Method and device for edge position determination of metallic materials

Abstract: Method and device for edge position determination of metallic materials by means of evaluation of the voltages which are induced in edge measuring coils (L₃) located at the edges and below of the material (M) and partially covered by the material and in height measuring coils (L₁, L₂) located at the, with respect to the material, inwardly facing side of the first-mentioned coils in the transverse direction of the material, which latter coils are completely covered by the material. The voltages are measured when the magnetic fields which are generated by the same coils are decaying.

Description: The invention relates to a method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to the precharacterising part of claim 1. The invention also relates to a device for carrying out the method according to the invention. In the rolling of metallic materials, it is often desired, for reasons of process technique, to center the rolled material in the roll track. One of the conditions for doing so is that the width of the material or the edge thereof are available. The invention is intended to be used for determining edge position, centre position and width for all types of metallic materials. One known method of determining edge position and material width of a rolled material is described, inter alia, in "Iron and Steel Engineer", May 1989, pp. 23-25, in an article entitled "Cold strip measurement and inspection". The method comprises using two or more video cameras directed against the rolled material. The video cameras are positioned on one and the same line across the material in such a way that the two edges are covered by the field of view of the respective outer camera/cameras. To obtain sufficient contrasts between material and the external surroundings, either that side of the strip which faces the cameras or the under side of the material is illuminated by one or more light sources. The "image", perceived by the video cameras, of the region around the edges of the material is data processed in a known manner using conventional, modern technique such that, after calibration of the equipment, the positions of the edges can be indicated. Position data can then both be shown on a monitor and be included as measured values in an edge position or centering control device. The environment in which the edge position measuring devices are situated may give rise to considerable problems for optical measuring methods. Keeping camera lenses and light sources free from dust and dirt often requires daily cleaning. In addition, these applications often involve high temperatures in the surroundings as well as splashing from water flushing, which may jeopardize the function of the measuring system. Before the video technique became generally available, other measuring methods (without describing these in more detail) were available which were based on optomechanical systems as well as on sensors making direct contact with the edges of the material. In Trosa Metaltronica AB's pamphlet S87-01, an electromagnetic method for edge position determination is described. The method comprises placing a coil under the two edges of the material. Special evaluation technique analyzes the voltage induced in the coil after a magnetizing current in the coil has been disconnected. In this way, under certain special conditions, a measure of the edge position can be obtained. The evaluation technique used is described in SE-A-451 886 entitled "Method and device for contactless measurement of quantities in or near electrically conducting material". A magnetizing field is generated with the aid of a coil which can be supplied with alternating current or a pulsed polarized or unidirectional direct current. The quantities, about which information may be obtained by evaluation of the aperiodic induced voltage signal which arises in connection with the decaying magnetic field, are the distance between the coil and the electrically conducting material, the thickness of the material, and its electrical conductivity. The various quantities may be determined substantially by sampled measurement, i.e. by dividing the measurement of the induced voltage into different time intervals. The distance between the coil and the electrically conducting material is determined substantially by the magnitude of the induced voltage in a time interval immediately after switching off the current through the coil. The voltage induced in the coils in case of a decaying magnetic field, when the coils according to the above pamphlet are placed under the material edges, will be dependent on how large a part of the coils is covered by the material. Besides this dependence, also the signal will to a very great extent be dependent on the distance between the coil and the material, as well as on a possible edge bending of the rolled material. This is one of the reasons why edge position gauges designed in this way, with edge measuring coils only, have not become more widely spread. The invention aims at developing a method for edge position determination of metallic materials the measuring values of which are practically independent of the distance between an edge measuring coil and, for example, rolled material. Further, the method shall be largely independent of the influence of edge bending of the material, the thickness of the material and other material properties. To achieve this aim the invention suggests a method for edge position measuring according to the introductory part of claim 1, which is characterized