Comprehensive Management of Your Bulk Liquid Inventories
FuelsManager Oil & Gas collects process data from tank gauging instrumentation and performs inventory calculations to recognized industry standards. All measured and calculated variables are then displayed via an intuitive, graphical interface for your terminal operators. Tank inventories are predominantly monitored and managed using tank detail and tank group displays. FuelsManager's Tank Detail displays provide inventory management information relating to a single tank, such as measured data collected from tank gauges, calculated information, overfill alarm settings and tank status. Tank Group displays aggregate data relating to multiple tanks to provide clear, concise overviews of groups of tanks or for your entire facility.
- Create and modify tank groups in real-time and choose which tanks and tank data are displayed in each group.
- Switch quickly between graphical and tabular tank views using a single hot key.
- Graphical Tank Group displays show a single (operator configurable) process variable per tank, along with a dynamically updating image of the tank contents. The display also indicates the tank mode and presence/direction of product movement (flow) into or out of the tank
- Graphics automatically change to reflect the tank shape defined in the FuelsManager database (i.e. vertical cylinder, sphere, horizontal). Additional data for a tank is available by either double-clicking on the tank to open the Tank Detail display or right-clicking and selecting "Process Data" from the pop-up menu.
Viewing Inventory Data for a Single Tank
Tank Detail screens are displayed in the main FuelsManager window. You can quickly select a tank to display from the tank task group or the tank list can be opened from the main menu, icon toolbar or by using a keyboard shortcut. If multiple tank detail windows are open, you are able to navigate easily between them by using the tabbed views.
Manual Measurement
Measured values are obtained automatically from your tank gauge instrumentation and are used to provide calculated values. If your operations require manual measurements, such as a hand-dipped level or water bottom measurement, you are able to input these directly into FuelsManager from the Tank Detail display. All inventory data is then re-calculated based on the value you provided.
Alarms
Level alarm settings are shown on the tank image. If required, your operators are also able to change high and low level alarms from the Tank Detail display. Access to these and other functions throughout FuelsManager will depend on the user security levels set up by your system administrator.
Tank Status
From the Tank Detail display, you can also monitor the transfer of products through your tanks. Tank Detail displays include data relative to a given tank’s operational status. FuelsManager displays the tank status in simple terms like “Emptying”, “Filling” or “Stopped”. The current calculated flow rate is also included to provide the operator an instant tank status at a glance. This simple and fundamental information can be utilized in a variety of ways to provide additional information, safety or control, such as Tank Status Alarms, Transfer Monitoring and Level Limit ETA Alarms.
Tank Status Alarms are comprised of three individually configurable alarms - Movement, No Flow, and Reverse Flow. FuelsManager compares the Tank Command to the Tank Status and provides one of these alarms if they are configured. A Movement Alarm occurs when the Tank Command is set to Stop but the Tank Status is either Filling or Emptying. The No Flow Alarm is the opposite of a Movement alarm - If the Tank Command is set to Fill or Empty, and the Tank Status remains Stopped for a given amount of time, the No Flow Alarm will occur. The Reverse Flow Alarm occurs when the Tank Status is opposite to the Tank Command, i.e. Fill command with Emptying status or Empty command with Filling status.
Transfer monitoring allows the operator to select a Transfer Mode and associated Transfer Set Point. The mode tells the system how to monitor the transfer and the set point tells the system when the transfer will end based on the selected mode. Using these two variables, the Operator can tell the system to monitor a transfer to a given level or volume. Once these two variables are entered, the system monitors the transfer and provides the volume transferred and transfer time remaining on the fly. The system can be configured to provide a Transfer Advisory Alarm when the time remaining is within a designated period, given the current flow rate. When the transfer reaches the shutdown set point, the system generates an alarm to notify the operator it has completed.
The Level Limit ETA Alarms are another option that provides operators with a warning. It is triggered when the level reaches a Level Alarm limit within a designated time given the current flow rate. This option includes a calculated time to reach the given level alarm limits at the current flow rate. Level Limit ETA Alarms are not included on the default Tank Detail, but is always available to any operation that desires the feature.
Viewing Inventory Data for Groups of Tanks
FuelsManager provides two types of tank groups: Static and Dynamic. A Static Tank Group is composed of tanks that have been explicitly identified as part of the group. They remain constant unless a tank is added, inserted or deleted manually by the operator. Static Tank Groups are generally grouped by location. For example, tanks 6-10, which are located in the "Truck Rack Storage Area", are combined into a static group.
Dynamic Tank Groups
Dynamic Tank Groups are created by defining a filter (or condition) that a tank must meet before it is included in the Tank Group, e.g. level greater than 10ft or product equals Jet A. Having defined this filter, FuelsManager then automatically adds and deletes tanks from the Tank Group based on the filter conditions. As with the Static Tank Groups, the operator can still define what data is displayed in which column and can save the group with a user-defined name.
Using the Dynamic Tank Group the operator could:
- Define a Tank Group for each product and have FuelsManager automatically add/delete a tank from a group when the product is changed.
- Define a Tank Group that shows only tanks where the flow is greater than zero, effectively creating a "moving tank" display.
Combine conditions in a filter. For example, a Tank Group could be defined to show tanks with flow greater than zero and remaining transfer time less than 60 minutes. Operators would see a display containing moving tanks that are estimated to complete the transfer within the next hour (i.e. critical tanks).
Graphical or Tabular Views
Tank Groups can be shown with graphical images or with a familiar table format. Tank graphics allow you to quickly identify the status of tanks in the group by providing the current product level, a tank status icon, flow icons, a single process variable and level alarm set points. Graphics automatically change to reflect the tank shape defined in the FuelsManager database (i.e. cone roof tank, vertical cylinder, sphere, etc.). Rolling your mouse over a particular item provides further detailed information as does double-clicking on the tank to open the Tank Detail display or right-clicking and selecting "Process Data" from the pop-up menu.
Tabular tank group displays provide exact, real-time values you have selected to display with automated calculations for product totals. Both graphic and tabular tank groups allow you to quickly add or remove tanks or columns to modify the display based on your operations.
Volume Calculations
FuelsManager utilizes data inputs and measured variables, such as levels, temperatures, volumes, flow, etc., to perform calculations and display the results. Engineering units for individual variables can be selected based on your measuring applications and all calculations can be performed to recognized standards, such as American Petroleum Institute’s (API) 2004 standards, ASTM, IP, GB/T, GOST, JIS, Polynomial and others. See a complete list of calculated variables and calculation methods here.
Tank Calculator
The Tank Calculator is a valuable tool for scheduling and planning based on “what if” scenarios. You are able to manually perform calculations using current tank data without changing any tank values. For example, you are able to calculate "What would the level in the tank be if 100,000 gallons (378,541 liters) was added?” or “What volume could be added to reach the high level limit?". The Tank Calculator can be opened quickly from a Tank Detail display’s ‘Detail’ Menu. Once opened, simply click on cells to change values. Other values are automatically calculated based on your inputs.
Account for Pipeline Volumes in Your Inventory Reports
Your operators are able to utilize data from pipeline instruments and control devices, such as flow meters, together with pipeline volume information to provide accurate calculations of the liquid assets standing in your facility’s pipeline. The pipeline volumes can then be included in reports and shown graphically to your operators in the same way they would view tank inventories.
Data Output
An optional module allows FuelsManager to log data at specific periods or at triggered events. An output file is created containing user specified tank variables from all tank points in the FuelsManager database. These files (CSV, HTML or XML files) can then be imported into other applications for cross business/systems reporting.
