Encoders for Position and Speed Monitoring in Steel Mills and Rolling Mills
Hübner Giessen develops and manufactures heavy-duty encoders and encoder systems for steel mills, hot rolling mills, cold rolling mills, and steel processing plants. Our systems measure and monitor rotational speeds, positioning, and velocities—for example, on main or auxiliary drives, screw downs, side guides, loopers, or travel and hoisting mechanisms of coil-handling cranes, casting cranes, bridge cranes, ladle cranes, scrap cranes, steel mill cranes, or slab cranes.
Encoder systems used in steel production and processing are exposed to extreme mechanical stresses and environmental conditions. These include heat, severe vibrations, water, and cooling emulsions, as well as challenging mounting situations. Heavy-duty encoders from Hübner Giessen are designed for these operating conditions and provide the speed and position signals required for control and monitoring.
Depending on the application, incremental and absolute encoders, magnetic encoders, speed and position switches, and complete encoder systems are available.
Discover our Encoder Solutions for Steel Mills and Rolling Mills
Encoder Systems for Steel Production and Further Processing
The requirements for encoders within a steel mill vary widely. High temperatures at the converter pose different challenges than the reversing operations of rolling mill drives, cooling emulsions, and shock loads on sling hoists. Hübner Giessen develops custom-designed encoder systems that are precisely tailored to the requirements of the machine, the measurement task, the mounting situation, and the environmental conditions.
Typical applications for encoder systems in steel and rolling mills include:
- Steel production: Converters, electric arc furnaces, casting cranes
- Continuous casting: Slab casting lines, casting and rolling lines, slitting machines
- Cold rolling mills: Tandem cold rolling mills, 20-roll mills
- Hot rolling mills: Hot strip mills, wire mills, bar mills, tube rolling stands, beam rolling mills, lifting beam furnaces, roller conveyors
- Further processing: Hot-dip galvanizing lines, strip coating lines
- Coil handling: Coil cranes and other equipment for coil transport
Where Encoders are needed in Steel and Rolling Mills
Encoders and encoder systems from Hübner Giessen measure and monitor the rotational speed, position, and velocities of moving components in steel production and rolling mills with high precision. The measurement signals are used, among other things, to control roller drives, position rollers and side guides, monitor strip movements, and control safety-critical machine movements.
Typical Applications for Encoders in Steel Production and Processing:
- Main and auxiliary drives in rolling mills: Speed measurement and motor feedback for drive control
- Screw downs: Precise position detection for setting and controlling the roll gap
- Side guides: Position measurement for precise guidance and centering of the rolled material
- Rolling stands: Speed monitoring and safety-related monitoring, for example during creep speed operation
- Strip coating and strip treatment systems: Speed and velocity measurement for controlling material transport
- Converters: Angle and position monitoring during converter movement
- Inclined converter hoist: Position and speed measurement during lifting and lowering
- Coil-handling cranes: Monitoring of lifting, traveling, and positioning movements
Why Encoders must be highly robust in Steel and Rolling Mills
In steel mills and rolling mills, the machines and equipment used must perform heavy-duty work and often move very heavy, large steel components safely over long distances. The heavy-duty encoder systems used must therefore be precisely tailored to the specific requirements of each plant to ensure that they operate with high precision, reliability, and safety.
Typical challenges with encoder systems in steel mills and rolling mills:
- Extremely high temperatures and thermal radiation during steel production and hot rolling
- Severe vibrations and shock loads due to the extreme size of the equipment, e.g., during rolling
- High demands on housings, seals, and protection ratings due to contact with water and cooling emulsions
- High rotational speeds and frequent direction changes, e.g., in rolling mills
- Difficult mounting conditions, e.g., limited installation space, large distances, or hard-to-reach mounting locations
How Steel Mill and Rolling Mill Operators benefit from Hübner Giessen Encoders
Customers of Hübner Giessen’s custom encoder solutions include steel mill and rolling mill operators, machine manufacturers, and steel mill suppliers worldwide. We assist them in selecting components, recommend suitable electronics and mounting parts, and develop solutions for signal transmission. Our engineering service handles the installation and commissioning of the systems.
