JP3085577B2 - Refueling completion notification method and weighing machine at gas station - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refueling device in a gas station, and more particularly to a refueling completion display for notifying an employee of refueling completion of a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In refueling at a gas station, a refueling nozzle at the end of a refueling hose of a weighing machine is inserted into a fuel tank of a refueling customer's car, and refueling is started by operating a latch lever of the nozzle. After refueling is completed, the nozzle is pulled out and stored in the nozzle holder of the weighing machine, and processing such as settlement of the refueling amount is performed.

[0003] However, during refueling, an employee may leave the vehicle due to a service to another car or the like, and even if refueling is completed, the worker may not notice it and may wait for the refueling customer.

For this reason, a method has been devised in which a refueling completion lamp is provided, a vehicle is refueled, and when the refueling is completed, the refueling completion lamp is turned on or blinks to notify an employee of the refueling completion. In addition, a sound notification method such as a buzzer has been devised.

[0005] According to this, even a worker working remotely can know that refueling has been completed, so that a refueling customer does not have to wait for a long time.

[0006]

However, gas stations with many refueling customers, gas stations with many weighing machines,
In addition, in a gas station that employs semi-self-service and has few employees, a plurality of refueling completion lamps often flash at the same time, and employees may not be able to respond immediately.

If a large number of refueling lamps are blinking, the corresponding priority order cannot be determined, and a car that has completed refueling later than a car that has completed refueling may respond first. Refueling customers may make complaints.

Further, in normal refueling, after the refueling is completed, the refueling pump inside the weighing machine continues to rotate until the refueling nozzle is housed in the nozzle holder of the weighing machine. Will be consumed.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned various problems peculiar to a refueling operation at a gas station.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the display interval of the intermittent display of the display means, which is started when the refueling of the weighing machine at the gas station is completed, is changed to the refueling. completion later, and the possible gradually shortened, the concrete, comprising a display means for initiating the intermittent display during fueling completion, met the weighing machine in a gas station
The display means is a display means for gradually reducing the display interval of the display means after the completion of the refueling.

Here, the "display means" is not limited to blinkable lights and lamps, but may be any ordinary dot display, liquid crystal display, CRT, panel, etc., capable of intermittently repeating display. It is not particularly limited.

[0012] The "intermittent display" of the present invention includes not only the blinking of the lights and lamps, but also the intensity of the brightness, the change of the luminescent color, the reverse display of negative or positive, It includes various modes such as switching an image displayed on a display.

As a mode for shortening the display interval of the display means, one or more predetermined times are set arbitrarily in advance, and the display cycle is set so as to gradually reduce the display cycle every time the predetermined time elapses. By doing so, the case where the display interval is gradually reduced every time the predetermined time elapses after the refueling is completed, and the case where the display interval is shortened in inverse proportion to the elapsed time after the refueling is completed are included. .

[0014] Refueling is completed not only when the fuel tank of the car is full and the nozzle at the end of the hose of the weighing machine is automatically closed, but also when the refueling amount reaches a preset amount, such as a fixed amount refueling. This includes the case where refueling is automatically stopped.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the present invention, the refueling completion display is performed intermittently, and the display interval is gradually shortened after the refueling completion, so that the employees of the gas station can give priority. It has the feature of being able to easily determine which car to respond to.

Accordingly, even if a plurality of refueling completion display means are blinking at the same time, an employee of a gas station determines the display interval of the display means, and the display blinking at the shortest interval. By giving the highest priority to the weighing machine to which the means belongs, it is possible to appropriately respond to refueling customers.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an embodiment of the weighing machine according to the present invention. Explaining the structure of the weighing machine 1 according to the present invention, reference numeral 2 denotes a refueling nozzle, and 3 denotes a refueling hose. 4
Is a nozzle holder on which the refueling nozzle 1 is hung, and is disposed in the casing of the weighing machine 1. 5 is a motor, 6
Is a pump, and the pump 6 is driven by the motor 5 to pump oil from an underground tank (not shown) or the like via a pipe. Reference numeral 7 denotes a flow meter, which is provided in the middle of a pipe extending from the pump 6 to the oil supply hose 3 and has a pulse transmitter 8
Is connected. 9 is a refueling lamp as a display means. The nozzle holder 4, the pulse transmitter 8, and the refueling lamp 9 are connected to the control unit 10, and the nozzle holder 4
And a nozzle release signal and a flow rate pulse signal from the pulse transmitter 8 are input to the control unit 10. On the other hand, the control unit 10 outputs to the refueling lamp 9 a signal for turning on and off the refueling lamp 9 and a blinking signal adjusted to blink the refueling lamp 9 at predetermined intervals, as described later.

The refueling lamp 9 may be fixed directly to the casing of the main body of the weighing machine 1 or may be arranged at a position separated from the weighing machine 1. Further, the lighting signal and the blinking signal may be transmitted to the refueling lamp 9 via a wired transmission means such as a cable, or may be transmitted by a wireless means.

The refueling lamps 9 may be provided one by one for each weighing machine 1, or may be provided for each number of the refueling nozzles 2. Actually, an employee of a gas station can appropriately select an installation mode of the refueling lamp 9 suitable for grasping a refueling state.

As described above, the display means for displaying the refueling state is not limited to the refueling lamp 9, but may be a dot display, a liquid crystal display, a CRT, a panel, or the like. If necessary, in addition to these display means, an acoustic notification means such as an intermittently operating buzzer may be used.

