AUTOMATED NEXT-HOP ALGORITHM FOR A MULTI-BRANCH REFUSE COLLECTION SYSTEM

摘要

The invention generally relates to a refuse collection system having a multi-branch transport pipe system with a number of refuse chutes connected thereto. It has been recognized that optimal performance can be obtained by performing controlled emptying of refuse branch by branch, and analyzing the future consequences of a given control action/decision on a wider system basis. A basic idea is to perform automated selection of a hop to a next branch according to the following next-hop selection procedure. For each of a number of possible next-hop candidates, representations of future refuse chute load levels in a plurality of branches within the system are predicted, and a system consequence value is determined based on these predicted load level representations. Once the system consequence values for the next-hop candidates have been determined, a hop to a next branch is selected among those candidates that have the most favorable system consequence values.