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 bund. At the low corner of the bund a tongue of liquid is already reaching the pavement outside. Two workers are in shot, thirty metres away, and have not 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 recognises in this scene

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

What this camera measures

An alert says something is happening. The reading says how much.

3 minTime since the first spill over the rim
1Level in the bund, in wall courses
6Wet slabs outside the bund
2People in shot
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 bund

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 bund, and tell me how long it has been going.»

What changes

What changes for whoever answers for the plant

An overflow is usually found by the smell, or because somebody walked past. By then the bund is already working at its limit and product starts going where it should not. With the camera, the alert goes out with the first curtain of liquid over the rim: there are minutes, not hours, to shut the inlet. And the video stays, with the exact time, which is what the insurer and the environmental authority will ask for afterwards.

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 does not depend on the instrument: it sees the liquid coming over the rim. It is a second, independent check, and it leaves footage of what happened.

Does it also see a small pool inside the bund?

Yes, if the plant asks for it. The bund is a fixed surface the camera always sees the same way, so a new pool stands out. What IRIS sees is that there is 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 does not 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 bund is already full.

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