Patent ID: 6427221
Filing Date: 2002-07-30
Classification: G05B,Y02P

Abstract:
An automatically configurable rolling mill system comprising:a rolling mill having an entrance receiving billets at an input temperature, a set of rolls rolling a received billet to change the billets by a rolling diameter as moved at a rolling speed, and an exit discharging the rolled billet at an output temperature, the rolling mill system comprising: a rolling mill controller having: (a) an electronic memory holding data representing: (i) rolling mill constraints indicating constraints on the operation of the rolling mill; (ii) inter-machine relationships indicating physical operating parameters of the rolling mill dependent on physical operating parameters of other machines to which the rolling mill is connected; (b) an electronic computer executing a stored program to: (i) receive a job plan describing a job to be performed by the rolling mill and the other machines (ii) modify the rolling mill constraints identified by the inter-machine relationships, by the corresponding machine constraints of the other machines; (iii) after the modification of (ii), exchange bids and counterbids with the other machines proposing completion or portions of the job by the rolling mill and the other machines; and (iv) evaluate the feasibility of the bids and counterbids against the modified rolling mill constraints.