Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a system for tracking fullness level of cylinders that especially contain a fuel in the form of fluid such as LPG, natural gas, LNG, and to a method of operation for said system.

Background Art

The cylinders such as domestic cylinders or camping cylinders, which contain a high- pressure fuel in the form of fluid (e.g. LPG, natural gas, LNG etc.), are made of high- pressure resistant metal materials. Therefore, the amount of fuel remaining in the cylinder cannot be observed by users during the use of said cylinders. Since the users cannot observe how much fuel is left in the cylinder, they cannot figure out when the fuel will run out. As a result, the users may be left without fuel at unexpected times. In the state-of-the-art, there are various applications for detecting the amount of fuel in a cylinder. One of these applications is disclosed in the utility model document no. TR200400165U. In this document, there is disclosed a cylinder base plate with a cylinder replacement indicator. Said cylinder base plate measures the weight of the cylinder and displays the amount of fuel remaining inside the cylinder to users via an indicator. Here, tare weight of the cylinder is subtracted from the measured weight to give the amount of the fuel inside the cylinder. However, the tare weight of a cylinder does not always have the same standard value because the cylinders of different brands or different cylinders of the same brand may have different tare values. Therefore, with the application mentioned in said document, the amount of fuel remaining inside the cylinder cannot be detected accurately, in particular for the different cylinders. Brief Disclosure of the Invention

With the present invention, there is provided a tracking system for tracking the amount of fluid inside a cylinder, and a method of operation for said tracking system. The tracking system comprises at least one weighing element, on which at least one cylinder is placed and which senses the weight of the cylinder placed thereon; at least one GSM connection module which establishes communication with at least one portable device over GSM and which receives information about the cylinder placed on the weighing element from said portable device; at least one processor, which calculates the amount of fluid inside the cylinder by using the information received via the GSM connection module and information of weight sensed by the weighing element, and which allows to send a warning to the portable device via GSM connection module if the amount of fluid inside the cylinder is below a threshold value. The method of operation for the tracking system comprises the steps of matching said GSM connection module with the portable device; transmitting information about the cylinder placed on the weighing element to the GSM connection module via the portable device; sensing, by the weighing element, of weight of the cylinder placed on the weighing element; calculating, by the processor, the amount of fluid inside the cylinder by using the information about the cylinder transmitted to the GSM connection module and information of weight sensed by the weighing element; sending a warning to the portable device via the GSM connection module if the amount of fluid inside the cylinder is below the threshold value. According to the tracking system developed according to the present invention, the amount of fluid inside the cylinder is able to be calculated accurately even for different cylinders because of the fact that the information about the cylinder (e.g. tare weight information, etc.) is transmitted to the GSM connection module via a portable device. Furthermore, it is ensured that the tracking system is used in all desired environments since the connection of the GSM connection module with the portable device is performed over GSM.

Object of the Invention The object of the present invention is to provide a tracking system for tracking fullness level of the cylinders that contain especially a fuel in the form of fluid such as LPG, natural gas, LNG, and to a method of operation for said tracking system. Another object of the present invention is to provide a tracking system for tracking the amount of fluid inside different cylinders, and a method of operation for said tracking system.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tracking system that warns a user when the amount of fluid inside the cylinder decreases, and a method of operation for said tracking system.

Description of the Drawings An exemplary embodiment of the tracking system developed according to the present invention is illustrated in the attached drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the developed tracking system.

All the parts illustrated in the drawing are individually assigned a reference numeral and the corresponding terms of these numbers are listed as follows:

Cylinder (T)

Barcode (R)

Weighing element (S)

Description of Invention Fuels in the form of fluid such as LPG, natural gas, LNG, or different fluids (e.g. gases liquefied under high pressure) are stored in cylinders. When the fluid inside the cylinder is consumed by users, said cylinders should be replaced. However, since the cylinders generally do not have a transparent structure, the amount of fluid in the cylinders is not be able to be observed. Therefore, with the present invention, there is developed a tracking system for tracking the amount of fluid inside a cylinder, and a method of operation for said tracking system.

The tracking system according to the present invention, an exemplary embodiment of which is illustrated in Figure 1 , comprises at least one weighing element (S), on which at least one cylinder (T) is placed and which senses the weight of the cylinder (T) placed thereon; at least one GSM connection module, which is preferably provided inside the weighing element (S) and matches with at least one portable device (e.g. a mobile phone etc.) of a user so as to establish communication with said portable device over GSM protocol, and which receives information about the cylinder (T) placed on the weighing element (S) from said portable device; at least one processor (e.g. a microprocessor), which is preferably provided inside the weighing element (S) and calculates the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (T) by using the information received via the GSM connection module and information of weight sensed by the weighing element (S), and which allows to send a warning to the portable device via GSM connection module if the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (T) is below a threshold value.

The method of operation for the tracking system developed according to the present invention comprises the steps of matching said GSM connection module with the portable device of the user who is utilizing the cylinder; transmitting information about the cylinder (T) placed on the weighing element (S) to the GSM connection module via the portable device; sensing, by the weighing element (S), of weight of the cylinder (T) placed on the weighing element (S); calculating, by the processor, the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (T) by using the information about the cylinder transmitted to the GSM connection module and information of weight sensed by the weighing element (S); sending a warning to the portable device via GSM connection module if the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (T) is below the threshold value. According to this method, the step of calculating the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (T) is preferably repeated at certain periods. Thus, the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (P) is able to be controlled continuously. In an alternative embodiment, to calculate the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (P), a command is sent to the GSM connection module by the portable device. In said embodiment, after the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (P) is calculated upon the command, the information of calculated amount of fluid is transmitted to the portable device via GSM connection module. Thus, the user is able to know the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (T) accurately.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, at the step of transmitting information about the cylinder (T) placed on the weighing element (S) to the GSM connection module by a portable device, the information about the cylinder (e.g. tare weight of the cylinder) is manually input to the portable device. In an alternative embodiment, at least one barcode (R) (e.g. a QR code) provided on the cylinder (T) is read by the portable device so as to obtain information about the cylinder (T). The information so obtained is transmitted directly to the GSM connection module. In this way, it is ensured that the information is transmitted in a practical and error-free manner.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the tracking system comprises at least one leakage sensor for detecting any leakage (escape) of fluid inside the cylinder (T) from the cylinder (T). In case there is a fuel such as LPG inside the cylinder (T), said leakage sensor is in the form of an odor sensor. According to this embodiment, said method comprises the steps of detecting, by the leakage sensor, whether the fluid inside the cylinder (T) escapes or not; sending at least a further warning to the portable device via GSM connection module when any leakage is detected.

Yet in another preferred embodiment of the invention, said tracking system comprises at least one screen that establishes a wireless connection (for example, via said GSM connection module or at least another wireless connection module) with the processor. Said screen may be an external element, or it may be, for example, a component of a unit (e.g. a cooker) to which the cylinder is attached (T). Thus, information about the cylinder (T) (information about fullness level, leakage etc.) is able to be displayed on the screen to the users, while the unit, to which the cylinder (T) is attached, is in use.

According to the tracking system developed with the present invention, the amount of fluid inside the cylinder (T) is able to be calculated precisely even for the different cylinders (T) because of the fact that the information about the cylinder (T) (e.g. tare weight information etc.) is transmitted to the GSM connection module by the portable device. Furthermore, since the connection between the GSM connection module and the portable device is established over GSM, it is ensured that said tracking system is utilized in all desired environments.