Patent ID: 7917322

Claim:
A method for estimating an amount of a material in a container in real-time using a weight observer, comprising the steps of: measuring the amount of material in the container at a first point in time; estimating the amount of material in the container at a second point in time using the weight observer, wherein the weight observer comprises a dynamic control device and a container system model; wherein the weight observer uses the measured amount of material in the container at the first point in time, a desired rate of change of material, and the container system model to estimate the amount of material in the container at the second point in time; wherein the weight observer generates an error signal representing the difference between the estimated amount of material and the measured amount of material; and wherein the dynamic control device adjusts the estimated amount of material in the container using the error signal; wherein adjusting the estimation of the amount of material in the container using the error signal comprises: determining a disturbance signal representing the difference between the desired rate of change of material and an actual rate of change of material; using the disturbance signal and the desired rate of change of material to determine an estimation of the actual rate of change of material; and using the estimation of the actual rate of change of material and the container system model to estimate the amount of material in the container.