Liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system, method and apparatus

Abstract

The application discloses a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system, method and device. The system comprises an environment monitor, a controller and a tank container control valve. The environment monitor is used to identify a characteristic signal that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, and the target environment is an environment with a natural gas safety risk. The controller is used to respond to the characteristic signal and issue a first exhaust instruction to the tank container control valve. The tank container control valve is used to execute the first exhaust instruction to complete the discharge of gasified natural gas in the tank container before the liquefied natural gas tank container enters the target environment. The technical scheme provided by the application can avoid the safety hazard caused by discharging natural gas in the target environment and improve transportation safety.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the field of liquefied gas tank safety management technology, and in particular relates to a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system, method and device. Background Technology

[0002] Tank container transport is currently the mainstream method for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG). During LNG tank container transport, the gas inside the container is passively released when the set pressure is reached. However, if the gas release environment is not appropriate, there may be safety hazards. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The embodiments of this application provide a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system, method, and apparatus, which can at least to some extent improve the safety of gas emissions from liquefied natural gas tank containers, thereby improving transportation safety.

[0004] Other features and advantages of this application will become apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part from practice of this application.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the embodiments of this application, a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system is provided, including an environmental monitor, a controller, and a tank container control valve;

[0006] The environmental monitor is used to identify characteristic signals that the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, which is an environment with natural gas safety risks.

[0007] The controller is used to respond to the characteristic signal and issue a first venting command to the tank control valve;

[0008] The tank control valve is used to execute the first venting command to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank before the liquefied natural gas tank enters the target environment.

[0009] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, when identifying characteristic signals indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, the environmental monitor is used to:

[0010] Identify the number of available satellites and signal strength in the environment where the liquefied natural gas tank container is located;

[0011] If the number of available satellites is less than a first quantity threshold and the signal strength is less than a first strength threshold, then the characteristic signal that the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter the target environment is identified.

[0012] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the environmental monitor is further used for:

[0013] If the number of available satellites is less than a second quantity threshold and the signal strength is less than a second strength threshold, the frequency of sending environmental monitoring information to the controller is increased. The environmental monitoring information is information about the environment in which the liquefied natural gas tank is located. The second quantity threshold is greater than the first quantity threshold, and the second strength threshold is greater than the first strength threshold.

[0014] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the controller is further configured to:

[0015] Obtain the internal pressure of the liquefied natural gas tank container;

[0016] If the difference between the pressure inside the tank and the pressure threshold is less than the difference threshold, a first venting command is issued to the tank control valve.

[0017] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the controller is further configured to:

[0018] The system uploads the internal pressure and location information of the liquefied natural gas tank container to the server, so that the server can determine whether to issue a second venting command based on the internal pressure and location information. The server stores a transportation route map of the liquefied natural gas tank container, and the transportation route map marks suitable venting locations for discharging the gasified natural gas. The second venting command is used to instruct the discharging of gasified natural gas at the venting location.

[0019] Receive the second venting command, and issue the first venting command to the tank control valve according to the second venting command.

[0020] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the liquefied natural gas tank container is provided with a gas vent, the gas vent is provided with a blower, and the controller is further used for:

[0021] A start command is sent to the blower so that the blower, once started, disperses the gasified natural gas discharged from the gas vent.

[0022] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, a solar power source is also included, which is connected to the controller, the tank control valve, and the blower respectively.

[0023] According to a second aspect of the embodiments of this application, a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control method is provided, executed in a controller, the method comprising:

[0024] In response to a characteristic signal sent by an environmental monitor indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, the target environment being an environment with natural gas safety risks;

[0025] A first venting command is sent to the tank container control valve to cause the tank container control valve to execute the first venting command in order to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank container before the liquefied natural gas tank container enters the target environment.

[0026] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the method further includes:

[0027] The system uploads the internal pressure and location information of the liquefied natural gas tank container to the server, so that the server can determine whether to issue a second venting command based on the internal pressure and location information. The server stores a transportation route map of the liquefied natural gas tank container, and the transportation route map marks suitable venting locations for discharging the gasified natural gas. The second venting command is used to instruct the discharging of gasified natural gas at the venting location.

[0028] Receive the second venting command, and issue the first venting command to the tank control valve according to the second venting command.

