CLH and Montrel have invented and patented the SIMAC-ICOMPP System for automatic identification of compartments in petroleum products trucks, with purge and electronic delivery note.
Invention Patent: P201530654
In equal
shares, both companies jointly market SIMAC-ICOMPP System they invented and whose functions are to automatically verify the unique
identification of each compartment from the tanker truck during loading and
unloading process, as well as the automatic control of the purges. All of it is
based on the provision of a small hardware device (TAG), which is coupled to
each compartment from the truck and connects through the loading arm, along
with equipment installed in the terminal’s loading bays. Additionally, the system incorporates the implementation of an electronic delivery note, with the
recording of the loading process results in the corresponding TAG for a later
automatic reading at the Service Station.
At
present, the Terminals and/or Loading Centers mentioned before have databases
with detailed information on all tank trucks operating in their truck loading
facility, including the capacity of each of their compartments. So far, the
relationship between the compartment and the loading arm was determined prior
to load only through manual entry of data by the driver, as he is one who
chooses and type the number of compartments to which they intend to connect the
loading arm. The Systems did not have devices to verify the correct assignment
and to prevent the continued operation in the event of discrepancies or errors.
Moreover,
the safety systems currently deployed in tank trucks to prevent overfills and
spills during the loading process, are passive elements. In the case the amount
of product introduced into a compartment eventually come to exceed the maximum
limit, the overfill control systems would stop the loading process. But if any
of these controls, systems were defective or the regulation of a level detector
had been accidentally altered, you run the risk that product overflows,
resulting in a spill at the truck loading facility.
The
new SIMAC-ICOMPP System requires
that all compartments be thoroughly purged before starting the loading process,
controlling this operation automatically, to avoid the minimal but undesirable
mixtures between different products of successive loads (which could affect to
the quality thereof), thus ensuring and complementing the procedures established
by CLH to guarantee an excellent
service to its customers.
Likewise,
the unloading in the Service Stations is carried out, either during night hours
or during commercial hours, but currently always with the intervention and
supervision of a responsible employee, who verifies quantities and controls the correct coincidence of the product contained in each compartment, with that of
the reception tank, according to the accompanying delivery note printed on
paper. Despite this, sometimes, human errors can be produced that generate
serious inconveniences by mixing or contamination of products in said tanks, of
laborious and costly correction.
The SIMAC-ICOMPP System, developed by
applying the extensive experience of CLH, which is being built in the Montrel Factory in Seville, was born
with the fundamental objective of improving quality control and safety during
the loading and unloading process of the more than 5,000 tankers (only in
Spain), destined to the transport and distribution of petroleum products. It is
designed to be applied in other countries, both in Europe (the legislation on
the transport of dangerous goods is Community) and in the rest of the world,
since this activity is governed by very similar international standards.
Among other aspects,
the implementation of the SIMAC-ICOMPP System allows:
– Ensure the correct association
compartments-arms-products, preventing the loading process in case of an error.
– Prevent the programming and loading quantities
greater than the capacities of the compartments, reliably identified by their
TAGs.
– Supervise and guarantee the total absence of
residual product in the tanks before loading, as it verifies that the purging
operation has been carried out correctly and thoroughly.
Record the result of the
loading of each compartment in its TAG, constituting a complete an electronic record of this, which can be read and downloaded electronically at
Service Station.
As a result, the SIMAC-ICOMPP System provides an
important additional improvement in the safety of the truck loading and
unloading process, avoiding potential overfills, spills or contamination of
products in the tanks, as well as in the tanks of the Service Stations,
associated with which human errors are possible in the operation. In addition, it
facilitates the implementation of more secure, fully automated loading and
unloading procedures, which can be unattended.
This SIMAC-ICOMPP System has been jointly
developed by CLH and Montrel, in which the Sening division
in Hamburg of the multinational FMC Technologies has collaborated.
