Smart Elbow Geofencing for Fuel Tank Crossover Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing crossover protection systems for liquid product delivery vehicles fail to provide location-based confirmation to prevent the undesirable crossover of liquid products into incorrect fuel tanks, leading to contamination and inefficiencies in fuel distribution.
Innovation Solution
A crossover protection system that includes a smart elbow and an electronic control unit with machine-readable instructions to determine the position of the smart elbow relative to geofences of distribution tanks, allowing or preventing the flow of liquid products based on fuel type matching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional crossover protection systems are used, then the system structure is simple, but the system cannot provide location-based confirmation to prevent liquid product crossover into incorrect fuel tanks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a smart elbow with integrated position sensor as an intermediary device between the liquid product delivery system and the distribution tanks. This smart elbow acts as a mediator that provides location-based confirmation signals to the electronic control unit, enabling the system to verify whether the elbow is positioned within the correct geofence boundary before allowing liquid flow, thereby enhancing crossover prevention reliability without requiring complete system redesign
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical crossover protection mechanisms with an electronic control system that uses position sensors, geofence boundaries, and electronic permitting signals. The electronic control unit substitutes mechanical interlocks or physical barriers by using electronic verification of the smart elbow's position relative to distribution tank geofences, allowing for more reliable and flexible crossover prevention
2Reliability
If location-based confirmation is added to prevent crossover, then the reliability of fuel distribution is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The smart elbow is designed as a multi-functional device that combines the traditional liquid flow control function with an integrated position sensing function. By making the elbow universal—capable of both controlling liquid flow and providing location-based confirmation through its position sensor—the patent avoids adding separate complex components, thereby improving fuel distribution reliability while minimizing the increase in overall system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the position sensing capability directly into the smart elbow component, combining what would traditionally be separate elements (flow control valve and position sensor) into a single integrated unit. This merging reduces the number of discrete components and connections required, making the addition of location-based confirmation less complex than if separate systems were added
Data Source
AI summary
A crossover protection system includes a processor, a memory, and machine readable instructions. The machine readable instructions cause the processor to determine a smart elbow position based on a signal output of a sensor of a smart elbow and determine whether the smart elbow position is within a geofence of a distribution tank including a same fuel type as a liquid product stored in a tank compartment. The processor further, in response to a determination that the smart elbow position is within the geofence of the distribution tank of the same fuel type as the liquid product, permits the liquid product to the distribution tank, and in response to a determination that the smart elbow position is outside the geofence of the distribution tank of the same fuel type as the liquid product, prevents the liquid product from flowing to the distribution tank.