by the features of the characterizing part of claim 1. Further developments of the method according to the invention are characterized by the features of the additional claims 2 to 10. A device for carrying out the method according to the invention is characterized by the features of claim 11. Further developments of the device are characterized by the features of the additional claims 12 to 16. According to the invention an edge measuring coil is positioned under each edge of the material in such a way that these coils for the width variation of the relevant material are more or less covered by the material. The edge measuring coils are wound and directed such that, upon magnetization, the magnetic field lines emanating from the centre of the edge measuring coils are directed substantially perpendicular to the material. The voltage induced in the coils in case of a decaying magnetic field will thus become dependent on the degree of coverage. Immediately at the, with respect to the material, inwardly facing side of the edge measuring coils in the transverse direction of the material and on the same plane as the edge measuring coils, a coil is placed on each side, and these coils will thus always be covered by the material. The technique described in the above patent for measuring the distance between a coil and an electrically conducting material may therefore be directly applied. By measurement and evaluation of the voltage which is induced in the coils, hereinafter referred to as the height measuring coils, in case of a decaying magnetic field from the height measuring coil, the distance of the material to the coils can thus be determined. As mentioned above, the voltage which is induced in the edge measuring coil, besides being dependent on the degree of coverage, will also be greatly dependent on the distance between the coil and the material. By calibration and determination of this relationship, that is, the influence on the induced voltage for varying degrees of coverage for different distances, a possibility of compensation of the distance dependence is given. Normally, the distance between the edge measuring coil and the material, apart from possible edge flutter, is the same as the distance between the height measuring coil and the material. Therefore, the evaluated part of the voltage induced in the height measuring coil, which serves as distance determination to the material, can be used for correction of the voltage induced in the edge measuring coil. In certain rolling applications, however, so-called edge bending may occur. This means that the distance between a height measuring coil and the material positioned above it is not the same as the distance between the edge measuring coil and the edge of the material. The correction which is to take place of the signal of the edge measuring coil with regard to the distance will therefore not be correct. However, this drawback can be largely eliminated by arranging an additional height measuring coil inside in the transverse direction of the strip and in the same plane as the first-mentioned height measuring coil. In this way, the change of height or the inclination of the strip may be determined, and with knowledge of the approximate distance from the height measuring coils and out to the edge of the material, a distance, compensated for edge bending, may form the basis for distance correction. To further reduce the influence of distance variations and edge flutter, it has proved to be suitable, with the aid of at least the height measuring coil nearest the edge measuring coil, to generate a field which is simultaneous with the field from the edge measuring coil. One way of achieving this is to allow height measurement and edge measurement to take place synchronously. This will impart to the height measuring coils, in addition to their measuring function, also a function as generator of supporting fields to the edge measuring coil. As a result of this arrangement, the distance dependence is considerably reduced. The edge and height measuring coils are suitably located on a common beam which is arranged perpendicular to the rolling direction. The signals of the height measuring coil can also be used to check that the beam is mounted in parallel with the rolled material. To increase the resolving power and hence the accuracy of the measured signals, the invention comprises connecting so-called reference coils to both the edge measuring coils and the height measuring coils, these reference coils being placed so as not to be influenced by the material. To bring about the magnetizing field, the reference coils are connected in parallel with the edge and the height measuring coils, respectively. On the other hand, the measurement signals from each edge measuring coil and its reference coil are each connected to an input of a differential amplifier, thus obtaining the difference voltage. The same principle of connection is used also for the height measuring coils. The signal which is obtained from the edge measuring coils, in addition to its great distance dependence, also has a certain material dependence, for it has proved that the signal is influenced to a certain extent by the thickness of the material as well as its conductivity and magnetic permeability. Both of these quantities, of course, may be extracted from the signal which is obtained from the height measuring coils in accordance with the technique which is described in connection with the above-mentioned patent. This means that the edge signal can be corrected also as regards this material