Timothy D Archer

US Patent:

8195590, Jun 5, 2012

Filed:

Sep 17, 2009

Appl. No.:

12/561579

Inventors:

Keith R. Coggins - Houston TX, US
Dirk Holcomb - Flowery Branch GA, US
Timothy L. Archer - Suwanee GA, US

Assignee:

Varec, Inc. - Norcross GA

International Classification:

G06F 17/00
G06N 5/00

US Classification:

706 45, 706 14, 706 46, 706 62, 702 50, 702 55

Abstract:

Measuring, controlling, and automating inventory of product stored in a collapsible tank. An interface device can interact with a sensor installed at the collapsible tank and a metering device, such as a flow meter, to generate a strap table for the collapsible tank. The strap table can include entries that correlate a process value measured by the sensor to a volume of product corresponding to that process value. Current volume of product stored in the collapsible tank can be determined by comparing a current process value to entries in the strap table or by an interpolation process. The interface device can generate an updated strap table based on a relaxation curve to account for settling of the collapsible tank. The interface device can synchronize data with a host device, such as a personal computer or handheld computer, that includes software for tracking inventory in collapsible tanks.