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Dedicated Electronics: When Modular Dispenser Components are Too Much

In Nigeria, Vietnam, Algeria and other emerging markets, US-style gasoline dispensers often don’t fit the bill—either in terms of costs or components. Gary Hanks describes Bennett Pump Company’s ingenious solution.



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Author: Hanks Gary
Tailor-made technology for emerging markets
This is the third article in PE&T’s continuing coverage of new and state-of-the-art dispenser technology. The February issue featured Dresser Wayne’s new technology for dispenser hydraulics; the April issue featured Universel Epsco’s use of fiber optics technology in dispensers. In the following article, Gary Hanks discusses why and how Bennett Pump Company developed the use of dedicated electronic components as a means of making modern dispenser technology available to marketers in emerging markets.

Manufacturers talk endlessly about the value of listening to their customers. In the last decade, gasoline dispenser manufacturers have listened attentively to their high-technology customers in advanced markets, such as the US or Western Europe. The manufacturers responded admirably with a host of powerful features to meet the needs of modern petroleum marketers. Pick up any petroleum industry trade magazine and, chances are, you will find an article on “dispenser technology.”

The industry continues to buzz with news about pay-at-the-pump methods for credit/debit/cash, touch screen displays, fast food menu ordering, and Internet-enabled video displays.

But have we failed to listen to customers in emerging markets, such as Nigeria, Vietnam, Algeria and other places where many of the advanced features of the US-style gasoline dispensers may not yet be appropriate or needed? In some emerging markets, there may not be a sizable credit-card base; fast food may not be available and the C-store concept may not have arrived. Also in such markets, full-service gasoline facilities are still the dominant method for delivering fuel to the consumer; only one or, possibly, two gasoline products are sold; and blending products at the dispenser is never considered.

 
The nine components for a modular one-product, one-hose dispenser are: (clockwise from top) (1) money/volume main display, side one; (2) money/volume main display, side two; (3) 12 volt battery; (4) power transformer; (5) IO circuit board; (6) power distribution circuit board; (7) price per volume display, side one; (8) price per volume display, side two; and (9) CPU circuit board (center). This is the minimum number of components for a modular design dispenser.

Electronic shock?
Bennett Pump Company’s strong historical presence in these emerging markets provides a far flung listening post to the needs of this sizable market segment. Historically these markets have used mechanical-computing dispensers. Mechanical dispensers have a proven track record for reliability, a relatively low learning curve for maintenance and repair, and an affordable price.

About four years ago, many marketers in these markets made their first tentative inquiries into the possibility of using electronic dispensers. As the marketers watched other markets deploy technology and modern aesthetics to create an advantage, they began to see the benefits of electronic dispensers.

The first inquiries were about price: Ouch! Next the marketers asked about skill levels needed for technicians to service and maintain the electronic systems: Ouch, ouch! Then they asked about the cost of spare parts inventory: Ouch, ouch, ouch! Bennett personnel listened carefully when their emerging market customers asked:

• Can’t you make it less expensive?
• Why is it so complicated to service?
• Why are there so many electronic parts to stock and why do they cost so much?

Bennett’s engineering and marketing personnel began to ask themselves the same questions. More importantly, the company began to earnestly reinvestigate the needs of these often-neglected markets. Out of this effort, some simple facts emerged:

• Marketers in many countries marketed only one or two gasoline products.
• If diesel fuel was sold, it was almost always sold from a dispenser separate from the gasoline offering.
• Pay-at-the-pump technologies were seldom needed.
• Although full-service was predominant in most emerging markets, self-service gasoline consoles were often employed for data collection and shift reconciliation.
• Skilled electronic service technicians were in short supply and the cost to train them was prohibitive.
• The US supply line for service parts was geographically distant, requiring large inventories at the service contractor’s warehouse.
• While these markets wanted to step-up to electronic dispensing to receive the benefits of price-changing simplicity, electronic data storage and a high tech, modern appearance, many of the advanced features of a US-style dispenser were not required.

A re-examination of the true needs of the emerging markets led Bennett to question the modular foundation of the electronic design that has dominated dispenser designs for more than two decades.

Modular electronics
Since the inception of the traditional multiple product dispenser (MPD), manufacturers have used a modular electronics design to economically meet the requirements for a wide variety of dispenser configurations. With electronic dispensers offered in configurations for handling from one to four products, it made sense to employ separate electronic circuit boards for functions that were product dependent: product price-per-volume displays; and product input/output (IO) functions.

To accommodate the most extreme configurations, large transformers and large battery backup systems were required. Multiple product control and data processing required powerful and large central processing unit (CPU) circuit components. In the modular design, these same large components are required even for the less taxing demands of one- or two-product dispensers.

