JPH0342502Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (a) Industrial application field The present application relates to a device for transmitting refueling information to a remote location in a place where flammable hazardous materials are handled, such as a refueling station.

(b) Prior art Gas stations are equipped with refueling devices that have the function of pumping out oil such as gasoline and displaying the measured amount.
After refueling, the refueling information, including the amount of refueling, is printed out from a POS terminal (hereinafter referred to simply as POS) installed in an office or other location and handed to the customer as a refueling slip.

Some kind of signal transmission means is required between the refueling device and the POS, and currently most signal lines are buried in the dirt floor.

(c) Problems that the invention aims to solve However, when changing the location of the refueling equipment or office, or when introducing POS for the first time, it takes a lot of time and money to install signal lines. did. Therefore, spatial transmission using optical signals was attempted, but since the light source (light transmitter) is installed on the side that transmits the refueling information, that is, on the side of the refueling equipment where dangerous oil vapor is present, the transmitter itself cannot be used. The problem was that it needed to be flameproof and explosion-proof, making it large, heavy, unsightly, and expensive.

(d) Structure and operation to solve the problem Therefore, in this application, the transmitter and receiver, which consume a large amount of power, are installed away from the dangerous area where the refueling equipment is located, while the Only a reflector with a shutter is installed and light is transmitted sequentially from the transmitter to the reflector to the receiver, and by opening and closing the shutter according to the refueling information, the signaled light is sent to the receiver using a small amount of power. This is what made it possible.

(E) Example In Fig. 1, 2 is a refueling device installed on the earthen floor 4 of a refueling station, and inside it is a pump (not shown), a pump drive motor, a flowmeter, a pulse transmitter, and a refueling amount, which will be described later. In addition to housing a display device, a hose 6 and a nozzle 8 are also provided, and the area around them (the area surrounded by the two-dot chain line) is a dangerous area where oil vapor may accumulate.

10 is an office, where a POS 12 is installed that has the function of storing and printing out refueling information.
A light transmitter/receiver 16, which will be described later, is installed on a canopy 14 extending from the roof of the office 10, and a reflector 18 facing the light transmitter/receiver 16 is installed on the upper surface of the oil supply device 2.

In FIG. 2, the light transmitter/receiver 16 is divided into a light transmitting section 20 and a light receiving section 22. On the light transmitting section 20 side, a light source 26 is located in front of a reflecting mirror 24, and behind the light receiving section 22 is a light receiving element. 28 are deployed.

30 is a condenser lens, and 32 is a translucent monochromatic filter. The light emitted from the light source 26 passes through each lens 30 and the filter 32 and is radiated outward. The reflected light, which will be described later, is transmitted after passing through the filter 32. The light receiving element 2 passes through each lens 30.
It will reach 8.

In FIG. 3, there is a reflector 3 at the back of the reflector 18.
4, a liquid crystal shutter 36 is provided at the entrance, and when a voltage is applied, the shutter 36 becomes cloudy and blocks incident light from passing through.

In Fig. 4, numeral 38 is connected to a flowmeter (not shown) and outputs one pulse signal POS every time the flowmeter measures a unit oil amount (for example, 1/100 liter).
40 is a nozzle detection switch, and the signal n that is constantly output is H when the nozzle 8 is hung in a storage location at a non-refueling station.
(high level), and L (low level) when refueling and not latched.

42 is a counting circuit, which returns to zero when the nozzle 8 is removed from the storage location and the signal n changes from H to L, counts the number of signals p, and uses the counted value as a signal l to drive the display. output to the circuit 44,
The amount of oil to be supplied is displayed on the oil supply amount display 46.

48 is a shutter drive circuit which drives the shutter 36 in a predetermined pattern every time one signal p is input (for example, the shutter is driven once).
(opens for only 0.1 seconds) to pass and reflect incident light,
When the signal n changes from L to H, the shutter is driven in another predetermined pattern (for example, the shutter is opened for one second).

In the above configuration, when the nozzle 8 is not refueled, that is, when the nozzle 8 is in the storage location, the signal n is in the H state, and the shutter 36 is in the closed state, that is, in the state of blocking the passage of incident light. On the other hand, the light source 26
Light is constantly emitted toward the reflector 18, but at this point the shutter 36 is not open, that is, the light does not reach the reflector 34, so the light receiving element 28 does not detect this light.

When a customer comes to our office and first removes the nozzle 8 from the storage location, the signal n changes from H to L, so this clock circuit 42 is reset to zero, the count value from the previous refueling is erased, and the display 46 shows the nozzle 8. is displayed as zero. Next, when the built-in valve of the nozzle 8 is opened to supply oil, the pulse transmitter 38 outputs a number of signals p corresponding to the amount of oil supplied, so the counting circuit 42 counts these signals and displays them on the display 46 as the amount of oil supplied. However, at this time, the signal p is also given to the shutter drive circuit 48, and here, the shutter 36 is driven (opened) in the above pattern by the number of inputs of the signal p, and the light emitted from the light source 26 is Shutter 36
The light passes through the mirror 34, becomes reflected light, passes through the shutter 36 again, and reaches the light receiving element 28. The number of times the reflected light reaches the light receiving element 28 is POS1
2, and the counted value at the POS 12 matches the counted value at the counting circuit 42.

When the nozzle 8 is returned to its storage location after refueling, the signal n changes from L to H. As a result, the shutter 36 is driven in a different pattern from when the signal p was input, as described above, and this reflected light is The light receiving element 2
When 8 is received, the POS prints out the previous count value (same as the amount of oil supplied) on a slip, and then returns the count value to zero and stores it in a separate memory area.

The above operations are repeated every time a customer visits. Note that although the shutter is driven to pass the incident light when the signal pn is input, the reverse may be possible, and the shutter operation pattern when the signal pn is input is not limited to this embodiment.

(f) Effects As detailed above, a transmitter/receiver that consumes a large amount of power is installed in a non-hazardous area, and a reflector that uses a liquid crystal shutter that can be driven by a small amount of electric power is installed in a refueling device located in a hazardous area. Since the shutter is driven in synchronization with the flow rate pulse signal,
Even if an accident occurs, it is safe because there is no electrical energy to ignite the oil vapor, and furthermore, refueling information can be transmitted without major construction work such as digging up the dirt floor and laying signal lines. It is possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of various equipment at a gas station, Figs. 2 and 3 show the structure of a light transmitter/receiver and a reflector, respectively, and Fig. 4 shows an electrical circuit in blocks. 2...Refueling device, 12...POS terminal, 16
...Transmitter/receiver, 18...Reflector, 36...Shutter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A reflector with a shutter is installed in a refueling device equipped with a flowmeter and a pulse transmitter that outputs a number of flow rate pulse signals corresponding to the measured value of the flowmeter, On the other hand, a light transmitter and a light receiver are installed at a location away from the refueling device, and the light emitted from the light transmitter is reflected by a reflector and sent to the light receiver, and the shutter is connected to the flow rate pulse signal. A refueling information transmission device that operates in synchronization. (2) The refueling information transmission device according to item 1, wherein the shutter is of a liquid crystal type.