GAIN-SCHEDULED H-INFINITY CONTROL OF MOLTEN STEEL LEVEL

IN THE MOLD OF A CONTINUOUS STEEL CASTER

Yoshitsugu IIJIMA, Hiroshi MIZUNO

Instrument and Control Engineering Dept., JFE R&D Corporation,

1-1 Minamiwatarida-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki 210-0855, JAPAN
yo-iijima@jfe-rd.co.jp

Abstract: This paper describes a molten steel level control in the mold of a continuous
steel caster, using the Robust control method. H-infinity gain-scheduled control theory is
applied to suppress fluctuations in molten steel level. The designed controller has
parameters which change according to casting speed. In this paper the method of
designing the controller is shown, and experimental results on various casting speeds are
also shown. Copyright © 2007 IFAC

Keywords: steel industry, level control, continuous steel caster, robust control, H-infinity
control, weighting functions.

bulging oriented fluctuation. This was accomplished

1. INTRODUCTION
Fluctuation of molten steel level in the mold of a
continuous casting machine is one of causes of
powder inclusion in a slab. To reduce the inclusion
and slab defects it is critical to minimize the range of
the level fluctuation. In addition much precise
control of the mold level is required recently for high
quality products and for high speed casting operation.
Several papers applying robust control techniques
have been recently published on mold level control
methods as an alternative for conventional PI control
techniques. In normal operational circumstances, the
frequency of the level fluctuation due to uncertainty
of dead time and standing wave in a closed loop
system is higher than the frequency zone of actual
level fluctuation. Control efficiency can be improved
by utilizing this frequency gap with H-infinity
control at a lower frequency zone.
At JFE R&D Corporation, a μ-analysis method was
proposed to effectively reduce the large level
fluctuation at a lower frequency zone so-called
by securing the stability of a closed loop system
under the variation of loop gain, inaccurate dead time
or the existence of standing wave. In this paper, the
attempt is made to further improve the control effect
by taking the cyclic pattern of the bulging oriented
fluctuation into frequency weight in control system
design.
As the frequency of the bulging oriented fluctuation
varies by the change of casting speed, several
problems in the adjustment and maintenance of the
system need to be resolved to maintain an optimum
control state, such as designing plural controllers to
be adjusted to an existing condition in a timely
fashion.
Recently a new method to design a control system
draws attention by formulating various control
problems as a convex optimization problem by using
Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) as constraint. By
designing a control system using the LMI, it is
possible to optimize a multipurpose control system
which satisfies multiple control indexes
simultaneously and to apply the gain scheduling of
H-infinity control. Especially the gain-scheduled H-
infinity control which uses given scheduled
parameters is expected to be applied for the control
system design in non-linear systems.
In this paper, firstly a new formulation for deriving
the gain-scheduled H-infinity controller using casting
speed as a parameter is presented. In this formulation
bulging oriented disturbances causing a frequency
change by casting speed change are converted to the
problem of model parameter change by incorporating
the frequency distribution of the disturbances.
Secondly, test results at an operating machine are
described.
Tundish
Molten Steel
Steel Level Hydraulic
Controller Servo System
ＥＣＤ
Amplifier
Steel Level
Signal
Withdrawal
Fig. 1. Continuous Casting Process
2.CONTINUOUS CASTING PROCESS AND THE
LEVEL FLUCTUATION
The level control system of molten steel at a
continuous casting machine is shown in Fig. 1
Molten steel of a tundish is supplied into a mold
through a sliding nozzle (SN) positioned at the
bottom of the tundish. The slab in the mold is pulled
out at a constant speed after the solidification of its
surface and cooled at secondary cooling zone to be
completely solidified. During this casting process, a
mold level control system controls molten steel flow
into the mold to maintain the surface of molten steel
constant by adjusting SN opening using the signal of
a mold level meter. This mold level control is
achieved by controlling mass flow of molten steel in
the mold. Mold level fluctuation is usually originated
from the disturbances of this mass flow control. It is
a well-known phenomenon that the bulging at
unsolidified portion of a slab causes large fluctuation
of molten steel flow pulled out by a slab in a casting
machine. Some other cases of level fluctuation
detected by a level meter are as follows: molten steel
surface popple caused by its flow, the vibration of
the surface by mold oscillation, poppling of the
surface by Ar bubble surfacing. Those surface
fluctuations are difficult to control by a mass flow
control method. In addition, the change of
characteristics of the system, such as by alumina
adhesion and falling off or melt down inside of SN
also causes the level fluctuation.
Although this level fluctuation is affected by the
specification and operating conditions of a casting
machine, this paper handles those factors listed in
Table 1 in which the relationship between fluctuation
factors and occurrence frequencies is explicitly given.
Table 1 Level fluctuation frequency characteristics
Fluctuation Frequency Note
factors (Hz)
Bulging 0.1-0.15 Depends on casting
speed
Billowing of 0.6-0.9 Depends on mold
standing wave width
Oscillation 1.5-
Sliding 3.MODEL AND DESIGN OF A CONTROL
Nozzle
Mold
SYSTEM
3.1 Linear model
A level control system applies mass flow control,
thus the model of a control system was designed as a
linear model on the basis of an integral model. A
SN( G1 (s ) ) and a level sensor ( G2 (s ) ) both have
first order lag, and capacity coefficient Cv was
determined by linearizing in steady state of casting
operation. In addition, dead time was modelled by
using Pade approximation (the second) to minimize
model error.
3.2 Formulation of H-infinity control problem
Before setting a gain-scheduled H-infinity control
problem, the formulation of H-infinity control
problem is described as it constitutes the basis. The
policy of the formulation as a control problem was
determined as follows:
・ Robust stability for the model error in a linear
model shall be assured.
・For the disturbance control, our target is to reduce
bulging oriented fluctuation 30% and the controller is
constituted by adding a disturbance compensator,
which controls the cyclic pattern fluctuation of a
specific frequency zone, to PI control.
・ To establish a generalized plant of H-infinity
control, fixed factor scaling was employed to obtain
high efficiency and introduce scaling factors for
external inputs and controlled variables.
Following these policies, a generalized plant was
modelled as in Fig. 2 to derive a controller. Two
external inputs d1 and d 2 and three controlled
variables z1 , z 2 and z3 were introduced in this
case.
 d1 1/k1
k1W1(s) z1
d2 W2(s,ωｂ )/k2
k2W3(s) z2
W4(s) z3
u
y
+ PI + Pade + 1
- Controller approximation
G1(s) Cv
As
G2(s)
+ + +
Sliding Flow Mold Level
Nozzle Coefficient Sensor

