Continuous annealing or galvanising line comprising a tensioning block between two consecutive furnaces

Abstract

Continuous annealing or galvanizing line for metal strips with at least two consecutive annealing furnaces, a tensioning unit with at least two rollers located between the two annealing furnaces, and a production control and optimization system for said line.

1 . A continuous annealing or galvanizing line for metal strips arranged to handle a running strip which includes at least two consecutive annealing furnaces, and a tensioning unit comprising at least two rollers arranged between the two annealing furnaces after a cooling section of the first annealing furnace and before a heating section of the second annealing furnace, in the running direction of the strip. 
     
     
         2 . The line according to  claim 1 , comprising means to control the tensioning unit to manage tension applied on the strip by said tensioning unit. 
     
     
         3 . The line according to  claim 1 , where the tensioning unit is placed within an atmosphere separation buffer volume of said line, said volume placed between the upstream furnace and downstream furnace. 
     
     
         4 . The line according to  claim 1 , also including an accumulator for a length of strip, said accumulator placed between the two annealing furnaces. 
     
     
         5 . The line according to  claim 4 , where the accumulator is placed in a chamber with exterior walls separating the atmosphere within said chamber from the atmosphere outside, the exterior walls also being thermally insulated, said chamber also including the means to heat or maintain the temperature of the strip. 
     
     
         6 . An annealing or galvanizing process for metal strips on a line arranged to handle a running strip which includes at least two consecutive annealing furnaces, and a tensioning unit comprising at least two rollers placed between the two furnaces, after a cooling section of the first annealing furnace and before a heating section of the second annealing furnace, in the running direction of the strip. 
     
     
         7 . The process according to  claim 6 , including applying differentiated parameters to the line for the strip running speed and its tension in the two furnaces, particularly to optimize management of thermal and strip format change transitions between the two furnaces, preferably using management of the tensioning unit to control tension on the strip applied by said tensioning unit. 
     
     
         8 . A computer program product, downloadable from a communication network and/or stored on media that can be read by a computer and/or executed by a microprocessor, and loadable to the internal memory of a calculating unit, characterized by the fact that it contains programming code instructions which, when executed by the calculating unit, initiate the stages of the process according to  claim 7 .