JP3690482B2 - Overflow prevention device for lorries - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for preventing overflow when unloading from a lorry to an oil storage tank.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The oil storage tank is equipped with an overflow prevention valve that can be remotely operated at the refueling port that receives fuel oil etc. from the lorry. When it exceeds, the overflow valve of the oil storage tank is closed.
For this reason, there is a problem that the structure of the oil storage tank becomes complicated because an overflow valve is required for each oil storage tank. In order to solve such a problem, a lorry having a function of automatically closing a lorry bottom valve by taking a signal from a level gauge of an oil storage tank has been put into practical use.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to this, although the overflow prevention valve on the filling station side becomes unnecessary and the equipment cost of the filling station can be reduced, a means for transmitting the liquid level signal in a lorry is necessary. There is a problem that it takes time and effort to route. In addition, in a gas station that transmits the level gauge signal of the oil storage tank to the oil tank management control device by radio, it is conceivable to use a receiving means that can receive this radio signal. It is necessary to prepare a receiving means for matching the system and to tune the frequency.
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a low overflow overflow prevention apparatus that eliminates the need for routing around a cable, various types of receiving means, frequency tuning operation, and the like. Is to provide.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, the signal from the liquid level detecting means provided in the oil storage tank can be attached to and detached from the signal line for transmitting to the external device via a connector, and the signal is transmitted at a predetermined frequency. A slave that transmits a signal related to the amount of liquid in the oil storage tank, a bottom valve that opens when air is supplied from the outside and closes when the supply of air is stopped, and a receiver that receives the signal related to the amount of liquid And a control means for stopping the supply of air when it is detected that the liquid amount in the oil storage tank has reached the upper limit by a signal relating to the liquid amount.
[0005]
[Action]
The slave unit attached to the lorry is connected to the signal line of the gas station to transmit the tank liquid level wirelessly, and during unloading, the bottom valve is opened with air, and the oil volume in the oil storage tank reaches the upper limit. When it reaches, the supply of air is cut off and the bottom valve is closed. Then, the slave unit is removed when the refueling is completed.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, details of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiment.
FIG. 1 shows an oil supply state to an oil storage tank by a lorry provided with an overflow prevention device of the present invention. An oil storage tank 1 buried underground has a liquid level gauge 2 for detecting the liquid level. An oiling pipe 4 provided with a connection port 3 installed on the ground is communicated.
[0007]
Each liquid level gauge 2 is connected to an oil storage tank management control device 6 via a scanning device 5. The oil storage tank control device 6 is connected to the POS 8 by a cable 7 and to the slave unit connection station 10 by a cable 9. The slave unit connection station 10 outputs the liquid amount of the oil storage tank 1 output from the oil storage tank control device 6 to the slave device 11 and transmits it to the control device 40 of the lorry 20 by a radio signal.
[0008]
In the lorry 20, the tank 21 is divided into a plurality of hatches 22 by walls, and communicated with the discharge pipe 24 through a bottom valve 23 provided on the bottom surface of each hatch 22. As shown in FIG. 2, each bottom valve 24 includes a cylinder 28 serving as a movable valve body urged by a spring 25 so as to elastically contact a packing 27 on the outlet 26 side of each hatch 22, and an air supply path. The piston 32 is fixed to the tip of the support 30 that also serves as 29 and is provided with an air supply port 31 that communicates with the cylinder 28.
[0009]
With this configuration, when air is supplied from the air source 34 to the cylinder chamber 28a via the air tube 35 by the electromagnetic valve 33 that is opened by a signal from the control device 40, the cylinder 28 moves upward and opens. Further, when the supply of air is stopped, the cylinder 28 is lowered to the outlet 26 by the urging force of the spring 25, and is elastically contacted to be closed.
