ACCUPLAN Plate Outline Gage

All plate mills can benefit from the use of a plan view plate outline gage.

In manually operated plate mills a representation of the plate outline between passes will allow the operator to broadside at the ideal time, and to recognize - and therefore reduce - camber as it develops.

In more and more of the world's most advanced automated plate mills special plan-view plate rolling software is being used, together with powerful hydraulic actuators, to produce plate with straight edges. In this way scrap can be reduced to an absolute minimum. Plan view gages are essential components of all such systems.

In both manual and automated plate mills the use of a plan view gage can result in yield improvements worth several million dollars per year!

Unfortunately the plate mill environment makes it extremely difficult for typical vision systems to be used successfully. CCD camera based systems are not the best choice for plate mill applications, for several reasons:

• In most applications they need backlighting (impractical over a large area) because plate temperatures are too low.
  
• CCD arrays cannot see through the steam and fog that is always present in plate mills, especially in winter. If an array of fans is used to try to clear this steam, the plate will be cooled to undesirable levels.
• Some CCD based systems require mounting below the crane and relatively close to the rolling table. Unless they are protected by massive structures, they may be subject to cobble and other accidental damage..

The KELK Accuplan Plate Outline Gage was designed specifically to operate continuously in the plate mill environment. From a position at or even above the mill roof (above the crane and out of the way of cobbles) the Accuplan senses the radiant energy of slabs or plates right through steam and fog, and without the need for backlighting!

Proven in applications spanning more than 25 years, no other plan view gage has ever matched the performance of the Accuplan.