The M. S.

University of Baroda

Methods and Resources of Optimization Study at Gujarat Gas CNG Filling Station Surat

A PRESENTATION BY :
Joshi Romil
Sharma Monika Shah Srujal Mistry Mitesh Patel Sheetal Nayyar Sumit Shah Digesh

Shah Darshita
Shah Pratik

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF :

Prof. V. D. Pathak

FLOW OF PRESENTATION
Introduction along with objectives of study Brief explanation about CNG fuelling with its advantages Lay-out and Location

Arrival System , Service System and Activity Charts.

Causes for Delays Analysis Cause Effect Analysis Suggestions and Proposed Procedures Survey Results

INTRODUCTION
Gujarat Gas Company Ltd. has offered franchise to install and operate CNG gas filling station in Surat to various agencies. One such gas filling station is at PunaKumbharia in Surat, which is run by Puna-Kumbharia group co-operation fruit and vegetable growers society Ltd. This station, due to its premier location, is heavily crowded and there is a long queue of vehicles (mainly auto-rickshaws) seeking to fill gas from the station, at any given time in the day. The company, being aware of the difficulties faced by their customers, wanted to carry out a study which would identify reasons of such long queues and find possible remedies by which the facilities at the station can be optimally utilized, without compromising on safety requirements, so as to achieve better customer satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY 1. To establish current optimum capacity of the filling station after studying the arrival and service pattern, current operating methodology and procedures. To workout the average filling per vehicle with type of vehicle (Car + Auto), average consumption per vehicle with type of vehicle (Car + Auto) per day. To carry out in-depth study of the existing systems & procedures and recommend the best practice to be followed and also suggest methods to streamline the operations like gas-compression, checking filling & payments etc. and to ensure optimum utilization of the facilities with streamlined procedures, proper manpower allocation in order to achieve greater degree of customer satisfaction. To survey the opinion of the customers regarding services quality, preferences for filling time, night incentives etc. and suggest schemes to spread out the customer flow, ensure all safety requirements and proper authenticity of customers and to provide value added services (cleaning of vehicle/air filling etc.) to the customers while in the queue to ensure their delight.

2.

3.

ADVANTAGES OF CNG AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL

Of all the available alternatives, compressed natural gas stands out as the most beneficial:

CNG is the most economical fuel available-from 30 to 60 percent cheaper than gasoline on an equivalent gallon basis. CNG reduces engine wear, more than doubling engine life because CNG burns clean and leaves no carbon deposits. Conversion costs. can be recovered from the savings in fuel and repairs over a 2 to 3 year period. CNG is highly efficient and better than gasoline when it comes to cold starts, vapour lock, cold or warm engine drivability ,compression. ratio and octave rating. CNG is abundant according to the Texas General Land Office, U.S. reserves alone represent a potential energy supply for 200 years. Use of these reserves will lessen dependency on foreign oil.

 CNG is environmentally friendly no cancer causing particulates, less carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions less acid rain, smog ground level ozone contamination and greenhouse effects. This is especially important in large metropolitan areas where approximately 60% of urban pollution comes from gasoline - and diesel powered vehicles. CNG is much safer than gasoline, diesel fuels, or propane. If released CNG does not liquefy or accumulate. It dissipates quickly because it is lighter than air and thus less prone to ignite or explode.

CNG REFUELLING STATIONS :

The purpose of the refuelling station is to introduce compressed natural gas at high pressure into a motor vehicle that has been converted to run on CNG. There are basically two fundamental concepts of refuelling station
Fast Fill Station which refills vehicles in exactly the same manner as normal petrol stations. These are generally suitable for refuelling cars, vans & light trucks and are public or fleet operating stations. Trickle Fill Stations which refill vehicle more slowly, for example over night. This concept is suitable for the fleet refuelling of heavy vehicle such as buses and trucks. These stations are generally privately operated. All stations fulfill the same purpose: to take natural gas, compress it and dispense it to specially converted motor vehicles. There are three main types of CNG Station: 1. On Line or conventional stations 2. Mother stations 3. Daughter stations

 The on-line station takes gas from the supply line, compresses it and delivers it to the motor vehicle. The Mother station takes gas from the supply line, compresses it and delivers it to a gas Transport System. The gas Transport System then delivers the gas to a daughter station, which is located at some distance from the mother station. Daughter stations are located in areas that are not connected to gas supply lines.
The Daughter station receives Gas from the Transport system and disperses it to the customer. The gas may be used direct from the Gas transport system or it may be recompressed with a small compressor to increase the utilization of the stored gas. Any of these stations can act as Fast Fill or Trickle Fill stations.

In some cases, on-line and mother functions may be combined in the same station.

 In other cases a station originally designed as a daughter station may be converted at a later date to an on-line station, or even a mother station.

BASIC OPERATION OF A CNG STATION AND ITS MAIN COMPONENTS There are typically 5 main components in a CNG station. Considering a conventional type of station. The pressure regulating station or PRS this receives gas from the pipeline and filters it to suit the compressor inlet requirements. A gas meter may also be fitted to record the consumption of the incoming gas. The compressor this receives gas from the PRS typically at pipeline pressure of 0.35 to 15 bar(5 to 220 psi). The gas is then compressed to very high pressure, generally 25 MPa(3600 psi). The compressor may be electrically or gas engine driven and is usually a multi-cylinder reciprocating type machine (although in some cases hydraulic compressors have been used).

 The gas storage system (or storage cascades) receives high pressure gas from the compressor for storage until it is required at the dispenser. Storage provided enables vehicles to be filled without the compressor

having to start up each time the dispenser is in used.

