AUTOMATIC CALIBRATION OF CHEMICAL PRODUCT DISPENSE SYSTEMS

• US 20110082595A1
• Filed: 10/06/2009
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ecolab, Inc.
• Inventors: Sholes, Brian L., Mehus, Richard J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,051,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/283
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/02 for transferring liquids other than fuel or lubricants
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/085 Testing or calibrating apparatus therefore testing or calibrating apparatus for measuring volume flow in general G01F25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/145 by wireless communication means, e.g. RF, transponders or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/224 involving price indicators
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/303 involving digital counting

Abstract

Automatic calibration of dispense parameters of a product dispense system is accomplished via electronic communication of product information. A chemical product includes an electronically readable tag or label that stores and communicates chemical product data concerning the chemical product to a chemical product dispenser. The chemical product data may include, for example, the name of the chemical product, the type or class of the chemical product, manufacturing information regarding the chemical product (e.g., manufacturing date, location, serial number, lot number, etc.), concentration of active ingredient(s), weight, volume, viscosity, density, hardness, specific gravity, shape, color, and/or other data concerning the chemical product. A controller within the dispenser automatically calibrates the dispense parameters based on the chemical product data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, with a controller of a chemical product dispenser in which is loaded a chemical product to be dispensed, chemical product data from an electronically readable label associated with the chemical product, wherein the chemical product data includes a chemical product identifier and a current amount corresponding to amount of chemical product; and

automatically calibrating, with the controller, at least one dispensing parameter based on the chemical product data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical product data further includes a concentration of at least one active ingredient in the chemical product.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the current amount of chemical product comprises at least one of a volume of chemical product and a weight of chemical product.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical product data further comprises a chemical property of the chemical product.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the chemical property comprises at least one of a viscosity, a density, a hardness and a specific gravity of the chemical product.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein automatically calibrating the dispense parameters further comprises automatically calibrating the dispense parameters based on the chemical property.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically calibrating the dispense parameters comprises calculating an amount of chemical product to be dispensed based on the chemical product data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically calibrating the dispense parameters comprises calculating an amount of a diluent to be dispensed based on the chemical product data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically calibrating the dispense parameters comprises calculating an amount of time to spray a solid chemical product with a diluent based on the chemical product data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising dispensing chemical product during a dispensing cycle based on the automatically calibrated dispensing parameters.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising updating the chemical product data stored on the electronically readable label according to an amount of the chemical product dispensed during the dispensing cycle.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein dispensing chemical product comprises dispensing the chemical product to one of a bucket, pail, tank, wash environment, dishwasher, laundry machine, car wash environment, swimming pool, medical instrument sanitation apparatus, food processing equipment, beverage processing equipment, or manufacturing facility.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining an amount of the chemical product dispensed during the dispensing cycle; and

updating the chemical product data stored on the electronically readable label based on the amount of the chemical product dispensed.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining an amount of the chemical product dispensed during the dispensing cycle;

determining a current amount of chemical product remaining based on the amount of chemical product dispensed; and

comparing the current amount of chemical product remaining with at least one of a reorder-product threshold, a low-product threshold and an out-of-product threshold.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically ordering, with the controller, additional chemical product when the amount of chemical product remaining satisfies the reorder-product threshold.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically generating, with the controller, a low-product alert when the amount of chemical product remaining satisfies the low-product threshold.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically generating, with the controller, an out-of-product alert when the amount of chemical product remaining satisfies the out-of-product threshold.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a chemical product dispenser that dispenses a chemical product based on at least one dispense parameter;

a reader that receives chemical product data from an electronically readable label associated with the chemical product, the chemical product data including chemical product identifying information; and

a controller that automatically calibrates the at least one dispense parameter based on the chemical product data.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the chemical product data includes at least one of a name of the chemical product, a type of the chemical product, a class of the chemical product, a concentration of one or more active ingredients in the chemical product, a weight of the chemical product, a volume of the chemical product, a viscosity of the chemical product, a density of the chemical product, a hardness of the chemical product, a shape of the chemical product, a color of the chemical product, and a specific gravity of the chemical product.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the chemical product data includes manufacturing information regarding the chemical product.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the manufacturing information includes at least one of a manufacturing date, a location, a serial number, a lot number, and shift information.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one dispense parameter includes at least one of an amount of the chemical product to be dispensed and an amount of diluent to be dispensed.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the dispense parameter includes at least one of an amount of time to dispense the chemical product, an amount of time to dispense a diluent, a weight threshold, a volume threshold, a concentration threshold, and a pH threshold.