Chart 1 details the large numbers of circuit components required by the modular design for the traditional multiple- and single-product dispensers. These dispensers can support advanced features, such as cash/credit/debit payment at the pump; three and sometimes four products available at a single fueling position; and blending the high- and low-octane offerings to create additional mid-octane products.

As shown in Chart 1, 18 components are required to support the most extreme example that could be found in a three-gasoline product, one-diesel product dispenser. Nine components are required to support a one-product, one-hose dispenser. This 50 percent reduction in components rationalizes the use of modular designs to control costs across the wide spectrum of dispenser configurations. The nine components for a one-product, one-hose dispenser are shown in the photo on top.

Chart 1: Circuit components required in “Modular” dispenser design.
  (A)(B)
Circuit ComponentFunctionQtyQty
CPUDispenser Control11
Main Sales Display, Side 1Displays Money & Volume Sale Amount11
Secondary Sales Display, Side 2Displays Money & Volume Sale Amount11
Product Price DisplayDisplays Individual Product Price82
Power SupplyProvides Electronic Power11
IOProvides Valve and Motor Control41
TransformerPower Supply AC Mains Interface11
Back-up BatteryEmergency Power11
 Total Components189
 
(A) Modular 1-Product, 1-Hose, Island Oriented Fueling (B) Modular 4-Product, 8-Hose, Lane Oriented Fueling

The modular scheme is functionally and economically effective in meeting the myriad configurations required for multiple product dispensing while maintaining the capability for advanced options—all of which are essential in today’s advanced markets. But what about the not-so-advanced markets?

Dedicated electronics
As Bennett discovered, dispenser configurations for emerging markets are often greatly reduced, requiring support for only one or two products. A case for dedicated electronic circuitry was born in the minds of the Bennett engineering group. While dedicated designs were employed in early electronic dispensers before the arrival of the MPD, advances in electronic components presented new opportunities to condense circuitry and reduce costs.

Required was the circuit functionality of the one-product modular dispenser, designed into the minimum number of circuit components possible. The final design solution produced two bare circuit board components that can be assembled into three basic circuit board assemblies. (See Figure 1.)

Chart 2 details the number of circuit components required in the dedicated electronics package for either a two-product, island-oriented, two-hose dispenser or a one-product, island-oriented, one-hose dispenser.

As shown in Chart 2, a comparison of the traditional modular design, one-product dispenser, with the dedicated design, one-product dispenser, reveals a significant reduction of circuit components from nine to three. Without the requirement to support the extreme multiple product configurations, many circuit functions can be combined in the same circuit board. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1: Dedicated Electronics Block Diagram
Chart 2: Circuit components required in “Dedicated” dispenser design.
  (A)(B)
Circuit ComponentFunctionQtyQty
Main Display/CPU, Side 1Dispenser control. Displays money & volume sale amount and individual product price21
Auxiliary Display, Side 2Displays money & volume sale amount and individual product price21
Power Supply/IOProvides electronic power. Provides valve and motor control21
 Total Components63
(A) Dedicated 1-Product, 1-Hose, Island Oriented Fueling (B)Dedicated 2-Product, 2-Hose, Island Oriented Fueling

Dedicated circuit components
The three components required in a dispenser using a dedicated electronic circuit design are shown in Photo 2 and are described as follows:

Main display/CPU: An integrated CPU and main display on a small (six-inch by seven-inch)circuit board replaces multiple boards and connectors used in modular designs. Money and volume sale amounts are displayed in one-inch characters on an LCD panel. Product-price-per-volume values are displayed in half-inch characters in a separate LCD panel. Dispenser CPU circuitry is combined with display circuitry.

With only one product to control, a less powerful, hence smaller, CPU function is required. With the smaller CPU size, both the money/volume sales display and the price-per-volume display could be combined on the same circuit board.

Auxiliary display: The most common dispenser configuration in emerging markets requires an island-oriented nozzle that can be used by customers in either side-one or side-two traffic lanes. In this configuration, a display is required on both sides of the dispenser. The main display/CPU mentioned above provides the display for side one. An auxiliary display circuit board provides the display for side two.

The auxiliary display circuit board contains only the circuitry required to display money-and-volume-sale amounts and product price-per-volume values. Data to be displayed is transmitted by the CPU circuitry of the main display/CPU. The main display/CPU circuit board was designed to allow a depopulated version to serve as the auxiliary display. The duplicate nature of the auxiliary display data allowed the use of the same circuit board employed for the main display/CPU.

Power supply / IO: A small, linear power supply, transformer and IO module was incorporated into a single board measuring only three inches by six inches. An off-the-shelf, inexpensive nine-volt battery is provided for last sale recall in the event of a power outage.