The storage cascades can be arranged in a series of 1,2 or 3 banks to minimize compression costs, this topic will be explained in a following section. The vehicle is filled to maximum pressure of 20 MPa for fast filling stations. The priority Fill or Sequential System allocates gas from the compressor to the storage and from the storage to the vehicle in the optimum sequence. It may also have compressor top off facility so that gas may be pumped direct from the compressor to the dispenser.

 The CNG dispenser dispenses the high pressure gas to the customers vehicle. Dispensers can have 1 or 2 outlets (single or dual hose) and generally include electronic metering to record individual and total sales. However, manually operated and non-metering dispensers are also available. The same equipment will also be used in the Mother and Daughter stations although arranged in a different configuration.

CNG COMPRESSION AND MULTILINE REFUELLING

Natural gas in its uncompressed form is not a very efficient storage of energy for transport. Gas at a typical pipeline pressure of 0.15 MPa would require a volume of around 5 cubic meters of storage to provide sufficient energy to run a small vehicle 150 km. If however, the gas is compressed to 20 MPa (2950 psi), sufficient energy to run the same car 150 km can be contained in a cylinder of only 50 liters water capacity small enough to fit in the back of the vehicle. Hence the requirements for a compressor at each station. Typically, compressors vary in capacity from around 50 m3 per hour to 1000m3 per hour or more, with power requirements ranging from 15 to 250 kilowatts. A typical CNG station would have 200 -300 cubic meters per hour compressor, fitted with a 56 kilowatt drive motor.

 The compressor compresses the gas from intel (pipeline ) pressure to 248 bar. Once the gas is compressed it stores energy in a very condensed form. The compressed gas is either piped from the compressor to the storage cascades or, if a compressor top off system is fitted, the gas flows directly to the high pressure forecourt line. Cascades consist of, for example, 20 high pressure gas storage cylinders each of 40 - 50 litres water capacity. Each cylinder will store around 12 cubic meters of gas at 248 bar. A cascade of 20 cylinders are piped in banks of 10, 5 and 5. These are referred to as the low pressure, medium pressure and high pressure banks respectively. Other cylinder configuration may occur in cascade, for example cascade systems of 40,60, or 80 cylinders. A typical CNG station will have two or three storage cascades, each of 20 cylinders.

 When the compressor first starts and the storage system is empty, the priority fill system diverts the compressor discharge gas to the high pressure bank of the cascade. It is then immediately available to fill a vehicle from the station forecourt. When the high pressure bank is up to its full pressure of 210 bar (3100 psi) the priority system diverts the compressor discharge to the priority system then diverts the compressor discharge to the low pressure bank. When the low pressure bank is completely filled, also to 210 bar, the priority panel diverts the compressor discharge back to the high pressure bank changing it to its final fill pressure of 248 bar (3600 psi). This sequence is repeated untill all storage banks are charged to 248 bar. The compressor then shuts down automatically. When a vehicle is connected to the dispenser for refuelling, the dispenser auto sequencing system allocates gas from the cascade to the vehicle cylinder in the reverse sequence to which its is filled.

 The dispenser sequencing system is instigated by flow rate drop off which indicates equalization between each bank of the cascade and the vehicle cylinder. In this manner the gas from the largest storage volume, which may will have already been drawn off to a pressure less than its initial fill pressure, fills the vehicle cylinder from its low pressure. Power is not wasted in compressing gas to high storage pressure and then reducing it again to match an empty or near empty vehicle cylinder, which is already at a low pressure. Likewise the medium and high pressure storage banks only top off the vehicle cylinder above certain pressure; the stored gas does not have to be unnecessarily reduced in pressure. This system is known as multi refueling. To minimize the station power consumption, multi line systems are nearly always used. Multiline can refer to 2, 3, 4, or even more lines and therefore cascade banks between the compressor and the dispenser.

In practice it has been found that a 3 line system is the best comprise between high efficiency and lack of complexity. For example the following efficiencies in gas utilization will result from the use of the multi line system: Line Line Line Line Line - 25% - 45% - 60% - 65% - 68%

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

 From this above it is seen that the 3 line system is the best compromise. The priority fill system is a system which allocates gas from the compressor to the cascade storage in the correct sequence. The dispenser takes gas from either the compressor or the compressor or the storage , regulates it down to vehicle fill pressure, normally 20 bar(300 psi), and fills the vehicle gas cylinder, recording the amount of gas dispensed.

LAYOUT AND LOCATION

The PUNA KUMBHARIYA SAROJ TRUST CNG GAS STATION is situated about 3 km away from the Surat Railway Station. The station has two CNG-filling pumps, each having two arms, that is, in all 4 filling points.

This station also has two petrol pumps with totally 8 filling points so the system of CNG pump cannot be considered in isolation but has to be considered as a whole.
The petrol pumps are at a distance of 32 feet from the CNG pump, at its west. The CNG station is straight inside, from the entry gate which is at north side, about 679 away. The distance between the entry and the exit gate is about 58 feet. At the left corner of the entry, an AMUL parlour is situated which provides refreshments.

Both the entry as well as exit gates are about 2911 wide.

 The CNG station is 13 feet in length and 36 in width.It consists of two pumps with four filling points.
This pump is situated in such a way that any auto entering the pump will have to cover a minimum distance of 1638. The distance between two filling points is 9 feet which is default distance to be travelled by each auto. Since the petrol pump is at a proper distance from the CNG pump there is no confusions between both the kinds of vehicles, viz. For petrol and for CNG, at the time of exit. There is a compressor which is situated about 21 feet at the south east corner from the station. The compressor runs on electric power. The petrol pump office as well as CNG office is situated 18 feet away from second petrol pump. The station is open only from the north side and south as well as west side is covered by the residential areas, Puna Kumbhariya Saroj trust is situated at the east side.

