According to data presented lately in the Interior Ministry & Environmental Protection Committee, there are today in Israel more than 50,000 gas tanks, distributed throughout the different local councils. There are tens of thousands of units which supply gas continuously to hundreds of thousands of apartments and businesses. Companies and gas suppliers provide service for the gas tanks (and to their customers) by means of a large-scale network of personnel.
ADS Company has developed a system for detecting the presence of gas in the tank, which allows the remote-control in real-time of the quantity of gas in the tank. This advanced system integrates with the existing analog meter, and converts the data to a digital database via A/D (analog to digital) technology. A gas supplier can now receive, at any given time, up-to-date information about the amount of gas in the tank, and thus manage the distribution network’s routes and the good operation of the tanks under his responsibility.
Advantages of the system:
- System mounted on the analog metre, without the need to replace existing components and equipment
- Digital data in real-time, dispensing with the need to physically visit the tank, making manual inspection superfluous
- Control of the dates when the tank is filled-up with gas, thus making the distribution network more efficient
- Monitoring of suspicious activity concerning the gas tank, and protection against deliberate acts and criminal activity
- Possibility of performing pre-planned readings, thus obtaining data at predetermined times
- Comparison between the gas supplied from the tank to the individual units, and data from the individual private gas meters.
The technological solution:
A gas detection system in the tank consists of two digital cards – the sensor card (sensor), which is based upon a processor and a magnetic motion detector, and the cellular router card (modem). The system is capable of reading the amount of gas in the tank.
It is remotely controlled via the cellular router, and the connection between the cards is achieved through a RS-485 interface and remote supply of power.