Flatness-based Temperature Control of Metal Sheets.

In order to enhance the performance of a class of lab-scale annealing testbeds for the steel industries, this paper addresses the temperature tracking task of sheet metal specimen by invoking nonlinear model-based control theory. Based on an accurate mathematical model of the testbed, which uses Ohmic heating via a phase-controlled power converter, a flatness-based control approach is presented. By virtue of the parametrization of the control law in terms of physical parameters, this approach is found to significantly simplify the operation of the annealing testbed for the wide range of samples to be used, by simultaneously offering very high tracking performance for the entire domain of operation.