Gas is provided to the station from main storage of Gujarat Gas Company located at Adajan at about 6 kms distance through a pipe line having capacity to deliver gas at 7 bars. CNG facility 350 SCMH.

It also has Gas storage banks called low, medium and high pressure banks consisting of respectively 25, 10 and 5 cylinders each of which has a capacity of store around 12 cn. Mt of gas at 248 bar. The single line provides gas to all the four filling points.

Each of the filling points have LCD display showing amount of Gas filled in kg, Rate in Rs/kg and total amount in Rupees. It also has pressures at which the gas is filled during the filling operations.

The office of the petrol pump and CNG station is located in the south behind which there are facilities like water cooler and toilets. A location map is also included to give a rough idea about the neighborhood of the premise.

ARRIVAL SYSTEM
Getting the gas filled in autos is a very hectic and frustrating job due to the long queue formation.The length of the queue may range from 1-2 autos to 1-2 Km. The flow of queue may be hindered due to two main reasons,viz.Jump and Dropout.

Jump is when the queue breaks due to arrival of an auto at some position ahead of its own position.ie.wrong entry at any place due to more gap between two consecutive autos. Dropout is when the queue breaks due to quitting of an auto from its position. Once the auto decides to join a queue,its position depends on the density of other preceding autos in the whole system at a particular point of time. Depending on the length of queue; the auto will have to wait for atleast one hour for its turn to come.

At the Puna-Kumbhariya pump, the maximum jumps occur at a place where Maruti service station is situated. This service station is about 117 feet wide so there will be about same distance between two consecutive autos from where a number of autos enter without turn. Due to the reasons like jumps and dropouts, the length of the queue goes on becoming unpredictable even though the service rate is good enough.This causes delay in the overall system. Consequently the auto reaches the filling point almost after wasting atleast one hour in the queue.

SERVICE SYSTEM
The service at the filling point involves the following tasks : Opening of kit valve of the vehicle. Inserting dispensing probe in the valve of the vehicle. Filling of gas. Removing dispensing probe and putting it on the hanger.

Closing the lead of gas kit in the vehicle.

Payment of money.

A vehicle occupies filling point position till all these tasks are over. Some times money is paid after the vehicle vacates the filling point position. At present these tasks are performed in series. There are four fillers at the four points and one cashier taking cash from each customer (served at any point).

Occasionally, a person is deployed (during late evening hours) to monitor the queue. Pump runs all 24 hours. During 1:00a.m to 6:00 a.m. two points are operating and rest of the day all four points operate. The persons work in three shifts. Shifts change at around 6:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. At the time of shift change special readings are noted, all pumps remain closed and handing over of overall charge (including cash) takes place.

Station-1 Petrol Pump Side is reserved for the cars and is used for the rickshaws when no car is to be filled. The lock of kit valve is situated just below the passengers seat; towards the right side of the rickshaw. By looking on the LCD screen the filler tells the cashier about the amount to be paid by the customer.The customer pays the amount, meanwhile the filler closes the lock of the CNG Kit. Then the customer starts the vehicle and tries to vacate the filling point. He is unable to do so because of cross queue situation described below:

AUTO MOVEMENT ACTIVITY

Roughly over 2000 vehicles make use of the Gas filling facilities at Puna Kumbharia CNG Station. Majority (about 97%) of the vehicles are Auto Rickshaws and about 3% of the vehicles are cars. Rarely, a CNG Bus also uses the facility. The cars are given priority and served as soon as it arrives on two of the four filling points. The Autos are served on First come first served (FCFS) bases. The four filling points serve autos in parallel. A single queue is formed and Autos gets gas filling from the filling point that is free when its turn comes. Schematic view of this mechanism is as shown in the Figure 3. Usually during peak long queue is formed. Queue extends on the east side of the pump and often goes upto the main road crossing and even upto the residential area behind the Puna Kumbharia Saroj trust office. There is gap of about 117 ft.in the queue (if queue is insufficiently large) in front of the Maruti Service Station where Rixas are not allowed to wait. Due to this gap many times new autos jump into the queue and queue discipline gets disturbed.

After the auto arrives the pump the service is provided as described in the process above.

Joins queue

FILLER ACTIVITY
Once the auto arrives at the filling points, the filler starts giving the service as described in the flowchart.

The steps involved in the activity of a filler are as explained.

CASHIER ACTIVITY
After filling is completed the driver pays the amount to the cashier. But this process is not so simple. Each and every activity involved in this process is explained in the following flow-chart.

CAUSES FOR DELAY

The various reasons for causing over-all delay in the system of getting the CNG gas filled, are divided into three main categories :
LACUNA IN SERVICE MECHANISM

HUMAN RELATED PROBLEMS

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

Each of this categories have many reasons included in them which are listed and discussed as follows :

LACUNA IN SERVICE MECHANISM

Absence of the filler :
The person hired for filling the gas inside the auto is not on the duty at every second. Due to very many reasons like breakfast, toilet and other human necessities; he remains absent for some seconds. Shift Change : Working at such a busy place results in exhaustion so the workers work in 3 shifts. At the time of shift change, the service is hindered. Drop out from filling point : Many a times it happens that an auto driver changes his decision of getting the gas filled or due to some problem he is not allowed to get the gas. This results in delay for the service of next auto. Opening of cock in CNG Kit : Most of drivers dont open the cock when they arrive the pump. The filler has to waste his time in opening the cock also.

