Extreme heat, extreme vibrations: Encoders installed at loopers in hot roll stands are among the most heavily stressed components in rolling mills and often only have a short lifetime. The case study from Hübner Giessen shows how customized special solutions can extend service life and reduce maintenance costs.
Ensuring a constant flow of material
In a rolling mill, loopers have an important function. They regulate the strip tension between the rolling stands. To ensure trouble-free production and consistent steel quality, a steady flow of material must be guaranteed. One of the crucial components for this is the feedback encoder of the looper. As its special installation situation and the environmental conditions cause extremely high loads standard encoders quickly reach their limits here.
Customized solution by Hübner Giessen
In search of longer-lasting encoders, the operators of a rolling mill turn to Hübner Giessen. The Hübner experts then develop a customized looper encoder that can cope much better with the high loads caused by shock, temperature and cooling emissions as well as the uneven pressure distribution in the ball bearing than the standard solution previously used. To find out which modifications were made to adapt the looper encoder to its task in the hot rolling mill, check out the case study “Rolling mills/Looper: Special looper encoders withstand the most extreme operating conditions in hot roll stands”.