A Low-Cost System For Flatness Monitoring in Metal Processes

Measurement of the flatness of cold rolled steel strip or aluminum foil is a vital aspect of production quality control. Cold lamination control based on the results of this measurement crucially affects production efficiency, but further processes can modify this flatness, and it can be even lost when strip becomes cold. We describe a low-cost flatness measurement system to monitor this property at several production line points. The system is composed of a capacitive sensors array, some microcontrollers and a PC for computing and visualization. Measurements on a production line are provided and analyzed