 Cross-Queue ( Interference in Movement ) : Many a times it happens that service of an auto is already completed i.e. gas is filled but due to some reasons like chatting or arguments with filler, the position is not vacated for next auto to arrive. This causes a hindrance in smooth movement of autos.
Jumping at Service Station : Regardless of the time wasted in queue; when the auto arrives at a pump; sometimes it has to say back because some other auto driver is a friend of filler and given first preference. Note of Readings : At the time of shift change, a person comes to note the reading of pump of the amount of gas filled in that shift. Until this time the service is delayed. Car interfering the flow of autos : The cars are given first preference at the pump. The cars dont have to stand in the queue and they come directly to the filling position. Due to this reason many times the flow of autos is hindered causing a delay in post-processing movement. Time taken by Passengers to vacate the auto : It is required that before getting the gas filled, the auto should not contain any extra load (passengers, driver, luggage etc.) and also due to position of kit, it is essential to vacate the auto. But sometimes autos are vacated at the time of filling which causes delay.

 Cleaning of floor :

Whenever a sweeper comes to clean the floor of the pump, the service is hindered causing the delay in service time.
Time Elapsed in making bill : Some auto drivers as well as car owners ask for bills, which results in delay of payment for other customers who are not interested in billing process. Registration of new gas kit : A new auto has to register itself and get a gas kit fitted for regular service at the station. Whenever a new auto arrives, this process takes around 5 min. and thus causing delays.

Cashier not available :

Since there is only one cashier employed for all the four stations, unavailability of cashier even for a single minute would cause a lot of delay in the payment time.

HUMAN RELATED PROBLEMS

Arguments : The drivers are frustrated and tired after waiting in such a long queue, so any kind of irresponsibility shown by the fillers, provokes them and this leads to many arguments and disputes. Break of Snacks/Tea : The workers usually get exhausted due to constant working at such a busy place, so, refreshments are provided to them and sometimes they leave the duty for same reason. Payment Disputes : Due to change problem between cashier and driver, there are often disputes taking place, sometimes the cashier charges more than the original price.

Money Transactions : The auto drivers are mostly illiterate or less educated so it takes a lot of time for them in counting the amount to be paid.

Chatting with fillers : Due to regular visit of the pump, some auto drivers have become friends of the fillerman and sometimes relatives of the fillers also come to get the gas filled. In this situations, the fillers start chatting with the drivers causing delays in service. Phone-calls for Cashiers/Fillers :

Due to calls for fillers, service is delayed because there is no reliever who can serve in the absence of filler. Same is the case with cashiers when they have to attend their calls because there is only one cashier common to all the four pumps.

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
O-Ring Problem : A small ring was fitted in the nozzle from which the gas was filled. Misplacement or damage of this ring was not allowed so if any such thing happens, the ring was to be replaced. Pressure Problem : At the time of filling the pressure displayed on meter suddenly drops to a considerable amount. This is undesirable and sometimes results in arguments between rickshaw driver and fillers. Nozzle Problem in Gas Pipe : Sometimes gas used to leak thru the nozzle so the amount of gas going in auto is reduced and to repair this problem time delays. Power Cut-off : Due to lack of battery back-up or invertor, whenever there is power failure, service is totally stopped. Although such cases occur rarely.

 Leakage of gas from CNG kit valve : The CNG kit fitted inside the auto are sometimes not in good condition and so at the time of filling, gas leaks from inside and this causes delay resulting into arguments between filler and driver.

Starting Problem in Vehicle : Due to some technical faults, the auto would not start at once. This causes delay in the time taken for vacating the position and the next auto will also be waiting.
Pump Closed : Some times the pump is closed due to some technically miscellaneous reasons. Although this happens rarely but it takes a lot of time for the pump to restart and simultaneously the queue is also increasing. Zero-Setting Problem : The measure of amount of gas has to be zero in the lcd displayer of pump, before starting the filling process but many times this zero is not set and delay occurs in setting it.

-:ANALYSIS :Data is a very important input for solving any statistical and simulation related problem. Statistical analysis techniques as well as simulation can work up to the requirements, only if the data fed to them is accurate and covers all possible situations of the actual phenomenon.

TYPES OF DATA COLLECTED:1. ARRIVAL DATA. 2. SERVICE DATA.

ARRIVAL DATA:In this we took the time at which the Rickshaw joins the queue.

SERVICE DATA:Service Start Time

Filling Start Time Initial Pressure Filling End Time Final Pressure Quantity Position Vacated Time

Time when a vehicle gets its turns and driver parks the vehicle
near the dispenser

Time when the operator turns the knob and the filling starts Initial pressure of the cylinder in the vehicle (recorded from the dial on the dispenser) Time when the operator turn the know to stop the filling Pressure when the filling was stopped (recorded from the dial on the dispenser) The amount of gas filled The time when an vehicle vacates the space for other auto to take position

Money Paid Time Time when the vehicle diver pays the money

MISMATCHES:The process of Data collection was divided into two parts as previously shown Now, we want the total time taken by any AUTO in our system which can be obtained by merging both arrival time and service time.
The process of merging data was done by taking only numeric value( i.e without taking series) of the rickshaw.within a particular span of time.while merging with this process some MISMATCHES were observed ,like the data whose arrival was available but its service data was not available and vice versa.

REASONS: DATA ENTRY PROBLEM:This problem was due to mistakes done in entering the data. JUMPS :Jumps means the rickshaw was entered directly in the queue without standing in the proper queue.So, because of this that rickshaws arrival data was not available. The major place where the jumps occurs is the gap at the maruti service station.which can be visualise by the following figure.

Gap in the Auto Queue near Maruti Service Station DROPOUTS:In this the rickshaw standing in queue goes out without filling gas.This situation occurs as person get frustrated with the long queue or thinking of coming back after some time . So, because of this the rickshaws arrival data was available but service data was not.

CARS:As the cars were given first preference so only service data of car was available.

