JPH08244898A - Device and method to prevent mixing of oils to be unloaded - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent oils from being mixed when fuel oils are unloaded from a tank lorry to a refueling station by accurately performing the judgement of oil kinds. CONSTITUTION: After connecting a hose to an oil discharging pipe 11, by opening a main valve Vm1 , for several seconds, an initial discharging part of a fuel oil F which is discharged from a lorry tank is made to flow to an underground tank. By doing so, the fuel oil F remaining in a duct from the lorry tank to the oil discharging pipe 11 from a previous unloading is released to the underground tank. Then, by closing the main valve Vm1 , the fuel oil F is taken into a sampling tank 33, and a judgement of the oil kind is performed by a gas sensor SG.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an oil mixing prevention device and a method for preventing oil mixing when unloading fuel oil from a tank truck to an underground tank such as a gas station.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A plurality of types of fuel oil are installed in one tank truck, while an underground tank is buried for each of a plurality of types of fuel oil at a gas station. Therefore, a situation may occur in which fuel oil of a different oil type from the fuel oil of the underground tank is supplied from the tank truck. That is, mixed oil may occur.

[0003] Therefore, conventionally, there has been proposed an oil mixture determining device for preventing such oil mixture (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-
No. 72499). In this prior art, when the fuel oil is introduced from the lory tank to the underground tank through the hose and the oil supply pipe, the on-off valve of the oil supply pipe is closed and the fuel oil is sampled from the oil supply pipe in advance and supplied. We are trying to prevent mixed oil by distinguishing the type of oil.

[0004]

However, in this type of fuel supply system, a hose connected to the tank truck and a part of the pipe between the hose and the tank tank are commonly used for a plurality of types of fuel oil. Therefore, fuel oil of a different oil type from the fuel to be unloaded this time may be attached to these pipes and hoses. On the other hand, since the sensor for determining the oil type generally determines the oil type by detecting the vaporized fuel, if gasoline that is extremely easily vaporized is mixed in kerosene, for example,
It may be determined that kerosene is gasoline. Therefore, in the above-mentioned prior art, when unloading kerosene after unloading gasoline, a small amount of gasoline adhering to pipes and hoses may be detected. Therefore, a situation may arise in which the oil type is erroneously determined, or the unloading must be temporarily stopped even though the oil types match.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.
The purpose is to accurately determine the oil type.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the oil mixing prevention device of the present invention comprises an oil supply pipe having one end communicating with an underground tank and the other end connected with a coupling for hose connection. And an on-off valve that opens and closes the line of this lubrication pipe,
It is premised that a sampling device for sampling a part of the fuel oil from the oil injection pipe and an oil type determination means for determining the oil type of the sampled fuel oil are provided. The device of the present invention is characterized by including signal output means for outputting a residual fuel removal signal, and opening / closing valve control means for receiving the residual fuel removal signal and temporarily opening and closing the opening / closing valve again. Is.

On the other hand, when the fuel oil is unloaded from the lory tank to the underground tank via the oil supply pipe to which the hose is connected, the fuel oil mixture sampling method of the present invention is used to sample the fuel oil from the oil supply pipe. In the unloading mixed oil prevention method that prevents the mixed oil by distinguishing, after connecting the hose to the lubrication pipe,
By flowing the beginning portion of the fuel oil injected from the Lori tank to the underground tank, the fuel remaining in the flow path from the Lori tank to the oiling pipe was released to the underground tank during the last unloading. After that, the above-mentioned sampling is performed.

[0008]

According to the present invention, by temporarily opening the on-off valve of the oil supply pipe and then closing it, the fuel remaining in the flow path from the tank tank to the oil supply pipe is refueled with the fuel oil to be injected this time. At the same time, it can be released to the underground tank, so the fuel oil sampled does not include the fuel that was attached at the previous unloading (hereinafter referred to as "residual fuel"). Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine the type of oil.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show a first embodiment. In FIG. 1, a plurality of underground tanks 1 according to the type of fuel oil are buried underground in the gas station. From each of the underground tanks 1, an oiling pipe 10 projects and extends to the ground, and one end 10b of the oiling pipe 10 communicates with the underground tank 1. Each oil supply pipe 10 has a main valve V that opens and closes the pipe line.
m ₁ and Vm ₂ (FIG. 3) are provided, and a coupling 11 for hose connection is connected to the other end of the oiling pipe 10.

