Cooling bed generally a part of the steel rolling mills
Another type of cooling bed is used for square stock. It consists of several beams with angles cut upward from the bottom. The beams move in alternating fashion so that the square beam is lifted and sat into the next 'tooth'. The angle is cut so that the beam rotates as it is set down. This keeps the stock straight while it cools.
In the USA, a steel cooling bed is called a run-out table. It consists of a series of steel rolls. Each roll may be individually driven by an electric motor. DC motors are often used with parallel armatures connected to a common armature voltage control speed control unit. The roll speed is controlled to match the speed of the incoming sheet of steel so that the steel does not slide or skid on the surface of the rolls. Field trim resistors help to assure that the speed and torque of rolls is matched. A centering mechanism may be used to keep the steel in the center of the table. Water may be sprayed from the top and bottom to aid cooling. After an initial run out table, the strip of steel may be cut on-the-fly into individual sheets which pass to another table that is running slightly faster to separate the sheets. Alternatively, the steel may be coiled at the end of the table.