CORRECTION OF MISMATCH DATA:We consider all the served rickshaws as our standard datas and we adjust the arrivals of of all such rickshaws.This was done by seeing the arrival time of the auto server at same pump before and after this auto.

CHECKING THE VALIDITY OF DATA:The validity of the data was checked by taking the following difference in the data's. by seeing the actual data or by adjusting the time in proper and logical way.( i.e taking the occurrence of time in the increasing order).

TIME IN QUEUE:This time is the difference between the time at which the rickshaw arrived at filling point and the time at which the the rickshaw joint the queue.

TIME IN SYSTEM :-

Time in system is the difference between the time at which the auto joins the queue and vacates the filling point.
PREPROCESSING TIME:-

Preprocessing time is the difference between the time at which filling started and the time at which the auto come at the filing point.
TOTAL TIME FOR FILLING:-

Difference between the filling started and filling completed.

TOTAL SERVICE TIME:Difference between the total time in system and the total time in service.

AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURLY ARRIVALS:From the available arrivals data we find the total number of arrivals at each hour for ever day and from that we find the average number of the auto arrived during different hours. From the data it was clearly seen that the pumps were busy from morning 5:00 up to 01:00(next day).so we counted as the busy time and remaining time that is at night from 1:00 a.m to 5:00 a.m.

Busy Period: 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. (next date) Lean Period: 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. With least number of arrivals during 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Hourly Average Arrivals (over all days)

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Arrivals

11

13

15

17

19

21

Hour of day

histogram of hourly average number of arrivals (average taken over all days)

23

Arrival patterns during busy period :Though there is no extra ordinary variation in the hourly number of arrivals during busy period, the arrival pattern during a specific hour need not be same. This variation in the pattern will certainly have an impact on the queue length. Hence, it is essential to compare the day wise patterns of arrivals before this data can be used for simulation purpose. Since the arrivals during Lean periods are not significant, it is enough to study arrival patterns during busy period only. Also, number of cars is very low as compared to number of autos and their arrivals do not allow any specific pattern over busy period, so cars arrival patterns are combined for all four days and this combined pattern is used for simulation purpose. Thus, we need to compare arrivals patterns of autos on all 7 days and arrive at an representative pattern for simulation purpose. Initially, the line charts for all seven days hourly arrivals were super imposed in a plot . The visual inspection revealed that The chart for 4th April is significantly different than other charts. On inspecting the data it was noticed that there was some data capture error during 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on 4th. Secondly, pump remain closed in the evening during 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., that created disparity in the arrival as well as in the service time distribution.

Line charts for Sunday 3rd April and Saturday 9th April were in somewhat agreement with each other

Line charts for 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th April displayed somewhat uniform pattern except during time----- the chart for 7th April showed some disagreement with others.

Hourly Arrival (All Days)

160 140 120

Arrivals

100 80 60 40 20 0

3_4 4_5 5_6 6_7 7_8 8_9 9_10

11

13

15

17

19

21

Hour

23

Then it was decided to apply Kolmogrov-Smirnov (K-S) non-parametric test on actual arrival time distributions. This test compares two empirical distributions and tests a null hypothesis that The two samples are coming from same populations. The test computes a parameter called p-value, which indicates the smallest level of significance at which null hypothesis can be rejected. Usually accepted significance level for rejections are 1% to 5%, and hence if p-value is more than 0.05 then normally the null hypothesis is accepted. We applied K-S test on actual arrival time distributions on almost each pairs of days. The p-values of these tests are given in the table
3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 N 5 N N 6 7 N N Y N 8 N N 9 Y N N N N N -

N N

Y
Y Y -

RESULTS FROM THE TEST:From the given results of the test we can say the following:1. Week-end arrival patterns (3rd April & 9th April) match with each other & hence week-end simulation can be done on the basis combined arrival time distributions of 3rd & 9th April. 2.Arrival-pattern of 4th April do not match with any other days & since there were assignable reasons for that, it was decided to drop this data for any further computations. 3.Arrival-patterns of 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th data match within accepted statistical limits. Hence, week-days simulation can be carried out on the combined arrival-time distribution of these days.

Identification of time-zones of uniform arrival patterns:As per the decision taken in the previous sections, we plot combined line charts of week-days & week-ends hourly arrival frequencies, These plots are shown in following Figures:-

Hourly Arrivals (Weekdays) 160 140

No. of Arrivals

120 100 80 60 40 20 0

4_5 5_6 6_7 7_8 8_9

11

13

15

17

19

21

Hour

Hourly Arrivals of Weekdays

23

Hourly Arrivals(Weekends)
160 140 120

Arrivals

100 80 60 40 20 0 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 Hour 1 2 3 4

9_10 3_4

Hourly Arrivals of Weekends

Looking at the charts, time zones in which arrivals increase/decrease steadily or somewhat stationary were identified. We considered the first differences and accordingly decided about the time zones.
Accordingly following time zones were identified.

