Fluid filling system with fill time optimization

Abstract

A fluid filling system is disclosed wherein containers to be filled with fluid materials are supplied first to one or more time-metered filling stations, and then to a weight-metered filling station. At first, the time-metered filling station(s) is/are inactive, and only the weight-metered filling station is used to fill a first container to a desired final weight. A timer is used to monitor the filling time necessary to reach the desired final weight. When later containers are then supplied to the time-metered filling station(s), they are filled at each time-metered station for a filling time which is dependent on the previously measured filling time for the weight-metered filling station. These containers are then "topped off" by the weight-metered filling station to precisely fill them to the desired final weight, and the time required for such topping off is measured for use in subsequent modification of the filling times at the time-metered filling stations. For each container, the filling time at each time-metered filling station is dependent on the filling time at the weight-metered filling station in such a manner that the two will converge towards each other with successive containers until they are substantially or exactly equal. Preferably, the dependence between the time-metered filling time and weight-metered filling time are such that t.sub.timed (t)=t.sub.N (t-1)+Q.times.[t.sub.N (t-1)-t.sub.timed (t-1)] wherein t.sub.N (t-1) is the filling time at the weight-metering filling station for a prior container; t.sub.timed (t) is the filling time at the time-metering filling station for the prior container; t.sub.timed (t-1) is the filling time at the time-metering filling station for the prior container; Q is a predetermined real number.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.