[0010]
FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the above-described oil storage tank management control device 6 installed in the gas station, and is based on the liquid level signal from the liquid level meter 2 inputted from the scanning means 5 at regular intervals. Liquid volume storage means 50 for calculating the liquid volume and storing the liquid volume, upper limit volume storage means 51 storing the upper limit liquid volume of each oil storage tank 1, and the liquid volume and upper limit liquid volume of each tank 1 Comparing means 52 for comparing, output means 53 for outputting the liquid amount of the liquid amount storage means 50 and the comparison result of the comparing means 52 are configured.
[0011]
The slave unit 11 includes a communication control unit 54 that selectively takes in a signal related to the liquid amount from the slave unit connection station 10 and a transmission / reception unit 55 that wirelessly transmits a signal related to the liquid amount.
[0012]
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the control device 40 provided in the lorry 20 includes a wireless reception means 41, a keyboard 42, a display panel 43, a notification device 44, and a control means 45 that can be tuned to the wireless frequency of the slave unit 11. And valve drive means 46.
[0013]
With this configuration, after the hatch to be unloaded is specified by the keyboard 42, when the unload command switch of the keyboard 42 is operated, the control means 45 outputs a valve opening signal to the electromagnetic valve 33 via the valve driving means 46. Then, air is supplied to the bottom valve 20 to open it, and when the upper limit signal is received from the slave unit 11 or when the unloading end switch of the keyboard 42 is operated, the electromagnetic valve 33 is closed. Turn off the air supply.
[0014]
When the valve is closed by the upper limit signal, the alarm 44 is activated. In the figure, reference numeral 37 denotes an oiling hose for connecting the discharge port 38 of the lorry 11 and the connection port 3 of the oiling pipe 4, and reference numeral 39 denotes a discharge valve.
[0015]
Next, the operation of the apparatus configured as described above will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.
After the slave unit 11 is activated and the communication state with the control device 40 is confirmed, the slave unit 11 is docked at the slave unit connection station 10 of the gas station. Next, the discharge port 38 of the lorry 20 and the connection port 3 of the lubrication pipe 4 are connected by the lubrication hose 37, and data for identifying the hatch to be unloaded, for example, the hatch number, is input from the keyboard 42 (step i). .
[0016]
The control means 45 checks the oil type and amount of the fuel oil in the tank 22 to be replenished with the hatch 22 specified by the input hatch number. ).
[0017]
In this state, when the unloading command switch of the keyboard 42 is operated, the unloading signal is output from the control means 45 to the valve driving means 46 and a signal is output (step C). As a result, a valve opening signal is output to the electromagnetic valve 23 of the hatch 22 to be unloaded, air is supplied from the air source 34 to the bottom valve 23, and the bottom valve 23 is opened (step D).
[0018]
A liquid level signal corresponding to the increase in the amount of liquid is input to the oil storage tank management control device 6 through the scanning means 5 from the liquid level gauge 2 of the tank 1 receiving oil from the lorry 20. The liquid level signal from the liquid level meter 2 is compared with the upper limit liquid amount in the upper limit amount storage means 51 every predetermined time.
[0019]
If the unloading of the hatch ends before reaching the upper limit amount of the oil storage tank 1 (Step E), the unloading end switch of the keyboard 42 is operated. As a result, a valve closing signal is output to the electromagnetic valve 23 of the hatch 22 that has finished unloading (to step), the air from the air source 34 is cut off, and the bottom valve 23 is closed.
[0020]
On the other hand, when the amount of liquid in the tank reaches the upper limit amount of the oil storage tank 1 during unloading, an upper limit signal is output from the comparison means 52 (Step E). This signal is transmitted to the lorry 20 as a radio signal by the slave unit 11 docked in the slave unit connection station 10. This upper limit signal is received by the transmission / reception means 41 of the control device 40 and output to the control means 45. The control means 45 outputs a valve closing signal to the valve drive means 46, cuts off the supply of air to the bottom valve 23, closes the bottom valve 23, and the alarm valve 44 closes the bottom valve 23. (Step).
[0021]
Thereby, unloading of the fuel oil to the oil storage tank 1 is stopped, and overflow from the oil storage tank is prevented.
