FI60454C - UTMATNINGSPUMPSYSTEM FOER BLANDNING AV FLYTANDE BRAENSLE - Google Patents

Description

I -'—---- 1 r „.... ADVERTISEMENT iil / lU

Wa l>] <11) uTL * OONINCSSK »IFT 6 U 4 5 4 C Patent issued 11 01 1982

Potent aeddelat (51) Ky.ik.3 / Int.ci.3 G 05 D 11/13 // B 67 D 5/04 SUO MI —FI N LAN D (21) Ptt * nttlh * kemu * - P »tentin «öknln | 13 '* 0 / 7k

(22) HakemUpIWi - AntOknlngsdag 02.05.TU

* '(23) Alkupllvi - GHtlghetttUg 02.05.TU

(41) Tullut JulklMkil - Bllvlt offentlif γ1 |

Patent and Registration Office .... , .. .

β. . . ,. (44) Date of issue of NShtivIkalpanon. -

Patent- och registerstyrelsen '' Amökan utlagd oeh uti. «Krift« n pubikerad 30.09.81 (32) (33) (31) Pyyd «ty« uolkeu * - Begird priority 0 3.0 5. T 3

England-England (GB) 2113Ö / T3 (Tl) Dresser Europe, S.A., 1 Place Madou, Brussels 3, Belgium-Belgien (BE) (T2) Peter John Hyde, Comberton, Cambridgeshire, Donald George Buchanan,

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a liquid distribution system on the transfer link, the two fuel lines at the pump for separately directing each basic quality fuel, a mixing valve for mixing the fuel from the two lines into the desired quality fuel, a pulse generator connected to each fuel line to provide an output pulse separately for each unit of basic quality to be distributed.

Thus, in such known systems, the central cab is usually further away from one or more distribution pumps. The adjustment of the fuel grade mixture can be done with a mechanical calculator, but the electric servo control system is more qualified because it is easier to use and otherwise more flexible in use. However, the known systems for servo control, which have to transmit fast reciprocating signals between the central cab and the fuel distribution pump all the way to the transmission links, have many disadvantages in use. The present invention seeks to provide an improved liquid fuel mixing pump system.

According to the present invention, there is provided a liquid fuel mixing distribution pump system, characterized in that the pump remote from the central cab further comprises a pulse rate controller coupled to the output of the second pulse generator and adjustable according to the selected mixing ratio. a second pulse generator, with a series of pulses of equal frequency when the corresponding flow rates are correct, a comparator comparing the frequencies of the pulse sets and giving an error signal representing each deviation, and a servo control device affected by the error signal and using a mixing valve error characters to zero.

In a preferred embodiment, the control device is a period number multiplier with an adjustable multiplier ratio.

Most preferably, the comparator is a reversible counter having a first input to which a first series of pulses arrives so that it counts pulses forward and a second input which receives a second series of pulses to count back pulses and the error signal is the cumulative count result of this calculator. Such a calculator can be considered as a frequency or velocity comparator in this context, because this cumulative or accumulative calculation result represents the difference in frequency between these pulse sequences taken over the total amount of time and the continuously increasing amount, from the beginning of the calculation.

Most preferably, a connecting circuit is connected to combine the two sets of pulses so as to obtain an output pulse representing the total fuel flow. Most preferably, a price multiplier is also provided, the multiplier of which is adjustable according to the unit price of the selected fuel mixture, whereby the price multiplier receives output pulses from the connecting circuit and provides an output signal representing the total price of the split fuel.

The output pulses, which represent the total volume and the total price, can be fed directly to the corresponding cumulative pulse counters, which use display devices to indicate volume and price. In addition, a particular display device may be used according to the unit price input to the price multiplier to provide an indication of the unit price of the selected mixing quality. These displays are most preferably numeric displays, which may be electromechanical but most preferably electronic. seven-block solid state displays.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the volume and price information is represented by a series of binary digital parts of information words that continuously rotate in the memory associated with this pump. With this arrangement, the corresponding volume and price information for a particular word is updated as they in turn appear periodically according to whether or not an additional volume or price pulse is generated during that period. Parts of a particular word are transported to the display devices at the appropriate times in this section. Such an arrangement is particularly suitable for use in the case of a multiplexed information system, where the information can be transferred to a centrally located control device, where the payment is also made.

The present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic drawing of a fuel delivery pump according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of another fuel delivery pump according to the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a fuel delivery pump comprising two fuel lines 1 and 2 for transporting fuel of similar basic grades. Line 1 carries a low octane grade and line 2 carries a high octane grade. The grades from lines 1 and 2 are mixed by a mixer valve 3 and pass through an outlet line 4 to the distribution nozzle of this pump. Line 1 has a pulse generator 5 which provides a pulse output per unit volume of fuel passing through this line. Line 2 has a similar pulse generator 6. The unit of fuel that corresponds to each pulse in this case is e.g. 0.023 liters. The user sets the mixer controller 7 according to the desired mixing quality. This mixing controller provides an output to the divider circuit 8, which controls the ratio of the division that the circuit implements.

