Patent ID: 8037991

Claim:
A method for regulating a conveying stream composed of articles of the tobacco-processing industry between at least one tray discharger and at least one feed device connected to the at least one tray discharger by a conveying element for transporting a mass flow of the articles, wherein the at least one feed device has at least one chamber arranged to receive the articles and each chamber has at least two feed units running independently of each other for feeding the articles to subsequent apparatuses, each feed unit having an individual feed rate (P 1 , P 2 , . . . P n ), the method comprising: monitoring a level within the at least one feed device using monitoring elements; sending a signal to each tray discharger to regulate a speed of transport of the conveying element as a function of a current level within the feed device; and further regulating the speed of transport of the conveying element to a desired speed as a function of a total feed rate P total , wherein the total feed rate P total is the sum of the individual feed rates (P 1 , P 2 , . . . P n ) of each of the at least two feed units assigned to the at least one chamber as calculated during a calculation cycle, wherein the monitoring step includes: monitoring the level within the at least one feed device at two different positions with first and second monitoring elements, the first monitoring element monitoring a maximum level when the feed device is completely full and the second monitoring element monitoring a defined level which is below the maximum level; monitoring the level in the region of an inlet of the articles into the feed device with a third monitoring element; multiplying the total feed rate P total by a correction factor for forming a sum S 2 ; and correcting the currently determined total feed rate P total according to the level monitored by the second and third monitoring elements, respectively, wherein the correction factor comprises first and second predetermined correction factors, the method further including increasing the feed rate (P total ) by the first predetermined correction factor and decreasing the feed rate (P total ) by the second predetermined factor only on reaching a (P total ) level monitored by the second or third monitoring element, respectively.