Time zone for weekdays

Hour 5 Average No. of Arrivals 95 First Difference 62 Time Zone Zone No. 1 Time Interval No. of Hrs. Average No. Of Arrivals 5:00 - 6:00 Mean Time Between Arrivals (Secs) 38 33 41 32 32 28 32 32 40 37 29 29 34 49

6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

109
87 114 108 113 118 114 104 128 114 113 116 108 90

14
-22 27 -6 5 5 -4 -10 24 -14 -1 3 -8 -18

6:00 7:00
7:00 8:00 8:00 9:00

2
3 4

5:00 - 6:00 6:00 7:00 7:00 8:00

1 1 1 1 5 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1

95 109 87 114 111 128 114 112 90 97 123 124 105 73

9:00 13:00

5 8:00 9:00 9:00 13:00 13:00 14:00 6 7 14:00 15:00 15:00 18:00

13:00 14:00 14:00 15:00

15:00 18:00

19:00 20:00 20:00 21:00 21:00 22:00 22:00 23:00 23:00 0:00 0:00 1:00

19:00 20:00

20
21 22 23 0

97
123 124 106 73

7
26 1 -18 -33

20:00 21:00
21:00 22:00 22:00 23:00 23:00 0:00 0:00 1:00

10
11 12 13 14

Time Zone Identification - Weekends

Hour 5 6 7 8 Average No. of Arrivals 81 105 97 122 First Difference 57 24 -8 25 Time Zone 5:00 6:00 6:00 7:00 7:00 8:00 8:00 9:00 Zone No. 1 2 3 4 5:00 6:00 1 81 Time Zone No. of Hrs. Average No. Of Arrivals Mean Time Between Arrivals 44 (Secs)

6:00 7:00
7:00 8:00 8:00 9:00

1
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1

105
97 122 129 113 121 111 139 107 126

34
37 30 29 32 30 32 26 34 29

9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0

119
127 113 121 111 139 107 123 117 105 98 101 129 96 97 70

-3
8 -14 8 -10 28 -32 19 -9 -12 -7 3 28 -33 1 -27

9:00 11:00
11:00 12:00 12:00 13:00 13:00 14:00 14:00 15:00 15:00 16:00 16:00 17:00

6 7 8 9 10 11

9:00 11:00 11:00 12:00 12:00 13:00 13:00 14:00 14:00 15:00 15:00 16:00

17:00 21:00

13

16:00 17:00

17:00 21:00
21:00 22:00 22:00 23:00 23:00 00:00 00:00 1:00 21:00 22:00 13 14 15 16 22:00 23:00 23:00 00:00 00:00 1:00

4
1 1 1 1

105
129 96 97 70

34
28 38 37 51

Inter-arrival time distributions for each of these time zones were computed. However, these distributions would assume uniform arrival within the time zone. Hence, instead of simulating inter-arrival time distributions as per normal practice, it was decided to simulate actual arrival-time distributions separately for weekday and weekend.

Queue length: Queue length = (Number of arrivals when service of the vehicle starts)

- (Number of vehicles served up till then)

-[1 (if two pumps are on) or 3 (if four pumps are on)]

100

-20 20 40 60 80 0
5:01:48 5:46:47 6:42:52 7:16:37 7:52:15 8:21:54 8:52:40 9:21:28 9:51:03 10:24:40 10:54:58 11:26:20 11:55:15 12:24:31 12:54:28 13:23:21 14:04:20 14:35:20 15:03:48 15:32:42 16:00:52 16:27:58 16:58:06 17:26:30 17:55:18 18:27:24 18:56:40 19:24:02 19:53:13 20:21:20 20:46:16 21:17:45 21:50:22 22:19:15 22:45:15 23:09:48 23:38:06 0:09:46 1:14:45 4:57:20

Time

Qlength5-6

Waiting time computations: In order to analyze service pattern in details, we compute various time estimates for each vehicle served, as under:

1) Waiting time in queue : Service start time Arrival time

2) Waiting time in system: Service completion time Arrival time = Max{ money paid time, position vacated time} Arrival time 3) Pre-processing time = Filling start time Service start time.

4)
5)

Filling time = Filling end time Filling start time.

Post processing time = Max{Money paid time, position vacated time} Filling end time

6)

Money paid time - Filling end time, if money paid time < positioned vacated time Time for payment = Money paid time - Position vacated time, otherwise
Total service time = Max{ Money paid time, position vacated time} service start

7)

Time There is scope to reduce pre-processing and post processing time by proper streamlining of operations. This in turn will reduce the average service time per vehicle and improve the service efficiency. These time estimates are used to estimate the impact of our suggestions to improve the service efficiency.

Pump Utilization:To compute the pump utilization for each filling point, we compute: 1) Total time in a day during which actual filling of gas was done. 2) Total time in a day during which filling point position was occupied by a vehicle. The first estimate gives actual percentage utilization of the pump, and the second estimate gives virtual

percentage utilization of the pump.

In order to find these estimates, we compute actual idle time between two services on a filling point as : Filling start time of a vehicle to be served filling completion time of an immediately preceding vehicle served at the point.

We also compute virtual idle time between two services at a filling point as:
Service start time of a vehicle to be served service completion time of an immediately preceding vehicle served at the point.

Optimum capacity of the station

To compute optimum capacity of the station we identify those hours of the day during
which number of services performed is more than Average number of services performed in a day + the standard deviation of number of hourly services during the day. Then take the average of services in the identified hours, which can be regarded as over all optimal

potential capacity of the station. Then optimum capacity is maximum number of vehicles
that can be served hourly in a day. Assuming that services through out the busy period is done at the optimum potential capacity. Taking the average consumption per day. We must ensure that the present line/compressor capacity is capable of delivering the optimum consumption. The computations for week days are as follows.

Average hourly services in a week-day As = 99

Standard deviation of hourly services in a day s = 42

It can be seen that number of hourly services in all hours except one are within one limit of the average. In order to determine optimum average capacity, we consider total number services for those hours in which it is greater than (As +o-s/2). There are 14 such hours, we can refer as extremely peak hours.

Optimum average capacity per hour Sn = Average of hourly services taken over extremely peak hours = 125. Optimum average hourly consumption during these hours Cn = 365 kg. Optimum capacity of the pump (No. of busy period hours) assuming 24 hours service = 125 x 24 = 3000 vehicles total consumption = 365 x 24 = 8760 kg./day

Now, as per the data provided by GGCL, compressor capacity is 350 SCMH. When inlet line pressure 3 bar and 550 SCMH if inlet line pressure is 5 bar. Since inlet line pressure is around 4.5 bar, interpolating, we get compressor capacity = 500 SCMH. And hence the station is able to supply about 8276 kg.

