Patent Application
20090040049
The present application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) and (b) to French Patent Application No. 0754838, filed May 3, 2007; , the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for at least one piece of data relating to a cylinder of fluid under pressure.
The present invention has a particularly advantageous application in the area of medical or industrial fluids packed in transportable cylinders under pressure.
2. Related Art
Today there are known systems to trace individually transportable cylinders of fluid under pressure in the course of their movements, together with the data associated with these cylinders throughout the lifetime of the cylinders: from filling through to delivery, passing through distribution, maintenance, examination, and even the movement of cylinders at the client site. It is thus possible to track batches, in particular with a view to recalling a batch if necessary.
These known systems are based principally on the use of barcodes, in their most simple version, and sometimes of RFID chips (Radio Frequency IDentification) in a more sophisticated version.
It should, however, be noted that if the aim is to trace the abovementioned different stages in the life of a cylinder, it is necessary to carry out a manual reading operation, for example by means of a barcode reader put on the cylinders. This operation must be repeated for each individual cylinder, which is particularly tedious in the case of large cylinder parks.
It can also be noticed that the information associated with cylinders is generally static data, essentially identification data, such as the batch number, the cylinder identifier, filling or examination date, the type of gas, etc. The concern is therefore not with dynamic information such as the measurement of pressure or temperature, for example.
Therefore, one aim of the present invention is to propose a method for processing at least one piece of data relating to a cylinder of fluid under pressure which acquires the data automatically, not manually as in the known systems, this acquisition being able to relate to any number of cylinders and not each cylinder individually.
This aim is attained, according to the invention, due to the fact that the said method of the present invention comprises stages consisting of:
In practical terms the method that is the object of the invention is implemented by means of a system for processing at least one piece of data relating to a cylinder of fluid under pressure, notable in that it comprises:
The invention also relates to an electronic module for processing at least one piece of data relating to a cylinder of fluid under pressure, notable in that it comprises at least:
Moreover, the invention can comprise the following features:
The following description, with regard to the appended figures, provided by way of non-limiting examples, will all it to be understood what the invention consists of and how it can be realized:
In this way it will be understood that the method and the system of the invention allow automatic reception by radio frequency, on a distant and possibly centralized platform, of data relating to a park of cylinders spread over an industrial site for example, with the possibility of individually locating the cylinders on the site and therefore of having a global geographical view of the state of the park of cylinders thus supervised.
Of course, the data transmitted by radio frequency to the receiving and processing platform can concern equally the static data identifying the cylinders and dynamic data.
In particular, the invention is very interesting when the said data relates to the quantity of fluid remaining in the cylinder. Indeed, this data is closely linked with the consumption and the autonomy of the cylinder, quantities of prime importance in managing a cylinder park and which offer multiple possible applications.
To this end, the invention foresees that, the said piece of data being the quantity of fluid remaining in the cylinder, the said means of determining the said piece of data comprise a sensor for the pressure and a sensor for the temperature of the fluid in the cylinder, and the said calculation unit is a unit that calculates the said remaining quantity from the pressure and the temperature provided by the said sensors.
A first application of the invention is concerned with determining the state of cylinder stocks, consisting in locating the cylinders by fluid type, cylinder type, type of application if necessary, and displaying the quantities of fluid remaining in each of the cylinders. Among other things, this makes it possible to inventorize fixed assets, tailor stocks from one workshop to another on an industrial site, and to anticipate the replacement of cylinders in one area of the site. This also makes it possible to verify quickly the match between the available volume and production needs, and also to allocate the cylinders, in particular financially, to user service. These applications correspond in particular to the problems posed by large sites which have to manage a high number of cylinders, in different areas or factories, with different cost centres.
A second application concerns the management of resupplying in cylinders. In this case the invention foresees that the quantity of fluid remaining in the cylinder is compared with at least one threshold. The user can thus automatically know the number of cylinders to be reordered as a function of his or her needs and of the cylinders that really remain. Also in this way he or she can maintain an equivalent stock while avoiding shifts. It is even possible to imagine automatic ordering being carried out on the basis of the data received. In order to make this system for managing resupply secure, the invention foresees that an alarm is generated if the quantity remaining in the cylinder is below the said threshold.