[0029] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of this application, a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control device is provided, which is executed by a controller, the device comprising:

[0030] A response unit is used to respond to a characteristic signal sent by an environmental monitor indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, wherein the target environment is an environment with natural gas safety risks.

[0031] The sending unit is used to send a first venting command to the tank control valve so that the tank control valve executes the first venting command to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank before the liquefied natural gas tank enters the target environment.

[0032] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of this application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the computer-readable storage medium storing at least one computer program instruction, the at least one computer program instruction being loaded and executed by a processor to perform the operation as described in any of the methods of the second aspect.

[0033] According to a fifth aspect of the present application, an electronic device is provided, including one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein at least one piece of program code is stored in the one or more memories, the at least one piece of program code being loaded and executed by the one or more processors to perform the operations performed as described in any of the methods of the second aspect.

[0034] The one or more technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention achieve at least the following technical effects or advantages:

[0035] This application uses an environmental monitor to identify characteristic signals that a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank container is about to enter a target environment, which is an environment with natural gas safety risks. The controller opens the tank container's control valve to complete the discharge of the LNG from the tank container before it enters the target environment, thus avoiding the release of natural gas into the target environment and preventing safety hazards, thereby improving transportation safety.

[0036] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and do not limit this application. Attached Figure Description

[0037] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with this application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of this application. It is obvious that the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this application, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without any inventive effort. In the drawings:

[0038] Figure 1 A structural diagram of the liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system according to an embodiment of this application is shown;

[0039] Figure 2 A flowchart of a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control method according to an embodiment of this application is shown;

[0040] Figure 3 A structural diagram of a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control device according to an embodiment of this application is shown;

[0041] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of a computer system suitable for implementing the electronic device of the present application is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0042] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0043] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Numerous specific details are provided in the following description to give a thorough understanding of embodiments of this application. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technical solutions of this application can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, apparatuses, steps, etc., can be employed. In other instances, well-known methods, apparatuses, implementations, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of this application.

[0044] The block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are merely functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically independent entities. That is, these functional entities can be implemented in software, in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different network and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0045] The flowcharts shown in the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative and do not necessarily include all content and operations / steps, nor do they necessarily have to be performed in the described order. For example, some operations / steps can be broken down, while others can be combined or partially combined; therefore, the actual execution order may change depending on the specific circumstances.

[0046] It should also be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such uses of these terms can be interchanged where appropriate so that the embodiments of this application described herein can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described.

[0047] Traditional LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) transportation methods include LNG carriers on water or LNG tank trucks on land, which falls under bulk transport in the logistics field. With technological advancements, LNG tank container transport has emerged, which falls under packaged transport in the logistics field. With the rapid growth in demand for LNG, LNG tank container transport has become the mainstream mode of LNG transportation. LNG tank containers refer to containers used for transporting LNG by rail, road, waterway, and multimodal transport.

[0048] Compared with traditional LNG carriers on water or LNG tank trucks on land, LNG tank containers have several advantages: First, they offer high storage flexibility, suitable for both water and land transport, enabling multimodal transport to reach end users directly, and also serving as temporary storage facilities; second, they have a wide coverage area, without sea transport restrictions, reaching remote areas not covered by pipelines; and third, they have high utilization efficiency, with the increasing utilization rate of natural gas and the development of manufacturing technology, LNG tank containers are gradually being applied and developed in the field of LNG transportation and storage.

[0049] Currently, during LNG tank container transportation, the liquefied natural gas inside is transported at low temperatures. During transport, it may absorb ambient heat and vaporize. When the vaporized natural gas reaches the set pressure of the tank container's safety valve, the valve is forced open by the pressure to passively release gas. However, during LNG tank container transportation, it inevitably passes through some relatively confined spaces, such as tunnels and bridges. Releasing vaporized natural gas in these environments could cause the natural gas concentration to reach the explosive limit, leading to a safety accident. Therefore, relying solely on passive venting for LNG tank containers may pose safety hazards. Furthermore, current LNG tank container loading and unloading processes all use manual shut-off valves, making remote and automatic control of tank container gas emissions impossible. Manual venting during transportation is extremely inconvenient.

[0050] Based on the above, this application provides a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system. This control system can avoid safety hazards caused by the discharge of natural gas into the target environment and improve transportation safety. The control system will be described in detail below.

[0051] See Figure 1 The diagram shows the structure of a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system according to an embodiment of this application.

