A Tank Farm Data Reduction System

A tank farm data reduction system has been developed for the new Tidewater Oil Company installation in Delaware by the Armour Research Foundation and Panellit, Inc. The function of the unit is to secure the temperature corrected volume of fluid in each of the approximately 100 tanks in the field. The inputs to the system are the fluid height and average tank temperature. Fluid volume is tabulated digitally as a function of the height on magnetic tape. The system automatically searches the tape for the indicated volume and multiplies the number by the temperature correction factor. This paper describes the operation of the multiplier, the tape search elements, and the sensing instruments employed in the field. The factors governing the selection of the specific elements in the storage and computing system are also discussed.