dependence. Generally, however, a direct knowledge of the properties and thickness of the material in question is also available, which entails a possibility of entering these data into the measuring system for correction of the edge signal. To attain a large width measuring range while retaining a high measurement resolution, it has proved to be suitable to allow an edge measuring unit to consist of a relatively large number of coils in a row, and to allow all the coils included in the unit to have the same number of turns and the same geometrical shape. In this way the equipment can cover a large width range of the rolled material since any one of the coils directed towards the material may be used as edge measuring coil. This, in turn, means that the two coils positioned immediately inside become height measuring coils. An edge measuring device according to the invention, as opposed to edge measuring devices operating with video technique, is practically independent of the surrounding environment. By the compensation technique described above, the distance dependence between edge measuring coils and rolled material, exhibited by previously known inductive edge position sensors, has been largely eliminated. In addition to these advantages, the influence of edge bending of the material, rial, the thickness of the material and other material properties have also been considerably reduced. By way of example, the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings showing in Figure 1 a diagram of the principle of an edge measuring unit, that is, that part of an edge position measuring device which determines one of the edge positions of the material, Figure 2 the relative positions of the time intervals, Figure 3 how the measured signal varies as a function of the degree of coverage of the edge measuring coil and the distance between the coil and the material, Figure 4 how the measured signal varies as a function of the degree of coverage of the edge measuring coil and the distance between the coil and the material with supply by means of a supporting field from the nearest height measuring coil, Figure 5 a flow diagram for obtaining the edge position as broadly implemented in the microprocessor. Figure 1 shows a diagram of the principle of one of two identical edge measuring units included in an edge position measuring device according to the invention. To clarify the problem which arises when the rolled material M is bent at the edges, the material is shown forming a certain angle v with a plane parallel to the common plane for the field generating and measuring coils L 1 , L 2 and L 3 . The coils L 1 and L 2 correspond to the previously mentioned height measuring coils and L 3 is the edge measuring coil. To the extent that this is necessary, the coil L 2 will be referred to hereinafter as a first height measuring coil and the coil L 1 as a second height measuring coil. The axes of the coils are positioned at the distance x 1 , x 2 and x 3 , respectively, from a conceived initial position which, for example, may be the centre of adjacent rolls. The edge position of the rolled material is designated x M2 in Figure 1. The magnetizing fields generated are indicated by the symbols H 1 , H 2 and H 3 . As will also be clear, the field H 3 , generated by the edge measuring coil L 3 , will have a different configuration from the other coils. Each of three reference coils L R1 , L R2 and L R3 is connected in parallel with a corresponding one of the afore-said measuring coils. The reference coils are placed so as not to be significantly influenced by the rolled material. They may, for example, be enclosed in a shielded space 1. As mentioned above, the coils L 1 , L 2 and L 3 are used both to create the magnetizing field and to measure the voltage induced in the coil in case of a decaying magnetic field. To be able to achieve this, the various occurrences must be separated in time, that is, a measuring cycle must be divided into a number of time intervals. In a preferred embodiment the magnetization takes place during a time interval which will hereinafter be referred to as t 0 and the sampled measurement of the induced voltages will take place during time intervals designated t 1 and t 2 . The time interval t 1 comes immediately after the magnetizing current has been disconnected. The difference signal, obtained during time interval t 1 , for the edge measuring coil and the corresponding reference coil is largely dependent of how large a part of the coil is covered by the material. For the height measuring coils, the difference voltage measured during t 1 corresponds substantially to a measure of the distance between coils and material. The time interval t 2 usually falls immediately after the cessation of the time interval t 1 . The difference voltage measured during time interval t 2 forms the basis for determining the above-mentioned material dependence. The mutual placement, the relative duration and the magnitude of the time intervals will be described in greater detail with reference to Figure 2. The current supply for magnetization is obtained according to Figure 1 during the time interval to from drivers 2, 3 and 4. In a preferred embodiment this takes place with a pulsed current for each one of the three parallel-connected coil sets L 1 and L R1 , L 2 and L R2 as well as L 3 and L R3 . The voltages induced in each coil set, that is, the voltages from both the measuring coil and the reference coil, are supplied to the inputs of a differential amplifier 5, 6 and 7 for each coil set. The difference signals are supplied to sampling