Site fueling vapor recovery emission management system

Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Diverse fluid containing pressure filling systems involving... – Filling with exhausting the receiver

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C141S083000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06302165

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to vapor handling systems in a fueling environment, and more particularly, to a centralized vapor recovery site management controller configured to receive information from various devices in the fueling environment and make logical decisions based on the received information to maximize the vapor recovery efficiency of the site.
Distributed, assist vapor recovery systems, such as Gilbarco, Inc.'s Vapor Vac® system are used to recover hydrocarbon vapors that normally escape to the atmosphere from vehicle tanks during refueling and return these vapors to the underground storage tank. Most of these assist vapor recovery systems have a vapor recovery rate that is a function of the fuel delivery rate of the dispenser.
These vapor recovery systems are tested and certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and other regulatory agencies. This testing requires each system to be tested for vapor recovery efficiency during refueling popular make and model cars. For example, the current CARB test requires that each vapor recovery system be tested on 100 popular model cars. The amount of vapor recovered and vapor lost during the testing is used to determine efficiency.
Because of variations in vehicle fuel neck designs, the recovery efficiency of the fuel neck will vary considerably. The objective in obtaining CARB certification is to tune the assist systems recovery algorithm to achieve 95% efficiency when measured over the vehicles and the certification test. Another major variable that will have a dramatic effect on overall site efficiency is equipping vehicles with onboard vapor recovery systems (ORVR). ORVR equipment vehicles were introduced with the 1988 model year and will be phased into almost all vehicles over the next nine years. When fueling an ORVR equipped vehicle, most vapors will be retained in the vehicle, and the assist vapor recovery system, if unmodified, will pump air into the fuel storage tank. The net effect will be to increase storage tank pressure causing so-called “fugitive” emissions. A number of systems have been developed to deal with these emissions.
With the implementation of digital electronic control into vapor recovery system designs, it is possible to establish the best vapor recovery vapor/liquid (V/L) ratio or curve for each model vehicle tank and filler neck design, among other variables, and store them in memory in the vapor recovery system. It is also possible to add a smart card or transponder-type device to the vehicle to communicate with the dispenser and provide the dispenser with information necessary to select an appropriate vapor recovery algorithm for the vehicle. For further information regarding specific control of vapor recovery based on ORVR detection, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,275 the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Each of the systems described above operates independently of each other without accounting for its effect on the other. Up to this point no central control device has been provided to coordinate the separate efforts of these systems so as to monitor and/or maintain a particular site's V/L ratio. Additionally, there has been no effort to monitor and control the total vapor emissions level for a particular site. The present invention addresses these and also other problems that may not be specifically detailed herein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a service station vapor management system that advantageously manages vapor handling subsystems to achieve a particular performance characteristic for an entire site. The present invention coordinates the operation of these subsystems to control V/L ratio and hydrocarbon vapor emissions from a location perspective. Previous vapor recovery control systems have addressed the control of a particular item of equipment such as an individual dispenser.
The present invention provides these advantages by providing a service station vapor management system that includes a plurality of vapor handling subsystems and a controller in electronic communication with the vapor handling subsystems for monitoring subsystem operation, determining an overall service station V/L ratio and controlling subsystem operation to maintain the V/L ratio within predetermined limits. The system may also include at least one ambient temperature sensor or at least one atmospheric pressure sensor for providing ambient temperature or atmospheric pressure information to the controller. This control system is in electronic communication with the controller.
The invention also relates to a service station vapor management system including at least one fuel dispenser vapor recovery system for collecting vapor generated during a vehicle fueling operation and returning the vapor to an underground tank and a controller in electronic communication with the dispenser vapor recovery system for monitoring the operation of the system, and controlling the operation of the at least one vapor recovery system to prevent the discharge of more than predetermined amount of hydrocarbon vapors from the service station
In an alternative embodiment, the system may also relate to a service station vapor management system including a plurality of sensors for measuring service station vapor recovery subsystem operating parameters and generating signals indicative of the parameters and a controller for receiving the sensor signals, determining an overall service station V/L ratio and controlling the operation of vapor recovery subsystem components to maintain the service station V/L ration within acceptable limits. The sensors may measure parameters such as individual fuel dispenser V/L ratio, hydrocarbon content of vapor being returned to underground storage tanks by fuel dispenser vapor recovery systems, ORVR vehicle status of vehicles being fueled at a fuel dispenser, service station ambient temperature, and service station ambient atmospheric pressure. Additionally, the sensors may also measure underground tank ullage conditions.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after a reading of the following description of the preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the drawings. It should be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5507325 (1996-04-01), Finlayson
patent: 5605182 (1997-02-01), Oberrecht et al.

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