Method and apparatus to control the operating speed of a manufacturing facility
First Claim
1. A method of controlling the operating speed of a continuous process manufacturing facility consisting of paper, steel or other metals, comprising the steps of:
- determining a current operating speed of said continuous process manufacturing facility;
determining a desired operating speed, the desired operating speed dependent on at least one economic variable that varies depending on the operating speed;
comparing said current operating speed to said desired operating speed;
adjusting directly by control of the machine drive said current operating speed positive or negative, in response to said determination.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for controlling the operating speed of a manufacturing facility is disclosed. It includes determining a desired operating speed that is dependent on at least one economic variable. The variables vary with the operating speed. Also, the operating speed is adjusted (if necessary) in response to the determination. Preferably the control is closed loop and includes determining a current operating speed and comparing the current operating speed to the desired operating speed. The operating speed is controlled in response to the comparison. The economic variable is preferably a cost of manufacturing, and/or manufacturing inflows, and/or manufacturing outflows. The economic efficiency is dependent on one or more economic variables that vary with operating speed. The current economic efficiency of the facility is obtained along with information on the business transactions that affects the economic variables. The economic efficiency of the facility with the proposed transaction, leaving the remaining variables constant is calculated. Then, the result is displayed to the end user.
37 Citations
68 Claims
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1. A method of controlling the operating speed of a continuous process manufacturing facility consisting of paper, steel or other metals, comprising the steps of:
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determining a current operating speed of said continuous process manufacturing facility; determining a desired operating speed, the desired operating speed dependent on at least one economic variable that varies depending on the operating speed; comparing said current operating speed to said desired operating speed; adjusting directly by control of the machine drive said current operating speed positive or negative, in response to said determination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of determining the effect of one or more business transactions on the economic efficiency of the production of products in a continuous process manufacturing facility consisting of paper, steel or other metals, wherein the economic efficiency is dependent on one or more economic variables that varies dependent on operating speed, comprised of:
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obtaining the current economic efficiency of the facility; inputting information on the business transactions that affects the economic variables; computing the economic efficiency of the facility with the proposed transaction leaving the remaining variables constant; and displaying the information to an end-user. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A continuous process manufacturing facility operating speed controller comprised of:
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means for determining a current operating speed of the continuous process manufacturing facility consisting of paper, steel or other metals; means for determining a desired operating speed, the desired operating speed dependent on at least one economic variable that varies depending on the operating speed; means for comparing the current operating speed to the desired operating speed; and adjusting directly by control of the machine drive the current speed positive or negative, in response to the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An apparatus for determining the effect of one or more business transactions on the economic efficiency of the production of products in a continuous process manufacturing facility consisting of paper, steel or other metals, wherein the economic efficiency is dependent on one or more economic variables that varies dependent on operating speed, comprised of:
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means for obtaining the current economic efficiency of the facility; means for inputting information on the business transactions that affects the economic variables; means for computing the economic efficiency of the facility with the proposed transaction leaving the remaining variables constant; and means for displaying the information to an end-user. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 45)
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39. An article of manufacture comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein when executed by a computer determines a desired operating speed of a continuous process manufacturing facility consisting of paper, steel or other metals, comprising; computer readable program code means for receiving as an economic input at least one economic variable that varies depending on the operating speed; computer readable program code means for determining the desired speed, the desired speed being dependent on the economic input; and computer readable program code means for outputting the optimal speed;
said optimal speed being inputted into said continuous process manufacturing facility in conjunction with a computer system. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. An article of manufacture comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for determining the effect of one or more business transactions on the economic efficiency of the production of products in a continuous process manufacturing facility consisting of paper, steel or other metals, wherein the economic efficiency is dependent on one or more economic variables that varies dependent on operating speed, comprised of; computer readable program code means for obtaining the current economic efficiency of the facility; computer readable program code means for inputting information on the business transactions that affects the economic variables; computer readable program code means for computing the economic efficiency of the facility with the proposed transaction leaving the remaining variables constant; and computer readable program code means for displaying the information to an end-user. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56)
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57. A method of controlling the operating speed of a papermaking facility comprising the steps of:
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determining the desired operating speed; the desired operating speed dependent on at least one economic variable that varies depending on the operating speed; determining a current operating speed; said desired operating speed being different than said current operating speed; adjusting directly by the control of a machine drive said operating speed positive or negative, based on said desired operating speed. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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58. A papermaking facility operating speed controller comprising:
means for determining a current operating speed of said papermaking facility;
means for determining a desired operating speed;
the desired operating speed dependent on at least one economic variable that varies depending on the operating speed;
said desired operating speed being different than said current operating speed;
means for comparing the current operating speed to the desired operating speed and adjusting directly by the control of the machine drive, the current speed positive or negative, in response to the comparison.
Specification