Patent ID: 11892125
Assignee: NEW GAS INDUSTRIES, L.L.C.
Field: Mechanical elements (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  Y | IPC F

Claim 8:
9. A method of filling a tank with compressed gaseous fuel, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing an array of tanks comprising a first tank, second tank, third tank, and fourth tank, fifth tank, and a compressor fluidly connected to the array;
(b) taking gas from the first tank, compressing it with the compressor and discharging the compressed gas to the second Tank in the array, and continuing this step until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) first Tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches a predefined pressure drop set point for the first Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the first Tank drops to a predefined minimum set point pressure for the first Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the second Tank and the first Tank reaches a predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) second Tank pressure reaches a predefined upper set point pressure for second Tank;
(c) between steps “b” and “d”, taking gas from the second Tank, compressing it with the compressor and discharging the compressed gas to the third Tank, and continuing this step until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) second Tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches a predefined pressure drop set point for the second Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the second Tank drops to a predefined minimum set point pressure for the second Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the third Tank and the second Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) third Tank pressure reaches a predefined upper set point pressure for third Tank;
(d) between steps “c” and “e”, taking gas from the first Tank compressing it with the compressor and discharging compressed gas to the second Tank in the array, and continuing this step until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) first tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches the predefined pressure drop set point for the first Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the first Tank drops to the predefined minimum set point pressure for the first Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the second Tank and the first Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) second Tank pressure reaches the predefined upper set point pressure for the second Tank;
(e) between steps “d” and “f”, taking gas from the second Tank, compressing it with the compressor, and discharging compressed gas to the third Tank in the array until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) second Tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches the predefined pressure drop set point for the second Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the second Tank drops to the predefined minimum set point pressure for the second Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the third Tank and the second Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) the third Tank pressure reaches the predefined upper set point pressure for third Tank;
(f) between steps “e” and “g” taking gas from the third Tank, compressing it with the compressor and discharging the compressed gas to the fourth tank, and continuing this step until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) third Tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches a predefined pressure drop set point for the third Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the third Tank drops to the predefined minimum set point pressure for the third Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the fourth Tank and the third Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) the fourth Tank pressure reaches a predefined upper set point pressure for fourth Tank; and
(g) between steps “f” and “h”, taking gas from the first Tank compressing it with the compressor and discharging compressed gas to the second Tank in the array, and continuing this step until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) first tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches the predefined pressure drop set point for the first Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the first Tank drops to the predefined minimum set point pressure for the first Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the second Tank and the first Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) second Tank pressure reaches the predefined upper set point pressure for the second Tank;
(h) between steps “g” and “i”, taking gas from the second Tank, compressing it with the compressor, and discharging compressed gas to the third Tank in the array until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) second Tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches the predefined pressure drop set point for the second Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the second Tank drops to the predefined minimum set point pressure for the second Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the third Tank and the second Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) the third Tank pressure reaches the predefined upper set point pressure for third Tank;
(i) between steps “h” and “j” taking gas from the third Tank, compressing it with the compressor and discharging the compressed gas to the fourth tank, and continuing this step until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) third Tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches the predefined pressure drop set point for the third Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the third Tank drops to the predefined minimum set point pressure for the third Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the fourth Tank and the third Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) the fourth Tank pressure reaches the predefined upper set point pressure for fourth Tank; and
(j) between steps “i” and “k” taking gas from the fourth Tank, compressing it with the compressor and discharging the compressed gas to the fifth Tank, and continuing this step until one of the following conditions are met:
(i) fourth Tank experiences a pressure drop which reaches a predefined pressure drop set point for the fourth Tank, or
(ii) the pressure in the fourth Tank drops to a predefined minimum set point pressure for the fourth Tank, or
(iii) the differential pressure between the fifth Tank and the fourth Tank reaches the predefined set point pressure differential; or
(iv) the fifth Tank pressure reaches a predefined upper set point pressure for fifth Tank; and
(k) after step “j”, moving compressed gas from at least two tanks of the array first to the compressor and then to a vehicle storage tank,, wherein during the method steps, the compressor is selectively fluidly connected, to selected combinations of the first, second, third, and fourth Tanks in the array, by at least one selector valve, and, the at least one selector valve having a plurality of selector positions, first and second families of ports, wherein each family of ports have a plurality of selector ports, and
wherein in a first selector position
from the plurality of selector positions for the selector,
a plurality of the selector ports from the first family
can be fluidly connected
to a plurality of selector ports from the second family

where the remaining ports in the first family
are not fluidly connected to each other, and

in a second selector position
from the plurality of selector positions for the selector
a different plurality of ports from the first family
can be fluidly connected in two way directions
to the same plurality of ports from the second family,

where the remaining ports in the first family
are not fluidly connected to each other and

where in the second selector position
the ports in the second family
are each fluidly connected to a different port
than fluidly connected to in the first selector position.