVV-0091-11 “Using of methods of
back after 2 seconds. The sheet part with edge baffles experimental and numerical modeling for increasing of
moved out is a scrap and needs to be cut-off, therefore it is competitiveness and innovation of mechanical and
desirable to decrease the time of aside baffles. In total mechatronical systems”.
length of the carrier travel 1000mmm, the 200mm long
reserve was considered. The calculations were done for
two extreme conditions: References
a) minimum sheet width 800mm
The difference between used and new system [1] Menda, F.: Návrh koncepcie ovládania bezkontaktných krídelok
s pohonom pre vzduchové nože pozinkovacej linky č.3:
is 2,4m of strip sheet which means 12% scrap diplomová práca, Košice: 2012.
reduction on a single sheet. [2] Technické údaje Košice CGL č.3. Košice-CGL3_1-Technické
b) maximum sheet width 1850mm údaje.1.
The difference between used and new system [3] BMI4 Inductive edge sensor. Wenden: EMG Automation GmbH,
means 5.5% scrap reduction on a single sheet. 2012. 2s.
[4] Zaber. Vancouver: Zaber Technologies Inc., 2011. 64s.
The average scrap reduction on a single sheet is 8,75%. [5] Servo-Technique electronics. Wenden: EMG Elektro Mechanik
The calculations are approximate and represent the ideal GmbH, 2004. 2s.
conditions. Another no doubt scrap reduction is achieved [6] Technical handbook. Milwaukee: KabelSchlepp, 2012. 48s.
by replacing contact rolls by contactless sensors