Fig. 2 Generalized plant

The relationship of our design policy and the
generalized plant was described along with the
setting method of frequency weight below.
Modelling error. Following general modelling errors
were taken into consideration:
・ Frequency dependent error, such as a linear
approximation error and its estimate error of dead
time.
・Loop gain estimation error, such as casting size
modification or capacity coefficient fluctuation
caused by casting speed change, fluctuation of
molten steel quantity inside of the tundish and
adhesion and falling off of impurities inside of a
submerged nozzle.
transfer function. Especially at a high frequency zone,
the frequency weight was determined larger than the
gain of Δ(s ) because some model errors other than
the above-mentioned errors (e.g. standing wave)
existed. Robust stability was then evaluated as
transfer characteristics of d1～z1 .
Disturbance control efficiency and control problem
setting. As described above, the purpose of the
control was limited mainly to the reduction of
bulging oriented disturbances. Bulging oriented
fluctuation appears as disturbances in specific
frequency zone, therefore the assumption was made
that input disturbance had a frequency distribution
and was expressed as frequency weight W2 (s,ω b ) of

Model error by dead time was minimized by using a
Pade approximation compare with the case of its
negligence.
Because of the application of second order
approximation, the error regarding dead time ( Δ1 (s ) )
is evaluated as below: where the maximum dead time
in the system is L second, nominal dead time L0.
external input d2. Here, ω b is the frequency of the
bulging oriented fluctuation having transfer
characteristics as shown in Fig. 3 with stronger
disturbance strength at the specific zone. In addition,
as the disturbance frequency distribution changes
when ω b has different values, each coefficient is
expressed by a second order transfer function having
a linear function of ω b .