The power supply/IO circuit board supplies regulated voltage to all electronic circuitry. Additionally, the circuit board contains all power output circuitry to drive dispenser valves, motor and electro-mechanical totalizers.

Reduced power requirements of a single-product design allowed a smaller transformer that could be mounted on the power supply/IO circuit board. The same reduced power requirements resulted in a smaller battery mounted on board.

Unlike the modular design where the number of valves and motors is uncertain, this known and fixed number in the dedicated design allowed the IO interface circuitry to be combined with the power supply components.

Photo 2: A measuring caliper (top) shows the small size of the three components needed in a dedicated design, one-product dispenser with island orientation

An old concept is reborn
By re-thinking the modular design approach, Bennett created a dedicated electronics package to meet the demands of the emerging markets. An engineering design project was started late in 1996. The first of the new dedicated electronics dispensers were shipped in mid-1997 and had the following advantages:

• Without the cost burden of the modular design, the new dedicated package was very affordable—not much more than the traditional mechanical computer.
• With only two or three electronic components, service was practically intuitive. In fact, traditional voltage meter and on-board diagnostic troubleshooting methods can usually be ignored since each electronic component can be replaced in less than ten minutes. Cost over the lifetime of the dispenser is greatly reduced when compared to mechanical-computing dispensers or modular design electronic dispensers.
• The small number of components and their low cost reduces the inventory requirements of service contractors. The probability of the service contractor having the necessary parts to repair a dispenser on the first service trip is greatly increased. This design simplicity contributes significantly to the low cost of ownership over the lifetime of the dispenser.

Photo 3: This dedicated design truck-stop diesel dispenser needs only two electronic components because it is lane-oriented (no need for an auxiliary display on side two)

When the dedicated electronic design was packaged into a sleek, modern chassis atop standard Bennett hydraulics, the emerging markets had an electronics dispenser that closely matched their needs.

While the dedicated CPU design has been described as less powerful than its power-packed modular brother, plenty of power remained for additional functions. The new dedicated package contains an 89C55 Atmel eight-bit processor running at 11 mhz; 20K ROM and 256 bytes of RAM are available. The CPU circuitry also contains a one million write cycle EEPROM for non-volatile memory storage. The result is more than the customer requested, with standard features such as:

• Console prepay, preset, postpay or stand-alone operation.
• Local preset, a built-in feature desired mostly for the full-service market.
• Three programmable units of measure: US gallons, liters or Imperial gallons.
• Electronic meter calibration.
• Remote price posting from control consoles/POS or local posting at the dispenser.
• Remote or local electronic totals retrieval and display. • Programmable decimal point location to accommodate worldwide currency sizes.
• On-board diagnostics.
• Non-volatile CPU memory that ensures data retention of electronic sales and gallonage totals. Sales data is retained during power outages, or an erasure or upgrade to the software program.

The 2200 series Horizon Dispenser line packaged the dedicated electronics components into a wide range of 27-inch-wide chassis options to allow remote or self-contained (suction) hydraulics, one- or two-product dispensing, lane- or island-oriented nozzles in high- or low-hose models. A recent addition to the 2200 model line incorporates a 60 gpm rotary meter for high speed fueling at truck stops and marinas (see Photo 3). A companion satellite dispenser allows simultaneous fueling from both sides of a truck.

Because of the small size of the electronic package, Bennett has been able to design a two-product, Active-4 dispenser that is only 27 inches wide. Sometimes referred to as the Motor Scooter Pump, the Active-4 dispenser allows simultaneous dispensing from four hoses.

Beyond emerging markets
While the new 2200 design was focused on Bennett’s customers in emerging markets, a pleasant surprise has been its acceptance in niche applications for the US and other developed markets. Many C-stores wanted an inexpensive electronic dispenser that was modern in appearance, but cost-effective for small gallonage volumes of diesel or kerosene. Many marinas have found that the 2200 series dispenser fulfills their requirements for an inexpensive, modern electronic dispenser for refueling boats.

The model line has expanded further with the addition of volume-only displays for non-retail use as a commercial dispenser. A recent enhancement to the electronics system provides programmable pulser output to emulate the various pulses generated by mechanical-computing commercial dispensers. This important feature creates compatibility with virtually every fleet management system, without the need for software interface development or an expensive interface device.

By listening intently to its customers and questioning its own most basic design assumptions, Bennett uncovered an opportunity to expand its product offering. The results are benefiting Bennett and a core group of international customers in emerging markets. Bennett believed originally that it was creating three or four models that would satisfy the unique needs of those particular customers. Along the way, opportunities continued to bloom to satisfy other niche customers, expanding the line to twenty models.

Gary Hanks is Director of International Sales for Bennett Pump Company.

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