Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7909069?dq=7565338
Timestamp: 2014-07-28 11:51:22
Document Index: 775015308

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 2', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3']

Patent US7909069 - System and method for automatically adjusting an ORVR compatible stage II ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign in<nobr>Advanced Patent Search</nobr>PatentsA system and method for automatically adjusting an ORVR-compatible Stage II vapor recovery system to maintain the air-to-liquid (A/L) ratio within desired tolerances or limits to meet regulatory and/or other requirements. An air flow sensor (AFS) or vapor flow meter measures the amount of recovered vapor...http://www.google.com/patents/US7909069?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7909069 - System and method for automatically adjusting an ORVR compatible stage II vapor recovery system to maintain a desired air-to-liquid (A/L) ratioAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7909069 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/418,726Publication dateMar 22, 2011Filing dateMay 4, 2006Priority dateMay 4, 2006Also published asUS8573262, US20070267088, US20110220240Publication number11418726, 418726, US 7909069 B2, US 7909069B2, US-B2-7909069, US7909069 B2, US7909069B2InventorsKevin HughesOriginal AssigneeVeeder-Root CompanyExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (103), Non-Patent Citations (24), Referenced by (6), Classifications (5), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetSystem and method for automatically adjusting an ORVR compatible stage II vapor recovery system to maintain a desired air-to-liquid (A/L) ratioUS 7909069 B2Abstract A system and method for automatically adjusting an ORVR-compatible Stage II vapor recovery system to maintain the air-to-liquid (A/L) ratio within desired tolerances or limits to meet regulatory and/or other requirements. An air flow sensor (AFS) or vapor flow meter measures the amount of recovered vapor for a dispensing point to calculate the recovery efficiency of the system in the form of the A/L ratio. Volume or flow rate measurements can be used. ORVR fueling transactions are either minimized or excluded from the A/L ratio, so that the A/L ratio is not artificially lowered due to a blocked or altered recovery. The A/L ratio is then compared to a desired or nominal A/L ratio. Adjustments to the recovery system are made within prescribed safety tolerances if the A/L ratio differs from the desired ratio.
RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/210,715, filed on Aug. 24, 2005; which is a continuation patent application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/935,024, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,283, filed on Sep. 7, 2004; which is a continuation patent application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/180,047, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,344, filed on Jun. 27, 2002; which is a divisional patent application of U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,757, filed on Nov. 30, 2000, entitled �Fueling System Vapor Recovery And Containment Performance Monitor And Method Of Operation Thereof;� all of which are entitled to the benefit of the earlier filing date and priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/168,029, filed on Nov. 30, 1999, entitled �Fueling System Vapor Recovery Performance Monitor,� U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/202,054, filed on May 5, 2000, entitled �Fueling System Vapor Recovery Performance Monitor,� and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/202,659, filed on May 8, 2000, entitled �Method of Determining Failure of Fuel Vapor Recovery System.�
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to automatically adjusting an ORVR-compatible Stage II vapor recovery system to maintain the A/L ratio within desired tolerances or limits to meet regulatory and/or other requirements.
Recently, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been producing new requirements for Enhanced Vapor Recovery (EVR) equipment. These include stringent vapor recovery system monitoring and In-Station Diagnostics (ISD) requirements to continuously determine whether or not the systems are working properly. CARB has proposed that when the A/L ratio drops below a prescribed limit for a single or some sequence of fueling transactions, an alarm be issued and the underground storage tank pump be disabled to allow repair to prevent further significant vapor losses. Many systems employ air flow sensors (AFS), also known as �vapor flow meters� to monitor the amount of recovered vapor to determine if the vapor recovery system is working correctly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a system and method for automatically adjusting an ORVR-compatible Stage II vapor recovery system to maintain the air-to-liquid (A/L) ratio within desired tolerances or limits to meet regulatory and/or other requirements. An air flow sensor (AFS) or vapor flow meter measures the amount of recovered vapor for a dispensing point to calculate the recovery efficiency of the system in the form of the A/L ratio. Volume or flow rate measurements can be used. ORVR fueling transactions are either minimized or excluded from the A/L ratio calculation, so that the A/L ratio is not artificially lowered due to a blocked or altered recovery present during an ORVR fueling transaction. The A/L ratio is then compared to a desired or nominal A/L ratio. Adjustments are made to dispensing points that share a common recovery system vapor pump if the A/L ratio differs from the desired ratio. The adjustments are made to attempt to keep all dispensing points sharing a common vapor pump in desired A/L operating ranges, and if not possible, an alarm or error can be generated and/or reported.
The dispenser controller 120 may be the Gilbarco G-Site� or Passport� point-of-sale system. The monitor 140 may be the Veeder-Root Company TLS-350� tank monitor. Both the dispenser controller 120 and the monitor 140 may be further communicatively coupled to an off-site or remote system 134 for communicating information and receiving instructions remotely. Both systems may communicate with the remote system 134 over telephone lines 136 or other network lines 136, including the Internet.