[0052] like Figure 1 As shown, according to a first aspect of the embodiments of this application, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank container transportation control system is provided, including an environmental monitor, a controller, and a tank container control valve; the environmental monitor is used to identify characteristic signals that the LNG tank container is about to enter a target environment, the target environment being an environment with natural gas safety risks; the controller is used to respond to the characteristic signals and issue a first venting command to the tank container control valve; the tank container control valve is used to execute the first venting command to complete the discharge of gasified natural gas from the tank container before the LNG tank container enters the target environment.

[0053] It is understood that the target environment in this application embodiment mainly refers to environments with natural gas safety risks, such as tunnels, bridges, industrial areas, etc. In these environments, if the concentration of natural gas in the environment reaches a preset value, it may cause an explosion accident.

[0054] In this embodiment of the application, the environmental monitor is installed on the transportation equipment carrying liquefied natural gas tank containers, such as railway vehicles, road vehicles, and waterway vessels, and can monitor the environmental information of the liquefied natural gas tank containers in real time.

[0055] Specifically, the environmental monitor uses GPS satellite positioning technology to monitor the environment in which the liquefied natural gas tank container is located. The environmental monitor integrates a main control chip and a satellite search chip. The main control chip and the satellite search chip interact with each other. The satellite search chip obtains the number of available satellites and the signal strength in the satellite positioning system. The signal strength refers to the satellite signal strength. The main control chip identifies the characteristic signals of the liquefied natural gas tank container entering the target environment based on the number of available satellites and the signal strength, and sends the identified characteristic signals to the controller.

[0056] It is understandable that the environmental monitor is in operation during the transportation of liquefied natural gas tank containers. Of course, the frequency of satellite acquisition and the frequency of sending messages to the controller by the environmental monitor can be adjusted according to requirements.

[0057] For example, during transportation, if the satellite search chip can acquire a high number of available satellites and a high signal strength within a certain period of time, it indicates that the tank container transportation equipment is in an open environment with high signal strength during this period. In this case, the main control chip can reduce the operating frequency of the satellite search chip and the frequency of sending positioning information to the controller, thereby reducing the power consumption of the environmental monitor.

[0058] For example, during transportation, if the number of available satellites and the signal strength that the satellite search chip can acquire begin to decrease over a period of time, it indicates that the transport equipment of the tank container is gradually entering an environment with weak signal strength. Therefore, the main control chip can increase the operating frequency of the satellite search chip and the frequency of sending positioning information to the controller, so as to monitor in a timely manner whether the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter the target environment.

[0059] It is understood that the environmental monitor and controller of this application can be connected by wires, so that the environmental monitor can also interact with the controller when the controller is offline. Thus, even if the transport equipment passes through the target environment with poor network signal, the natural gas tank can be controlled to actively emit gas through local interaction between the environmental monitor and the controller, avoiding the problem of reduced control efficiency due to poor network signal.

[0060] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, when identifying characteristic signals indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, the environmental monitor is used to:

[0061] Identify the number of available satellites and signal strength in the environment where the liquefied natural gas tank container is located;

[0062] If the number of available satellites is less than a first quantity threshold and the signal strength is less than a first strength threshold, then the characteristic signal that the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter the target environment is identified.

[0063] It is understood that the first quantity threshold refers to the minimum number of available satellite signals that can be acquired in a certain area outside the target environment. In other words, when the number of available satellite signals that the environmental monitor can acquire is less than the first quantity threshold, it indicates that the liquefied natural gas tank container has reached the boundary of a certain area outside the target environment. If the transport vehicle continues to travel, it will enter the target environment. Similarly, the first strength threshold refers to the minimum signal strength that can be acquired in a certain area outside the target environment. In other words, when the signal strength that the environmental monitor can acquire is less than the first strength threshold, it indicates that the liquefied natural gas tank container has reached the boundary of a certain area outside the target environment. If the transport vehicle continues to travel, it will enter the target environment.

[0064] Therefore, by using the number of available satellites being less than a first quantity threshold and the signal strength being less than a first strength threshold as the identification method for the characteristic signals that the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter the target environment, this embodiment of the application can quantify the working mode of the environmental monitor and improve work efficiency.

