Optimization of the Schedule for the Whole Process in Hot Strip Manufacturing

Abstract

Optimization of the schedule is an effective way to reduce energy consumption in hot strip manufacturing. The heating energy and the rolling energy contribute the vast majority of the energy consumption. In order to reduce the energy consumption for the whole process, an optimization method based on the multi-objective function was applied, and the heating energy and rolling energy were both taken into consideration during the function modeling. Meanwhile, process constraints and equipment limitations were taken as objective function boundary conditions, and the tapping temperature in the furnace exit and thickness of each pass were decision variables. Further, to obtain the optimal solution of the objective function, the differential evolution algorithm was used, finally, the optimal tapping temperature and the thickness were obtained successfully. Meanwhile, the validity of the calculated results was verified by comparing with the actual process in a hot rolling production line in Hebei province, the results indicated that with the proposed method, a more reasonable schedule were obtained; compared with the existing actual schedule of typical specification, the energy consumption can be reduced by about 1.5%.