In addition, when the amount of liquid in the oil storage tank has not reached the upper limit by the check based on the notification, that is, when the bottom valve 23 is closed due to a malfunction, the unloading start procedure is executed again to reduce the remaining amount. Unload.
[0022]
In this way, when unloading to the filling station is completed, the slave unit 11 is removed from the slave unit connection station 10 and the lubrication hose 37 is removed from the lorry 20 and the connection port 3 of the lubrication pipe 4 to work. Exit.
[0023]
In the above-described embodiment, the upper limit signal is output from the control device of the filling station. However, the amount of liquid in the oil storage tank is transmitted from the filling station, and the upper limit value is stored on the lorry side. Even if it is determined that the tank liquid amount has reached the upper limit on the side, it is obvious that the same effect is obtained.
[0024]
In addition, when the signal related to the liquid amount does not reach the upper limit, the radio signal is output at a constant cycle, while the output of the radio signal is stopped when the upper limit is reached. If the signal cannot be received due to a failure of the transmission / reception means or the like, the bottom valve 23 can be closed, and overflow can be prevented before fail-safe is achieved.
[0025]
Furthermore, in the present invention, the connection station is connected to the oil storage tank management control device that manages the liquid amount of the oil storage tank by the signal from the liquid level gauge, but means for outputting data relating to the oil amount of the oil storage tank, for example, The same effect can be obtained by connecting the slave unit to the output side of the scanning means or the output terminal of the POS in a detachable manner.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the present invention, in the present invention, the signal from the liquid level detection means provided in the oil storage tank can be attached to and detached from the signal line for transmitting the signal to the external device via the connector, and the liquid in the oil storage tank can be provided at a specified frequency. A slave that transmits a signal relating to the amount of liquid, a bottom valve that opens by receiving air supply from the outside, and that closes when the supply of air is stopped, a receiving means that receives a signal relating to the amount of liquid, and Control means for stopping the supply of air when it is detected that the amount of liquid in the oil storage tank has reached the upper limit by a signal, so that the slave unit that has been confirmed to be able to receive the signal by the receiving means on the lorry side A signal related to the oil volume in the oil storage tank can be transmitted wirelessly, without being affected by the routing of the cable for transmitting the signal related to the liquid volume, or the wireless system specific to the gas station, If the amount of liquid in the oil tank has reached the upper limit, it is possible to reliably prevent the overflow by closing the bottom valve refused the supply of air.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an apparatus for preventing overflow of a lorry according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view showing an embodiment of a bottom valve of a lorry.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an oil storage tank management control device and a slave unit in the apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a lorry control device in the apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Oil storage tank 2 Liquid level gauge 3 Connection port 6 Oil storage tank management control apparatus 10 Slave unit connection station 11 Slave unit 20 Roller 22 Bottom valve 34 Air source

Claims (5)

A slave unit that is detachable via a connector to a signal line that transmits a signal from a liquid level detection means provided in the oil storage tank to an external device, and that transmits a signal relating to the liquid amount of the oil storage tank at a specified frequency;
A bottom valve that opens by receiving air supply from the outside and closes when the air supply is stopped, receiving means for receiving a signal relating to the liquid amount, and a liquid in the oil storage tank by means of the signal relating to the liquid amount An apparatus for preventing overflow of lorries, comprising control means for stopping the supply of air when it is detected that the amount has reached an upper limit. The apparatus for preventing overflow of a lorry according to claim 1, wherein the signal relating to the liquid amount is an upper limit signal of the oil storage tank. The overflow prevention device for a lorry according to claim 1, wherein the slave unit is detachably connected to a means for managing the liquid amount in the tank via a connector. The bottom valve is composed of a cylinder constituting a valve body that is normally urged in a valve closing direction by a spring, and a piston that is inserted into the cylinder and has an air supply port formed in the cylinder chamber from the outside. Item 2. The apparatus for preventing overflow according to Item 1. The overflow prevention device for a roll according to claim 1, wherein air is supplied from an air source mounted on the roll to the bottom valve via an electromagnetic valve controlled by the control means.

Images