The fuel dispenser units 200 may be provided in the form of conventional �gas pumps.� Each fuel dispenser unit 200 may include one or more fuel dispensing points typically defined by nozzles 210. The fuel dispenser units 200 may include one coaxial vapor/liquid splitter 260, one vapor return passage 220, and one fuel supply passage 230 per nozzle 210. The vapor return passages 220 may be joined together before connecting with a common vapor return pipe 410. The fuel dispenser units 200 may also include one liquid fuel dispensing meter 240 per nozzle 210. The liquid fuel dispensing meters 240 may provide dispensed liquid fuel quantity information to the dispenser controller 120 via a liquid fuel dispensing meter interface 270, or control system, and interface wiring 130.
The means for connecting the dispenser units and the main fuel storage system 300 may include one or more vapor return pipelines 410 and one or more fuel supply pipelines 420. The vapor return pipelines 410 and the fuel supply pipelines 420 are connected to the vapor return passages 220 and fuel supply passages 230, respectively, associated with multiple fuel dispensing points 210. As such, a �vapor return pipeline� designates any return pipeline that carries the return vapor of two or more vapor return passages 220. In the illustrated embodiment in FIG. 1, a variable speed vapor pump 222 controlled by a motor 224 is coupled to the vapor return passages 220 to assist in the recovery of vapor. An example of this system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,577, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The control system 270 controls the motor 224, via a control line 226, to control the speed of the vapor pump 222, thereby controlling the recovery rate in proportion to the fuel dispensed in an equal volume exchange. Most systems attempt to achieve a A/L ratio of 1.0. The control system 270 is calibrated with calibration or vapor pump control values that control the vapor pump 220 in correlation to the fuel dispensed or fuel dispensing rate for a variable speed vapor pump, or adjusts proportional flow control valves for a constant speed vapor pump. The present invention may be used with either system.
Turning to FIG. 2, the process starts (step 1000), and a control system collects A/L ratio data for a given fuel dispensing point 210 excluding ORVR fueling transactions to form a selected data set of A/L ratios (step 1002). Note that the term �control system� is used to represent either the dispenser control system 270, dispenser controller 120, monitor 140, remote system 134, or other control system.
Lastly, the vapor recovery rate is adjusted based on the calculated �A/L calibration adjustment value (step 1006). The process then repeats (step 1002) to continue to collect A/L ratio data and adjust the vapor recovery system accordingly to attempt to match the actual performance of the system to the desired performance, measured in terms of A/L ratios.
EXAMPLE maxA-L = 1.2
The calculations described for the examples above are discussed in detail below according to steps 2006-2024 in FIGS. 3A-3B. Since there is typically a different A/L ratio for each grade of fuel, the A/L ratio calculation and adjustment is determined for each grade individually. At the end of calculations, a gross adjustment is made to the vapor pump 222 so that all grades are corrected. The calculations for �Grade A� in the example above are discussed below in particular as an example, but the same calculations are made for all other grades.
The total liquid dispensed (totalLiquidDispensed) is the total amount of fuel grade dispensed over the period of time being analyzed. This measurement is performed by the fuel meters 240, as previously discussed for FIG. 1. In the �Grade A� example above, the total liquid dispensed is equal to 500 gallons.
The total vapor collected (totalVaporCollected) is the total amount of vapor that was recovered for the given grade of fuel over the period of time being analyzed. This measurement is performed by the AFS 500 as previously discussed. In �Grade A� in the example above, the total vapor collected is equal to 400 gallons. Notice that the vapor collected is 100 gallons less than the fuel dispensed, thereby indicating an underachieving performing vapor recovery system.
A variance in the actual vapor collected compared to the vapor that should be recovered to achieve the nominal A-L ratio (nominalA-L), called �collectionVariance,� is now calculated according to step 2006 in FIG. 3A. The variance according to �Grade A� in the example above is 150 gallons, meaning that 150 gallons more vapor should have been recovered than was actually recovered by the vapor recovery system over the period of time being analyzed to achieve the desired, nominal A/L ratio (nominalA-L). This indicates a vapor recovery system that is under performing according to desired specifications and according to the current calibration values controlling the vapor pump 222. Thus, an adjustment will be calculated and may be made.
The flow rate of the grade of fuel being analyzed (gradeFlowRate) is listed as 7.5 gallons per minute (GPM). This setting can be determined in a number of methods. The rate can be fixed according to historical data, or can be calculated based on the flow rate of the dispensing points 210 providing the given grade of fuel being analyzed. The flow rate can be calculated as the total liquid dispensed divided by time (totalLiquidDispensed/pumpingTime). A more accurate technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,964, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This technique uses the same variables as the flow rate divided by time method, but also includes techniques to reduce or eliminate the �dead time� during a dispensing transaction for a more pumping time (pumpingTime), and thus results in a more accurate flow rate calculation.