measuring circuits, the time intervals t 1 and t 2 of which are controlled in the same way as the time interval t o by a control circuit 8. The sampling measuring circuits 9 and 10 belong to the edge measuring coil and the associated reference coil, and during the time interval t 1 the measuring circuit 9 measures the difference voltage a = Δu 31 , and during the time interval t 2 the measuring circuit 10 measures the difference voltage b = Δu 32 . The measuring circuits 11 and 12 belong to the first height measuring coil with the respective reference coil, and during the time interval t 1 the measuring circuit 11 measures the difference voltage c = Δu 21 , and during the time interval t 2 the measuring circuit 12 measures the difference voltage d = Δu 22 . In a corresponding way, the measuring circuits 13 and 14 belong to the second height measuring coil and the respective reference coil, and during the time interval t 1 the measuring circuit 13 measures the difference voltage e = Δu 11 and during the time interval t 2 the measuring circuit 14 measures the difference voltage f = Δu 12 . The analog sampled measured values from the measuring circuits are supplied to an analog-to-digital convertor 15. The digitized values are then supplied to a microprocessor 16 which processes and puts together the measured values obtained such that the data of the edge measuring coil and the associated reference coil can be compensated for distance dependence between the edge measuring coil and material, for material dependence as well as for any edge bending of the material. In addition, the microprocessor is adapted to provide the control circuit 8 with control data for cycle frequency and sampling data. The control circuit also controls time interval to by controlling the sampling circuit 17 for connection of magnetizing current to the coils. Figure 2 shows the mutual relationships between the different time intervals. The necessary length of the time interval to is to a certain extent dependent on the properties and thickness of the rolled metallic material. In a preferred embodiment, a suitable value may be of the order of magnitude of 20 µs. The length of the time interval t1 shall correspond to the decay time for the inductive energy which is stored in the magnetic field generated by the coil. The decay time is determined by the properties of the coil, as, for example, number of turns and size of the coil, and may to a certain extent be chosen arbitrarily. To limit the influence on the material, a short decay time is favourable. On the other hand, too short times deteriorate the accuracy of measurement and the signal/noise ratio in the measuring electronics. In a preferred embodiment, t 1 has been chosen to be 0.7 µs. The time t 2 should not be considerably longer than t 1 and may suitably be chosen to be as long as t 1 . To prevent crosstalk when switching the time intervals on and off, an interval between t 1 and t 2 of a few hundredths µs may be suitable. The puls frequency is suitably chosen within the range of 5-20 kHz, that is, such that a measuring sequence starts with an interval of between 50 and 200 µs. Figures 3 and 4 show how the measured signal from the edge measuring coil varies as a function of the lateral position and the distance between the coil and the material without and with a supporting field from the nearest height measuring coil. For the edge measuring coil, a great lateral dependence is aimed at, which is equal to a great inclination of the curves. At the same time, the distance dependence shall be small, which means that the distance between the different height curves shall be small. With supply from a supporting field, a part of the field from the height measuring coil will be forced by the material down through the edge measuring coil with a field direction which is directed opposite to the field of the edge measuring coil itself. In that way, as is shown in Figure 4, supply from the supporting field in case of a small coverage of the edge measuring coil provides a measured signal with reversed polarity. For a certain edge position, the height-dependent effect from supporting fields and edge measuring coil will be equally great. A position is obtained where the different height curves converge at practically one point. For this edge position the height dependence has been largely eliminated. In case of a greater coverage of the edge measuring coil, the field of the edge measuring coil itself predominates and the height curves again diverge. One embodiment of the invention comprises a position control system for lateral displacement of the coils such that the edge of the strip relative to the edge measuring coil will be positioned in the lateral position which corresponds to the point of intersection of the height curves. Another embodiment of the invention which allows a considerable reduction of the height dependence comprises two overlapping coil rows which preferably have a lateral overlap of 50%, that is, they are displaced in the lateral direction of the strip such that the centre of the coils of one coil row lies above the space between the coils of the other coil row. To reduce the capacitive coupling between the coil rows, they are also somewhat displaced in relation to each other in the longitudinal direction of the strip. If an edge position corresponds to the point of intersection of the height curves for one coil row, the edge position for the other coil row will indicate a need of height compensation. However, by a special weighting process, which will be described below, only the signal from