Patent ID: 8262860

Claim:
A pulp pre-processor for papermaking comprising: a mixing chamber having an outlet for providing pulp having a desired predetermined statistical distribution to a papermaking machine, the desired predetermined statistical distribution providing multipoint data describing a target histogram of a physical parameter of pulp desired for use in paper making; at least two pulp sources communicating with the mixing chamber by controllable metering devices; at least two electronic pulp fiber analyzers associated with each of the two pulp sources to provide corresponding signals measuring a statistical distribution of at least one physical parameter of fibers of the pulp sources as delivered to the mixing chamber the statistical distribution outputting multipoint data describing a pulp source histogram of the physical parameter; an electronic pulp fiber analyzer associated with the mixing chamber to provide a corresponding signal measuring a statistical distribution of at least one physical parameter of combined fibers of the pulp sources as delivered from the mixing chamber the statistical distribution outputting multipoint data describing a mixing chamber histogram of the physical parameter and a controller executing a stored program receiving the target histogram, the pulp source histograms and the mixing chamber histogram to determine an error between the target histogram and the mixing chamber histogram, and further, by a summing of the multipoint data of the pulp source histograms on a bin by bin basis weighted by a percentage of the pulp introducible in the mixing chamber from each corresponding pulp source, calculating a relative percentage of fiber of the at least two pulp sources necessary to produce the target histogram delivered from the mixing chamber and providing real-time control signals to the metering devices to control them according to the calculated relative percentage.