Fuel dispenser electronics design

A fuel dispenser for installation in a service station equipped with a dispenser control console comprising

• a housing having two sides,
• a pump to pump fuel through fuel lines for either of said two sides through said housing,
• a fuel flow meter for each fuel line in said housing,
• a switch associated with each fuel line actuable to indicate fuel is to be pumped through its associated fuel line,
• a display on each side of said housing to display the amount of fuel pumped through the line associated with that side of the housing, and
• a plurality of microcontroller nodes for dispenser control and a communications bus each said microcontroller node connected to said communications bus and including a controller to control a dispenser function, said microcontroller nodes including a switch node associated with the switch, pump and fuel flow meter for each side, a display node associated with each of said displays, and a data link node associated with a data link to said dispenser control console,
• said microcontroller nodes communicating with others of said microcontroller nodes through said communications bus,
• whereby a user may indicate fuel is to be pumped by actuating one of said switches and thereby generating a signal to said switch node, with said switch node activating said pump and communicating fuel amount data and switch node identification data onto said communications bus, said display node for the side actuated responding to fuel amount data on said bus to display the amount of fuel pumped on the display for the side actuated, and said third node generating a signal to communicate the fuel amount data to the dispenser control console.

A fuel dispenser comprising

• a housing,
• a pump to pump fuel through said housing,
• a fuel flow meter in said housing,
• a switch actuable to indicate fuel is to be pumped through said housing,
• a display on said housing to display the amount of fuel pumped through said housing, and
• a plurality of microcontroller nodes for dispenser control and a communications bus each said microcontroller node connected to said communications bus and including a controller to control a dispenser function, a first node associated with said switch, pump and fuel flow meter, a second node associated with said display, and a third node associated with program control node,
• said microcontroller nodes communicating with others of said microcontroller nodes through said communications bus,
• whereby a user may indicate fuel is to be pumped by actuating said switch and generating a signal to said first node, with said first node activating said pump and communicating fuel amount data onto said communications bus, said second node responding to fuel amount data on said bus to display the amount of fuel pumped, and said third node providing data traffic management and diagnostic functions.

A fuel dispenser comprising

• a housing,
• a pump to pump fuel through said housing,
• a fuel flow meter in said housing,
• a switch actuable to indicate fuel is to be pumped through said housing,
• a display on said housing to display the amount of fuel pumped through said housing, and
• a plurality of microcontroller nodes for dispenser control and a communications bus each said microcontroller node connected to said communications bus of including a controller to control a dispenser function, ones of said nodes being associated with said switch, pump, fuel flow meter, display, and a control node associated with data traffic management and diagnostic functions,
• said microcontroller nodes communicating with others of said microcontroller nodes through said communications bus,
• whereby a user may indicate fuel is to be pumped by actuating said switch, thereby generating a signal to one of said nodes and communicating data onto said communications bus, resulting in the display of the amount of fuel pumped, with said control node providing data traffic management and diagnostic functions for the other nodes and communications bus.

A fuel dispenser comprising

• a housing having a plurality of fuel dispensing components therein,
• a plurality of microcontroller nodes for dispenser control and a communications bus each said microcontroller node connected to said communications bus and including a controller to control a dispenser function, each of said nodes associated with one of said fuel dispensing components,
• said microcontroller nodes communicating with others of said microcontroller nodes through said communications bus,
• whereby a user may dispense fuel by an act which generates a signal from a node which passes communications to other nodes over said communications bus.

A method of controlling fuel dispenser that has a housing, a pump to pump fuel through the housing, a fuel flow meter in the housing, a switch actuable to indicate fuel is to be pumped through the housing, a display on the housing to display the amount of fuel pumped through the housing, and a a plurality of microcontroller nodes for dispenser control and a communications bus, each microcontroller node connected to the communications bus and including a controller to control a dispenser function, ones of the nodes being associated with the switch, pump, fuel flow meter, display, and a control node associated with data traffic management and diagnostic functions, the microcontroller nodes communicating with other of the said microcontroller nodes through the communications bus, comprising

• generating a signal through one of the nodes onto the bus upon actuation of the switch,
• pumping fuel with the pump,
• communicating fuel flow data through one of the nodes onto the communications bus,
• reading data from the bus with a node to generate a display of the amount of fuel pumped,
• and providing data traffic management and diagnostic functions for the other nodes and communications bus with the control node.

A method of controlling a fuel dispenser that has a housing, a pump to pump fuel through the housing, a fuel flow meter in the housing, a switch actuable to indicate fuel is to be pumped through the housing, a display on the housing to display the amount of fuel pumped through the housing, and a at least two microcontroller nodes for dispenser control and a communications bus each microcontroller node connected to the communications bus and including a controller to control a dispenser function, ones of the nodes being associated with one of the switch, pump, fuel flow meter, display, the microcontroller nodes communicating with other of the said microcontroller nodes through the communications bus comprising

• signaling a first network variable through one of the nodes onto the bus upon actuation of the switch and storing the first network variable on another node,
• pumping fuel with the pump,
• communicating a second network variable pertaining to fuel flow from one of the nodes onto the communications bus and storing the second network variables on another node, and
• using the second network variable to generate a display of the amount of fuel pumped.