REALTED APPLICATION

Benefit is claimed to India Provisional Application No. 45/CHE/2011, titled "Device and Apparatus for Measuring Content of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in a LPG Cylinder" bySHYAMANUR, Sanjay, filed on 6th January 2011, which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a cylinder carriage, and more particularly relates to cylinder trolley for measuring level of gas in a gas container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In India, gas such as LPG is one of the sources of energy required in day to day activities. Its use has become an important fact in modern life. Usually, LPG is supplied through containers (also known as cylinders). In today's hectic work life, it is necessary to plan daily activities which in turn not affect routine activities of life. The LPG supplied in the cylinders is not filled with exact weight and consumers may be cheated by way of supply of LPG cylinders having less quantity of LPG.

In general, people use a spring balance to measure weight of the LPG cylinder. The weight of the cylinder is measured by lifting the cylinder with the spring balance. The amount the spring stretches is shown on a spring balance scale indicative of a total weight of the LPG cylinder. However, the spring balance may not measure accurate weight of the cylinder. Further, the spring balance may lead to an accident, thereby injuring the person lifting the LPG cylinder.

Another type of weighing machine that is generally used is portable weighing machine having an indicator needle to show a weight of an object when placed on a platform. However, such weighing machine can only measure the total weight of the full gas cylinder. In other words, the weighing machine is not capable of determining amount of LPG remaining in the LPG cylinder. Each time the person has to bring the weighing machine near to the cylinder area and place the LPG cylinder above the weighing machine platform to determine LPG content in the cylinder.

OBJECT OF THE INVEN HON

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a trolley capable of monitoringlevel of gas in the gas container and carry the gas container from one point to another point.

It is another object of the present invention to providea trolley capable of displaying level of the gas in the gas container in real time.

It is yet another object of the present invention to providea trolley capableof generating an alarm when the level of gas in the gas container falls below a preset threshold.

It is further another object of the present invention to provide a trolley capableof communicating the level of gas in the gas container to a handheld device remotely located from the trolley.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a trolley with a digital scale for enabling user to input the gross weight of the gas cylinder via a keypad.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is an isometric view illustratinga trolley for measuring level of gas in a gascontainer, according to one embodiment.

Figure 2 illustrates a schematic flow diagram illustratingvarious components of thedigital scale unit such as those shown in Figure 1, according to one embodiment.

DETAILEDDESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an apparatus for measuring level of gas in a gas container.ln the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

According to the present inventions trolley is disclosedherein which facilitates to measure level of gas in agas containerplaced on the trolley. Thus, the consumercan plan forrefilling their gas container well in advance. The present invention also helps consumer to cross verify weight of the refilled gas container during refilling of the gas container.

Figure 1 illustrates an isometric view of atrolley 100 for measuring level of gas in a gas container, according to one embodiment. The trolley 100includes a top plate 104 and a bottom plate 110. The top plate 104is adapted to support agas container(not shown) which is to be carried using the trolley 100. Further, the trolley 100 includes a set of rollers 106 attached to the bottom plate 110 for enabling movement of the trolley 100 carrying the gas container. For example, the rollers 106 can be made of plastic to ensure no damage to the flooring when the trolley 100 is moved. The rollers 106facilitate convenient indoor movement of cylinder as the consumer need not lift the cylinder to measure the level of the gas.

The trolley 110 includes a set of pillars 108 disposed between the top plate 104 and the bottom plate 110.The set of pillars 108 are placed such that they act as a load holder and also help in equal distribution of weight of the gas cylinder on the top ' plate 104 and hence help in accurately measuring the weight of the gas container.The trolley 100 also includes digital sensors 112 placed in each of the pillars for sensing the weight of the gas container via the top plate 104.For example, the digital sensors 112 may be force digital sensors adapted for sensing the force exerted on the top plate 104 due to the weight of the gas container placed on the top plate 104. Thus, the digital sensors 112 can sense different value of force when the gas container is placed on the top plate 100 and when no gas container is placed on the top plate 104. Similarly, the digital sensors 112 can sense variation in the force exerted on the top plate 104 when the gas container is full compared to a situation where the gas container is empty.

Furthermore, the trolley 100 includesa digital scale 102for computing weight of the gas container at any point of time based on the inputs from the digital sensors 112 received in real time. Accordingly, the digital scale 102 computes a level of the gas in the gas container based on the weight of the gas container. In one embodiment, the digital scale 102 displays the level of gas in the gas container and also the weight of the gas container. In another embodiment, the digital scale 102 generates an alarm notification if the level of gas in the gas container falls below a preset threshold.For example, if the level of the gas is measured to be low and there is need for refilling the gas in the gas container, in such case the digital scale 112 generates a sound alarm indicating that the level of the gas in the gas container is low. In yet another embodiment, the digital scale 102 communicates the alarm notification to a handheld device remotely located from the trolley 100 via a suitable wireless communication channel.

