Method for controlling an amount of material delivered during a material transfer

• US 6,380,495 B1
• Filed: 06/01/2000
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Original Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Inventors: Ash, Raymond Houston, Ivey, Lara Jeanne, Chappell, David Arthur
• Primary Examiner(s): Gibson, Randy W.
• Application Number:
  US09/584,884
• Time in Patent Office: 698 Days
• Field of Search: 177/1, 177/116, 177/60, 177/519, 222/1, 222/77, 222/55, 222/56, 141/1, 141/192, 141/86, 141/311.A, 141/83
• US Class Current: 177/116
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 13/12 Arrangements for compensating for material suspended at cut-off, i.e. for material which is still falling from the feeder when the weigher stops the feeder
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 13/2857 Arrangements for compensating for material suspended at cut-off, i.e. for material which is still falling from the feeder when the weigher stops the feeder
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3728 with wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3735 using a digital network

Abstract

A method for controlling an amount of material delivered during a material transfer. This method includes the steps of inputting a target amount for a material to be delivered from a source location to a target location, updating the target amount during the delivery of the material using a predictive model-based algorithm, and updating the predictive model-based algorithm based on process performance data using a recursive least-squares procedure. An adaptive selection algorithm which is used to determine whether at least one previous predictive model-based algorithm parameter should be replaced with at least one new predictive model-based algorithm parameter in order to adapt the predictive model-based algorithm in response to a process change. A method for overlapping a delivery of at least one independently measured material with a delivery of a main material during a material transfer process.

Claims

1. A method for overlapping a delivery of at least one independently measured material with a delivery of a main material to a target location during a material transfer process, wherein the main material is solely measured at the target location and not measured at a source location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a final target batch weight is defined as the sum of a target amount for said main material and an aggregate sum of target amounts for said independently measured materials to be delivered, and said final target batch weight is updated after the delivery of each independently measured material, while main material is still being delivered, to reflect any delivery variation from the original independently measured material target amounts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said main material delivery is started at a time a T_dt after independently measured feeds begin, calculated by the following equations:

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps are contained within a computer-readable medium.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps are contained within a digital control device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps are contained within a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave.

7. A method for overlapping a delivery of at least one independently measured material with a delivery of a main material to a target location during a material transfer process, said method comprising the steps of:

inputting a target amount for a main material to be delivered from a source destination to a target destination, wherein the main material is not measured at the source destination and only measured at the target destination, and

delivering the main material while simultaneously delivering at least one independently measured material.