Electronic tank level monitoring device
First Claim
1. An electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus for a storage tank having a substantially vertical fill pipe comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer for converting a transmit electrical impulse into ultrasonic sound and for converting ultrasonic sound into a corresponding receive electrical impulse;
a fill pipe head device having a set of concentric circular ridges with said ultrasonic transducer mounted in the center thereof for positioning said ultrasonic transducer at a fixed position relative to the fill pipe of the storage tank, said set of concentric circular ridges enabling accommodation of a plurality of differing fill pipe diameters;
a control device pivotally coupled to said fill pipe head device and electrically connected to said ultrasonic transducer fortransmitting a transmit electrical impulse to said ultrasonic transducer,receiving a receive electrical impulse from said transducer indicating the receipt of ultrasonic sound by said transducer,measuring the length of time from the transmitting of said transmit electrical impulse to the receiving of said receive electrical impulse, andgenerating a distance signal indicating the distance from said ultrasonic transducer to a liquid level based upon said measured length of time.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is an electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus for a in-ground storage tank. An ultrasonic transducer is disposed in a fill pipe head device which enables proper placement of the ultrasonic transducer in a fixed position relative to the fill pipe of the storage tank and provides a combination for a plurality of different fill pipe diameters. An electronic control measures the length of time from the transmission of the ultrasonic pulse to the receipt of the return echo and then calculates the distance from the ultrasonic transducer to the level of the liquid in the tank. The distance can permit automatic calculation of the amounts of liquid in the tank, using tank parameters stored in a memory as corrected for the speed of sound at the particular temperature measured via a temperature sensor. The apparatus preferably also calculates a volume variance. In this embodiment a communications device such as a modem can be employed for transmission of the tank data from the monitoring apparatus to an external device.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus for a storage tank having a substantially vertical fill pipe comprising:
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an ultrasonic transducer for converting a transmit electrical impulse into ultrasonic sound and for converting ultrasonic sound into a corresponding receive electrical impulse; a fill pipe head device having a set of concentric circular ridges with said ultrasonic transducer mounted in the center thereof for positioning said ultrasonic transducer at a fixed position relative to the fill pipe of the storage tank, said set of concentric circular ridges enabling accommodation of a plurality of differing fill pipe diameters; a control device pivotally coupled to said fill pipe head device and electrically connected to said ultrasonic transducer for transmitting a transmit electrical impulse to said ultrasonic transducer, receiving a receive electrical impulse from said transducer indicating the receipt of ultrasonic sound by said transducer, measuring the length of time from the transmitting of said transmit electrical impulse to the receiving of said receive electrical impulse, and generating a distance signal indicating the distance from said ultrasonic transducer to a liquid level based upon said measured length of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus for a plurality of storage tanks, each storage tank having a substantially vertical fill pipe, said electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus comprising:
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an ultrasonic transducer for converting a transmit electrical impulse into ultrasonic sound and for converting ultrasonic sound into a corresponding receive electric impulse; a fill pipe head device having said ultrasonic transducer monitor therein for locating said ultrasonic transducer at a fixed position relative to the fill pipe of any one of said plurality of storage tanks; a tank parameter memory means for storing therein a plurality of tank parameters for each storage tank of said plurality of storage tanks, said plurality of tank parameters including for each storage tank at least one tank dimension of the overall depth of the storage tank from the top of the fill pipe to the bottom of the storage tank; a control means connected to said ultrasonic transducer and said tank parameter memory means, for transmitting a transmit electrical impulse to said ultrasonic transducer, receiving a receive electrical impulse from said ultrasonic transducer indicating the receipt of ultrasonic sound by said transducer, measuring the length of time from the transmitting of said transmit electrical impulse to the receiving of said receive electrical impulse, and calculating a liquid depth signal indicating the liquid depth within the selected storage tank by recalling from said tank parameter memory means said overall depth of said selected storage tank and subtracting from said recalled overall depth a distance based upon said measured length of time; and a hand portable housing having said ultrasonic transducer, said fill pipe head device, said tank parameter memory means and said control means disposed therein, said hand portable housing permitting said electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus to be hand carried to the fill pipe of said selected storage tank. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus for a plurality of storage tanks, each storage tank having a substantially vertical fill pipe, said electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus comprising:
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an ultrasonic transducer for converting a transmit electrical impulse into ultrasonic sound and for converting ultrasonic sound into a corresponding receive electrical impulse; a fill pipe head device having said ultrasonic transducer mounted therein for locating said ultrasonic transducer at a fixed position relative to the fill pipe of a selected one of said plurality of storage tanks; a tank parameter memory means for storing therein a plurality of tank parameters for each storage tank of said plurality of storage tanks, said plurality of tank parameters including for each storage tank at least the tank diameters of the overall depth of the storage tank from the top of the fill pipe to the bottom of the storage tank; a tank data memory means having at least one memory location corresponding to each of said plurality of storage tanks for storing data therein; a manually actuable keyboard device for receiving operator inputs indicating a particular one of said plurality of storage tanks and operator inputs corresponding to tank dimensions; a display device for generating an operator perceivable visual display of user prompts; a communication device for transmitting data to an external device; a microprocessor control device connected to said ultrasonic transducer, said tank parameter memory means, said tank data memory means, said keyboard device, said display device and said communications device for control of liquid level monitoring; and a control program memory means connected to said microprocessor control device having a control program stored therein for causing said microprocessor control device to initialize said tank parameter memory means for a selected storage tank by causing said display device to generate a user prompt requesting selection of one of said plurality of storage tanks, receiving from said keyboard device operator inputs selecting a particular one of said plurality of storage tanks, causing said display device to generate a user prompt requesting a particular tank dimensions including the tank dimension data in said overall depth, and receiving from said keyboard device operator inputs specifying said corresponding tank dimensions, and storing tank dimension data in said tank parameter memory means corresponding to said specified tank dimensions, determine the liquid depth of a selected storage tank by causing said display device to generate a user prompt requesting selection of one of said plurality of storage tanks, receiving from said keyboard device operator inputs selecting a particular one of said plurality of storage tanks, causing said display device to generate a user prompt requesting placement of said fill pipe head in the fill pipe of said selected storage tank, receiving from said keyboard device an operator input indicating placement of said fill pipe head in the fill pipe of said selected storage tank, transmitting a transmit electrical impulse to said ultrasonic transducer, receiving a receive electrical impulse from said ultrasonic transducer indicating the receipt of ultrasonic sound by said transducer, measuring the length of time from the transmitting of said transmit electricl impulse to the receiving of said receive electrical impulse, calculating said liquid depth by recalling from said tank parameter memory means said overall depth of said selected storage tank and subtracting from said recalled overall depth a distance based upon said measured length of time, and storing said computed liquid depth in said tank data memory means in a memory location corresponded to said selected storage tank, communicate to an external device via said communications device data recalled from said tank data memory means corresponding to each storage tank having initialized tank parameters; and a hand portable housing having said ultrasonic transducer, said tank parameter memory means, said tank data memory means, said keyboard device, said display device, said communicating device, said microprocessor control device and said control memory means disposed therein, said hand portable housing permitting said electronic liquid level monitoring apparatus to be hand carried to the fill pipe of said selected storage tank. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification