A New Service
Providing Internet Access
to
Automotive Fuel Dispensing Stations
for
Automatic Monitoring of All Fuel Dispensing Parameters
I. Introduction: The Problem
II. The Solution - StationWatch.com
III. The Service: Implementation
IV. The Provider: Synergetic Technologies, Inc.
I. Introduction: The Problem
In the Automotive Fueling Industry (AFI), there are many changes that have occurred in the last few years, driven either by the economy or by government regulatory agencies.
These changes include more customer friendly changes such as "paying at the pump", permitting the customer to purchase fuel at a service station without having to leave the immediate vicinity of the vehicle. Many variations of this service are available, including new systems that permit the vehicle to be fueled without the customer leaving the vehicle at all. Obviously all of these changes have been made since the emphasis has been on self-service, essentially eliminating the use of attendants who once took care of the fueling (as well as other services) for the customer.
As a result of the self-service direction for automotive fueling, as well as other concerns, government regulatory agencies (EPA, OSHA, Weights & Measures, Fire Marshals, etc.) have increasingly attempted to insure the safety and consumer rights of all automotive fueling customers as well as the surrounding population as well.
In order to assure the safety of the fueling customer, new techniques for recovering fuel vapors during vehicle refueling have been mandated by the Federal EPA and adopted by State EPAs as a result of the US Clean Air Acts. As a result, almost all municipal Gasoline Dispensing Facilities (GDFs), such as Service Stations, Convenience Stores, and Fleet Fueling Stations now have some form of vapor recovery implemented for vehicle refueling. In addition to this activity (referred to as "Phase II" vapor recovery), there is also the requirement for the fueling tank trucks to recover vapors from the fuel storage tanks whenever bulk deliveries of fuel are made to the GDFs (the "Phase I" vapor recovery). Phase I vapor recovery protects the environment around the GDF, while Phase II protects the customer while fueling the vehicle.
In addition, both Phase I and Phase II provide for protection of the atmosphere by reducing the amount of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that were, in the past, released into the atmosphere at almost all gasoline fueling stations.
Along with the vapor recovery activities, there are the other regulated or business-driven activities that are important to the safe and fair operation of a GDF. These include:
1) the dispensing of the proper amount of fuel by the dispensers,
2) the dispensing of the proper grade of fuel,
3) the proper fuel additives or components for seasonal requirements, and
4) other properties unique to particular fuel products that may be proprietary.
All of the functions mentioned above are currently implemented in most gasoline dispensing facilities in the US, but no reliable system exists for the assurance that all of these critical activities are being performed within acceptable limits of operation.
Although the regulatory agencies monitor the testing of new systems very carefully during the certification process involved in approving new systems for sale, no system is yet in place for assuring that these systems, in fact, continue to operate as designed over extended actual usage in GDFs. Because of budget and personnel constraints, actual field installation checks occur infrequently, if ever.
Recently, after receiving many complaints, one system was found to be failing in over 70% of the installations in California despite the fact that the system had been approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and had been installed according to the Executive Order approving the system.
If such failures can occur in California, which has the most strict enforcement procedures and the greatest ability to monitor fueling systems, there is no doubt that other states and municipalities are experiencing even greater failures of installed systems.
Another requirement that will become important within the next few years, especially in California and all other states that follow California’s lead, is the requirement for the new systems that CARB is specifying as "Enhanced Vapor Recovery" (EVR) systems.
EVR is being mandated by CARB because of many failures similar to that mentioned above, and will require much more sophistication in vapor recovery systems, including diagnostics and local error reporting. The present intent of EVR is to make VR systems capable of being monitored at the local site for automatic shut-down or corrective action by the station owner or operator. It is obvious that the Major Oils and equipment manufacturers (Saber, Wayne, Gilbarco, Tokheim, OPW, Husky, etc.) will also have a great interest in being able to take corrective actions before punitive actions by regulatory agencies could occur.
A nation-wide (possibly international) monitoring system that could detect and forward corrective action alerts to all concerned would be of great use and could save the industry and the regulatory agencies a great deal of time and personnel costs in assuring that all installed systems operate as intended. Regulatory agencies, in particular, would be able to monitor the activities in test sites during the period of time when systems are being evaluated for certification.
In order to address the problems addressed above, Synergetic Technologies, Inc. (STI) has developed a new, Internet-based system, designed to permit the monitoring of all (or any part) of these activities. The monitoring functions of the system can be made available to the regulatory agencies mandated to monitor the parameters involved, the local operator of the GDF, the equipment supplier(s) of the GDF, and to the Major Oil Companies (MOCs) that are concerned not only with safety issues in dispensing fuel, but also in assuring the quality of the product dispensed and the economic data involved in the GDF.
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II. The Solution - StationWatch.com
STI has developed a system available on a subscriber basis via the Internet to monitor the functions and activities detailed earlier. The service is available at the StationWatch.com website, and provides all monitoring functions for regulatory agencies as well as secure information for the major oil companies.
Currently there are many systems available for dial-up collection of data at remote monitoring sites, and many of these exist today in the AFI market. However, each of these systems is privately controlled and/or proprietary to the system operator or the owner of the site data. With StationWatch.com, it will be possible for these systems to directly interface via the Internet with the data that is required for regulatory conformation and safety monitoring without fear of proprietary information being available to others.
For more details on StationWatch.com, with hyper links to various functions and services, go to StationWatch.com CONCEPTS.
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Many of the systems and techniques required for data collection and reporting for StationWatch.com are available now, and many others (components of CFSS) will become available within the next few years.
At present, StationWatch.com can become operational with simple critical monitor boxes like those already in place for local or dedicated communications. Simple modifications to the datalogger software and storage requirements will easily interface these systems to the Internet, allowing secure data transmission in and out of the boxes. The ability to use the e-mail and ftp functions of the Internet will make caution notes and alarm messages easily available to all concerned parties.
Initially, the major concerns for Site monitoring will be such things as monitoring the Underground Storage Tank (UST) pressures for indications of improper venting into the atmosphere and/or excessive ingesting of air into the UST. Both of these situations indicate a failing of the Vapor Recovery (VR) systems at the site, especially if the conditions prevail. Additional sensors can be added to check for fuel leaks at the site before the leaks become dangerous or impact local water tables.
Inventory monitoring systems can also integrated into the system easily at this point, to monitor the status of fuel product in the USTs to insure that dispensing activities fall within broad Weights and Measures requirements. Most dispenser systems already are connected to kiosk controllers so that dispensed quantities can be checked against tank inventories. In some cases where VR systems use very powerful vacuum systems, it is possible that some fuel can be returned to the UST even after being metered at the dispenser. An excess amount of fuel in the UST in this case could indicate a failure of the VR equipment with respect to W&M..
After the initial monitoring systems are in place, the capability of providing full EVR monitoring can occur, with remote monitoring of many other test points at the site. In this manner StationWatch.com can alert the operator (or the regulatory agencies in test situations) of failures of individual VR components, nozzle drive-off & safe-break occurrences , and other system problems.
A next step in full implementation of StationWatch.com is to interface with the more complex sensors, analyzers, and transducers that are part of the future CFSS as defined by Saber Technologies. Total site monitoring would then be possible, including VR functions, fuel grade monitoring, fuel leak monitoring, safety monitoring, and even economic evaluations where desired.
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IV. Synergetic Technologies, Inc.
Synergetic Technologies, Inc. (STI) is a unique position to provide the services of StationWatch.com, as the principals of STI have been involved in developing and implementing many systems involving data collection, communication, and reporting.
Previous activities have involved developing very large networks using packet-switching network techniques before the Internet became universally available. Experience of the principals of STI include:
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