Wireless Sensor Reconciliation for Storage Tank Usage Billing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers and dealers face economic burdens due to cash-on-delivery models for consumables like propane and fuel oil, where partial deliveries result in full delivery costs for dealers, reducing revenue and increasing costs for both parties.
Innovation Solution
A usage-based billing system that calculates and reconciles estimated and actual consumable usage in storage tanks, allowing for monthly billing without the need for a meter, using a central server, sensor devices, and communication interfaces to generate invoices and adjust billing accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If cash-on-delivery billing model is used, then delivery simplicity is maintained, but dealer revenue and consumer affordability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by installing sensors in storage tanks before consumable deliveries occur. These sensors continuously monitor tank levels and automatically transmit data to a central server, enabling usage-based billing calculations to be prepared in advance. This preliminary data collection eliminates the need for cash-on-delivery transactions while ensuring accurate billing, thereby maintaining delivery simplicity while preventing revenue loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where sensor measurements of tank levels are continuously transmitted to a central server. The server reconciles estimated usage with actual usage data and generates usage-based invoices. This feedback loop ensures that dealers are compensated accurately for consumables used, eliminating revenue loss associated with cash-on-delivery models while maintaining operational simplicity through automated billing.
2Measurement precision
If meter installation is implemented for usage tracking, then billing accuracy is improved, but system complexity and installation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using traditional physical meters, the system creates a digital copy or representation of the measurement function through sensors. These sensors replicate the metering capability by measuring tank levels and transmitting data electronically to the central server. This copying approach achieves billing accuracy equivalent to physical meters while eliminating their complexity and installation requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces mechanical metering devices with electronic sensor-based measurement. Sensors mounted on storage tanks electronically monitor consumable levels and transmit data wirelessly to a central server, which performs usage calculations and generates invoices. This substitution eliminates the need for physical meter installation while maintaining billing accuracy, thereby reducing system complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If partial deliveries are made to unaffordable customers, then consumer accessibility is improved, but dealer costs increase without corresponding revenue
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from sensor measurements to track actual consumable usage in real-time. When partial deliveries are made, the system continuously monitors tank levels and reconciles estimated usage with actual usage data. This enables accurate billing for the exact amount of consumables used, ensuring dealers receive revenue proportional to deliveries made, even when customers receive partial fills due to affordability constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary data collection and usage estimation before final billing occurs. Sensors continuously monitor tank levels and the central server maintains running calculations of consumable usage. This preliminary tracking ensures that when partial deliveries are made to cost-conscious customers, the system has already captured the necessary data to bill accurately for the exact amount delivered, preventing unrecovered costs.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system and computer-readable medium for managing usage of storage tank consumables in a storage tank are provided. This is achieved by receiving and storing by a central server comprising a processor and a storage device, measurements of storage tank consumables from a remote system associated with a storage tank; periodically calculating by the processor usage-based data for generating invoices for storage tank consumables based on sensor measurements representative of an estimated usage of the storage tank consumables; receiving and storing by the central server a fill value representing an actual usage reported to the central server when the storage tank is filled; and reconciling the estimated usage with the actual usage by the processor by summing all estimated usages since a last fill of the storage tank, calculating a difference between the sum of the estimated usages and the fill value, and issuing a debit or credit based on the difference for reconciliation.