that coil row where no height compensation is needed will be utilized for the further evaluation. If a current edge position for both coil rows is positioned largely equidistantly from and on respective sides of the point of intersection of the height curves, the difference between the signals and the conceived signal at the point of intersection of the height curves will be practically equally great and oppositely directed. By connecting the signals in opposition, the resultant need of height compensation will be considerably reduced. Generally, the edge position will be positioned between the above-mentioned extremes. In a region near the centre of a coil the height curves are well collected, and consequently the height dependence is small. The coil signal which originates from that coil row whose centre lies near the edge of the strip, will then have the weight "1" and coil signals from the other coil row will have the weight "0". For lateral positions outside the central region, the weighting is reduced for that coil row whose centre lies nearest the central region whereas the weighting for the other coil row to a corresponding extent increases its weighting from "0" to "1". The weighting function is otherwise formed such that the resultant height dependence is largely equal to zero. For further improvement of the height compensation, several overlapping coil rows may be used. With the aid of the control system of the edge measuring unit, the coil pairs for each measurement may be switched in. In a preferred embodiment, simultaneous pulsing of the coil pairs for the respective coil row is performed. The edge measuring unit may suitably comprise relatively many coils to be able to cover as large a width range as possible. In the normal embodiment, the edge measuring unit is mounted in a fixed position in relation to the rolling mill. In an alternative embodiment, as described above, the edge measuring unit may be designed with a traversing facility controlled with the aid of the position control system. In alternative embodiments the reference coils can be replaced by a common reference coil or be completely omitted. In a preferred embodiment, as mentioned above, the current supply to the coils is synchronous. However, the edge measuring unit may be caused to function satisfactorily even if the current supply to the height and edge measuring coils, respectively, does not take place simultaneously. Another embodiment which permits an additional possibility of reducing the distance dependence comprises varying the current through the coil which supplies the supporting field. In that way, the position of the point of intersection for the height curves may be displaced and in this way the distance dependence may be reduced to near zero for a greater part of edge measuring coil. Figure 5 shows a flow diagram for the internal processing sequence of the microprocessor. In addition to the difference voltages "a" to f, the microprocessor is supplied with a constant k 1 for the material in question for compensation of the material influence, information about the thickness T of sheet material, as well as the fixed x-coordinates of the coils. The other quantities included in the flow diagram are clear from the following list: m = f/(e - k 1 f), a material quantity compensated for height k 2 = a material- and thickness-dependent constant h 1 = the height of the material above the second height measuring coil h 2 = the height of the material above the first height measuring coil h 3 = the estimated height of the material above the edge measuring coil x M1 = the estimated edge position, not taking into account the inclination of the material x M2 = the calculated edge position. A calculating sequence is started by determining the differences a-k 1 b, c-k 1 d and e-k 1 f and the quotient m=f/(e-k 1 f). The next step is to determine k 2 for the current material and thickness in accordance with k 2 = F(m,T) which relationship may be empirically determined for current materials and thicknesses. The relationship may, for example, be stored in the microprocessor in the form of tables or as multitudes of curves. The calculating sequence then continues by determining the heights h 1 and h 2 , which in turn are functions of e-k 1 f and c-k 1 d and the constant k 2 , respectively, that is, h 1 = F(e-k 1 f,k 2 ) h 2 = F(c-k 1 d,k 2 ). Also these empirical relationships for the current materials and thicknesses are suitably implemented in the microcomputer in the form of tables or multitudes of curves. Now, a roughly estimated value x M1 of the x-coordinate of the edge position may be obtained. The parameters which determine the functional relationship for this value are clear from the following: X M1 = F(a-k 1 b, T, k 2 , h 2 ). In the same way as above, a parameter dependence may be implemented in the microcomputer in the form of tables or curves. If it is of interest to obtain a more accurate value of the edge position, a more exact value of the height of the material above the edge measuring coil must first be determined on the basis of available data. This can be performed starting from the following functional relationship: h 3 = F(x M1 , h 1 , h 2 , x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ). With the aid of h 3 , which is determined in the same way as above with implemented tables and/or curves, and the parameters k 2 , T and the difference voltage a-k 1 b, an accurate value of the coordinate x M2 of the edge position can be determined in accordance with the empirical functional relationship x M2 = F(a-k 1 b, T, k 2 , h 3 ).