12 − 6 L0 s + L20 s 2 (1) 20
Δ 1 ( s) = e − Ls −
12 + 6 L0 s + L20 s 2

Here the maximum dead time was determined as

L=400msec considering the dead time of SN 0
gain(dB)

dynamic characteristics, input/output signal lag and

sensor dead time, etc. And L0=300msec was used as
nominal dead time.
-20
On the other hand, the fluctuation of loop gain ( Δ 2 )
such as the linearization error of capacity coefficients
was considered in the range of ±20%. -40
10-3 10-2 10-1 100 101
These errors are consolidated as a multiplication
error and can be expressed as Δ(s ) below.
Fig. 3 Gain plot of W2(s, ωb )
Control efficiency is evaluated by transfer
Δ ( s) = Δ 1 ( s) + Δ 2 + Δ 1 ( s) Δ 2 (2) characteristics of the external input d 2 controlled
variable z 2 . W3 (s ) becomes the frequency weight
Frequency weight W1 (s ) was used to evaluate the which determines the efficiency. W3 (s ) is expressed
gain of Δ(s ) and was given by a second order as a first order transfer function so as to maintain the
efficiency of conventional PI control when frequency
weight W2 (s,ω b ) of the external input does not exist.
However as for final control efficiency, both
W2 (s,ω b ) and W3 (s ) are taken into consideration,
thus the improved design of the controller which has
higher external input gain in a disturbance frequency
zone becomes possible.
Finally W4 (s ) has been introduced with larger weight
on a high frequency zone so as to be expected to
exclude high frequency components from the output
of the H-infinity controller which was added to PI
control system as a disturbance compensator.
The relationship between each controlled variable
and an external input is summarized as follows:
z1 : Controlled variable of robust stability
evaluation; To evaluate mainly the influence from
external input d1.
z 2 : Control performance evaluation; To evaluate
mainly the influence from external input d2.
z3 : Evaluation of high frequency component
reduction in control input; To evaluate the influence
from external input d1 and d 2 .
Terms of d 2～z1 and d1～z 2 do not contribute to the
determination of basic efficiency in this case.
However, those terms were included in the
evaluation when H-infinity norm of the closed loop
type for d～z was calculated, thus a conservative
controller with insufficient disturbance reduction
efficiency often introduced.
In order to avoid this situation, a μ-analysis method
is known which introduces a scaling matrix for
input/output and being evaluated by a structuring
singular value to achieve higher efficiency. However
there exist some problems with the μ -analysis
method, such as the use of higher degree functions
and no stability assurance for the system which
includes time dependent parameters.
To overcome this problem a method to formulate a
scaling matrix as a fixed factor matrix is known. It is
called fixed factor scaling H-infinity control.
Here, k1 and k 2 are introduced as scaling factors,
and incorporated as in Fig. 2.
Furthermore hence no definite method to determine
an optimum scaling factor has not been established
yet at present time to obtain the gain-scheduled H-
infinity controller for ω b mentioned later, the scaling
factor where the H-infinity control problem with
fixed ω b becomes optimum is determined.
3.3 Gain-scheduled H-infinity control
Designing of a controller assuring the stability of a
closed loop system together with effectively reducing
the bulging oriented level fluctuation becomes
possible by defining the H-infinity control problem
which is described in the foregoing sections.
However, as the frequency ω b of the bulging
oriented level fluctuation changes according to the
change of casting speed, disturbance reduction is
small depending on operational conditions when only
a single controller is used. A method by designing
controllers corresponding to various casting speeds
and timely selecting the appropriate one can be
employed to overcome this problem. However the
gain-scheduled H-infinity controller was introduced
in this case considering reduction in adjustment time
and its maintenance.
The gain scheduled H-infinity control based on LMI
presented by P. Apkarian and P. Gahinet, et al. for
the method of controller derivation. In this method, a
plant is designed as a linear parameter varying
system with time dependent parameters (Linear
Parameter Varying System, ”LPV system”) and the
controller is converted to use gain scheduling by
introducing time dependent parameters as a
scheduling parameter. In the generalized plant which
is shown in Fig. 2, the fluctuation of disturbance
frequency was converted to the variation of
parameters by taking the frequency ω b of the bulging
oriented fluctuation as a coefficient of frequency
weight function. By this conversion, it can be
described as an LPV system and formulated below
with ω b as a time dependent parameter:
x& = A(ω b ) x + B1d + B2u
(3)
z = C1 x + D11d + D12 u (4)
y = C 2 x + D21d + D22 u (5)
z = [z1 z3 ] (6)
T
z2
d = [d1 d2 ]
T
(7)
Here, frequency of bulging oriented fluctuation ω b is
in the range of 0.1[Hz]~0.15[Hz] in stationary
casting condition as shown in Table 1, therefore ω b
is supposed to vary in this range.
Then the controller of both end points K1 (s ) and
K 2 (s ) in ω b = 0.1 and ω b = 0.15 can be obtained
respectively as the controller of the LPV system
using the technique of P. Apkarian, et al. based on
the above LMI. And the gain-scheduled controller is
given in the form below as a convex connection.
K (s,ω b ) = αK1 (s ) + βK 2 (s ) (8)
ω − ωb
α = max (9)
ω max − ω min
ω − ω min (10)
β= b
ω max − ω min
 40 casting speed. Θ1 and Θ2 are collected is shown in
PI Fig. 7.
H-infinity ⎡α (t )⎤
20 ξ (t ) = AK ξ (t ) + BK ⎢ ⎥
(11)
⎣ y(t ) ⎦
gain(dB)

