ATC Solution for European Market
Sept. 1, 2009
ATC Solution for European Market
By Nate Todd, EIT
Kraus Global Inc. has a rich history with Automatic Temperature Compensation (ATC). Throughout the 1990s, 90% of all gasoline dispensers in Canada were retrofit with Kraus ATC technology. This experience has opened the door to new possibilities in Europe.
With recent Belgian legislation mandating all retail motor fuel must be volume corrected for temperature variations by 2015, Kraus Global has had a unique opportunity to partner with a Belgian company to create an ATC solution for the European market. The project, started in 2007, has been highly successful, yet has had to face a few unique challenges along the way. While the form, fit, and function of ATC technology is the same regardless of location, European dispenser electronics differ from those in North America. A good example of this is the flow meter pulses. In Europe these can vary greatly not only from those in NA, but from eachother as well. Because of this wide variety in pulse widths, frequencies, and amplitudes, the ATC solution required complete reengineering from the previous North American version. Of course, Kraus is pleased to announce that the project has been successfull and the resulting product is fully compatible with the majority of popular motor fuel dispensers across the continent. It also meets both Belgian Weights and Measures and European codes and standards.
Station operators have also reacted to the product very favorably, and the initial pilot program has quickly expanded to include hundreds of dispensers located not only in Belgium, but also in Switzerland and Germany.
But the potential in Europe does not solely rest in government mandates. For many operators, especially those in cooler climates, the motivation to implement ATC technology is also driven by simple economics. Without ATC, when the temperature drops and the gasoline in a storage tank shrink, the station owners have less gasoline to sell, even though they have paid for a larger volume. With ATC, the volumes of liquid motor fuels dispensed are corrected for expansion and contraction due to temperature changes. This means that the owners no longer lose money when the weather turns cold, and they love it.
Kraus is not taking anything for granted, though, and has continued to streamline the already popular product. Ease-of-installation is a key feature that the Kraus design team has focused on, creating a product that enables the station owners to install it themselves, in as little as half a day (or as as little as an hour and a half for two experienced installers). Another product feature currently being implemented will allow the device to communicate with more dispenser makes and models, adding even greater versatility to the already widely compatible original.
With the combination of government mandates, economics, a highly successful pilot project, and a team dedicated to creating a product that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of the markets, Kraus is confident that their European model ATC kit is poised to repeat the success of it's North American partner. And that makes the future potential in Europe very promissing indeed.
