In-line spectrometer for production of colored granules

Abstract

A system for producing colored granules includes a plurality of material feeders to feed corresponding materials; a control unit controlling the plurality of material feeders in accord with a pigment recipe for producing colored granules of a target color; a processing machine that receives combined feeds from the plurality of material feeders, as fed under control of the control unit, to produce and output colored granules with the target color according to the pigment recipe; and a color assessment unit for receiving colored granules output from the processing machine. The color assessment unit having an in-line spectrometer in signal communication with the control unit for delivering spectral signals to the control unit informing the color of colored granules output from the processing machine for use by the control unit to adjust controls of the material feeders for effecting color corrections to colored granules produced by the processing machine.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.