Claims: Method for edge position determination of metallic materials, with the region around the material edge being subjected to a pulsed magnetizing field (H 3 ) from an edge measuring coil (L 3 ) which is wound and directed such that the magnetic field lines emanating from the centre of the edge measuring coil (L3) upon magnetization are directed substantially perpendicular to the material, and with the edge measuring coil being located at a certain distance from the material and being partially overlapped by said material, the edge position determination being performed by evaluation of the voltage induced in the edge measuring coil upon decay of magnetic fields from the edge measuring coil, characterized in that at least one height measuring coil (L 1 , L 2 ) is located in the same plane parallel to the surface of the material as the edge measuring coil (L3) and on that side of the edge measuring coil (L3) which faces away from the edge of the material, that said at least one height measuring coil (L 1 , L 2 ) is driven to generate a pulsed magnetizing field towards the material, and that the induced voltage of the at least one height measuring coil upon decay of its magnetic field provides a measure of the distance of the materials surface from the the edge determining coil, which measure allows the voltage induced in the edge determining coil upon magnetization decay to be corrected for changes in the distance between the material surface and the edge determining coil. Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to claim 1 characterized in that immediately after the magnetizing fields have started decaying, the voltages induced in the edge measuring and height measuring coils are measured during a first time interval t 1 as well as during an immediately following second time interval t 2 , that the induced voltage from the edge measuring coil measured during the first time interval represents a first uncompensated measure of the edge position, that the voltage(s) induced in the height measuring coil(s) during the first time interval t 1 represent(s) a first uncompensated measure of the distance of the material form the height measuring coil(s), that the voltages in the edge and height measuring coils induced during the second time interval t 2 are used to compensate for material properties the first uncompensated measures of edge position and distance between height measuring coils and the material, and that the measure of the edge position, compensated for material properties, is compensated for the distance dependence, induced in the edge measuring coil, between the edge measuring coil and the material with the aid of the distance between measuring coils and material determined by means of the height measuring coil(s), which compensated induced voltage, after calibration, is adapted to indicate the edge position. Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that both the edge measuring and height measuring coils are designed with the same electrical and dimensional data. Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that two or more coil rows with edge and height measuring coils are arranged overlapping each other in the lateral direction. Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that each coil row may be moved in the lateral direction. Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the edge measuring coil and the height measuring coil(s) are pulsed synchronously with respect to the magnetization. Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that if the distances which are indicated between the height measuring coils and the material when two or more height measuring coils are used are different because of edge bending of the material, a corrected value of the distance between the edge measuring coil and the material is calculated with the aid of known values of the distance in the transverse direction of the material between the height measuring coils and the edge measuring coil, which corrected value is used for compensation of the distance dependence of the voltage induced in the edge measuring coil during the first time interval t 1 . Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the voltages induced in the edge and height measuring coils are connected in opposition to the voltage induced in a respective reference coil (L R1 , L R2 , L R3 ) with the same electrical and dimensional data as the edge and height measuring coils, which reference coils are positioned such that they are not significantly influenced by the presence of the material. Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to claim 8, characterized in that the protection of the reference coils (L R1 , L R2 , L R3 ) against the influence of the material is achieved by positioning them in a magnetically shielded space (1). Method for edge position determination of metallic materials according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the magnetizing fields are produced by supplying an equal amount of current to the edge and the height measuring coils and the respective reference coils which are connected in opposition, that the voltages induced in the coils are supplied to differential amplifiers (5,6,7) for measurement of the difference voltages between the edge and height measuring coils on the one side and their respective reference coils on the other side, that the difference voltages are continuously sampled whereby the value during the first time interval t 1 immediately after the magnetizing field has started to decay is determined, and the value of the difference voltages during the second immediately following time interval t 2 is determined, that the sampled measured values are supplied to an analog-to-digital convertor (15), whereby "a" indicates the value of the sampled measured signal during t 1 for the edge measuring coil (L 3 ) and the associated reference coil (L R3 ), "b" indicates