CAUSE-EFFECT ANALYSIS
The main aim of cause-effect analysis is to know each and every minutest reason which affects the queue length. The queue length is mainly effected by arrival and service rates. Further analysis is done to find out effect of various causes on these two main causes. This is explained at length in the charts.

CAUSE-EFFECT CHART
ABSENCE OF MANPOWER NO. OF WORKING PUMPS VEHICLE PROBLEM BEHAVIOUR OF FILLER AND CASHIER WITH CUSTOMER ON-PUMP PROBLEM MANPOWER CROSS-QUEUE

JUMP PUMP CLOSED

INCREASE IN NO. OF CNG AUTO

AVAILABILITY OF PUMPS DAYS PREFERENCE OPENING OR CLOSING OF ANOTHER PUMP IN CITY

MANPOWER (S1)

NO. OF (1) SUPERVISORS

TECHNICIANS

NO. OF FILLERS (4)

NO. OF CASHIERS (1)

Incentives

Colleagues Motivation

Shift Time Efficiency Time of Day

00:02:51

CROSS-QUEUE (S2) 00:03:11 00:02:31 00:01:34

DROP-OUT

ARRIVAL OF ANOTHER VEHICLE (CAR etc.)

LAY-OUT

Space Availability

CCEO Guidelines

Safety measures

NO. OF WORKING PUMPS (S3)

TECHNICAL PROBLEM 00:03:35 00:03:25 00:03:11 Repairing Pipe 00:06:28

O-ring Problem

Zero-set Problem

Crack in Filling Pipe

00:02:57

Dust in CNG kit valve

Nozzle not put in pressurized position

ABSENCE OF MANPOWER (S4) 00:02:21 00:02:39

ABSENCE OF FILLERS

ABSENCE OF CASHIERS

00:04:31 00:10:16 Shift Change Breakfast / Toilet / Human necessities 00:02:28

Phone-call
Chatting with Friends

ON-PUMP PROBLEM (S5) 00:03:36 00:26:35 00:02:49

PUMP ERROR

CLEANING

NOTING READINGS AT THE TIME OF SHIFT CHANGE

BEHAVIOUR OF FILLER AND CASHIER WITH CUSTOMER (S6)

00:01:34 DELAY IN PAYMENT

00:01:07
Finding Change 00:03:33 Arguments and Chatting 00:00:56 00:02:51 Regarding pressure drop Regarding money payment

00:03:12 Making Bill

Regarding leakage

VEHICLE PROBLEM (S7) 00:04:23

00:02:56

NEW KIT

00:03:33

00:01:41

LEAKAGE OF GAS 00:01:29

KIT LOCK

PASSENGERS

STARTING PROBLEM

00:01:56

JUMP (A1)

MORE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO CONSECUTIVE AUTOS

02:23:48

PUMP CLOSED (A2)

00:09:18
00:02:37

DEFECT IN PUMP
00:36:27

REGARDING PRESSURE DROP

POWER CUT-OFF

MONTHLY SERVICE

INCREASE IN NO. OF CNG AUTO (A3)

LOW MAINTENENCE

RECOMMENDED BY COLLEAGUES

CHEAP THAN PETROL

AVAILABILITY OF PUMPS (A4)

LACK OF PUMPS IN AN AREA

NEAR TO RAILWAY STATION AS COMPARED TO OTHER PUMPS

DAYS (A5)

TIME OF DAY

TYPE OF DAY

Week-end

Week-days

Peak-time

Lean-time

PREFERENCE (A6)

HIGH PRESSURE AS COMPARED TO OTHER PUMPS

FAST FILLING AS COMPARED TO OTHER PUMPS

INFLUENCE

SEEING THAT QUEUE IS LESS

Recommended by Colleagues

OPENING OR CLOSING OF ANOTHER PUMP IN CITY (A7)

SUGGESTIONS
Queue management : It is observed that, due to long waiting time, the driver get impatient as they approach the filling point. Due to that at each filling point when one auto is being served, the next one in the line rushes near the filling point. Due to this a situation is created such that many times autos are not able to leave the filling point even though their service is completed thus increasing the post processing time. Such a situation can be avoided by making the autos to wait at appropriate position so that it does not block the way of any other auto which is currently being served. Reduction in preprocessing time : It is observed that operation of opening the nozzle for filling gas is being done when auto come to a filling point. Normally it takes 5-10 sec. to open the nozzle and occasionally may take longer time due to some technical problems. This accounts to increase in over all service time. It is suggested that if one person is deployed to manage the queue as suggested in point 1 and to open the nozzle of auto before actually coming to filling point then it will help reducing service time by approximately 10 sec. This person can also be used for releasing some filler for breakfast or other human necessities.

Reduction in payment time :

It is observed that the average payment time is 4 min. 46 sec.. Quite often there are disputes regarding change or some other issues and the payment time increases unduly. Since most of the time autos do not vacate the filling spot before payment is done, overall post processing time is increased.
Ideally, it is better to do this operation parallel by changing the position of the cashier. This might involve two issues. First, the fillers will have to write an amount on a cheat and give it to the driver and cashier may collect the amount accordingly. Second, the location of cashier should be such that no vehicle should leave the premise without making payment. This will also reduce the over all service time. Also, regarding payment, the amount may be rounded to Re. 1/- or to 50 paisa and keep appropriate amount of change in order to reduce disputes which when occurs takes away significant amount of time.