The digital scale 102 generates an alarm notification if the weight of the gas container placed in the trolley 100 is greater than a predetermined threshold. The digital scale 102 can also receive a query regarding the level of gas present in the gas container from a handheld device (e.g., a RFCE remote control, a mobile phone, etc.). In such case, the digital scale 102 communicates the level of gas in the gas container to the handheld device.

Figure 2 illustrates a schematic flow diagram illustratingvarious components of the digital scale unit 102 such as those shown in Figure 1, according to one embodiment. The digital scale 102 includes an analog to digital convertor (ADC) 201, a processor unit 202, a display unit 204, memory 206, a transceiver 210, and a buzzer 212.

The ADC 201 is configured for receiving analog values of sensed parameters from the digital sensors 112 and converting the analog values of the sensed parameters to digital values. The processor unit 202 is configured for receiving sensed parameters from the digital sensors 112 and for computing weight of the gas container at any point of time based on the sensed parameters. The processor unit 202 is also configured for computing a level of gas in the gas container based on the weight of the gas container. In some embodiments, the memory 206 includes instructions 208 temporarily stored therein, which when executed by the processor unit 202, cause the processor unit 202 to compute the weight of the gas container and compute the level of the gas in the gas container based on the weight of the gas container.

The memory 206 may also store a lookup table comprising weight values and corresponding levels (e.g., medium, high, low). Using the lookup table, the processor unit 202 determines the level of gas in the gas container.

The display 204 is configured for displaying the level of gas in the gas container and also the weight of the gas container. The buzzer 212 generates asound alarm if the level of gas in the gas container falls below a preset threshold. For example, if the level of the gas is measured to be low and there is need for refilling the gas in the gas container, in such case the buzzer 212 generates a sound alarm indicating that the level of the gas in the gas container is low. Also, the buzzer 212 generates an alarm if the weight of the gas container placed in the trolley 110 is greater than a predetermined threshold.

The transceiver 210 is configured for communicating the alarm notification to a handheld device remotely located from the trolley 100 via a suitable wireless communication channel. The transceiver 210 is also configured for receiving a query regarding the level of gas present in the gas container from a handheld device (e.g., a RFCE remote control, a mobile phone, etc.). In such case, the transceiver 210 communicates with the processor unit 202and provides the level of gas in the gas container to the handheld device.

The digital scale 102 also includes an input device 216 such as keypad, touch pad, the like, for enabling the user to input weight information of the gas cylinder placed on the trolley 100.Every gas container in the market may have different tare weight and net weight and hence the input device 216 enables the user to enter data when the display unit 204 queries the gross weight and net weight. Alternatively, the input device 216 may be a RFID reader for reading gross weight and net weight information stored in a RFID tag that is fixed on the gas container. In such case, the user need not enter weight information using the input device 216. One can envision that, the input device 216 and the display 204 can be combined into one unit such as touch screen based unit.

In accordance to the foregoing description, the digital scale 102 displays the level of the gas in the gas container when the digital scale is switched ON. Alternatively, the digital scale 102 computes the level of the gas in the gas container by movement of the trolley 100. When the trolley 100 is moved, the disturbance to the stability of the trolley 100 activates the digital scale 102. This helps save power of batteries 214 in the digital scale providing power to the components of the digital scale 102 and the digital sensors 112.

We Claim:

1. Anapparatus comprising:

a top plateadapted tosupport a gas container; a bottom plate;

at least two pillars disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate, each of the at least two pillars being placed opposite to each other;

at least two digital sensors disposed in the at least two pillars, wherein each of the at least two digital sensors are configured to sense weight of the gas container via the top plate; and

a digital scale connected to the at least two digital sensors and configured for computing level of gas in the gas container based on the inputs from the at least two digital sensors.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital scale comprises a display for displaying the level of gas in the gas container.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital scale comprises:

a processor unit configured for computing weight of the gas container based on the inputs received from the at least two digital sensors and computing a level of gas remaining in the gas container based on the weight of the gas container.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processor unit is configured for generating an alarm notification via a buzzer if the weight of the gas container is greater than a pre-determined threshold.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processor unit is configured for generating an alarm notification via a buzzer if the level of gas in the gas container falls below a preset threshold.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the digital scale comprises a transceiver coupled to the processing unit and configured for communicating an alarm notification to a handheld device when the level of gas in the gas container falls below a preset threshold.

7. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the transceiver is configured for communicating the level of gas in the gas container to a handheld device based on a query received from the handheld device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital scale comprises:

an input device coupled to the processing unit and configured for inputting weight information associated with the gas container.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the input device is selected from the group consisting of a keypad, a touch pad and a radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a pair of rollers attached to the bottom plate for providing movement to the bottom plate.