Patent ID: 9194620
Filing Date: 2015-11-24
Classification: F25B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of purging air from a tank, the method comprising the steps of: opening, with a controller, a purging orifice on the tank to release a gas mixture contained within the tank; operating a timer to track multiple time intervals while the purging orifice is open, each time interval having a beginning time and an ending time; determining an initial value of a system variable at each beginning time and a subsequent value of the system variable at each ending time; deriving a characteristic value of the gas mixture based on a change in the system variable from the initial value to the subsequent value measured over each time interval the system variable being based on a measurement of at least one of a temperature sensor coupled to the tank and a scale the tank sits on; determining a rate of change of the characteristic value over subsequent time intervals of the multiple time intervals; and closing, with the controller, the purging orifice if the rate of change of the characteristic value over sequential the subsequent time intervals is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold rate of change value.