A MICROPROCESSOR-BASED GAS SYSTEM TOWN BORDER STATION ALARM & CONTROL SYSTEM

Abstract

Natural gas is widely used as a fuel for heating by domestic and industrial consumers in many parts of North America. The gas is piped at high pressure, from the gas wells to "Town Border Stations", on the outskirts of load centers, where the pressure is reduced to safe levels before distribution to consumers. The proper functioning of Town Border Stations is of prime importance, in the province of Saskatchewan with winter ambient temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius, but present methods of maintenance do not guarantee continuity of service. With the introduction of microprocessors the use of stored program, or "intelligent", controllers has become viable, from economic considerations alone, for a vast range of applications. This thesis describes the use of a microprocessor based intelligent controller for: generating advance warning of possible failure to enable early initiation of preventive measures; providing information about the functional status of the Town border Station - among others; and as a basis for forming a unified data acquisition/ information network for the entire gas system. General information on system background and communications requirements for the Town Border Station monitoring system is presented. Further, some basic criteria for the formation of the data acquisition/ information network for the gas system and its' future applications are developed. Results of successful field tests and recommendations for full-scale implementation of the system are included in the concluding chapters.