A tank lorry 2 shown by a chain double-dashed line is equipped with a lorry tank 22 divided into a plurality of storage tanks 21. Each storage tank 21 communicates with one communication pipe 25 via a branch pipe 23 and a branch valve 24 of the tank truck 2. The communication pipe 25 is provided with a common valve 26 and a second coupling 27. Therefore, after connecting the hoses 28 to both the couplings 11 and 27, one of the branch valves 24, the common valve 26 and the main valve Vm ₁ are opened, so that the lubrication pipe 1 from the storage tank 21 of the tank tank 22 is opened.
Fuel oil F is unloaded to the underground tank 1 via 0 or the like.

Next, the sampling device 3 of FIG. 2 for sampling a part of the fuel oil F from the oil injection pipe 10 will be described. In FIG. 2, an intake port 30 and a discharge port 31 for the fuel oil F are opened at the upstream portion 10a of the main valve Vm ₁ in the oil injection pipe 10. The intake port 30 and the exhaust port 31 communicate with the lower part of the sampling tank 33 via a single intake / exhaust pipe 32 ₁ and a sampling on-off valve Vf ₁ . As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of intake / exhaust pipes 32 ₁ and 32 ₂ are connected to the sampling tank 33 for each lubrication pipe 10, 10.

A negative pressure suction pipe 34 for sucking the vaporized fuel Fg in the sampling tank 33 by the negative pressure generated by the ejector E communicates with the upper portion of the sampling tank 33.
A first opening / closing valve Vg1 that controls the generation of negative pressure in the sampling tank 33 is inserted in the negative pressure suction pipe 34.
A sampling pipe 35 for introducing the vaporized fuel Fg into a gas sensor (oil type discriminating means) SG is provided in a branched manner between the first opening / closing valve Vg1 in the negative pressure suction pipe 34 and the sampling tank 33. A second opening / closing valve Vg2 is inserted in the sampling pipe 35, and the air A for dilution is supplied to the gas sensor SG via the sampling pipe 35.
A diluting pipe 36 to be introduced into is provided in a branched manner.
The sampling tank 33 is provided with a liquid level detector SL that detects whether or not the introduced fuel oil F has reached a certain liquid level.

The gas sensor SG discriminates the oil type of the sampled fuel oil F. For example, the concentration of the combustible gas in the measurement gas is detected, and if the concentration exceeds a set value, the oil is detected. Determine that the seed is gasoline, while
If it is within the set value, it is determined that the oil type is kerosene.

Next, the pneumatic system for sampling and cleaning the fuel oil F will be described. An air pressure source C on the upper right of the drawing introduces the compressed air A into the ejector E via the main conduit 40, the filter Fi, the first branch conduit 41, the third opening / closing valve Vg3, and the like. The above-mentioned dilution pipe 36 branches and communicates with the above-mentioned first branch pipeline 41, while the above-mentioned negative pressure suction pipe 3 is provided on the negative pressure generation side of the ejector E.
4 are in communication. The main conduit 40 communicates with the lower portion of the sampling tank 33 via the second branch conduit 42, the fourth opening / closing valve Vg4, and the like.

The main pipeline 40 is provided with a large number of control pipelines 43 shown by broken lines. By switching the ports to these control conduits 43 by electrical control, the valves Vg1, Vg2 in the explosion-proof area Ar on the right side of the drawing are controlled.
A plurality of control valves Vc for controlling opening and closing of Vf ₁ and Vm ₁ are inserted. The plurality of control valves Vc constitute an air pressure control unit 50 of the on-off valve control means 5 of FIG.
In FIG. 3, CK is a check valve and FC is a flow rate adjusting valve.

Next, the on-off valve control means 5 and the like shown in FIG. 2 will be described. The coupling 11 is provided with connection detecting means 60 for detecting that the hose 28 (FIG. 1) is connected. When the hose 28 is connected to the coupling 11, the connection detecting means 60 detects the main valve Vm ₁
The valve opening permission signal a1 that permits the valve opening is output to the electric control unit 51. On the other hand, in the electric control section 51,
The signal output means 51a is incorporated. The signal output means 51a outputs a residual fuel removal signal to the electric control section 51 by pressing the start button 61. The electric control unit 51 controls the valve opening permission signal a1.
And when the residual fuel removal signal is received, the main valve V
When m ₁ is closed, the main valve Vm ₁ is temporarily opened via the air pressure control unit 50 and then closed again.