[0065] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the environmental monitor is further used for:

[0066] If the number of available satellites is less than a second quantity threshold and the signal strength is less than a second strength threshold, the frequency of sending environmental monitoring information to the controller is increased. The environmental monitoring information is information about the environment in which the liquefied natural gas tank is located. The second quantity threshold is greater than the first quantity threshold, and the second strength threshold is greater than the first strength threshold.

[0067] It is understandable that when the number of available satellites is less than the second quantity threshold, and the signal strength is less than the second strength threshold, the second quantity threshold is greater than the first quantity threshold, and the second strength threshold is greater than the first strength threshold, it indicates that the liquefied natural gas tank container may be about to enter the target environment. Therefore, by increasing the frequency of sending environmental monitoring information to the controller, it is possible to promptly confirm whether the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter the target environment and avoid misjudgment.

[0068] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the controller is further configured to:

[0069] Obtain the internal pressure of the liquefied natural gas tank container;

[0070] If the difference between the pressure inside the tank and the pressure threshold is less than the difference threshold, a first venting command is issued to the tank control valve.

[0071] The pressure inside the tank refers to the pressure inside the liquefied natural gas tank container before it enters the target environment.

[0072] The pressure threshold refers to the pressure value that can trigger the tank control valve to perform passive venting. In other words, when the pressure inside the tank reaches the pressure threshold, the tank control valve is triggered to perform passive venting.

[0073] The difference threshold refers to the minimum difference between the pressure inside the liquefied natural gas tank and the pressure threshold if the tank control valve is not triggered for passive venting after the tank enters the target environment. In other words, if the difference between the pressure inside the tank and the pressure threshold is less than the difference threshold, it means that the pressure inside the liquefied natural gas tank will reach the pressure threshold after entering the target environment, thereby triggering the tank control valve to perform passive venting.

[0074] It is understandable that whether the tank control valve will be triggered to passively vent after the natural gas tank enters the target environment can be obtained through the previous calibration data.

[0075] It is understandable that in some cases, although the characteristic signal that the liquefied natural gas tank is about to enter the target environment is detected, if the pressure inside the liquefied natural gas tank is low, the safety valve on the tank will not be triggered to passively vent even if it enters the target environment. Therefore, if the difference between the pressure inside the tank and the pressure threshold is greater than the difference threshold, the tank control valve may not be controlled to actively vent.

[0076] In some implementations, if the difference between the pressure inside the tank and the pressure threshold is greater than the difference threshold, and it is predicted that the liquefied natural gas tank will not be passively vented when passing through the target environment, then venting can be delayed after the liquefied natural gas tank has passed through the target environment.

[0077] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the controller is further configured to:

[0078] The system uploads the internal pressure and location information of the liquefied natural gas tank container to the server, so that the server can determine whether to issue a second venting command based on the internal pressure and location information. The server stores a transportation route map of the liquefied natural gas tank container, and the transportation route map marks suitable venting locations for discharging the gasified natural gas. The second venting command is used to instruct the discharging of gasified natural gas at the venting location.

[0079] Receive the second venting command, and issue the first venting command to the tank control valve according to the second venting command.

[0080] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, by storing a transportation route map of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank container in the server, and marking suitable venting locations for the LNG, such as railway stations, the controller can upload the tank container's internal pressure and location information to the server in real time when the controller is connected to the network. The server then determines whether to actively ventilate at a preset venting location based on the tank container's pressure and location information. This allows for predictive and dynamic (advance or delayed) venting of the gas inside the tank container, further improving venting management efficiency.

[0081] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the liquefied natural gas tank container is provided with a gas vent, the gas vent is provided with a blower, and the controller is further used for:

[0082] A start command is sent to the blower so that the blower, once started, disperses the gasified natural gas discharged from the gas vent.

[0083] It is understood that the blower is a fan, which promptly disperses the gasified natural gas emitted from the gas vent, preventing the gasified natural gas from accumulating in the environment and further reducing the risk of natural gas emissions.

[0084] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, a solar power source is also included, which is connected to the controller, the tank control valve, and the blower respectively.

[0085] Understandably, the controller, blower, and tank control valve all require power. By setting up a solar power source, such as installing a solar charging system on the top of the tank, the power supply problem can be effectively solved, enabling long-term operation.

[0086] In some embodiments, the liquefied natural gas tank container is equipped with a manual shut-off valve. After the tank container is transported, operators can manually open the valve to release any remaining gas, ensuring the safety of the tank container when not in transport. Furthermore, in the event of a malfunction in the controller or the tank container control valve, the natural gas inside the tank can be released via the manual shut-off valve, ensuring the safety of the tank container during use.

