Electronic Level Detection System
Petroleum fuel products such as heating oil, kerosene,
diesel and petrol are continuously being improved
and refined in order to minimise negative effects on
the environment. New products are introduced on
the market regularly. If these modern products are
mixed, even in small quantities, their highly specified
qualities will deteriorate, sometimes so much that
the product no longer can be used.
Avoid contamination
The same road tanker often handles various types of
fuel products. When it starts to fill up for the next
run, it is necessary to know whether the tanker has
been completely emptied at the last discharge or if
there is still a residue of product left in a compartment
or the pipe work. The risk of contamination with loss
of quality and even possible safety hazards is obvious.
Complete delivery
Petrol delivered from tankers is normally measured,
either by delivering it through a meter or as a whole
compartment. In the latter case, the compartment
has to be verified full upon arrival and empty on
departure from the delivery point. This can be accomplished
by opening the manhole cover on the tanker
roof which, apart from being physically dangerous
in cold and wet conditions, also allows vapours to
escape into the atmosphere (very "non-VOC").
Overfill prevention
An overfill prevention system is mandatory for all
bottom loading road tankers. Normally this is a
separate system installed solely for the purpose of
preventing overfilling.
Flexibility and safety
LevelCheck can be used stand-alone or integrated
with other on-board systems and each individual
sensor can be calibrated to detect three different
levels.
LevelCheck can offer double safety even when product
is drawn from the trailer into a compartment on the
truck. Not only will the controller indicate visibly
when a compartment is full, it can also be configured
to close the foot valves to avoid an overfill situation.
LevelCheck
To meet these demands Wennstrom has developed
LevelCheck: an EX-approved electronic information,
control and safety system. LevelCheck is not only an
overfill prevention system but will also indicate if a
compartment is full or empty, if any foot valves have
been opened after loading and if there is any product
left in the piping. LevelCheck can be integrated with
on-truck systems such as VolumeCheck (electronic
measurement system) enabling receipts from
compartment drops. LevelCheck gives the driver and
the owner full cargo control.
Basic features
- Full/empty compartment indication
- Integrated overfill prevention
- Automatic product distinction
- Minimises the risk of contamination
- Pneumatical connection to the foot valves
indicating open or closed status
- Intrinsically safe electronic bus system (ESDL) for
communication and power supply giving a simple
plug-in electrical installation
- Digital display of product grade/compartment
- Low weight and small dimensions gives a neat
and simple installation
- Can be installed together with measurement
and/or quality management systems as well as
on-truck computers.
Working principle
LevelCheck consists of a number of capacitive sensors
and a controller for monitoring product level status
of compartments and the piping on a road tanker.
The unique low energy bus (ESDL) supplies power
and data to the sensors from the controller and
connects them together like a daisy chain. The
controller is pneumatically connected to the foot
valves and indicates their status (open or closed).
It is also possible to determine if a foot valve has
been opened between loading and the first discharge.
The status of each compartment is shown by three
indicators. One lights up when the compartment is
fully loaded. The second indicator lights up when the
foot valve for the compartment is open and the third
indicator shines with a steady light when the delivery
pipe is full. When the piping is empty the light is
turned off.
The system diagnostics indicate malfunction per
sensor or the presence of water. |