The electric control section 51 is composed of a microcomputer or the like, and is provided with a memory 51b for storing a temporary valve opening time of the main valve Vm ₁ . The valve opening time stored in the memory 51b is changed by the setting device (valve opening time setting means) 62.

The electric control unit 51 temporarily opens and closes the main valve Vm ₁ and then opens the sampling opening / closing valve Vf ₁ to take the fuel oil F into the sampling tank 33, and at the same time, the liquid level detector. When receiving the fuel detection signal b from SL, the sampling on-off valve Vf ₁ is closed via the air pressure control unit 50. Further, the electric control unit 51 receives the oil type signal c from the gas sensor SG and determines whether the sampled oil type of the fuel oil F and the oil type of the underground tank 1 (FIG. 1) match, Based on this judgment result,
The main valve Vm ₁ is opened. Further, the electric control unit 51 activates the alarm device 63 when various abnormalities occur.

Next, the general operation of unloading will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S1, the tank truck 2 of FIG. 1 arrives at the gas station, and in step S2
When the hose 28 is connected to the coupling 11 in (FIG. 4), the valve opening permission signal a1 is output from the connection detecting means 60 in FIG. 2 and the process proceeds to step S3. In FIG. 1, the worker
Branch valve 2 corresponding to the storage tank 21 of the oil species to be unloaded
4 and the common valve 26 are opened. After that, when the operator presses the start button 61 in FIG. 2, a residual fuel removal signal is output and the process proceeds to step S4 in FIG. In step S4, the electric control unit 51 of FIG. 2 opens the main valve Vm ₁ for several seconds via the pneumatic control unit 50, and then closes the main valve Vm ₁ again. As a result, the communication pipe 25 of FIG.
Further, the fuel oil (residual fuel) F attached to the hose 28 and the like is poured into the underground tank 1 together with the fuel F to be injected this time. That is, the residual fuel is allowed to escape to the underground tank 1 by causing the portion of the fuel oil F to be poured from the storage tank 21 at the beginning of pouring to flow into the underground tank 1. After that, the process proceeds to step S5 in FIG. 4 and the sampling operation is performed. As described above, since the residual fuel is released to the underground tank 1 in step S4, the vaporization introduced into the gas sensor SG in FIG. 2 is performed. There is no possibility that the residual fuel F is mixed with the fuel Fg. Therefore, there is no possibility that an error will occur in the oil type discrimination performed in the next step S6 of FIG.

In step S6, the gas sensor S of FIG.
When G determines the oil type and outputs the oil type signal c to the electric control unit 51, the process proceeds to step S7 of FIG.
Determines whether the oil types match. As a result of this determination, if the oil types match, the process proceeds to step S8, and
The electric control unit 51 of the main valve Vm
Release ₁ . As a result, the fuel oil F in the storage tank 21 of FIG. 1 is continuously poured into the underground tank 1. Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S9, and it is determined whether or not the unloading is completed.

If the unloading is not completed in step S9 of FIG. 4, the process returns to step S5 again, and step S5
From step S9, the operation is repeated. In this case, since the main valve Vm ₁ is already open, step S
At 8, the main valve Vm ₁ is held open. When it is determined in step S9 that the unloading is completed, the process proceeds to step S10, the main valve Vm ₁ is closed, and step S11 is performed.
The unloading and lubrication work is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S7 that the oil types do not match, the process proceeds to step S20, in which the electric control unit 51 of FIG. 2 activates the alarm 63 to issue an alarm and the main valve Vm ₁ Or the main valve Vm ₁ is closed, the closed state is maintained. Therefore, it is possible to prevent mixed oil from occurring when unloading. After that, FIG.
The process proceeds to step S21 and the abnormal process is performed by the worker, and the process proceeds to step S9.

From one tank truck 2 in FIG. 1,
There is a case where the plurality of underground tanks 1 are simultaneously unloaded, and in the case of this simultaneous unloading, sampling is alternately performed from the two lubrication pipes 10, 10 and steps S5 to S9 in FIG.
The above operation is alternately performed for the two lubrication pipes 10, 10.
Further, the abnormality processing in step S21 has little relevance to the present invention, so a description thereof will be omitted.
No. -72499, column 6, line 23 to column 7, line 2.

