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.

A control system is provided for a vibratory conveyor including a detector applicable to detect when the depth of product on the conveyor is at a determined minimum value. The product-conveying rate of the conveyor is adjusted so that the depth is maintained at or around the minimum value. This is done by logging the total time, during a given period, for which the depth of the product exceeds, or falls below, the determined minimum value, and varying the product-conveying rate depending upon whether the total time that product is detected is more or less than a given percentage of the period.

An apparatus for weighing materials online is disclosed, which belongs to an art of online weighing of material. The apparatus comprises: a light-emitting unit, emitting light beams irradiating on the surface of materials transported on a belt to form a bright projection which has the same shape as that of a upper contour of a cross-section of the material; and a CCD camera for continuously picking up images of the bright projection on the upper contour of the cross-section of the material; and an image capture unit, connected to the CCD camera for continuously capturing the images; and a central processing unit, connected to the image capture unit for processing the images captured by the image capture unit to compute a weight of the material. The present invention has many advantages, such as, high precision, good reliability and stability, which applies to the belt without a constant speed and a condition that a bulk shape and the bulk density of the material change largely. And the radiation safety of the present invention is good.

Systems and techniques for detecting and reporting conditions of a conveyor belt by receiving image data from at least one camera structured and arranged to capture an image of a portion of a conveyor belt, detecting an object in the portion of the conveyor belt based on the received image data, and generating status information associated with the portion of the conveyor belt based on the detected object.

A system and method for reliably detecting singulated parcels traveling on a conveyor belt by comparing parcel characteristics before and after parcel agitation. First, parcel characteristics are evaluated. Then parcels are agitated to promote a change in characteristics, for example volume or dimensions, of the unsingulated parcels. Next, parcel characteristics are again evaluated and compared to the previously-evaluated characteristics. If there is no appreciable difference in characteristics, the parcel is deemed singulated.