Steel Industry

For more than a decade, Fraunhofer FHR has been successfully engaged in the development of radar-based measurement systems for the steel industry. In harsh hot rolling environments, conventional optical measurement systems frequently reach their operational limits. Our radar-based solutions enable robust and highly precise measurements directly within the production line—even under challenging conditions such as steam, fog, dust, vibration, and elevated temperatures.

These systems continuously deliver reliable, high-accuracy data, thereby enabling improved process control. As a result, scrap rates, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, machine wear, and production downtimes are significantly reduced, while product quality and throughput are enhanced. Consequently, these systems make a substantial contribution to more sustainable and environmentally friendly steel production.

The sensors offer flexible deployment across the entire rolling process chain. They can be seamlessly integrated into existing plant infrastructure with minimal disruption and require only low maintenance during ongoing operation. Measurements within furnaces are also feasible. Furthermore, the absence of ionizing radiation contributes significantly to occupational safety.

Thickness Measurement Systems

During the rolling of steel strips, radar-based thickness measurement is performed using two opposing sensors, while the strip passes at high speeds of up to 20 km/h. Measurements are conducted in real time, synchronously on both the top and bottom surfaces, at a sampling rate of 1 kHz.

State-of-the-art radar and signal processing technologies enable highly precise thickness measurements, achieving exceptional accuracy of below 100 μm in flatness and ±150 μm under strip inclinations of up to ±3°.

Radar-Based Width Measurement and Adaptive Contour Control

Our width measurement system is deployed directly at the roughing mill stage. Utilizing two laterally positioned radar sensors, it determines strip width and center position reliably over the entire length through bilateral distance measurements, achieving an accuracy of ±0.5 mm.

As a result, steel no longer needs to be rolled wider than necessary. Material utilization over the full strip length is maximized, eliminating the need for costly downstream processing and conserving resources such as energy, raw materials, labor, machine time, and associated CO₂ emissions.

The system is further enhanced by adaptive width control based on edge and contour measurement. By analyzing edge geometry, ski formation, as well as head- and tail-end characteristics, rolling parameters can be adjusted in real time across the entire strip length.

This not only further reduces scrap but also prevents damage to roller tables and rolling stands that would otherwise result from edge deformations. These capabilities are enabled by a combination of high-resolution radar signal processing techniques and FPGA-based data evaluation.

Holistic Inline Measurement Systems – Modular Sensor Technology and Digitalization

The individual sensor systems for width, centerline position, and thickness measurement can be deployed along the entire production line, including roughing stands, furnaces, intermediate sections, and finishing mills.

Together, they form an integrated measurement ecosystem that captures the entire production process and allows for data-driven optimization. This holistic process monitoring enables optimal control strategies, resulting in increased throughput, reduced edge scrap, improved product quality, and shorter production cycles.