Elias J Margonis

US Patent:

8306884, Nov 6, 2012

Filed:

Oct 12, 2010

Appl. No.:

12/902549

Inventors:

Elias Margonis - Houston TX, US
Charles N. Harper - Houston TX, US

Assignee:

Air Liquide Industrial U.S. LP - Houston TX

International Classification:

G06Q 10/00

US Classification:

705 34

Abstract:

A billing system for supply contrasts in an industrial network is disclosed. In the case of a pipeline, a process flow computer installed at each customer site may each receive instantaneous flow readings from a flow meter. The process flow computer may be configured to accumulate product volumes in different volume groups, where each volume group corresponds to a range of instantaneous flow rates. Different volume groups may be associated with different rates ultimately charged to a customer. The volume groups may be assigned by a computing system running a billing application at a pipeline operations control center. Volume groups may be set for individual customers based on a contract summary of an agreement between a given customer and the operator of an industrial network.

US Patent:

20110251938, Oct 13, 2011

Filed:

Dec 16, 2010

Appl. No.:

12/969949

Inventors:

Elias Margonis - Houston TX, US
Charles Neely Harper - Houston TX, US

Assignee:

Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP - Houston TX

International Classification:

G06Q 10/00

US Classification:

705 34

Abstract:

Techniques are disclosed for managing certain aspects of a large industrial operation (such as a pipeline). A commodity materials invoice system may allow a user to model a commodity invoice as a template and subsequently use that template to model commodity usage for different periods of time. Costs for a given billing period may be estimated based on actual commodity consumption. For example, data from a SCADA system monitoring different aspects of a pipeline may be used to estimate invoice costs for retail commodity consumption. The commodity materials invoice system may be configured to present both estimated and actualized invoice data side-by-side, allowing users to make a direct comparison of the estimated and actualized invoice data.