Noncontact conveyance system in synchronization with a thin steel plate using feedforward correction

At present, the industries are demanding high surface-quality of thin steel plates more than ever. However, the conventional conveyance for thin steel plates is still performed by a contact type of mechanism. As a result, the deterioration of surfaces quality has occurred by its mechanical contact in conveyance processes. In order to prevent the surfaces quality of steel plate from the deterioration, our laboratory developed the noncontact conveyance system by a magnetic levitation technique. As the next study targets, we would like to aim at achieving noncontact conveyance at high acceleration and deceleration, and aim at shortening “the settling time” required to stop conveying the steel plate. In this paper, we will propose the noncontact conveyance system that synchronizes a cart with the thin steel plate, by means of “feedforward correction”. And moreover, we will show its effectiveness by simulations and experiments.