Next, the operation of the sampling device will be described. First, in a state where the fuel F is not taken into the sampling tank 33, after the third opening / closing valve Vg3 of FIG. 3 is opened, the second opening / closing valve Vg2 and the fourth opening / closing valve Vg
4 is opened for several seconds, and the sampling tank 33 and the gas sensor SG are cleaned. Next, the main valve Vm
₁ opens for a few seconds and then closes, allowing residual fuel to escape to underground tank 1 (Figure 1), as described above. After this, the second on-off valve V
g2 and the fourth on-off valve Vg4 are closed, and the first on-off valve Vg
1 and the sampling on-off valve Vf ₁ are opened, and the sampling cycle is started. When the first opening / closing valve Vg1 is opened, the negative pressure of the ejector E acts in the sampling tank 33, and the negative pressure introduces the fuel oil F into the sampling tank 33 through the intake / exhaust pipe 32 _1. It When the oil level of the fuel oil F in the sampling tank 33 reaches a certain level, the liquid level detector SL detects this and the sampling on-off valve Vf ₁ is closed. On the other hand, the first on-off valve Vg
In No. 1, the valve is kept open for a predetermined time, and the pressure inside the sampling tank 33 is reduced to sufficiently vaporize the fuel oil F. After this pressure reduction, after closing the first on-off valve Vg1, the second on-off valve Vg1
g2, fourth on-off valve Vg4 and sampling on-off valve V
f ₁ opens. By opening the fourth on-off valve Vg4, the second
The compressed air A is blown into the fuel oil F in the sampling tank 33 from the branch pipe 42, and the vaporization of the fuel oil F is promoted. The vaporized vaporized fuel Fg becomes the measurement gas diluted with the air A through the sampling pipe 35 and becomes the gas sensor SG.
Will be introduced to. On the other hand, the sampling on-off valve Vf ₁
Is opened, the fuel oil F in the sampling tank 33 flows into the oil injection pipe 10 through the intake / exhaust pipe 32 ₁ , and the sampling cycle ends.

The gas sensor SG discriminates the type of oil based on the measurement gas, and outputs the discrimination result to the electric control section 51 shown in FIG. The electric control unit 51 determines whether or not the oil types match, and if they match, as described above, the main valve V
Open m ₁ . At the same time, the sampling tank 33 and the intake / exhaust pipe 32 ₁ are cleaned with the compressed air A pressure-fed from the second branch pipe line 42 in FIG.
The gas sensor SG is cleaned with the compressed air A from. After a certain period of time, the sampling on-off valve Vf ₁ is closed, and subsequently, the other valves Vg 1, except for the third on-off valve Vg 3,
Vg2 and Vg4 are closed to prepare for the next sampling operation.

By the way, the temporary valve opening time of the main valve Vm ₁ needs to be changed depending on the diameter and length of the oil supply pipe 10 and the hose 28 (FIG. 1). Here, in this embodiment,
Since the memory 51b of FIG. 2 for storing the valve opening time and the setting device 62 for changing the setting contents of the memory 51b are provided, it is possible to easily change the valve opening time. Can be easily dealt with.
Instead of the memory 51b and the setting device 62, the setting may be changed by a volume or the like.

Further, in the above embodiment, since the second branch pipe line 42 is made to communicate with the lower part of the sampling tank 33 of FIG. 3 and the compressed air A is sent from this second branch pipe line 42, the fuel in the sampling tank 33 is As the vaporization of oil F is promoted,
The fuel oil F in the sampling tank 33 can be quickly returned to the oil supply pipe 10. Therefore, the sampling cycle time can be shortened.

In the above embodiment, by depressing the start button 61 shown in FIG. 2, the main valve Vm is temporarily opened. However, as in the second embodiment shown below, the main valve Vm is opened.
The main valve Vm may be temporarily opened by detecting that the fuel oil F has accumulated in the upstream portion 10a upstream of m.

In FIG. 5, the upstream portion 10a of the lubrication pipe 10
In addition, the fuel oil F accumulated in the upstream portion 10a is introduced into the fuel intake tank 70 made of a glass tube, and the fuel oil F accumulated in the fuel intake tank 70 is returned to the upstream portion 10a.
1, 72 are in communication. The fuel intake tank 70 is provided with signal output means 7 composed of a fuel detector in close proximity to the fuel intake tank 70.
When it is accumulated, it is detected and the residual fuel removal signal a2 is output to the electric control unit 51.

