Patent Application
20140000188
The present invention relates to facilities for providing services and fuels for vehicles. Specifically, a facility is described enables a customer to purchase both consumer products and services and fuel from a single facility.
In previous patents to the named inventor, a drive-in, single stop, non-automated shopping facility capable of vending numerous retail products, services and fuel to a customer while the customer remained at a fixed purchase station, e.g., sitting within a parked automobile. This drive-in facility permitted, during the fueling of an automobile, the vending and/or purchase of an assortment of various goods and services, such as groceries, beverages, bank service, bill paying, laundry/dry cleaning, fast food, as well as other commodities and services. These patents are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,111,282; 4,189,031; and 4,169,521; the contents of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
In another set of patents to the named inventor, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,805,738; 5,016,736; and 5,113,974, a single stop shopping facility that has a plurality of customer stations, each including a vehicle parking space, which are arranged around the exterior of a circular building containing goods for sale, is described. The customer stations and building rotate relative to one another. The building includes a loading station for delivering selected goods ordered at the customer stations. Fuel dispensing stations located around the exterior of the building permit a customer, located in a vehicle parking space, to receive a selected quantity of fuel as the relative rotation proceeds. The walls of the building support merchandise display sections which are viewable by persons located at the customer stations, the displays being cyclically exposed to the parked vehicles as a result of the relative rotation, permitting the selection and payment for merchandise as the relative rotation continues. After elapse of a predetermined time interval, the relative rotation positions the loading station adjacent to the vehicle from which merchandise was ordered, for delivery of the merchandise to that vehicle. These contents of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The shopping facilities described in these earlier patents suffered from various drawbacks, such as only being able to dispense gasoline of various grades to the vehicles.
Vehicles can use different types of alternative fuels, such as electricity, hydrogen, bioalcohol, biogas, biodiesel, biomass, and natural gas, such as compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas. Various natural gas and hydrogen handling and dispensing systems are known. Examples of compressed natural gas systems can be found in the following patents, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,527,600; 5,207,530; 5,238,030, 5,259,424; 5,454,408; 5,538,051; 5,597,020; 5,653,269; 5,676,180; 5,694,985; 5,694,985; 5,613,532; 5,628,349; 5,771,948; 5,810,058; 5,884,675; 6,439,278; and 6,708,573. Examples of liquefied natural gas systems and systems that can handle both compressed and liquefied natural gas can be found in the following patents, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,315,831; 5,370,159; 5,441,234; 5,505,232; 5,887,567; 6,474,101; 6,899,146; 7,069,730; 7,222,647; and 7,284,575. Other examples of gas fueling systems can be found in the following patents, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety: 5,385,176; 5,566,172; 5,820,102; 5,884,488; 6,619,336; 6,460,721; and 7,168,464. Examples of an electrical systems for supplying power to an electric vehicle can be found in the following patents, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,225,776; and 6,557,476.
The problem with current designs for delivery and dispensing of alternative fuels is that they are not commercially viable for widespread usage since these designs require a significant footprint and are expensive. Further, most cannot accommodate the dispensing of fuel to multiple vehicles or multiple types of fuel to multiple vehicles. It would be advantageous to have a single facility capable of dispensing a variety of alternative fuels with a small footprint to multiple vehicles simultaneously. Further, it would be advantageous to have this single facility also provide other goods and services to customers to provide single stop shopping for the customer.
An exemplary embodiment includes a facility for vending vehicle fuel. The facility includes a building for providing consumer services comprising at least fuel for passenger vehicles, the building having an arcuate outer wall have at least a substantial portion which is at a constant radial distance from a central vertical axis; a concentric ring surrounding the building, the concentric ring configured to rotate about the building with respect to the central vertical axis of the building; a plurality of customer stations located on the concentric ring, the plurality of customer stations each comprising a customer interface terminal and a vehicle parking space that is configured and dimensioned to accommodate a vehicle; an access ramp providing vehicular access to the concentric ring; an exit ramp providing vehicular egress from the circular ring that is spaced apart from the access ramp; and a plurality of fueling stations, each of the plurality of fueling stations located at each of the plurality of customer stations.