The pulses from the pulse generator 6 are applied to the divider circuit 8, and the number of pulses obtained from the output of the divider circuit 9 is the number of input pulses generated divided by a preset ratio. If the selected mixture is such that it has n units of low octane fuel per m unit of high octane fuel, then the ratio in which the divider 8 should be set is m / n. This means that the pulse generator 5 of the series and the distribution circuit 8 should contain the same number of pulses, provided that the mixing valve 3 is set appropriately,

A pulse train from the pulse generator 5 is fed to the first input 10 from a variable pulse counter 11 and a pulse train from the output 9 in the circuit 8 is fed to the second input 12 in this pulse counter. The pulses fed to the input 10 are counted in the forward direction and the pulses fed to the input 12 are counted in the opposite direction. Therefore, since the pulse velocities at these two inputs should be equal, the cumulative calculation result of this calculator 11 should be zero. Any error will be represented as the actual calculation result at the output of this calculator. This error signal is introduced into the amplifier 13, which controls the servomotor 14, which in turn drives the valve 3. The arrangement is such that the valve 3 is operated in such a direction as to compensate for this error and reduce the error signal to zero. In this way, the mixture is constantly adjusted to its correct value.

In order to obtain an indication of the total volume distributed, the total price of the fuel distributed and the unit price of the fuel to be distributed, the device includes three indicators 15, 16 and 17. These are seven-block solid state electronic number displays. The pointer 15 is a volume indicator and is used 60454 by a memory 18 which receives input pulses from the connecting circuit 19. The connecting circuit 19 receives both sets of pulses from the generator 5 and the distribution circuit 8 and combines these sets to obtain a cumulative output pulse representing the total volume of split fuel. The output from the circuit 19 is fed to a multiplication circuit 20 having an adjustable multiplication factor which is set according to the output of the unit 7. This output represents the unit price of the fuel quality selected in each case. Thus, the total output pulse from circuit 19 is multiplied by a factor corresponding to the unit price of the fuel being distributed, and the multiplied output now represents the total price of the shared fuel.

This is brought into the memory 21, from which the output is fed to the price indicator 1 6.

Unit price information is input from the input of circuit 20 for display directly in the unit price display 17.

Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 2, the fuel lines 1 and 2, the mixing valve 3 and the outlet line 4 are not specifically shown, but it is to be understood that they are similar to the arrangement of Fig. 1. The pulse generators 5 and 6 are shown in Fig. 2. Instead of the output from the pulse generator 6 being fed to the division circuit, the output from the pulse generator 5 is fed to a pulse multiplier 23. The multiplier of this multiplier 23 is set at each point by a selectable memory (RAM) 24 is adjusted according to the quality of the mixture obtained from the inlet line 25. If the selected mixture is n low octane fuel units for each m units of high octane fuel, then the set multiplication factor is m / n. The outputs of the pulse train from the multiplier 23 and the pulse generator 6 are fed to opposite inputs in a reciprocating counter 11 as in the arrangement of Fig. 1. The output from the counter 11 is fed to the amplifier 13 and the servo controller 14 so as to adjust the mixing valve, which reduces the error signal, which forms the output of the counter 11.

The second random access memory (RAM) 26 receives the input from the 25 and generates the output according to its selected mix, which represents the unit price for the intermediate mix. This output is fed to a multiplication circuit 20 which receives a combined pulse train from the summing circuit 19, as in the arrangement of Figure 1. The output from the summing circuit represents the total volume of the split fuel and is fed, like the output from the multiplier 20, also to the input of the binary coded decimal totalizer and the subtractor circuit 27. The output from the memory 26 is fed to illuminate a display device (not shown) as it consists of a display device 17 according to Fig. 1, which gives an indication of the unit price of the selected quality.

The arrangement according to Fig. 2 differs from that according to Fig. 1 in that no direct totalization of the volume and price pulses is carried out here. Instead, information about fair volume and distributed price, as well as other factors, is stored as binary decimal information as a word in a recirculating memory register. This memory consists of a storage 28 with a capacity of 100 bits and a supplementary storage 29 with a capacity of 4 bits. The output from the warehouse 29 is fed back to the inlet of the warehouse 28.

In this way, the data word, which includes the current volume and price information, is continuously recirculated in the two stores 28 and 29. This word is recorded in serial form and includes parts that represent each of the current volume and price.

The timing of the recycling of this word is adjustable by the multiplexing unit 30, which receives the input from the detector unit 31.

