Remote control of a plant for producing and/or treating a rolled product made of metal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12370589-B2
Application number	US-202017775479-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2020
Priority date	Nov 20, 2019
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

Sensors detect states of units of a plant for producing and/or treating a rolled product made of metal and transmit them to an automation system. The state signals (Z) are, in part, dimensional signals. The automation system determines, by taking into account the state signals (Z), control signal signals (S) for actuators associated with the units and actuates the actuators accordingly. The automation system includes at least one model-based system which models the behavior of the system and/or of the rolled product in real time. The automation system transmits the state signals (Z), the control signals (S) and/or signals derived therefrom at least in part via an open data network to a human-machine interface arranged at an operating location. The transmitted signals comprise at least one of the dimensional signals. The automation system takes specifications (V) from the human-machine interface in determining the control signals (S).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An operating method for a plant for producing and/or treating a rolled product made of metal,
wherein significant status signals (Z) for states of units of the system are detected by means of sensors,
wherein the detected status signals (Z) are transmitted from the sensors to an automation system,
wherein some of the status signals (Z) recorded by the sensors are dimensional signals,
wherein dimensional signals are signals in which a single individual measured value only provides meaningful information about the status of the rolled product relative to a specific unit of the system or the system itself if it also takes into account the values adjacent to it in time and/or location,
wherein the automation system, by taking into account the transmitted status signals (Z), determines control signals (S) for actuators associated with the units and activates the actuators according to the determined status signals (Z),
wherein the automation system determines part of the control signals (S) by taking into account the dimensional signals,
wherein the automation system comprises at least one model-based system which models the behavior of the system and/or the rolled product in real time on the basis of mathematical-physical equations,
wherein the automation system feeds part of the status signals (Z) to the model-based system and determines part of the control signals (S) for the actuators by means of the model-based system,
wherein the automation system transmits at least part of the status signals (Z), the control signals (S), and/or signals derived from the status signals (Z) and/or the control signals (S), via an open data network to a human-machine interface arranged at an operating site,
wherein an open data network is a data network in which the automation system and the human-machine interface have no knowledge as to whether, and if so which, other components are connected to the data network,
wherein the signals transmitted to the human-machine interface comprise at least one of the dimensional signals,
wherein the human-machine interface accepts commands (B) from an operator by operating predefined controls of the human-machine interface and transmits specifications (V) corresponding to the commands (B) to the automation system via the open data network,
wherein the automation system takes the specifications (V) into account when determining the control signals (S),
wherein the transmission over the open data network takes place in both communication directions with a probability of at least 99.95% with a maximum latency time of 50 ms and the bandwidth of the transmission between the automation system and the human-machine interface is sufficiently large that at least one video data stream with a resolution of 800×600 pixels per video frame and 20 video frames per second can be transmitted within the maximum latency time,
wherein the automation system selects which dimensional signals it transmits to the human-machine interface according to the production status of the rolled product and/or the system, and/or the human-machine interface selects which dimensional signals it outputs to the operator and in which scope according to the production status of the rolled product and/or the system,
wherein the human-machine interface determines the specifications (V) dynamically as a function of the actuation of the predefined controls and additionally as a function of the status of the rolled product and/or the system;
wherein the human machine interface includes a plurality of monitors, and
wherein at least a first one of the plurality of monitors displays the status signals (Z), while a second one of the plurality of monitors displays dimensional signals selected and transmitted to the human-machine interface by the automation system, or selected by the human-machine interface.

2. The operating method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the system comprises a continuous casting system and/or a rolling mill with or without a cooling track downstream of the rolling mill, and/or a treatment line for thermal treatment and/or surface treatment of the rolled product.

3. The operating method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one sub-section of the open data network is designed at least in accordance with the 5G standard.

4. The operating method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a geometric-structural model of the system is implemented in the human-machine interface, that the human-machine interface outputs at least part of the geometric-structural model to the operator and that the human-machine interface visually highlights, in the output geometric-structural model or in the output portion of the geometric-structural model, the region or at least one of the regions that the automation system transmits to the human-machine interface depending on the status of the rolled product and/or the system, and/or from the region of which the dimensional signals originate, which signals the human-machine interface outputs to the operator depending on the status of the rolled product and/or the system, and/or for which the specifications (V) are determined which the human-machine interface dynamically determines depending on the status of the rolled product and/or the system, wherein the geometric structural model is displayed by a third monitor of the plurality of monitors.

5. The operating method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the human-machine interface further includes a fourth monitor to display images from multiple locations in the plant simultaneously.

6. The operating method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the communication between the automation system and the human-machine interface takes place in compressed form.

7. The operating method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the communication between the automation system and the human-machine interface is encrypted.

8. The operating method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in addition to the human-machine interface, at least one other human-machine interface which is networked with the human-machine interface is arranged at the operating location, and that the operator can transfer communication with the automation system dynamically from the human-machine interface to the other human-machine interface and back by specifying appropriate transfer commands.

9. The operating method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least part of the status signals (Z) fed to the model-based system from the automation system are dimensional signals.

10. An integral plant for producing and/or treating a rolled product made of metal,
wherein the integral plant has sensors arranged at the location of the system, by means of which significant status signals (Z) for states of units of the plant are detected,
wherein the integral plant has an automation system which is connected to the sensors for transmitting the detected status signals (Z) from the sensors to the automation system,
wherein part of the status signals (Z) detected by the sensors are dimensional signals,
wherein dimensional signals are signals in which a single individual measured value only provides meaningful information about the status of the rolled product relative to a specific unit of the plant or the plant itself if it also takes into account the values adjacent to it in time and/or location,
wherein the integral plant has actuators arranged at the location of the plant, which are associated with the units and are connected to the automation system for actuating the actuators according to determined control signals (S),
wherein the automation system determines the control signals (S) for the actuators taking into account the transmitted status signals (Z),
wherein the automation system dete

Assignees

• Primetals Technologies Germany Gmbh

Inventors

• Winter Gunther
• Zeiher Hans-Juergen

Classifications

• G05B13/04

  involving the use of models or simulators · CPC title

• G05B19/4185

  characterised by the network communication · CPC title

• B21B37/74

  Temperature control, e.g. by cooling or heating the rolls or the product (B21B37/32, B21B37/44 take precedence) · CPC title

• B21B37/58

  Roll-force control; Roll-gap control {(B21B38/105 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• Y02P90/02

  Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] · CPC title