Next, a refueling method using the weighing machine 1 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

The refueling lamp 9 is turned off when the weighing machine 1 is not used. When the refueling nozzle 2 is removed from the nozzle holder 4 to start refueling the vehicle, a nozzle removal signal from the nozzle holder 4 is transmitted to the control unit 10 correspondingly. Upon receiving the nozzle removal signal, the control unit 10 issues a drive start command to the motor 5, and the motor 5 operates to start the rotation of the pump 6. At the same time as the driving start command, the control unit 10 outputs a lighting signal to the refueling lamp 9 to turn on the refueling lamp 9.

Next, when the refueling nozzle 2 is inserted into the refueling port of the automobile and opened, oil discharge is started. That is, when the refueling is started, the refueling lamp 9 is turned on, so that the employee of the gas station can confirm that the fuel is currently being refueled.

During refueling, the refueling amount is monitored by the flow meter 7, and a flow rate pulse signal corresponding to the refueling amount is output to the control unit 10 via the pulse transmitter 8.

When the fuel tank of the car is full, the fueling nozzle is automatically closed. Further, when it is detected that the refueling amount obtained from the flow pulse signal has reached a preset scheduled refueling amount, the control unit 10 issues a pump stop signal.

When the control unit 10 detects that the oil discharge has stopped, the control unit 10 determines that the refueling has been completed, and starts outputting a blinking signal to the refueling lamp 9.
The refueling lamp 9 starts blinking at a certain cycle in response to the blinking signal output from the control unit 10.

The control unit 10 measures the elapsed time after the blinking signal is output, and after a predetermined time elapses, such as when the refueling customers are many and the employees cannot respond immediately. Also, when the refueling nozzle 2 is not stored in the nozzle holder 4 of the weighing machine 1 and the nozzle holding signal is not output from the nozzle holder 4, the control unit 10 shortens the blinking interval of the refueling lamp.

Referring specifically to FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 3 (a) or FIG. 3 (b), the control unit 10 blinks the refueling lamp 9 as a display means (display interval). ) Are set in advance. FIG. 3 (a)
FIG. 3B shows an example in which the blinking (display) interval of the refueling lamp 9 is set to be gradually reduced, and FIG. 3B shows an example in which the interval is set to be shorter in inverse proportion to the elapsed time.

In the control unit 10, for example, FIG.
When the blinking interval pattern of the refueling lamp 9 is set as shown in (a), the control unit 10 sets the display interval of the refueling lamp 9 to T4 until the time of t1 elapses from the completion of refueling. Thus, the flashing signal is output to the refueling lamp 9 so that the display interval of the refueling lamp 9 becomes T3 which is a time interval shorter than T4 after the elapse of t1. Similarly, the control unit 10 receives the nozzle firing signal so that the refueling lamp 9 blinks at intervals of T2 shorter than T3 after T2 after the completion of refueling and at T1 shorter than T2 after elapse of t3. Up to this point, the blinking of the refueling lamp 9 is controlled stepwise.

Here, the elapsed time since the completion of refueling and the time setting of the display interval of the display means (refueling lamp 9) are arbitrary, and the numbers and time intervals of t1, t2... In FIG. , T2,... Can be appropriately set as needed.

On the other hand, when the blinking pattern of the refueling lamp 9 is set in the control unit 10 as shown in FIG. 3B, the control unit 10 is inversely proportional to the elapsed time from the completion of refueling. A blink signal is output so that the refueling lamp 9 blinks at the display intervals. The proportional constant of the inverse proportion can be set arbitrarily.

The employee of the gas station visually judges the change of the blinking interval of the refueling lamp 9 which blinks according to each of the above patterns, and stops at the position of the metering machine 1 to which the refueling lamp 9 having the shorter blinking interval belongs. The refueling nozzle 2 is sequentially pulled out from the refueling port of the car, and the refueling nozzle 2 is hung on the nozzle holder 4. A nozzle hung signal is output from the nozzle holder 4 and transmitted to the control unit 10. The control unit 10 outputs a turn-off signal to the refueling lamp 9 immediately after receiving the nozzle hung signal, and turns off the refueling lamp 9.

When the motor 5 is still operating, the control unit 10 outputs a stop command signal to the motor 5 in addition to the output of the turn-off signal after receiving the nozzle squeeze signal. And the rotation of the pump 6 is stopped.

In this way, even if a plurality of refueling lamps 9 blink at the same time, an employee of the gas station determines the display interval of each refueling lamp 9 and blinks at the shortest interval. By giving the highest priority to the weighing machine 1 to which the refueling lamp 9 belongs, it is possible to appropriately respond to refueling customers.

In addition, since an employee of a gas station can preferentially respond to a vehicle in which the refueling nozzle 2 has been left for a long time, particularly when the fuel tank of the vehicle is replenished with fuel, the refueling is completed. The drive time of the motor 5 and the pump 6 which are still operating can be reduced.

[0037]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, a service station employee can easily and visually judge the priority of a refueling customer to be served, so that service can be smoothly performed, and You will not have to wait for a long time.

Further, since the useless rotation time of the oil supply pump inside the weighing machine after the completion of the oil supply can be reduced, it is also possible to save electric power.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an outline of a main part of a weighing machine used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of a refueling operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a setting pattern of a display interval of a display unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 weighing machine, 2 refueling nozzle 3 refueling hose, 4
Nozzle holder, 5 motor, 6 pump, 7 flow meter, 8 pulse transmitter, 9 refueling lamp, 10 control unit

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A display interval of an intermittent display of a display means, which is started upon completion of refueling of a weighing machine at a gas station ,
A refueling completion notifying method characterized by gradually shortening the time after the refueling is completed. 2. A weighing machine in a gas station , comprising a display means for starting an intermittent display when refueling is completed, wherein the display means gradually reduces a display interval of the display means after the refueling is completed. A weighing machine, which is a means .