Mass Flow Automatic Gauge Control

Optimize Mass Flow to Better Control the Thickness of Products

Cold rolling mills in steel production plants take hot band material from the hot mill and roll it to the correct thickness and flatness. Most cold rolling mills use Mass Flow Automatic Gauge Control (MFAGC) to control the mill’s rolling force and speed to obtain high-quality steel within the thickness specifications.

It is critical to control the gauge or thickness of the cold-rolled steel strip for end-user requirements. Automobile manufacturers stamping car body parts depend on the steel to be within specified thickness tolerances when making high-quality parts. The steel might tear or have less than the specified strength if the steel is too thin, and the mold used to stamp out body parts will have premature wear if the steel is too thick. Stamping molds are very expensive to replace. Obtaining accurate gauge control in cold rolling mills has become more and more difficult as mill speeds increase and manufacturers work to reduce the thickness of metals, and tolerance get tighter.

Manufacturers Are Specifying LaserSpeed Pro
Traditionally, mechanical contact measurement devices (also known as mechanical contact encoders) have been used to measure the strip speed. But, mechanical contact measurement devices indirectly measure the speed of the strip and are subject to measurement errors due to slippage.

Modern rolling mills have adopted the LaserSpeed® Pro length and speed gauge to directly measure the strip speed in MFAGC applications. This proven laser gauge provides the highest measurement accuracy and highest performance in the industry, and eliminates the measurement errors associated with mechanical-based contact measurement devices. LaserSpeed Pro can measure strip speeds with better than +/-0.03% accuracy and +/-0.02% repeatability, and without making contact with the product. It has no moving parts, eliminates all slippage errors and is permanently calibrated.

Check out our LaserSpeed Pro gauge below for your unique process application.