Energy efficient roll forming processes through numerical simulations

Due to ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change especially large scale manufacturing methods such as roll forming have to be optimized with respect to energy consumption. The required amount of drive power in roll forming is strongly affected by the rotational velocity of the tools. Due to the contoured shape of the rolls resulting in varying circumferential speed, the relative speed between tool and blank sheet can be positive, negative or zero. In consequence, neighboring sections of the same forming roll can accelerate or decelerate the blank sheet. Inappropriate speed ratios between different shafts cause some shafts to decelerate the blank sheet while other shafts have to compensate this deceleration and waste energy. Presently, the rotational speed of the shafts is mainly chosen based on the operator’s experience leading to a high risk of an energy inefficient process setup. This paper demonstrates how numerical simulations can optimize the energy demand in roll forming and validates the results experimentally. The drive power for each individual shaft is minimized by balancing accelerating and decelerating tool sections. Thus, the optimal rotational velocity for each shaft is derived. The numerical simulation predicts an energy saving potential of 50 . However, due to limited control accuracy only 14 could be realized in experiments to date