CAM-323

The tank is overflowing from the top

First thing in the morning at the tank farm. Product is pouring over the rim of the tank roof in a curtain, running down the whole wall and gathering inside the containment. At the low corner of the containment a tongue of liquid is already reaching the sidewalk outside. Two workers are in frame, a hundred feet away, and haven’t seen it yet. IRIS sees the liquid coming over the rim, and sees how far it has spread across the ground.

CAM-323 · TANK 12 · OVERTOP

What IRIS understands

What it recognizes in this scene

product spilling over the roof rim
overflowing tank
containment wall
liquid escaping the containment
worker out in the tank farm roadway
worker walking toward the containment

What this camera measures

An alert says something’s happening. The reading says how much.

3 minTime since the first spill over the rim
1Level in the containment, in wall courses
6Wet slabs outside the containment
2People in frame
07:52Time of the first overflow

The figures on this screen are an example from the illustration, not any client’s measurement.

The rule

You decide once. IRIS applies it always.

liquid comes over the rim of a tank roof or product gathers in the containment

Then

alert the control room with the tank, the camera and the exact time
save the video from the first spill over the rim
time the episode and track how much ground the pool is covering

The instruction that set it up«Tell me as soon as product comes over the rim of a tank or liquid gathers in the containment, and tell me how long it has been going.»

What changes

What changes for whoever answers for the plant

Seven thirty in the morning, shift change, and whoever comes on inherits a tank that has been filling all night. An overflow is usually noticed by the smell or because somebody walks past; by then the containment is already working at its limit and product is starting to leave where it shouldn’t. With the camera, the alert goes out with the first curtain of liquid over the rim: there are minutes, not hours, to close the inlet. And the video stays, with the exact time, which is what the insurer and the environmental authority will ask for later.

What people usually ask

Does the tank level gauge not warn you first?

It should, and usually it does. But a gauge can be out of service, badly calibrated or reading the wrong tank, and those are exactly the overflows that end up in a report. The camera doesn’t depend on the instrument: it sees the liquid coming over the rim. It’s a second, independent check, and it leaves footage of what happened.

Does it also see a small pool inside the containment?

Yes, if the plant asks for it. The containment is a fixed surface the camera always sees the same way, so a new pool stands out. What IRIS sees is that there’s liquid where there used to be dry concrete, and that the stain is growing. Whether that liquid is product or rainwater is for whoever goes to look to say, with the video in front of them.

Does IRIS close the tank inlet valve?

No. IRIS alerts, it doesn’t act: it closes no valves, stops no pumps and sends nobody anywhere. The decision stays with a person. What changes is that the person finds out with the first curtain of product over the rim, and not once the containment is already full.

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