0 ⎡ β (t )⎤ ⎡α (t )⎤
⎢ ⎥ = C K ξ (t ) + DK ⎢ ⎥
(12)
⎣ u (t ) ⎦ ⎣ y (t ) ⎦
ωb=0.1 ωb=0.15
-20 α (t ) = θ 2 (t )Iβ (t ) (13)

-40
Θ1
Θ2 0
0 Θ1
P(s)
-60 -3
10 10-2 10-1 100 101 y u y
P(s)
u
Frequency(Hz) K(s)
α β α β
Fig. 4. Gain plot Θ2 K(s)

Fig. 6. Control structure Fig. 7. Control structure

Gain curves between pulling out disturbance and
control deviation are shown in Fig. 4 in the case of Robust performance is confirmed by structured
using controllers at two end points. For comparison,
singular value (μ) for perturbation of Fig. 7 If this
the same efficiency at the time of operation by PI
value is 1 or less, this system is stable and control
control is shown without a disturbance compensator.
performance is guaranteed with the parameter
As the value of ω b changes in the gain-scheduled H-
fluctuation which is supposed. This calculation result
infinity control, system characteristics change is shown in Fig. 6.
accordingly and the zone where the disturbance is
1.0
reduced moves as shown in the figure.
0.9

It is known that the frequency of the bulging 0.8

fluctuation ω b has a good correlation to casting 0.7

0.6
speed Vc Because this bulging of a slab is
0.5
phenomena between rolls in the caster, fluctuation
0.4
cycle corresponds to slab pass-time between rolls.
0.3
Therefore ω b and Vc have a proportional relation,
0.2 -1
and Vc is chosen as a scheduling parameter here. 10 10 101
Frequency (rad/s)
Finally the control system was constructed as in Fig.
5. Fig. 6. μ plot ( ω b = 0.125)