[0087] Based on the above disclosure, this application embodiment uses an environmental monitor to identify characteristic signals that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment. The target environment is an environment with natural gas safety risks. The controller controls the opening of the tank container control valve to complete the discharge of gasified natural gas in the tank container before it enters the target environment, thereby avoiding the release of natural gas into the target environment and causing safety hazards, and improving transportation safety.

[0088] The following describes method embodiments of this application, executed in the controller described in the above embodiments of this application. For details not disclosed in the method embodiments of this application, please refer to the system embodiments described in the above embodiments of this application.

[0089] See Figure 2 The flowchart of the liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control method according to an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0090] like Figure 2 As shown, according to a second aspect of the embodiments of this application, a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control method is provided, executed by a controller, the method including but not limited to steps S1 to S2:

[0091] Step S1. In response to a characteristic signal sent by an environmental monitor indicating that the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, the target environment being an environment with natural gas safety risks;

[0092] Step S2. Send a first venting command to the tank control valve so that the tank control valve executes the first venting command to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank before the liquefied natural gas tank enters the target environment.

[0093] In some embodiments of this application, based on the foregoing scheme, the method further includes:

[0094] The system uploads the internal pressure and location information of the liquefied natural gas tank container to the server, so that the server can determine whether to issue a second venting command based on the internal pressure and location information. The server stores a transportation route map of the liquefied natural gas tank container, and the transportation route map marks suitable venting locations for discharging the gasified natural gas. The second venting command is used to instruct the discharging of gasified natural gas at the venting location.

[0095] Receive the second venting command, and issue the first venting command to the tank control valve according to the second venting command.

[0096] See Figure 3 The diagram shows a structural diagram of a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control device according to an embodiment of this application.

[0097] like Figure 3 As shown, according to a third aspect of the embodiments of this application, a liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control device is provided, which is executed by a controller, the device comprising:

[0098] A response unit is used to respond to a characteristic signal sent by an environmental monitor indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, wherein the target environment is an environment with natural gas safety risks.

[0099] The sending unit is used to send a first venting command to the tank control valve so that the tank control valve executes the first venting command to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank before the liquefied natural gas tank enters the target environment.

[0100] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of this application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the computer-readable storage medium storing at least one computer program instruction, the at least one computer program instruction being loaded and executed by a processor to perform the operation as described in any of the methods of the second aspect.

[0101] Computer-readable storage media may be portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code, and may run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the computer-readable storage medium of this application is not limited thereto. In this application, the readable storage medium may be any tangible medium containing or storing a program that may be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0102] A readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of readable storage media include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage device, magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0103] Program code for performing the operations of this application can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java and C++, and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as C or similar languages. The program code can execute entirely on the user's computing device, partially on the user's device, as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In cases involving remote computing devices, the remote computing device can be connected to the user's computing device via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or it can be connected to an external computing device (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0104] See Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a computer system suitable for implementing the electronic device of the present application.

[0105] According to a fifth aspect of the present application, an electronic device is provided, including one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein at least one piece of program code is stored in the one or more memories, the at least one piece of program code being loaded and executed by the one or more processors to perform the operations performed as described in any of the methods of the second aspect.

[0106] like Figure 4 As shown, the electronic device 400 is manifested in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device 400 may include, but are not limited to: at least one processing unit 410, at least one storage unit 420, and a bus 430 connecting different system components (including storage unit 420 and processing unit 410).

[0107] The storage unit stores program code that can be executed by the processing unit 410, causing the processing unit 410 to perform the steps described in the "Embodiment Methods" section above according to various exemplary embodiments of this application.

[0108] Storage unit 420 may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as random access memory (RAM) 421 and / or cache memory 422, and may further include a read-only memory (ROM) 423.

[0109] Storage unit 420 may also include a program / utility 424 having a set (at least one) of program modules 425, such program modules 425 including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each or some combination of these examples may include an implementation of a network environment.

[0110] Bus 430 can represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory cell bus or memory cell controller, a peripheral bus, a graphics acceleration port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of the various bus structures.