Another exemplary embodiment includes a facility for vending vehicle fuel. The facility includes a building for providing consumer services comprising at least fuel for passenger vehicles, the building having an arcuate outer wall have at least a substantial portion which is at a constant radial distance from a central vertical axis; a concentric ring surrounding the building, the concentric ring configured to rotate about the building with respect to the central vertical axis of the building; a plurality of customer stations located on the concentric ring, the plurality of customer stations each comprising a customer interface terminal and a vehicle parking space that is configured and dimensioned to accommodate a vehicle; an access ramp providing vehicular access to the concentric ring; an exit ramp providing vehicular egress from the circular ring that is spaced apart from the access ramp; and a plurality of fueling stations, each of the plurality of fueling stations located at each of the plurality of customer stations and each being capable of delivering liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas.
These and other embodiments and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, illustrating by way of example the principles of the various exemplary embodiments.
Modern vehicles may require various different alternative fuel types. Alternative fuel types may refer to fuels other than gasoline and diesel. For example, modern vehicles may use liquefied natural gas (“LNG”), compressed natural gas (“CNG”), hydrogen, electricity, fuel cells, bioalcohol fuels including ethanol, methanol, and butonal, biogas, biodiesel, or biomass fuels. It should be appreciated that other types of alternative fuels may exist and these examples are exemplary only. Some vehicles may use more than one fuel type. For example, a vehicle may use both electricity and gasoline or natural gas. It should be appreciated that the use of the term vehicle is meant to be non-limiting. The term vehicle may encompass cars, trucks, buses, vans, tractor trailers, motorcycles, mopeds, and the like. Vehicles may include both privately owned vehicles and commercial vehicles.
The single stop shopping facility described in previous patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,738, includes fueling capability for vehicles. However, the fueling capability is limited to gasoline, which at the time was the only fuel used for vehicles.
Exemplary embodiments include a single stop shopping facility that is capable of providing not only various goods and services to a consumer, but also dispensing various types of fuel to meet the needs of different types of vehicles.
The shopping facility may be circular in structure with one or more concentric rings surrounding it. The concentric rings may provide one or more customer stations or vehicle parking places.
These customer stations may be marked or delimitated such that the customer can clearly identify them and position their vehicle accordingly. For example, the ring may have lines marked on its surface to indicate where the customer should position their vehicle. Various markings may be provided on the ring's surface to guide the customer and provide safety markings for the customer's awareness. The concentric rings may rotate around the circular structure. For example, a circular structure may be provided with a single concentric ring surrounding it that provides customer stations for vehicles such as cars and trucks. A customer may pull their vehicle onto the ring through an access ramp. The vehicle may be parked in a designated space. At this designated space, a customer interface terminal may be provided. The consumer interface terminal may provide the customer with a way to make purchases and otherwise interact with the shopping facility. The customer interface terminal may be a computer driven display. The interface terminal may have a color display and may integrate various input methods. For example, a keypad, an alphanumeric keyboard, a QWERTY keyboard, a mouse, a pointer, and/or a touch screen may be used for inputs. The customer interface terminal may be an liquid crystal display, a cathode ray tube, or a plasma display. The customer interface terminal may have a different sections on it. The customer interface terminal may have audio and video capability. The customer interface terminal may be connected to a computer based network such as a local area network or the internet. Connection to and combination of various networks may be possible. The customer interface terminal may have one or more computer processors and associated memory contained therein which may be operated by appropriate software. In other embodiments, the customer interface terminal may be a remote display for a computer server located in another location. For example, the customer interface terminal(s) may be controlled by and administered from a server that has one or more computer processors located in the center structure.
