Patent Application
20160194195
The present disclosure relates to a tracking system for fuel dispensers.
The expression ‘tracking’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to but is not limited to monitoring one or more states or parameters such as delivery, price, quantum, purchase transactions, working hours of a dispensing system and such related processes/transactions/business needs associated with the same.
The expression ‘Power-Line Communication’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a method for communicating data over power lines. A typical power line communicator includes a master module and a slave module. The master module and the slave module communicate data between each other via a connected power line.
The expression ‘Dispenser slave module’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a slave module of a power line communicator attached to the electronics of a fuel dispenser. It senses and transmits data hereafter referred to as ‘dispenser data’.
The expression ‘Gauge’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a measuring device. In accordance to the present disclosure a gauge is used to measure the quantity of fuel in a fuel sump.
The expression ‘Gauge slave module’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a slave module of a power line communicator attached to the gauge. It senses and transmits data hereafter referred to as the ‘gauge data’.
The expression ‘Price system slave module’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a slave module of a power line communicator attached to the price display module. In accordance to the present disclosure it receives data hereafter referred to as the ‘price system data’.
The expression ‘current total’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a current total price of the fuel dispensed.
These definitions are in addition to those expressed in the art.
Automated dispensing systems for candy, soft drinks, fizzy drinks, soap, fuel and the like provide commodities at locations convenient to the consumers and to meet the demand for the commodity. For instance, the genesis of automation systems for fuel dispensing lies in the state of the current fuel scenario and its effect on world economy. One of the key functions of an automation system for a fuel station is to capture transaction information from fuel dispensers at the fuel forecourt. Retail automation systems are designed to capture, monitor and control fuel transactions at the forecourt. Automation systems are typically installed in sales buildings. Forecourt devices like dispensers, tank gauges, price lines and payment terminals are connected using special communication cables laid in underground conduits. Laying of underground conduits from dispensers is a time consuming and expensive affair especially in operating stations since dispensers are installed in the center of the forecourt. This may result in loss of sales until the underground work is completed or may hamper operations till full restoration. Due to this constraint, automating existing operational fuel stations without disturbing its operation is difficult, time consuming and an expensive affair.
Capturing sales and inventory information to carry out daily reconciliation of fuel or any such commodity being dispensed, is an urgent need faced by every retail station. Additionally, automation of functional dispensing stations in a cost effective, reliable, easy to implement means without the need for cumbersome civil procedures is the need of the hour.
Some of the objects of the present disclosure aimed to ameliorate one or more problems of the prior art or to at least provide a useful alternative are described herein below:
An object of the disclosure is to provide a cost effective dispenser tracking system.
Another object of the disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that can be interfaced with operating dispensing stations.
Yet another object of the disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that can be implemented without a need for major civil work.
Still another object of the disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that is easy to install and does not involve cumbersome time consuming installation procedures.
An additional object of the disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that can be easily implemented for enterprise level control.
Yet another object of the disclosure is to provide a reliable dispenser tracking system.
One more object of the disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that can improve sales without a need for additional overheads.
Still one more object of the disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that does not require on-site maintenance, diagnostics or component replacement.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that identifies irregularities and discrepancies at the fuel stations.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensing of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations that can be used for remote monitoring of the fuel stations.
A further object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations which reduces hardware requirements in comparison to conventional systems.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
In accordance to a present disclosure there is provided a system for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations, each fuel station having a cluster of fuel dispensers and each fuel dispenser being associated with a fuel sump, a metering device, a fuel dispensing nozzle, a price display module and at least one handheld device, wherein each handheld device is in wireless communication with the metering device of at least one dispenser, the system including a plurality of dispenser slave modules, each attached to one of the dispensers, a plurality of gauges each mounted in one of the fuel sumps, a plurality of gauge slave modules each attached to one of the gauges, a plurality of price display slave modules each attached to the price display module at each of the fuel stations, a plurality of access points each located in one of the fuel stations and in wireless communication with the handheld device, a plurality of controllers, wherein a controller is located in each of the fuel stations, each the controller including a first master module communicating via power lines the dispenser slave module, the gauge slave module and the price display slave module to receive dispenser nozzle data, dispenser meter data and gauge data from the dispenser slave module and gauge slave module and deliver pricing data to the dispenser meter slave module and the price display slave module and a second master module in data communication with the first master module and in cable communication with the access point at the fuel station to receive and send handheld device data via and to the access point and a server including a transceiver to receive from a plurality of the controllers the dispenser data, the gauge data and the handheld device data and deliver the pricing data to each of the controllers and an analytical engine to process the dispenser data, the gauge data and the handheld device data obtained from the transceiver, to track the dispensing of fuel at the fuel stations.
Typically, the system further includes a display device to display results of analysis performed at the analytical engine. Additionally, the wireless communication is using one of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Very-Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT). Also, the analyser further consists of checking means to check for disparity between the dispenser data, the gauge data and the handheld device data.
In accordance to a present disclosure there is provided a method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations, the method including the steps including transmitting data relating to pricing information from a server to a controller and from the controller to handheld devices, fuel dispenser meters and price display modules at each of the fuel stations, extracting data relating to volume of fuel stored in a fuel sump, dispensing fuel from fuel dispenser nozzles, metering data from metering devices linked with each fuel dispenser in each of the fuel stations, extracting data relating to volume of fuel dispensed by the fuel dispenser nozzles, extracting data signals from handheld devices linked with each of fuel dispensers, receiving the data obtained from the fuel sump, the metering devices and the fuel dispenser nozzles and the data signals at a controller associated with the fuel station, transmitting the data and the data signals to a server corresponding to each of the fuel stations and analysing data at the server.