Benefits for Steel and Rolling Mill Operators:
- High plant availability despite extreme operating and environmental conditions
- Precise control through highly accurate, reliable data acquisition
- Lower setup and maintenance costs thanks to durable components with minimal wear
- Improved safety through available SIL 2 / PL d certification for functional safety
- Effective modernization thanks to customized retrofit solutions for existing plants
Benefits for Machine Manufacturers:
- Customized solutions for machine models, mounting configurations, and measurement tasks
- Easy integration thanks to compatibility with common control systems
- Engineering support—including consulting, planning, and commissioning—all from a single source
- Certified components compliant with international norms and standards (ISO, DIN, SIL, ATEX)
- Complete system solutions, including electronic components, motors, mounting parts, and transmission paths (e.g., fiber optics)
The Benefits of a System Retrofit using Encoders from Hübner Giessen
Equipment in rolling mills and steel mills typically operates around the clock for many years. Due to wear and tear, it gradually becomes less accurate, and its reliability declines. A targeted modernization using encoder systems from Hübner Giessen brings the equipment back up to the latest technical standards. We develop retrofit solutions for speed and position monitoring in steel and rolling mills. Mechanical copying mechanisms, older encoder attachments, or high-maintenance transmission solutions can be replaced with modern electronic encoder and position measurement systems.
Typical modernization projects:
- Replacement of encoders on loopers in the rolling mill to reduce equipment downtime and extend service life
- New positioning solution for oxygen lances on converters to improve accuracy and simplify parameterization
- Optimization of drive control and strip speed on rolling stands
U-ONE: Our System Solution for Applications in Steel Mills and Rolling Mills
As specialists in the steel industry, we offer a wide range of encoder and sensor solutions tailored to the industry. These include, for example, optical and magnetic measurement methods for speed and position measurement, as well as our universal encoder system, U-ONE / U-ONE Safety.
In the video, you can see the benefits our solutions offer for new plant construction or plant modernization.
Case Studies: Hübner Giessen Solutions for the Steel Industry
Our case studies provide you with comprehensive insight into the solutions we have developed to address typical challenges in steel mills and rolling mills. In these studies, we showcase selected products and demonstrate how we tackle specific problems in the steel industry.
Through detailed analyses and practical examples, you can see how our innovative solutions help increase efficiency, reduce costs, and optimize operational processes
Case study – Rolling mills / main drive: Excellent personnel protection thanks to an electronic overspeed switch
Both shaping steel in cold and hot rolling mills and manufacturing steel plates,…
Case study: a maintenance-free heavy-duty generator increases system availability and reduces maintenance requirements
In smelters, hot metal cranes are used to transport molten pig iron into special…
Case study – Coil coating: optimizing coating quality
Coil coating is a fully automated process in which rolled metal strips are given…
Steel works case study: high-precision positioning of an oxygen lance
Oxygen plays an essential role in steelmaking. In the so-called oxidation proces…
Case study: rapid encoder replacement for a precise converter tipping angle
Extremely hot and extremely heavy: converters in steel works not only have to wi…
Case Study hot rolling mill: optimized quality with a new absolute encoder
Be it wire rods, bars or bands, the products manufactured in hot rolling mills r…
Looper encoder case study: Top performance under most extreme conditions
Extreme heat, extreme vibrations: Encoders installed at loopers in hot roll stan…
Case study: Innovative approach for trouble-free operation in rolling mills
Many rolling mills face a recurring problem: the front motor of their tandem dri…
Case study: more personnel protection in a rolling mill
Applications at industrial facilities involve huge risks of injury both during n…
Case Study: New encoder mountings for old main drives in a rolling mill
They keep on running and running and running: Main drives in hot and cold rollin…
Case study: Precise position measurement in a complex mounting situation
With problems such as limited space, no free shaft end or an extra-large shaft d…
Position monitoring on the coiler motor with functional safety
Robust, safety-certified and with FOC transmission: For a special encoder for po…
Case Study: Efficiently Modernizing Main Drives in a Rolling Mill
Modernizing a plant often requires small changes to be made to various aspects o…
Case Study: Making looper rolls run smoothly again
Increased material defects and rejected products in a hot rolling mill caused by…
How to contact Hübner Giessen
Do you need a rotary encoder solution for a new steel or rolling mill facility, or would you like to modernize an existing facility? Hübner Giessen develops rotary encoder systems tailored to the measurement task, mounting conditions, environmental conditions, and existing control technology.
Simply contact us using the contact form.
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We look forward to your challenges.