Automated system for control and diagnostics for dispensing systems

A dispensing system including a local area network comprising:

• a foam dispensing monitoring apparatus which dispenses a polyurethane foam formed as the reaction product from the mixing together of a plurality of streams of reactive foam components comprising:
• a power supply;
• a processor;
• a memory operatively coupled to the processor;
• motor control circuitry operatively coupled to the processor;
• at least two supply sources of reactive foam components;
• a dispensing unit for dispensing the polyurethane foam, the dispensing unit having a plurality of inputs for receiving respective supply streams of the plurality of reactive foam components, the dispensing unit further including a trigger that is selectively actuable by a user to dispense a preselected amount of the reactive foam components mixed together to form the polyurethane foam;
• a plurality of foam component supply pumps for delivering the plurality of reactive foam component supply streams from the supply sources to said dispensing unit;
• a pair of supply hoses interconnecting outputs of the plurality of pumps to the plurality of inputs of the dispensing unit;
• a datastore for storing at least one of system parameters, shot data, and node location data;
• at least one sensor operatively coupled to the processor for gathering the shot data and transmitting the shot data to the processor;
• a first clock operatively coupled to the trigger for recording a time and date of the dispensing;
• a second clock operatively coupled to the trigger for recording a duration of the at least one shot;
• and
• a user interface for receiving from the processor and displaying data generated by at least one of the first clock, the second clock, and the at least one sensor comprising:
• a visual display;
• and
• a user-interactive data entry device;
• and
• a gateway apparatus comprising:
• a first data communication link operatively coupling the gateway apparatus to the foam dispensing monitoring apparatus;
• and
• a second data communication link for operatively coupling the gateway apparatus to a master controller apparatus.

A dispensing system including a wide area network comprising:

• at least one foam dispensing monitoring apparatus which dispenses a polyurethane foam formed as the reaction product from the mixing together of a plurality of streams of reactive foam components comprising:
• a power supply;
• a processor;
• a memory operatively coupled to the processor;
• motor control circuitry operatively coupled to the processor;
• at least two supply sources of reactive foam components;
• a dispensing unit for dispensing the polyurethane foam, the dispensing unit having a plurality of inputs for receiving respective supply streams of the plurality of reactive foam components, the dispensing unit further including a trigger that is selectively actuable by a user to dispense a preselected amount of the reactive foam components mixed together to form the polyurethane foam;
• a plurality of foam component supply pumps for delivering the plurality of reactive foam component supply streams from the supply sources to said dispensing unit;
• a pair of supply hoses interconnecting outputs of the plurality of pumps to the plurality of inputs of the dispensing unit;
• a datastore for storing at least one of system parameters, shot data, and node location data;
• at least one sensor operatively coupled to the processor for gathering the shot data and transmitting the shot data to the processor;
• a first clock operatively coupled to the trigger for recording a time and date of the dispensing;
• a second clock operatively coupled to the trigger for recording a duration of the at least one shot;
• and
• a user interface for receiving from the processor and displaying data generated by at least one of the first clock, the second clock, and the at least one sensor comprising:
• a visual display;
• and
• a user-interactive data entry device;
• a master controller apparatus comprising:
• a master processor;
• a master memory operatively coupled to the master processor;
• and
• a master datastore for storing and identifying locations of nodes on the wide area network;
• and
• the at least one gateway apparatus comprising:
• a first data communication link operatively coupling the at least one gateway apparatus to the at least one foam dispensing monitoring apparatus;
• and
• a second data communication link operatively coupling the at least one gateway apparatus to the master controller apparatus.

A dispensing system including a wide area network comprising:

• a foam dispensing monitoring apparatus which dispenses a polyurethane foam formed as the reaction product from the mixing together of a plurality of streams of reactive foam components comprising:
• a power supply;
• a processor;
• a memory operatively coupled to the processor;
• motor control circuitry operatively coupled to the processor;
• at least two supply sources of reactive foam components;
• a dispensing unit for dispensing the polyurethane foam, the dispensing unit having a plurality of inputs for receiving respective supply streams of the plurality of reactive foam components, the dispensing unit further including a trigger that is selectively actuable by a user to dispense a preselected amount of the reactive foam components mixed together to form the polyurethane foam;
• a plurality of foam component supply pumps for delivering the plurality of reactive foam component supply streams from the supply sources to said dispensing unit;
• a pair of supply hoses interconnecting outputs of the plurality of pumps to the plurality of inputs of the dispensing unit;
• a datastore for storing at least one of system parameters, shot data, and node location data;
• at least one sensor operatively coupled to the processor for gathering the shot data and transmitting the shot data to the processor;
• a first clock operatively coupled to the trigger for recording a time and date of the dispensing;
• a second clock operatively coupled to the trigger for recording a duration of the at least one shot;
• and
• a user interface for receiving from the processor and displaying data generated by at least one of the first clock, the second clock, and the at least one sensor comprising:
• a visual display;
• and
• a user-interactive data entry device;
• a master controller apparatus comprising:
• a processor;
• a memory operatively coupled to the processor;
• and
• a datastore for storing and identifying locations of nodes on the wide area network;
• a gateway apparatus comprising:
• a first data communication link operatively coupling the gateway apparatus to the foam dispensing monitoring apparatus;
• and
• a second data communication link operatively coupling the gateway apparatus to the master controller apparatus;
• an interface apparatus operatively coupled to the foam dispensing monitoring apparatus and operatively coupled to interfaced external equipment,
• wherein the interface apparatus facilitates bi-directional communication between the foam dispensing monitoring apparatus and the interfaced external equipment;
• a data collection apparatus operatively coupled to the foam dispensing monitoring apparatus and operatively coupled to data collection external equipment,
• wherein the data collection apparatus facilitates unidirectional communication between the foam dispensing monitoring apparatus and the data collection external equipment;
• a remote communication apparatus operatively coupled to the master controller apparatus for facilitating communication to a remote gateway apparatus;
• and
• a personal computer operatively coupled to the master controller apparatus and operatively coupled to computer-driven external equipment.

A method of monitoring the communications between a foam dispensing monitoring apparatus and a dispensing unit for dispensing the polyurethane foam comprising the steps of:

• communicating data among a plurality of nodes,
• wherein the plurality of nodes includes at least the foam dispensing location and the material supply source, and
• wherein the data includes shot data and network mapping data;
• storing the data in a local datastore to create archived data;
• storing the data in a remote datastore to create stored data;
• using the stored data to detect presence and proper operation of the plurality of nodes;
• calculating, from the stored data, available amounts of foam components;
• and
• calculating, from inventory data stored in an inventory datastore, inventory amounts of foam components in an inventory storage.