The customer interface device may accommodate electronic communication with portable electronic devices. Portable electronic devices may include cell phones, smart phones, portable digital assistants (PDA's), laptops, and netbooks. Electronic communication may be supported through wireless communication protocols such as Bluetooth or wireless networking. According to some embodiments, the customer may use a portable electronic device to conduct the transactions. The portable electronic device may be communicatively coupled to the facility's system through a computer network, such as the Internet, or a wireless network. The customer may then interface with the system to select items for purchase without using the customer interface device.
The concentric ring may rotate about the structure at a predetermined speed, such as a revolution every 5 minutes. It should be appreciated that the rate of rotation may be faster or slower. The rate of rotation may depend upon a number of variables such as size of the structure, number of goods and services offered, and number of vehicles on the concentric ring.
Other embodiments may include more concentric rings. For example, the shopping facility may have two rings. The inner ring may be for smaller vehicles such as passenger cars and trucks and the outer ring may accommodate larger vehicles such as commercial trucks and vans. A non-rotating ring may be located between the rotating rings to provide space and a non-rotating surface.
As the ring rotates, the customer may view various goods and services located within or on the circular structure. The customer may use the customer interface terminal to make selections for purchase. Once the customer has completed a rotation, the customer may finalize their purchases and pick-up the goods at a location provided near the exit from the facility. The customer may then drive their vehicle off of the ring using an exit ramp. In some embodiments, the customer may remain with their vehicle on the ring to proceed around again to make additional purchases.
To finalize their purchases, the customer interface device may provide for various payment mechanisms, including, but not limited to, cash, credit, debit, stored value, gift card, and charge card. The customer interface device may provide for the customer to swipe, flash, blink, or otherwise use a financial transaction card to complete their purchase transaction. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and/or Near Field Communications (NFC) may be supported. Biometrics may be supported. A portable electronic device, as described above, may be used to finalize and pay for the transaction.
In some embodiments, the customer interface device may serve as or incorporate Automated Teller Machine (ATM) functions. For example, the customer may be able to conduct ATM transactions such as deposits and withdrawals. The ATM may be associated with one or more financial institutions or ATM networks. The customer may be able to use split tender to conduct the transaction. A receipt may be provided to the customer. The receipt may be printed or it may be delivered electronically to the customer such as through e-mail, text, SMS, or through a website.
As part of the shopping facility, fuel of various types may be provided. The fueling stations may be located such that they rotate with the concentric ring so that the fueling connection remains aligned with the vehicle during the rotation of the ring. The customer interface terminal may provide the customer with options to select the type of fuel they require. Based upon this selection, a fueling connection or device may be provided to the customer to connect to their vehicle to commence the fueling process. The fueling connection may be a hose or cable. The fueling connection may be located in the ceiling or roof area of the facility. Alternatively, the fueling connection may be located in the floor area of the ring. A combination of both locations may be used. For example, upon making a fuel selection, a hose may descend from the roof for the customer to connect to their vehicle. Likewise, upon making a fuel selection, an access area in the floor may open and access to a hose may be provided. In some embodiments, the fueling connection may arise from an access area in the floor to rise to the customer's level. In this manner, different fuel types may be provided simultaneously to multiple vehicles.
In order to provide a variety of fuel types as discussed above, certain infrastructure is required. The various types of fuels require different storage and handling requirements. For example, gasoline may be stored in various tanks located coincident with or in the facility. The tanks may be located underground and the fuel may be delivered through various piping and manifolds to the customer. Various pumps may be used to move the gasoline through the system. A set of risers may be located in the center of the structure allowing the fuel to be provided from the storage areas to the customer. The center of the facility may be rotate. One embodiment may include a set of three different risers for each grade of gasoline, such as, regular, mid-grade, and premium. The risers may be a set of three concentric pipes to provide a flow path. Diesel fuel may be provided in a similar manner and coincidentally with the gasoline. Other liquid fuels, such as bioalcohol, biogas, and biodiesel may be supplied in a similar manner.
