Noncontacting Support of Strip by Fluid Cushion Force. Reducing Flow Rate for Floating Strip by Optimizing Shape of Side Plates.

During surface finishing of cold steel, many surface defects are caused by contact between a roller support and strip. An optimal surface finishing process should support the strip without roller contact in order to obtain high-quality steel products. We have studied stability improvement of the running strip derived from the side plates installed on the pad which has nozzles with a distance much shorter than that of a conventional setup. Our studies for practical use focus on reducing the flow rate for a floating strip by optimizing the shape of the side plates. This study clarifies that it is possible to optimize the shape of the side plates by coinciding with the profile of strip from side view. As a result, stable support with an economical flow rate can be achieved by optimizing the shape of the side plates.