When the relevant part of the word, e.g. volume, reaches the stock 29, it can be updated to a new value depending on whether a volume pulse has been received from the summing circuit 19 during the last period. The additional pulse, if any, is received along line 32 from unit 27 and fed to multiplexing unit 30. The length of the data word is 5 milliseconds so that each period lasts this time. Thus, during each 5 millisecond period, the word can be updated in terms of volume and price, as appropriate.

In addition to volume and price information, the data word includes information about the amount of credit remaining in this transaction. Initially, the amount of credit available is set by the user according to a pre-set price, which is the required value of the fuel to be distributed. This preset price is set in the price memory 60454. The multiplexing unit 30 is able, by means of price information imported through the conductor 32, to reduce the current credit situation in a given word during each period. Thus, the circulating word again contains information about the current price, the current volume and the current credit situation, which is fed along a data line 34 to a centrally located control device where this information is used by the cashier, who then receives the payment. Information about the current price and the current volume is also entered into the price and volume memories, such as e.g. 16 and 15 in Fig. 1.

The control information of the incoming data is received from the central controller via the conductor 35 and as a result control functions are provided by which the pump motor and other control measures are started. The adjustment information also includes current unit price indicia which, via memory 36 (RAM) accessible at any point, adjust the unit price set in memory 26. In this way, the current unit price can be updated in each period and can therefore be adjusted remotely from the central controller so that that variable unit prices are obtained over time in an appropriate manner. This may be useful when changing the price according to the time of day in the example case. The logic hardware is able to keep the current unit price up to date during the distribution period. The timing of this adjustment is adjusted by a counter 37 which receives the input from the central clock and which adjusts the counter 38, which has the effect of setting the interpreter unit 31.

At the end of a particular distribution operation, it is necessary to stop the flow of fuel. If this operation is carried out too suddenly, too much pressure will build up in the dispensers. As a result, it is desirable to reduce the flow rate shortly before it is closed.

It is easy to implement this adjustment by referring to the amount of fuel remaining to be dispensed. Thus, it is appropriate to utilize the remaining credit amount information in a particular data element. However, if the deceleration of this fuel feed rate is adjusted according to the amount of credit remaining, the actual amount of fuel remaining will depend on the unit price of the selected blend. Thus, a slowing of the flow rate may occur when a considerable amount of fuel remains. In order to avoid this

Claims (6)

8 60454, the credit information balance information is input to the comparator 39 as well as the unit price information from the memory 26. This comparator implements the division of the remaining credit amount by the unit price and thus provides a volume indication. This volume indication is comparable to the current level, and when the comparison shows that a predetermined volume amount remains, a control signal is provided which slows down the pump motors. Similarly, when the remaining amount of credit has decreased to zero, a signal is provided from the comparator 39 that shuts off the flow completely. A liquid fuel mixing distribution pump system comprising a central cab and at least one distribution pump remote from the central cab and connected to it by a transfer link, two fuel lines (1, 2} adjacent to the pump for separately conducting each basic fuel, mixing valve (3) from two lines (1, 2) to mix the incoming fuel into the desired quality, a pulse generator (5, 6) connected to each fuel line to give an output pulse separately for each unit of basic quality to be distributed, characterized in that the pump remote from the central cab further comprises (A) a pulse rate controller (8), to the output of the second pulse generator (6) and adjustable according to the selected mixing ratio, so that the first pulse train is output from the pulse rate controller (8) and the second pulse train is output from the second pulse generator (5), the pulse train having equal frequency when corresponding the flow rates are correct, (B) a comparator (11) that compares the frequencies of the pulse trains and gives an error signal representing each deviation, and (C) a servo control device (13, 14, 3) affected by the error signal and using a mixing valve (3) so that it tends to reduce the error energy to zero. 9 60454 Dispensing pump system according to Claim 1, characterized in that the control device is a period multiplier (23) with an adjustable multiplier ratio. Dispensing pump system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the comparator is a reversible counter (11) having a first input which receives a first series of pulses for counting pulses forward and a second input which receives a second set of pulses for counting pulses backwards, the error sign being this counter cumulative calculation result. Distribution pump system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is provided with a connecting circuit for connecting the two sets of pulses in order to produce an output pulse representing the total fuel flow. Dispensing pump system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a price multiplier having a multiplier adjustable according to the unit price of the selected fuel mixture, the output multiplier being supplied with output pulses from a connecting circuit . Dispensing pump system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has a digital register and devices for repeatedly and periodically entering into the register a digital data word with parts representing the actual volume and the actual price of the fuel to be distributed, the word volume and price parts being updated as they periodically emerge, according to whether or not additional volume or price pulses have been developed during this period. 10 60454