Air-cooled roller conveyor lines: core technology for efficient cooling in modern industry

## I. Technological evolution: the leap from basic cooling to smart regulation
The air-cooled roller conveyor was born in the mid-to-late 20th century, during the golden age of the steel industry, and was originally designed to address the need for controlled cooling of wire rod after rolling. The Stelmor process was the cornerstone of the technology through theRoller conveyor + forced air coolingThe first in-line heat treatment of wire in bulk coils was realised by a combination of The core breakthrough lies in the use ofAir-cooled alternative to lead quenchingThe newest addition to the range is a new, more efficient cooling system that eliminates the risk of heavy metal contamination while improving cooling efficiency.

Early chain conveyor was gradually replaced by roller conveyor after 2000, and designs such as Morgan type and Danieli type competed. Domestic enterprises such as Baosteel, Xingsteel, etc. through the introduction and digestion, to promote the air-cooled line length from 70 metres to more than 130 metres, the number of fans from 6 to 18, the wind pressure from 2.0kPa to more than 3.0kPa, significantly improving the adaptability of high-carbon steel, cold heading steel and other steel.

## II. Core Technology Analysis: Triangle Balance of Structure, Heat Dissipation and Control

1. Modular architectural design

Roller conveyor systemsTapered rollers (taper 1:20 to 1:100) with collision avoidance rollers and bend rutters (15-35 degree inclination) for wire steering anti-jamming.
dropout gear: Through the hollow cylinder + baffle plate drop cylinder design, to solve the problem of site constraints in the old plant, so that the coil can fall into the next section of the roller conveyor vertically and regularly.
segmentation control: 12 sections of independent frequency conversion roller conveyor, adjustable speed of each section, the first section stops automatically triggering the second section to chain stop, to prevent the pile of steel

2. Efficient heat dissipation mechanisms

Air-cooled reinforcedBottom chiller cluster is arranged in layers, combining inclined and vertical upward air supply to enhance airflow penetration.
Active cooling: Heat sink modules are set at both ends of the roller shaft, and the top spray head sprays coolant (deflector tank recycling circulation) to reduce the risk of thermal damage to the equipment.
Waste heat utilisation: The herringbone collector in the collector cover captures the waste heat of the wire (400-940°C), which is exported and reused through the central pipe to reduce energy consumption.

3. Intelligent control systems

The temperature closed-loop module dynamically adjusts the fan speed and roll speed through infrared thermometer. For example, Xingsteel's 5# line controls spit temperature fluctuations to ±10°C, and reduces through-strip performance dispersion by 15%. The AI temperature control model developed by SMS predicts the phase change point and dynamically optimises the cooling path.

## III. Industry application mapping: penetration from steel to precision manufacturing

- Iron and steel metallurgy

high wire rolling: Secondary controlled cooling with water cooling + air cooling after finishing rolling to refine austenite grain size to grade 10 (e.g. 82B steel with a rate of austenitising >92%)
Cooling of steel sectionsCustomised roll spacing and nozzle layout for H-beam profiles to solve the problem of uneven cooling at the corners.
Direct toughening: DLP process replaces air-cooling with molten salt baths with a sohnite ratio of 98% for high-end spring steel wire manufacturing

- Glass Deep Processing Sector

The back section of float glass annealing kiln adopts high temperature resistant roller conveyor (600℃ working condition) with gradient air cooling to eliminate stress cracks. In the tempered glass process, theThe air-cooled strength directly determines the value of the surface compressive stress.--Glass impact resistance is improved by 300% when the cooling rate is >35°C/s.

- Emerging Areas of Expansion

Cooling of lithium battery wafers after roll pressing: design against metal dust contamination
Semiconductor wafer transfer: Ultra-clean environment version of air-cooled roller conveyor
Food baking line: 316L stainless steel in accordance with HACCP standards

personal viewpointThe air-cooled roller conveyor is evolving from a "single cooling tool" to a "cross-industry material handling platform". Test cases in the field of photovoltaic wafers and solid-state batteries show that...Precise temperature field control capabilityMore valuable than cooling itself, this will be the new direction of technology premiums.

## IV. Technological Challenges and Frontiers of Innovation

Existing pain points

High alloy steel slow cooling demand and wind turbine strong cold contradiction
Performance fluctuations due to cooling lag at coil lap point
High humidity environment fog interference temperature control accuracy

Breakthrough Solutions

Mixed media cooling: Ansteel test atomised air-water nozzle, heat transfer efficiency compared to pure air-cooled up 40%
Optimisation of the drop sectionThe design of press-feed rollers + drop barrels of CMTSD improves the uniformity of cooling during coil steering by 28%.
digital twin: Danieli Cyclux Virtual Model Enables Cooling Path Preview with Reduced Trial and Error Costs 70%

Qinggang's 260,000 m³/h ultra-high volume wind turbine fleet shows that theLimit parameter breakthrough remains the dominant pathBut more noteworthy is the transformation of the EDC process - replacing some of the air cooling with a hot water bath. But more noteworthy is the transformation of the EDC process - replacing part of the air-cooling with a hot water bath, which ensures the organisation homogeneity even under the drastic cooling rate of 100°C/s, which signifies that the phase change control will shift from "crude cooling" to "precise phase change navigation". "Precise phase change navigation".

Core Q&A about air-cooled roller conveyor lines

Q1: What are the main advantages of air-cooled roller conveyors over traditional cooling methods?

centreA double breakthrough in efficiency and environmental protectionThe cooling rate can reach 15℃/s (high carbon steel), 20 times faster than natural cooling; and completely eliminated the lead bath quenching and other polluting processes, only a single line of Xing Steel to reduce the annual lead dust emissions of 1.2 tonnes.

Q2: Why does the length of air-cooled lines continue to increase?

Longer paths meanFiner control of temperature drop gradientsThe 113 metre air-cooled line provides 3-4 more cooling zones than the 70 metre line, enabling slow cooling of mild steel (0.4°C/s) and fast cooling of high carbon steel (15°C/s) to be switched on the same line.

Q3: Key directions for future technology evolution?

There will be a shift from hardware enhancement toIntelligent Soft Control SystemDevelopment. For example, using infrared thermal imaging + deep learning to predict the CCT curve, dynamically adjusting the parameters of each fan section. SMS's experimental line has achieved customised cooling control with "one cooling path for one wire", with performance fluctuations compressed to ±5MPa.

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