The setup and control of the finishing mill roll gap positions required to achieve the desired strip head thickness as measured by the finish mill exit X-ray gauge sensor is made by an intelligent controller based on an interval type-2 fuzzy logic system. The controller calculates the finishing mill stand screw positions required to achieve the strip finishing mill exit target thickness. The interval type-2 fuzzy head gage controller uses as inputs the transfer bar thickness, the width and the temperature at finishing mill entry, the strip target thickness, the width and the temperature at finishing mill exit, the stand work roll diameter, the stand work roll speed, the stand entry thickness, the stand exit thickness, the stand rolling force, and the %C of the strip. Taking into account that the measurements and inputs to the proposed system are modeled as type-1 non-singleton fuzzy numbers, we present the so called interval type-1 non-singleton type-2 fuzzy logic roll gap controller. As reported in the literature, interval type-2 fuzzy logic systems have greater non-linear approximation capacity than that of its type-1 counterpart and it has the advantage to develop more robust and reliable solutions than the latter. The experiments of these applications were carried out for three different types of coils, from a real hot strip mill. The results proved the feasibility of the developed system for roll gap control. Comparison against the mathematical based model shows that the proposed interval type-2 fuzzy logic system equalizes the performance in finishing mill stand screw positions setup and enhances the achieved strip thickness under the tested conditions characterized by high uncertainty levels. 
Finishing mill strip gage setup and control by interval type-1 non-singleton type-2 fuzzy logic systems