Add-on Harmonic Disturbance Cancellation Control in Continuous Hot-Dip Galvanizing Lines

In continuous hot-dip galvanizing of steel strips, unwanted vibrations of the processed strip can significantly degrade the coating uniformity and quality. Thus, an increasing number of hot-dip galvanizing lines are equipped with electromagnetic strip stabilization devices to enable active strip-shape and vibration control. Typically, commercial strip stabilizers achieve adequate broad-band vibration attenuation. However, their disturbance rejection capabilities are usually insufficient in case of persistently exciting harmonic disturbances. This work proposes a new multivariable harmonic disturbance cancellation control strategy which can be used as add-on to the position control loop of an existing strip stabilization device. The unknown amplitude, phase angle, and disturbance frequency are estimated during online operation. The systematic consideration of controller-output and estimator constraints in the design guarantees a reliable and safe operation in the challenging industrial environment. The devised control system works well even in the case of non-persistently exciting harmonic disturbances. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is demonstrated by short- and long-term measurement results from an industrial hot-dip galvanizing line.