Natural gas fuels may require different handling than gasoline or diesel fuel or other alternative fuels. One embodiment may include the facility being provided with a natural gas line as an input source. This natural gas may then be processed, as known to one of ordinary skill in the art, into LNG and/or CNG for provision to the customer. This processed gas may be stored in appropriate storage devices, such as tanks, for later use. Similar to the gasoline delivery methods described above, the natural gas may be delivered in a similar manner using a combination of piping and manifolds with appropriate pumps, valves, and other required machinery, such as compressors, heat exchangers, and vaporizers, in the system. Another embodiment may use LNG and convert the LNG to CNG as required for delivery. This may be known as a LCNG system and may be capable of delivering and dispensing both LNG and CNG. A third embodiment may receive LNG and natural gas for conversion to CNG for delivery. A fourth embodiment may receive both LNG and CNG and delivery both without any conversion done on site of the facility. This embodiment may have two separate storage and dispensing systems. As appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses, may use LNG and passenger vehicles, such as cars, may use CNG. However, there are exceptions to these profiles.
Natural gas may be delivered to the facility by pipeline or other delivery methods, such as transport vehicles. LNG may be delivered to the facility by transport vehicles, such as, for example, tanker trucks, or other methods. The LNG may then be stored in one or more storage vessels or tanks, from which it is dispensed as required. Alternatively, LNG may be formed from natural gas delivered to the facility and then stored. LNG is formed from cooling natural gas sufficiently to condense the gas into liquid form.
CNG may be formed from either natural gas or from LNG. After forming the CNG, the CNG may be stored in appropriate storage vessels or tanks. When formed from natural gas, purification equipment may be required to purify the natural gas prior to compression.
Hydrogen requires yet another delivery system. This system may be appropriately configured to deliver hydrogen to the customer's vehicle. Hydrogen may be created at the facility or it may be delivered to the facility and stored in appropriate vessels.
Delivery of electricity to customer's vehicles would also require an appropriate infrastructure, including cables, wires, and connectors, as well as electrical components needed to deliver an appropriate voltage, amperage, and wattage to customers. Unlike the other fuels described above, electricity is not in a liquid or gaseous form, but is delivered via a cable or wire through a plug type connection. Electric vehicles store electrical energy in one or more batteries.
Refueling a vehicle, regardless of the fuel type, may require a certain time interval, with some fuels requiring longer to deliver from the source to the vehicle storage. The rotational cycle of the ring may be timed based on the slowest or longest fuel delivery time that is in use by a customer. For example, if three customers were on the ring and one has selected a fuel type requiring a typical or average longer delivery time than the other two, the ring rotational rate may be slowed to accommodate that customer's fuel delivery to ensure that the customer has sufficient time to fully refuel their vehicle at the facility.
As described above, the fuel may be delivered from an underground location, preferably below the circular building and the rings, however it should be appreciated that other locations may be used, including above ground locations and on the roof of the facility. The fuel initial location or source may be a set of storage tanks or vessels. From these tanks, the fuel may travel to an intermediate location for distribution. The intermediate location may be a manifold or piping structure that the fuel may travel through to reach its destination. The manifold may be series of individual or concentric pipes located within or on a center column or pedestal of the building. The building may be a stationary structure; that is, the building may not rotate. The concentric ring(s) may rotate around the building as described. The building may have a center column to provide a location for the fuel delivery piping to run through. This piping or manifold may have a number of branches from it that run through a roof or ceiling portion of the building. These branches may terminate in fuel delivery connections for the vehicles which may descend or otherwise protrude through the ceiling of the building. The ceiling of the building may rotate in synchronization with the rings. This may ensure that the fuel connections stay in a fixed location over the customer's vehicle located on the ring. In order to allow for this rotation the center column and/or manifold may be designed to accommodate this rotation, such as by using one or more slip rings or other bearings.
If the fuel delivery system is located upon the roof of the building, structure for rotational coupling may not be required since the roof may rotate with the rings. To accommodate such roof structure there may be couplings or locations for delivery of the fuel to the system.