casting speed This controller is designed as continuous one. But

copemsator
controller is mount as discrete one on the apparatus
test. In order to obtain the discrete controller,
+
level equation (11) and (12) is converted. Because sample
+ PI
G(s) G1(s) Cv 1 G2(s)
- Controller + As frequency of control is sufficiently higher than
Pade Sliding Flow Mold Level fluctuation which is should be controlled. So
approximation Nozzle Coefficient Sensor
confirmation of performance by simulation is
necessary.
Fig.5. Block diagram
In order to confirm 2), 3), the simulation is executed.
4.SIMULATION The process is described the following. Disturbance
reduction effects by applying the gain-scheduled H-
Before apparatus test, some performances which are infinity control were verified with simulation.
show in below, is confirmed by simulation. Supposing that the main cause of the level fluctuation
is flow disturbances, these disturbances are simulated
1) Robust performance by using the data of the level fluctuation, SN
2) The performance of the designed controller displacement measurement and casting speed. To
according to casting speed. calculate the flow disturbance, the inverse
3) The performance of discrete controller characteristics from the level fluctuation to pull out
disturbances were calculated. Then the level
The obtained controller is displayed making use of fluctuation applying this disturbance between an
linear fraction transformation (LFT) in equation (11), existing control system and a new control method
(12), and (13). The whole system which includes this was compared. Using the flow disturbance, a transfer
controller is displayed in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6, Θ 1 is function to the level fluctuation was calculated and
perturbation of dead time, etc, Θ2 is perturbation of inverse characteristics were obtained. The result is
shown in Fig. 7 In order to reduce the degree of An operating caster test was conducted by applying
denominator which is two orders higher in this model, the designed controller. Mold width was divided into
the following processing was applied. four groups between 950mm to 2100mm and four
disturerbuns control rules were prepared corresponding to each
+
level width group. Fig. 10 shows an example of
+ PI
G(s) G1(s) Cv 1 G2(s)
- Controller As experimental results when the bulging oriented
+
Pade Sliding Flow Mold Level fluctuation 0.1Hz occurred during slab casting with
approximation Nozzle Coefficient Sensor
mold width 1500mm. It shows more than 30%
reduction in fluctuation. In addition, it was verified
Fig.7. The model which estimates the disturbance that similar efficiency figures had been obtained in
the operation at different casting speed.
y = g (s )C (s )d (14)
Here, PI PI + H-infinity control
d : Flow disturbance estimator, y : level,
g (s ) : from level transfer function to flow

level
disturbance, C (s ) : secondary transfer function.

C (s ) was chosen between 0.01[Hz] and 1[Hz] to 0 200 400 600 800 1000

keep the characteristics constant. This C (s ) was used Fig .10. Test result
in the simulation and the simulation model is shown 6.CONCLUSION
in Fig. 8.
reverse
level model disturerbuns A new technique which reduces level fluctuation by
introducing disturbance frequency in the model was
casting speed
studied as a method to effectively reduce the bulging
copemsator oriented level fluctuation in the mold level control at
level
a continuous caster. The problem where disturbance
+ +
+ PI
G(s) G1(s) Cv 1 G2(s) frequency changes with the adjustment of casting
Controller + As
- + speed was solved by applying gain-scheduled H-
Pade Sliding Flow Mold Level
approximation Nozzle Coefficient Sensor infinity control. In addition, a control test at an
operating machine was conducted, and it was
Fig. 8. Simulation model confirmed that the level of fluctuation was reduced
more than 30%. By employing this technique, yield
Those are showed Fig. 9. The upper figure is ratio improvement by eliminating surface scarfing
simulation result only with PI control same as in work of slabs can be expected.
conventional system. The middle figure is the
simulation result when the H-infinity controller is
added as a disturbance compensator. The amplitude REFERENCES
of fluctuation is reduced through the time span and
the desired effect of control has been obtained. The
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level fluctuation is change, but control performance varying Systems, Automatica, Vol.31, No.9, pp.
is not change. 1251-1261.
Apkarian, P., Gahinet, P. (1995). A Convex
conventional(PI) Characterization of Gain-scheduled H∞
level

Controllers, IEEE Transactions on Automatic

Control, Vol.40, No.5, pp. 853-864.
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 Mizuno, H. et al. (1998). Advanced control for
proposal(Gain-scheduled H-infinty) molten steel level in the mold of continuous
casting process, NKK technical report, No.164,
level

pp. 7-11.
The MathWorks (1995). Inc. Matlab, LMI toolbox
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Casting
speed

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600

time(sec)
Fig.9. Simulation result

5. OPERATING CASTER TEST