As shown in step 2008 in FIG. 3A, the desired vapor pump adjustment (desiredVaporPumpAdjustment) is next calculated to determine the amount of adjustment, if any, that is to be made to the vapor pump 222 in terms of flow rate (gal./min.), to change the vapor recovery rate to bring the A/L ratio back into the desired tolerance. The desired vapor pump adjustment (desiredVaporPumpAdjustment) is the vapor collection variance (collectionVariance) divided by the pumping time (pumpingTime). In �Grade A� in the example above, the vapor pump adjustment is 150 gallons/63 minutes, which is equal to 2.8 gal./min. The adjustment should be made as long as each grade being analyzed will remain within the certified A/L ratio band plus or minus an allowed tolerance after the adjustment is made. If not, the adjustment should be further adjusted as much as possible without shifting a grade from its certified A/L ratio range.
max ⁢ ⁢ A ⁢ - ⁢ L � totalLiquidDispensed � ( 1 - saftyMargin ) - totalVaporCollected pumpingTime The maxPosVaporPumpAdj determines what adjustment to the vapor pump 222 can be made such that the total VaporCollected does not exceed the totalLiquidDispensed within a safety range for a given maxA-L. For the �Grade A� example, the maxPosVaporPumpAdj is equal to 3.19 gal./min., meaning that a maximum vapor pump 222 adjustment to increase the recovery of vapor at a rate of 3.19 gal./min. can be made without putting the system outside the operating safety range. If the maxPosVaporPumpAdj is greater than zero, this means that the vapor pump 222 is not already beyond its maximum adjustment and can be adjusted further. If the maxPosVaporPumpAdj is less than or equal to zero, this means that the vapor pump 222 is already beyond the maximum adjustment and no further adjustment can be made to increase the recovery of vapor without exceeding safety limits.
min ⁢ ⁢ A ⁢ - ⁢ L � totalLiquidDispensed � ( min ⁢ ⁢ A ⁢ - ⁢ L + min ⁢ A ⁢ - ⁢ L � saftyMargin ) - totalVaporCollected pumpingTime For the �Grade A� example, the maxNegVaporPumpAdj is equal to 2.34 gal./min. If the maxNegVaporPumpAdj is greater than zero, the vapor pump 222 is already beyond its maximum negative adjustment and cannot be adjusted further. Since the maxNegVaporPumpAdj is 2.34 gal./min., no negative adjustment to the vapor pump 222 is possible without the system exceeding the bounds of the prescribed safety range.
Note that the average adjustment is a positive value, meaning a vapor pump 222 adjustment should be made to increase the rate of vapor recovery and bring the gross A/L ratios to the desired value. However, if the average of the desired vapor pump adjustment (avgDesiredVaporPumpAdjustment) is greater than any one grade's maximum positive vapor pump adjustment (maxPosVaporPumpAdj), the average correction (avgDesiredVaporPumpAdjustment) cannot be made. Since �Grade B� can only be adjusted 0.10 gal./min. as its maximum positive vapor pump adjustment (maxPosVaporPumpAdj), a final calculated adjustment (finalAdjustment) can only be 0.10 gal./min. (step 2014). In other words, the final adjustment (finalAdjustment) can only be the minimum of the maximum positive vapor pump adjustments (maxPosVaporPumpAdj) for all grades. Otherwise, the adjustment will adjust the vapor pump 222 in a manner that will take Grades B and C outside safety tolerance ranges for the example provided above.
For �Grade A� in the example above, the corrected vapor collection value (correctedVaporCollection) is the final adjustment (finalAdjustment) of 0.1 gal./min. times the pumping time (pumpingTime) of 53 min., plus the total vapor collected (totalvaporCollected) of 400 gal. This value is equal to 405 gallons, meaning that the vapor pump 222 should be corrected so that 405 gallons of vapor should have been collected instead of 400 gallons. Because the corrected vapor collection value (correctedVaporCollection) is calculated based on the final adjustment (finalAdjustment), the corrected vapor collection (correctedVaporCollection) can be achieved for the selected grade of fuel and still keep all grades of fuel within safety tolerance range.
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Walker, Petroleum Equipment & Technology, Aug. 2000.Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS8191585 *May 28, 2009Jun 5, 2012Franklin Fueling Systems, Inc.Method and apparatus for monitoring for a restriction in a stage II fuel vapor recovery systemUS8448675 *Mar 6, 2012May 28, 2013Franklin Fueling Systems, Inc.Method and apparatus for monitoring for a restriction in a stage II fuel vapor recovery systemUS20090293847 *May 28, 2009Dec 3, 2009Franklin Fueling Systems, Inc.Method and apparatus for monitoring for a restriction in a stage ii fuel vapor recovery systemUS20110013993 *Mar 5, 2009Jan 20, 2011Sundholm GoeranMethod and arrangement in pneumatic material conveying systemUS20120160367 *Mar 6, 2012Jun 28, 2012Franklin Fueling Systems, Inc.Method and apparatus for monitoring for a restriction in a stage ii fuel vapor recovery systemWO2012138623A1 *Apr 3, 2012Oct 11, 2012Veeder-Root CompanyFueling nozzle having boot relief valve for orvr* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification141/7, 141/59International ClassificationB65B31/00Cooperative ClassificationB67D7/0476European ClassificationB67D7/04CLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionMay 4, 2006ASAssignmentOwner name: VEEDER-ROOT COMPANY, CONNECTICUTFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:HUGHES, KEVIN;REEL/FRAME:017843/0429Effective date: 20060503RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google