A third application concerns tracking the consumption of the fluid contained in the cylinders. Indeed, the access to the level remaining in cylinders allows the real consumption of fluid to be tracked, which makes it possible to calculate the cost of fluid for a given piece of manufacturing and, secondly, allows the productivity of operators to be checked and the adjustments pertaining to this manufacturing to be optimized.
A fourth application concerns the sending of relevant information to equipment that is linked with the cylinder. It is actually a matter of producing an “equipment-cylinder” pair. Indeed, in the course of its use and its refilling a cylinder is very often connected to a piece of equipment, a machine, etc. It is therefore advantageous to create a communicative link between the cylinder and this equipment. Numerous uses can be envisaged if the cylinder communicates its data (gas, pressure, temperature, autonomy, etc.) to the equipment to which it is connected and vice versa. Among these possible uses, the following can be cited:
A fifth application of the invention concerns invoicing for the consumption of the fluid contained in the cylinders. It is possible to imagine, for example, invoicing for hiring the cylinder by the hour with a chronometric counter integrated into the electronic module on the cylinder. This chronometer would be activated from the arrival of the cylinder with the client and would stop as soon as it comes back from there again. It is possible to imagine invoicing linked to the use of the gas by the client (invoicing per kWh for hydrogen for example, invoicing per hour of welding, etc.), in each case thanks to appropriate instrumentation on the cylinder.
According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the said electronic module is fitted to the cylinder. However, the invention also foresees that the electronic module is fitted to equipment intended to be connected to the cylinder. What makes this arrangement especially advantageous is the fact that it is not necessary in this case to equip all the cylinders with an electronic module; it suffices to do this only on fixed pieces of equipment such as valves etc.
In practice the on-board electronic module can be adapted equally well to cylinder regulators and to gas panels. Current re-supply and tracking systems of gas panels have a wire pressure sensor connected to a software application, making available the data necessary for re-supply. Equipping these panels with an electronic module conforming to the invention allows wire systems, which are costly and complicated to install, to be done away with.
The invention can comprise all or part of the following features:
The method can be applied:
The invention also relates to a system comprising:
For a further understanding of the nature and objects for the present invention, reference should be made to the detailed description, taken in conjunction withteh accompanying figures, in which like elements are given the same or analogous reference numbers and wherein:
This system is composed of two principal entities, namely an electronic module 10 able to measure physical quantities, record them, and transmit a radio frequency signal containing the said data, and a receiving and processing platform 2.
It will be noted that in
The electronic module 10 comprises means of determining the (piece of) data to be transmitted to the platform 2. These means may be sensors directly measuring the data, such as pressure or temperature sensors for example. But the piece of data may also be determined by calculation from the measured data, such as the quantity of fluid remaining in the cylinder, which can be deduced from measurements of pressure and temperature. In this latter case, the module 10 comprises a calculation unit, such as a microprocessor integrated in an electronic card 11, as indicated in
The electronic module 10 may automatically transmit the radio frequency signal regularly after a given period of time. This signal may also be transmitted as soon as an alarm is activated, when for example the quantity of fluid remaining in the cylinder 1 is below a given threshold. To this end, the module 10 comprises means of comparing the said piece of data to a threshold and the means of activating an alarm depending on the result of the said comparison. The alarm signal is sent to the platform 2 which, thus informed of the situation, can take all the necessary steps.
The electronic module 10 may integrate diverse other components, not shown:
The platform 2 also has means for measuring the strength of the radio frequency signal received, also called RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication), and this with the aim of obtaining information about the location of the cylinder and of enriching the processing of the (piece of) data extracted from the radio frequency signal by integrating this complementary information therewith.
This measurement allows it to be deduced in which area of coverage the cylinder is located. If the data of a cylinder are only received by a single receiving, it means that this cylinder is located in the area of the receiving, that is, within the perimeter of radio coverage of the receiving. Conversely, if the data of a cylinder are received by several receivings, the RSSI will be a great help, because it will allow the area in which the cylinder is really situated to be deduced, namely in the area of the receiving that receives the highest RSSI.
The platform 2 also comprises the usual means for receiving the radio frequency signal transmitted by the electronic module 10 and means of extracting the (piece of) data contained in this signal so as to process them in a manner conforming to the use intended to be made of them; in this respect, reference will be made to the numerous examples of application provided above.
In the variant of
It will be understood that many additional changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangement of parts, which have been herein described in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments in the examples given above.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0754838 | May 2007 | FR | national |