the value of the sampled measured signal for the same coils during the time interval t 2 , "c" indicates the value of the sampled measured signal during the time interval t 1 for the first height measuring coil (L 2 ) and the associated reference coil (L R2 ), "d" indicates the value of the sampled measured signal for the same coils during the time interval t 2 , "e" indicates the value of the sampled measured signal during the time interval t 1 for the second height measuring coil (L 1 ) and the associated reference coil (L R1 ), and "f" indicates the value of the sampled measured signal for the same coils during the time interval t 2 , that said values are then supplied to a microprocessor (16) together with known values of the thickness T of the material, a constant k 1 for the material under measurement for compensation of the influence of the material on the induced voltages, and the lateral coordinates (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ) for the positions of the second and first height measuring coils and the centre of the edge measuring coil, that a number of determinations are carried out in the microprocessor based on said supplied values and on implemented functional relationships in the form of tables and/or curves for the material in question, which determinations take place in the following order: determination of a-k 1 b, c-k 1 d, e-k 1 f and a height-compensated material quantity m = f/(e-k 1 f), determination of k 2 = F(m,T) as a material- and thickness-dependent constant, determination of h 2 = F(c-k 1 d, k 2 ) as the height of the material above the first height measuring coil, determination of h 1 = F(e-k 1 f, k 2 ) as the height of the material above the second height measuring coil, determination of x M1 = F(a-k 1 b, T, k 2 , h 1 ) as a roughly estimated edge position not taking into account the inclination of the material, determination of h 3 = F(X M1 , h 1 , h 2 , x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ) as the estimated height of the material above the edge measuring coil, and determination of x M2 = F(a-k 1 b, T, k 2 , h 3 ) as the edge position. Edge position measuring device for carrying out the method according to any of claims 1 to 10, which device comprises at least one edge measuring coil (L 3 ) mounted on support means such that in use it is located at a lateral end of the material under measurement at a certain distance from the material and partially overlapped by the material, and is directed such that the magnetic field lines, emanating from the centre of the edge measuring coil upon its magnetization are directed perpendicular to the material, characterized in at least one height measuring coil (L 1 , L 2 ) mounted on support means such that in use it lies in the same plane parallel to the surface of the material as the edge measuring coil (L3) on that side of the edge measuring coil (L3) which faces away from the edge of the material, that means are provided for driving said at least one height measuring coil to generate pulsed magnetizising fields towards the material, that sample measuring circuits (9 to 14) are arranged for measurement of the voltages induced in the edge measuring coil and said at least one height measuring coil during a first and a second time interval immediately after the magnetizing fields have started decaying, and that an A/D-convertor (15) is arranged for conversion of the sampled analog measured values into corresponding digital values, which are input to a processor (16) which, with pre-programmed empirical data for the materials under measurement, is adapted to provide a measure of the distance of the material surface from the the edge determining coil, which measure allows to compensate the measure of edge position derived from the voltage induced in the edge determining coil for changes in the distance between the material surface and the edge determining coil. Edge position measuring device according to claim 11 for edge position determination of metallic materials, characterized in that both the edge and height measuring coils (L 1 , L 2 , L 3 ) are arranged with the same electrical data and dimensions. Edge position measuring device according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that two or more rows of coils with edge and height measuring coils are arranged to overlap each other in the lateral direction. Edge position measuring device according to any of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that each coil row is arranged movable in the lateral direction. Edge position measuring device according to any of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that the device comprises one or more reference coils (L R1 , L R2 , L R3 ) with the same electrical and dimensional data as the edge and height measuring coil(s) that these reference coils are arranged such, preferably in a magnetically shielded space (1), that the reference coils are not significantly influenced by the material under measurement and that the reference coils are connected such that the voltages induced in the reference coils in case of a decaying magnetic field are connected in opposition to the voltages induced in the corresponding edge or height measuring coil. Edge position measuring device according to any of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that the voltages from the oppositely connected edge measuring coil and the respective reference coil and that the voltages form the height measuring coils and the respective reference coils are each connected to the inputs of a respective differential amplifier (5,6,7), the outputs of which are connected to the sampled measuring circuits (9 to 14).

Inventors: KIHLBERG ERIK, LINDER STEN, THEGEL LENNART, KIHLBERG, ERIK, LINDER, STEN, THEGEL, LENNART
Applicants: ASEA BROWN BOVERI, ASEA BROWN BOVERI AB
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G01B7
IPC codes: G01B7