Car engines need fuel to run. As everyone knows, we buy fuel from gas stations or petrol stations. Before the gas stations took their present form, petroleum products were sold as a by-product in pharmacies. Yes, you read it right, people were getting the fuel that powered their vehicles from pharmacies. It is known that the first of the stations, which did not work in the way they are today, started their activities in a pharmacy in Wiesloch, Germany.
With the developing technology, fuel stations began to move to their own private areas and take their current form. We also examined the way today’s fuel stations work for you. While refueling their car and engine, most people think of “How does the fuel get to this pump, where is its source?” We tried to answer questions such as:
Gasoline reaches us from tanks with a special technology.
Fueling is something that anyone who has owned a car has done for years and is usually not too hung up on the technical details. You dock your car at the station, refuel, pay your money and then you go. Although the system may seem so simple, as you can see above, the way the fuel stations work is quite interesting.
As you can see in the photo, the fuels that enable the vehicles to move reach the pump from the underground tanks. A special technology is used to ensure that the fuel reaches the pump from the tanks and then to our vehicles. At the same time, this technology is used both for environmental safety and for maintaining the structure of the tank.
Before we talk about this technology, let’s look at the structure of the tank:
The fuel in the tank has a dangerous structure. Therefore, the tanks are buried underground to prevent the fuel from coming into contact with the environment as much as possible. Tanks placed in pools dug underground are placed on a scale and fixed in order not to be affected by landslides that may occur after weather events such as precipitation and frost.
Since the tanks, which have an average storage capacity of 115,000 to 150,000 liters, will be underground for a long time, it is extremely important that both their internal and external structures do not corrode and the fuel inside is protected. Therefore, the inside and outside of the tanks are produced using special materials.
The system becomes safer thanks to the valves.
When we go to buy gas, we usually see nothing but pumps, markets and buildings. The warehouses of the stations that do not have a visible storage unit are usually kept underground, as we mentioned above, in tanks. These tanks are designed to store fuel in the safest way possible.
The volatile nature of the fuel greatly limits the amount of fuel that will be in the tank. Since fuel and fuel vapor fill the tank at the same time, overfilling may cause the tank to explode. In order to prevent this, there are various systems that show the filling amount of the tanks. At the beginning of these systems are valves. Two valves are often used at filling stations around the world.
The first of the valves, which looks similar to the one in the photo, prevents the fuel tanks from being overfilled. The second valve is responsible for regulating the amount of steam of the fuel leaving the tank. In case the tank is overfilled, these valves block the ventilation pipes in the tanks and prevent the steam from escaping. In this way, situations such as combustion and explosion are prevented.
The float sensors in the tank allow the fuel level in the storage tanks to be monitored instantly. These sensors transfer data to special systems in gas stations and enable the fuel level in the tank, as well as the speed of fuel distribution, to easily monitor situations such as whether there is a leak or not.
Here’s how the system that powers our car’s engine works:
Let’s try to explain the system, which is shown quickly and simply in the video above, without bogging you down in technical details:
- First of all, when the officer in charge of getting fuel to our car starts the pump, a system called the integrated field system starts to work behind the scenes to check that the pump system works correctly and that the desired fuel is loaded correctly.
- At the same time, this system prevents the operation of the fuel system until the officer gives approval.
- As soon as the approval is given, the field system sends a signal to the system inside the tank. Then the fuel starts to be pumped.
- The system, which automatically determines how many liters of fuel the amount of charge entered into the system is, automatically shuts itself off when the fuel is filled enough and stops the pump in the vehicle.
- New fuels are added to the tanks by trucks loaded with fuel every 6 to 12 months, depending on the end or service life of the fuel in these tanks.
We tried to explain the system of the gas stations that we pass by every day and almost every week we get fuel for our car. You can share your thoughts on the subject with us in the comments.
Sources: Science ABC, Veeder
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