Robust ILQ controller design of hot strip mill looper system

In this paper, we study design of a ILQ(Inverse Linear Quadratic optimal control) looper control system for hot strip mills. The looper which is placed between stands plays an important role in controlling strip width by regulating strip tension variation generated from the velocity difference of main work rolls. A Looper servo controller is designed by ILQ control theory which is an inverse problem of LQ(Linear Quadratic optimal control) control. The mathematical model for looper system is obtained by Taylor´s linearization of nonlinear differential equations. Then we designed linear controller for linearization model by using the ILQ control algorithm. Thereafter this controller is applied to the nonlinear model for model identification. As a result, we show the controller´s robustness for the model error, external disturbance and sensor noise.