The facility 100 may have a roof structure 102 which may provide cover and protection from the elements to the facility 100. Under the roof structure 102 may be a circular structure 104 which forms the hub of the facility 100. The circular structure 104 may house and contain the retail and services provided by the facility 100. The circular structure 104 may be multi-level in structure and may be stationary; that is, the circular structure 104 may not rotate. The circular structure 104 may have two levels as shown. The circular structure 104 may have additional levels. A top level 106 may be used for storage, offices, administration, machinery, or other functions and a bottom level 108 may serve as the focal point for provision of goods and services to the customers. The bottom level 108 may house displays of merchandise for customer review. Customer service representatives may staff the bottom level 108. The top level 106 and the bottom level 108 may be connected to allow transit of goods and personnel between the levels. For example, stairs or elevators may be used to connect the levels.
Surrounding the circular structure 104 may be a rotating ring 110. The rotating ring 110 may surround the circumference of the circular structure. The rotating ring 110 may rotate around the circular structure 104 such that an object upon the rotating ring 110 travels in a circular path around the circular structure 104. It should be appreciated that the circular structure 104 may be other shapes. A circular structure is referred to only as an exemplary embodiment. The rotating ring 110 may be configured to accept one or more vehicles 112 upon its top surface as depicted. The vehicles 112 are depicted in one possible orientation upon the rotating ring 110. Other orientations are possible. For example, the vehicles 112 may be located with a rear portion towards the circular structure 104. The vehicles 112 may be located at an angle to the circular structure 104. The vehicles 112 may be located a predetermined locations upon the rotating ring 110. These predetermined locations may be marked or otherwise delimitated upon the rotating ring 110. An ingress and egress point may be configured on the rotating ring 110 to allow the vehicles 112 to enter and exit the rotating ring 110 to use the facility 100. Upon the rotating ring 110, may be one or more fuel dispensers 114. The fuel dispensers may be located on an inner portion of the rotating ring 110.
The fuel dispenser 114 may have a dispensing device 116 which allows for dispensing of fuel from the fuel dispenser 114 to the vehicle 112. The dispensing device 116 may be a hose with a nozzle configured to mate with a reciprocal connection on the vehicle 112. The dispensing device may be configured to dispense a particular type of fuel. The fuel dispenser 114 may be coupled to multiple fuel systems and may be capable of dispensing multiple types of fuel, as described above. Accordingly, the fuel dispenser 114 may have multiple dispensing devices 116 located thereon to allow the customer to select an appropriate fuel type for their vehicle and dispense it. The fuel dispenser 114 may have a customer interface device, as described above, integrated therein or thereupon to allow the customer to make selections of desired actions, such as, for example, buying fuel and/or purchasing goods and/or services.
The rotating ring 110 may rest upon one or more bearings or rollers 118. The bearings 118 may provide support for the rotating ring 110 and allow it to smoothly to efficiently rotate around the circular structure 104. For example, rolling contact bearings such as ball bearings or roller bearings may be used. To allow rotation of the rotating ring, a drive system 120 may be used. Multiple drive systems 120 may be used to drive the rotating ring 110. The drive system 120 may have a motor coupled to a gear unit that may be coupled to a shaft or axle connected to the rotating ring 110. A roller system may be used to drive the rotating ring by using high friction rubber or synthetic rollers coupled to a driven axle in the drive system 120. The drive system 120 may be electrically driven or driven by a combustion engine. An appropriate motor type may be used. Each of the drive systems 120 may be synchronized or commonly controlled to provide for efficient control of the rotation of the rotating ring 110. The rotating ring 110 may be driven at a predetermined speed and/or may be capable of rotating at variable speeds as described above.
