Refrigerant monitoring system and method

A system for monitoring the amount of refrigerant supplied from a refrigerant tank to a refrigerant system comprising:

• a housing including a door moveable between an open position and a closed position;
• a door sensor for determining whether the door is closed to generate a door closed signal;
• a tank valve for connecting a refrigerant tank to a refrigerant system at a selected location;
• a sensor for determining the amount of refrigerant supplied from said refrigerant tank to a selected refrigerant system and generating a signal as a function of the supplied amount of refrigerant;
• a system controller in communication with said sensor for receiving said signals from said sensor and said door sensor;
• and
• said controller controlling said tank valve to connect the refrigerant tank with a selected refrigerant system to prevent the flow of refrigerant to the refrigerant system if said controller has not received a door closed signal;
• whereby,
• the amount of refrigerant delivered to the refrigerant system is recorded accurately by said system controller.

A computerized method for monitoring the amount of refrigerant used by refrigerant systems having a rack of refrigerant lines connected to corresponding refrigerant systems desired to be charged with a refrigerant from a refrigerant tank wherein rack valves are disposed in the refrigerant rack lines comprising the steps of:

• electronically opening a selected rack valve corresponding to a rack refrigerant line connected to a refrigerant system to be supplied refrigerant from the refrigerant tank;
• sensing the weight of the refrigerant tank before opening the rack valve and storing that weight in a memory of the controller;
• stopping the supply of refrigerant from the refrigerant tank to the refrigerant system;
• recording the weight of the refrigerant tank;
• and,
• processing the initial and final weights to determine the amount of refrigerant supplied to the refrigerant system, and storing the refrigerant amount on a computer readable medium.