As the signal output means 7, a detector as shown in FIG. 6 can be used. In FIG. 6A, the signal output means 7 is composed of a pair of a light projector 73, a light receiver 74 and a mirror 75. As shown in FIG. 6A, when the fuel intake tank 70 is not filled with the fuel oil F, the signal output means 7 does not return the light L emitted from the projector 73 to the light receiver 74, On the other hand, when the fuel intake tank 70 is filled with the fuel oil F, the light L emitted from the light projector 73 enters the light receiver 74 as shown in FIG. 6B. When the light receiver 74 receives the light L, the signal output means 7 outputs the residual fuel removal signal a2 to the electric control unit 51 of FIG.

If the signal output means 7 composed of a detector is provided as in the second embodiment, the main valve Vm ₁ is temporarily opened and closed after the fuel oil F is accumulated in the upstream portion 10a, so that it remains. Since the fuel F can be sampled after flowing into the underground tank 1, the reliability of oil type determination is improved.

As the signal output means 7, in addition to the reflection type photoelectric switch, the transmission type photoelectric switch shown in FIG. 7 may be used, and further, a proximity switch or the like may be used. Further, the signal output means 7 may be configured by providing a float switch 75 in the fuel intake tank 70A shown in FIG.

In the above embodiment, the gas sensor SG is used as the oil type discriminating means. However, the oil type discriminating means changes the sound velocity as the concentration of hydrocarbons changes, and the output changes. It is also possible to use an ultrasonic detector or the like.

Further, the unloading mixed oil preventing apparatus of the present application is shown in FIG.
Connected to the oil storage management meter that manages the inventory of the underground tank 1 of the above, and overflows the main valves Vm ₁ and Vm ₂ (excess injection)
It can also be shared with the prevention valve. Furthermore, by connecting this system to a POS terminal, it is possible to use the oil storage manager, the input device of the POS terminal, the display, etc. to issue an instruction to start mixed oil determination, display the determination result, and generate an alarm. is there.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Before sampling, the open / close valve of the lubrication pipe is temporarily opened / closed to allow the residual fuel remaining in the passage of the lubrication pipe from the tank tank to escape to the underground tank together with the fuel oil to be lubricated this time. Therefore, there is no possibility that the fuel oil sampled is mixed with the fuel oil remaining at the previous unloading. Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine the oil type.

Further, if the opening time of the on-off valve can be set and changed, even if the diameters and lengths of the hoses and the lubrication pipes are different, it is possible to easily deal with each filling station.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tank truck or the like showing an unloading method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an unloading oil mixing prevention device showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a pneumatic system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart showing an unloading method.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an unloading mixed oil prevention device showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of signal output means.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the signal output means.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing still another example of the signal output means.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Underground tank 10: Oiling pipe 10b: One end 22: Lowry tank 28: Hose 3: Sampling device 5: Open / close valve control means 51a: Signal output means 7: Signal output means 62: Valve opening time setting means F: Fuel oil SG : Oil type discrimination means Vm ₁ , Vm ₂ : Open / close valve (main valve)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An oiling pipe having one end communicating with an underground tank and the other end connected with a coupling for connecting a hose, an on-off valve for opening and closing a line of the oiling pipe, and one of fuel oil from the oiling pipe. It is a unloading oil mixture prevention device equipped with a sampling device for sampling parts and oil type discrimination means for discriminating the oil type of the sampled fuel oil, and for preventing the occurrence of oil mixture when unloading. And a signal output means for outputting a residual fuel removal signal, and an on-off valve control means for receiving the residual fuel removal signal and temporarily opening and then closing the on-off valve again. Prevention device. 2. The unloading oil mixture prevention device according to claim 1, further comprising valve opening time setting means for setting and changing a temporary valve opening time of the on-off valve. 3. When the fuel oil is unloaded from the tanker tank to the underground tank via the oiling pipe to which the hose is connected, the fuel oil is sampled from the oiling pipe to determine the type of oil, thereby preventing oil mixing. In the unloading mixed oil prevention method described above, after connecting the hose to the lubrication pipe, the part of the fuel oil that is lubricated from the lory tank is poured into the underground tank, so that A method for preventing unloading mixed oil, characterized in that the fuel remaining in the flow path up to the oiling pipe is released to an underground tank, and then the sampling is performed.