Cylinder storage cage monitoring system
AssigneePropane Hunter LLC
InventorWilliam Hunter Raley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for monitoring a supply of gas cylinders in a gas cylinder storage cage, such as identifying a number of full gas cylinders and a number of empty gas cylinders, and/or a total number of gas cylinders present in the gas cylinder storage cage, and displaying the determined numbers to a user. In one embodiment, a method includes: transmitting distance measurement data from a sensor within a gas cylinder storage cage to a control system of a cage monitoring system; determining, with the control system, whether a gas cylinder is present at a sensing location within the gas cylinder storage cage proximate the sensor; and when the control system determines that a gas cylinder is present at the sensing location, determining, with the control system, whether the gas cylinder is full or empty.
Claims20
A method of monitoring gas cylinder storage, the method comprising:
- transmitting distance measurement data from a sensor within a gas cylinder storage cage to a control system of a cage monitoring system;
- determining, with the control system, whether a gas cylinder is present at a sensing location within the gas cylinder storage cage proximate the sensor based on the distance measurement data, the control system determining that a gas cylinder is present at the sensing location within the gas cylinder storage cage when the sensor measures a distance between the sensor and the gas cylinder;
- and
- when the control system determines that a gas cylinder is present at the sensing location, determining, with the control system, whether the gas cylinder is full or empty based on the distance measurement data, the distance measurement data including a distance between the sensor and the gas cylinder.
A system, the system comprising:
- a gas cylinder storage cage;
- at least one sensing location within the gas cylinder storage cage;
- a sensor mounted within the gas cylinder storage cage at each of the at least one sensing location;
- and
- a control system in communication with each sensor, wherein each sensor is configured to measure a distance from a gas cylinder and the sensor when a gas cylinder is positioned within the gas cylinder storage cage at one of the at least one sensing location, each sensor being further configured to transmit the distance to the control system as distance data.
A gas cylinder cage monitoring system, the gas cylinder cage monitoring system comprising:
- a gas cylinder storage cage, the gas cylinder storage cage including:
- a frame;
- and
- a rack within the frame, the rack defining a plurality of sensing locations;
- a gas cylinder positioned at at least one of the plurality of sensing locations, the gas cylinder including a base end and a top end, the top end having a collar extending a distance away from the top end, the gas cylinder being positioned at the at least one of the plurality of sensing locations in either a first orientation or a second orientation;
- a plurality of sensors, one of the plurality of sensors being at each of the plurality of sensing locations, each of the plurality of sensors being mounted within the frame proximate a one of the plurality of sensing locations, each being configured to measure a first distance from the base end of the gas cylinder when the gas cylinder is in the first orientation and to measure a second distance from the top end of the gas cylinder when the gas cylinder is in the second orientation, the first distance being less than the second distance;
- and
- a control system in communication with each of the plurality of sensors, each of the plurality of sensors being configured to transmit at least one of the first distance and the second distance to the control system, the control system being programmable to determine the gas cylinder at each of the plurality of sensing locations is full when the sensor transmits the first distance and to determine the gas cylinder at each of the plurality of sensing locations is empty when the sensor transmits the second distance, the control system being further programmable to:
- calculate a first number of gas cylinders positioned at at least one of the plurality of sensing locations that are full;
- calculate a second number of gas cylinders positioned at at least one of the plurality of sensing locations that are empty;
- and
- display the calculated first and second numbers on a graphical user interface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.