[0111] Electronic device 400 can also communicate with one or more external devices 500 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, Bluetooth device, etc.), one or more devices that enable a user to interact with electronic device 400, and / or any device that enables electronic device 400 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., router, modem, etc.). This communication can be performed via input / output (I / O) interface 450. Furthermore, electronic device 400 can also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and / or public networks, such as the Internet) via network adapter 460. As shown, network adapter 460 communicates with other modules of electronic device 400 via bus 430. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figures, other hardware and / or software modules can be used in conjunction with electronic device 400, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0112] The functions described herein can be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions can be stored as one or more instructions or codes on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium. Other examples and embodiments are within the scope and spirit of this invention and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwired, or any combination thereof. Furthermore, the functional units can be integrated into a single processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into a single unit.

[0113] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for example, the division of units can be a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For instance, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between units or modules may be electrical or other forms.

[0114] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. Similarly, the components of the control device may or may not be physical units; they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment, depending on actual needs.

[0115] If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), portable hard drives, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0116] The above description is merely an embodiment of this application and is not intended to limit this application. Various modifications and variations can be made to this application by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the scope of the claims of this application.

Claims

1. A liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control system, characterized in that, This includes environmental monitors, controllers, and tank control valves; The environmental monitor is used to identify characteristic signals that the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, which is an environment with natural gas safety risks. The controller is used to respond to the characteristic signal and issue a first venting command to the tank control valve; The tank control valve is used to execute the first venting command to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank before the liquefied natural gas tank enters the target environment; When identifying characteristic signals indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, the environmental monitor is used to: Identify the number of available satellites and signal strength in the environment where the liquefied natural gas tank container is located; If the number of available satellites is less than a first quantity threshold and the signal strength is less than a first strength threshold, then the characteristic signal that the liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter the target environment is identified. The environmental monitor is also used for: If the number of available satellites is less than a second quantity threshold and the signal strength is less than a second strength threshold, the frequency of sending environmental monitoring information to the controller is increased. The environmental monitoring information is information about the environment in which the liquefied natural gas tank is located. The second quantity threshold is greater than the first quantity threshold, and the second strength threshold is greater than the first strength threshold.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The controller is also used for: Obtain the internal pressure of the liquefied natural gas tank container; If the difference between the pressure inside the tank and the pressure threshold is less than the difference threshold, a first venting command is issued to the tank control valve.

3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The controller is also used for: The system uploads the internal pressure and location information of the liquefied natural gas tank container to the server, so that the server can determine whether to issue a second venting command based on the internal pressure and location information. The server stores a transportation route map of the liquefied natural gas tank container, and the transportation route map marks suitable venting locations for discharging the gasified natural gas. The second venting command is used to instruct the discharging of gasified natural gas at the venting location. Receive the second venting command, and issue the first venting command to the tank control valve according to the second venting command.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the liquefied natural gas tank is provided with a gas vent, and the gas vent is provided with a blower, characterized in that, The controller is also used for: A start command is sent to the blower so that the blower, once started, disperses the gasified natural gas discharged from the gas vent.

5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that, It also includes a solar power source, which is connected to the controller, the tank control valve and the blower respectively.

6. A method for controlling the transportation of liquefied natural gas tank containers, employing the system described in any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The method includes: In response to a characteristic signal sent by an environmental monitor indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, the target environment being an environment with natural gas safety risks; A first venting command is sent to the tank container control valve to cause the tank container control valve to execute the first venting command in order to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank container before the liquefied natural gas tank container enters the target environment.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The method further includes: The system uploads the internal pressure and location information of the liquefied natural gas tank container to the server, so that the server can determine whether to issue a second venting command based on the internal pressure and location information. The server stores a transportation route map of the liquefied natural gas tank container, and the transportation route map marks suitable venting locations for discharging the gasified natural gas. The second venting command is used to instruct the discharging of gasified natural gas at the venting location. Receive the second venting command, and issue the first venting command to the tank control valve according to the second venting command.

8. A liquefied natural gas tank container transportation control device, employing the system described in any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The device includes: A response unit is used to respond to a characteristic signal sent by an environmental monitor indicating that a liquefied natural gas tank container is about to enter a target environment, wherein the target environment is an environment with natural gas safety risks. The sending unit is used to send a first venting command to the tank control valve so that the tank control valve executes the first venting command to complete the venting of gasified natural gas inside the tank before the liquefied natural gas tank enters the target environment.

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