Typically, the step of analysing data at the server further consists the step of checking the data and the data signals for disparity.
A system and method for tracking dispensation of fuel from a plurality of fuel stations in accordance with the present disclosure will now be described with the help of accompanying drawings, in which:
Conventional dispensing automation systems need independent serial communication cables to be laid from different peripheral devices/applications including dispensers, fuel sumps and price display modules to the automation system in the sales building. This needs a lot of civil work including digging of the dispenser forecourt to lay the conduits and cables securely, thus involving a lot of time, money and effort. The conventional systems are ineffective in controlling fraud and fail to identify discrepancies. They are also ineffectual for remote monitoring and analysis of periodic operations.
The method and apparatus of the present disclosure envisages a cost effective and reliable means to utilize already laid electric power cables for dispensers as means for data communication.
An exemplary embodiment of a fuel dispenser tracking system will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The illustrated embodiment does not limit the scope and ambit of the disclosure. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The price display module 14 dynamically displays pricing information including sales prices of the products dispensed by the dispensers 12. The forecourt devices 110 further include a sump 16 to store fuel. Each of the mentioned forecourt devices 110 has cable based communication channels with corresponding master devices in the IT room 120. The hand held terminals 10 are connected to an access point 18 which in turn is connected to its master device. The dispensers 12 are connected to their master devices. The sump 16 is connected to an Automatic Tank Gauge 22 henceforth referred to as a gauge 22 which is in turn connected to its master device. All the mentioned master devices are connected to a central storing unit 20 which is in cable communication with a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) 26. The central storing unit 20 is also further connected to computing device 24 located in the sales building. The VSAT 26 wirelessly transmits the stored data from the central storage unit 20 to a server 28. The server 28 performs the function of storing, processing and retransmitting the processed data back to the central storing unit 20 via the VSAT 26. The system 100 mentioned in the prior art carries the following disadvantages:
The devices in the IT room 120 and the sales building are replaced with a new automation component 120′ namely a Power Line Communication device 30 hereafter referred to as controller 30. The controller 30 is modular, compact and rugged. It reduces deployment cost by approximately 1/10th of that of the automation components 120 of the conventional fuel dispensing automation system 100 as seen in
Each of the dispensers 12 consists of two components including a nozzle and a metering device. Actuating the nozzle allows the flow of the fuel out of the dispenser 12. The metering device associated with the fuel dispenser 12 keeps track of the fuel being dispensed and at the same time displays the current total and the selling price of the fuel. The current total and the running sum of the quantity of fuel dispensed are maintained by a totalizer installed in each fuel dispenser 12. The slave module attached to the metering device is referred to as the dispenser slave module. The dispenser slave module tracks and extracts the fuel dispensing data referred to as the dispenser meter data. The dispenser slave module also feeds the fuel dispensers 12 with the pricing data. The pricing data is the selling price of the fuel.
Each of the dispensers 12 is associated with at least one fuel sump 16. Each of the fuel sumps 16 is fitted with a gauge 22 to measure the quantity of fuel stored in the sump. Each such gauge 22 is connected with a slave module referred to as a gauge slave module. The gauge slave module tracks and extracts the data of the fuel quantity stored in the sump. Price display modules 14 are located in each of the fuel stations. Each of such price display modules 14 is attached with a slave module referred to as a price display slave module. The function of the price display slave module is to input data referred to as the pricing data into the price display module 14.
The forecourt devices 110 also include at least one handheld device 10 which communicates with at least one fuel dispenser 12 as well as with the controller 30. The handheld devices 10 offer the functionality of allowing the users to remotely control the parameters of the fuel dispensers 12. One such parameter includes pre-setting the amount of fuel to be dispensed. The handheld devices 10 also receive data about the amount of fuel dispensed by the fuel dispenser 12. The data associated with the handheld devices 10 is henceforth also referred to as data signals. The handheld devices 10 are adapted to wirelessly communicate with the fuel dispensers 12. They also wirelessly transmit data to an access point 18 which in turn communicates the data via a cabling communication means to the controller 30. The handheld devices 10 directly communicate data with the second master module. The slave modules which include the dispenser slave modules, gauge module and the pricing display slave module communicate data with the first master module.
The first master module transfers this gathered data to the second master module. The second master module in turn transmits the dispenser data, gauge data and the handheld device data to a server 28 within an enterprise level 130. The server 28 is typically located external to any fuel station. It communicates with a plurality of controllers each located in a different fuel station. The server 28 comprises of two components namely a transceiver and an analytical engine. The transceiver is a networking device to wirelessly communicate with the second master module of the controller. It receives the dispenser data, gauge data and the handheld device data from the second master module and transmits the pricing data to the second master module.
The dispenser data, gauge data and the handheld device data are extracted and processed by the analytical engine. The step of processing includes applying different checks to the collected data. Post processing, the analytical engine generates reports, identifies and flags discrepancies. In accordance to one embodiment, the system also has a provision of a display unit to graphically display the processed results. The wireless communication between the controller 30 and the server 28 takes place using one of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Very-Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT). The analyzer further includes checking means to check between dispenser data, gauge data and handheld device data to identify and flag discrepancies.
The system of data transmitted/received includes:
A comparative study of technical data associated with conventional systems 120 with reference to
The system and method described herein above with reference to fuel dispensing systems may be applied to dispensing systems for any commodity.
The technical advancements offered by the present disclosure include the realization of:
Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
The use of the expression “at least” or “at least one” suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
Wherever a range of values is specified, a value up to 10% below and above the lowest and highest numerical value respectively, of the specified range, is included in the scope of the disclosure.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2897/MUM/2013 | Sep 2013 | IN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IN2014/000586 | 9/8/2014 | WO | 00 |
