Patent ID: 8827543

Claim:
A device for producing and controlling production of a mixture M of n components, the device comprising: transport channels for transporting the components to be mixed into a main channel connected to a place for receiving the mixture M; flow rate regulators for controlling the rate of flow of the components in each transport channel; in-line analysers located in the main channel for continuously measuring representative parameters of the mixture M being produced; a non-transitory readable memory configured to store: a computer-implemented calculating program configured to calculate proportions u of the components involved in the mixture; and a computer-implemented estimating program for estimating the properties of the components using the measurements of the properties of the mixture that are measured by the in-line analysers, and the computer-implemented calculating program calculates the proportions u of the components involved in the mixture using the estimate so as to obtain a mixture having predetermined properties y; and wherein the computer-implemented estimating program is configured to implement the following operations: (i) at time t=0: (1) determine a matrix B representing a number m of the properties y of the n components, and (2) determine a reference recipe ū from predetermined minimum and maximum thresholds and/or from the predetermined target values, such that properties Bū of the mixture lie between said predetermined thresholds and/or, for m′ of them, where m′≦n−1, are equal to predetermined target values, ū, being a vector of dimension n, representing the proportions of the various components involved in the composition of the mixture, where ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ u _ i = 1 ; (ii) at time t′=t+Δt: (1) measure the properties y mes of the mixture M obtained by applying the recipe calculated at time t=0, and (2) deduce therefrom a corrected matrix {circumflex over (B)}, representing the estimate of the properties of the components; and a processor configured to execute the computer-implemented calculating program and the computer-implemented estimating program stored in the memory to produce and control the production of the mixture M.