As shown in
The machinery level may have a LNG supply 122 penetrating it. The LNG supply 122 may be from an external source. The LNG supply 122 may connect to a riser located external to the facility 122 which may allow LNG to be pumped into the machinery level 121 from an LNG source. The LNG supply 122 may connect to a manifold or coupling 124. The manifold 124 may allow LNG to enter a storage vessel.
A rotating platform 126 may be driven by one or more drive units 128. The drive units 128 may have a motor, gearing, and appropriate coupling to driving the rotating platform 126. The rotating platform 126 may by synchronized to rotate at the same rate as the rotating ring 110. The drive units 128 may be similar in configuration to the drive units 120. A roller system may be used to drive the rotating platform 126. Accordingly, the drive units 128 may be synchronized or commonly controlled with the drive units 120. The rotating platform 126 may rest upon one or more bearings or rollers 130. The bearings 130 may be similar in structure and function to the bearings 118 described above.
Located centrally on the rotating platform 126 may be a storage vessel 132 resting upon a support structure 134. The storage vessel 132 may be a tank configured to stored LNG. As shown, the manifold 124 for the LNG supply 122 may couple to the storage vessel 132 through the support structure 134. This coupling may be designed to account for the rotation of the rotating platform 126. In some embodiments, the rotating platform 126 may be stopped to allow for supply of LNG to the storage vessel 132. At the top portion of the storage vessel 132 there may be an upper support structure 150 mounted to the roof 102. A series of bearings or rollers 152 may allow for the rotation of the storage vessel 132 while the roof 102 remains stationary.
Located upon the rotating platform 126, surrounding the storage vessel 132 may be one or more LCNG units 136. The LCNG unit 136 may be a series of equipment to convert LNG to CNG for supply to the fuel dispenser 114. The LCNG unit 136 may supply LNG also to the fuel dispenser 114. The LCNG unit may have equipment as known to one of ordinary skill in the art for performing such supply. The equipment depicted in
The LCNG unit 136 may have a pump 138, a vaporizer 140, an odorizer 142, a storage/cascade unit 144, and piping/riser 146. The pump 138 may draw LNG from the storage vessel 132. As shown, the piping/riser 146 may travel upward through the center of the circular structure 104 in an annular space surrounding the storage vessel 132. The piping/riser 146 may travel radially outward over the top of the upper level 106 and then downward external to the circular structure 104, terminating at the fuel dispenser 114. A series of bearings 148 may provide rolling support for the piping/riser 146 on the top of the upper level 106 to allow the piping/riser 146 to travel as the rotating platform 126 rotates and the circular structure 104 remains stationary.
It should be appreciated that while an LCNG unit 136 is depicted in the machinery level 121, other units may be located thereon for handling different fuels. For example, the machinery level 121 may have one LCNG unit 136 and, in place of the second LCNG unit depicted, a gasoline/diesel/liquid fuel dispensing system may be installed. Appropriate storage may be provided for the required liquid fuels. One or more tanks may be located external to the facility 100 and coupled to the dispensing system be piping and risers with appropriate pumps to move the fuel. The gasoline/diesel/liquid fuel dispensing system may be coupled to a riser to allow the fuel to travel to the dispensing unit 114 for distribution to vehicles 112. The riser may travel in a coincident path with the piping/riser 146. Likewise, an hydrogen dispensing system may be installed. Finally, an electrical distribution system may be installed to allow provision of electricity to the vehicles 112 for charging of electric vehicle batteries.
While the embodiments have been particularly shown and described within the framework of single stop shopping facility capable of dispensing various fuels, it will be appreciated that variations and modifications may be effected by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that such processes and systems do not need to be restricted to the specific embodiments described herein. Other embodiments, combinations of the present embodiments, and uses and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. The specification and examples should be considered exemplary.
This application is the U.S. National Stage filing of International Application No. PCT/US2012/020224, filed Jan. 4, 2012, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/429,984, filed Jan. 5, 2011. The contents of these priority applications are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US12/20224 | 1/4/2012 | WO | 00 | 9/23/2013 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61429984 | Jan 2011 | US |