Change in layout :

All the above suggestions are made keeping the current layout in mind. However the layout may be changed to reduced the congestion of vehicle. The first figure suggests that the position of the filling point may be kept as it is. Only, filling mechanism should be modified so that filling can be conveniently done even if filling nozzle is away from the point. This arrangement will facilitate the flow of autos and reduce the congession. This rearrangement will be less expensive. The second layout suggests that the two dispensers be separated and kept at locations such that vehicle flow is facilitated.

The change in lay-out will be discussed in detail in the Procedures Proposed as the solutions to the problem.

PROPOSED PROCEDURE-1
The main problem with the whole system of CNG station is the delay which takes place in the queue which mainly depends on delay that takes place in service. The main advantages of the procedure discussed below are reduction in cross queue problem as well as time taken in cashier activities.

The main idea is to split the single queue of autos into two, after it enters the pump premises. One queue is headed towards the pump side of the stations while other is headed towards outside of both the stations. The pump side queue will have to take a Uturn for taking exit. The outside queue will take a wide turn and go through a path between petrol pump office and second petrol pump. Apart from this there will be at least two cashiers which will be serving both the queues as well as supervising their flow.
This procedure will not give any scope to the problem of cross queue and if at all it occurs then its frequency of occurring will be quite low than that which is for present procedure. The average time delay occurring due to cross queue in this procedure will be approximately 1 min., which differs from present situation by 1 min. 30 sec. Due to two cashiers, The delay in cashier activity becomes approximately 2 min. 20 sec. per cashier which is 50% less than present situation.

PROPOSED PROCEDURE-2
Due to vertical designing of the CNG station, the default distance to be traveled by any auto is about 180 feet which takes lots of time. Apart from this cross queuing takes place. To tackle this problem one proposal is to change the orientation of CNG station from vertical to horizontal at a distance of 50 feet from entry gate as well as compressor.

There will be about 16 feet distance between the two stations, station and petrol pumps and border and station. Both the stations will be 4 feet in width. This lay out will enable the single queue of autos to split into four different queues after entering the pump premises. The occurrence of cross queue becomes negligible in this case. The default distance to be traveled also decreases and becomes 114 feet.

Objective of the survey

Opinion regarding 1. Services Quality 2. Preferable filling time 3. Other Suggestions 1. To spread out customer flow by like night incentives 2. Cleaning Vehicles, Filling air

Frequencies related to different areas

ADDRESS VARACHHA
GODADARA

FREQUENCY 09%
08%

NAVAGAM
PUNAGAON PANDESARA UDHANA AAS PASS

07%
07% 06% 06% 05%

HOUSING
PARVAT PATIYA PARVAT GAON SITANAGAR GOD-DOD ROAD DINDOLI KADODARA VADADARA SACHIN BESTAN OTHERS

05%
04% 03% 03% 03% 03% 03% 02% 02% 02% 23%

RE/FE

TYPE

PERCENTAGE

RE

99%

FE

01%

MODEL 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

PERCENTAGE 0.2% 0.0% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4%

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

0.9% 1.3% 2.6% 6.4% 4.6% 10% 18% 17% 38%

Many auto rickshaw drivers have not responded.

Distribution w.r.t. ownership

Type

Percentage

Own

69%

On Rental

31%

Rent given by Rickshaw Driver to owner

Rent(Rs.)

Percentage

200

75%

100
300 400

22%
02% 01%

Many auto rickshaw drivers have not responded.

Whether Financed or not

Percentage

Not Financed

88%

Financed

12%

Many auto rickshaw drivers have not responded.

Distribution according to the usage of Rickshaw

Usage

Percentage

Passenger

93.41%

School

6.59%

Distribution according to the kilometers run per day.

K.M./day 150 100 200

Percentage 51% 23% 20%

50
250 300

02%
02% 02%

Distribution according to the filling of gas in Kgs/day

No. of Kgs 2-3

Percentage 40%

3-4
Up to 2 4-5

40%
11% 09%

Location Suggested by the Rickshaw Driver

Location Varachha Preferably P.K.S Sachin UdhanaSachin Road Patiya Others

Percentage 30% 12% 07% 05%

03%
43%

Varachha is about 5 Km. Away from this Puna-Kumbharia pump.

Suggestions by the auto rickshaw drivers

Facility

Percentage

No suggestions Water Pressure

75% 16% 05%

Toilet

04%

INFLUENCED BY

PERCENT

Friend Other Rickshaw Owners Any Other Broker Financier GGCL Rep.

43% 27% 8% 8% 7% 3%

Garage Dealer Kit Supplier

2% 1% --

Many auto rickshaw drivers have not responded.

WHETHER KIT IS FINANCED OR NOT

PERCENTAGE

FINANCED

82%

NOT FINANCED

18%

VIEWS ABOUT SERVICE AT STATION

PERCENTAGE
GOOD VERY GOOD 66% 15%

SATISFACTORY 10% BAD 6%

NOT 3% SATISFACTORY

PROBLEMS AT THE STATION

PERCENTAGE

LONG QUEUE

77%

LOW PRESSURE 10% FILLERS BEHAVIOUR OTHERS 7%

6%

SAVINGS IN RUNNING COST ON DAILY BASIS

SAVINGS (upto Rs.) 200 0-100 300 400

PERCENTAGE 49% 25% 21% 4%

500

1%

DAILY ADDITIONAL INCOME AS COMPARED TO PETROL AFTER DEDUCTING FUEL COST

INCOME (Rs.) 100 50

PERCENTAGE 48% 32%

150 200
250 300

11% 5%
2% 1%

SAVING IN MAINTENANCE COST PER MONTH WITH CNG AS COMPARED TO PETROL

COST (Rs.) 100 200 300 500 400

PERCENTAGE 72% 16% 5% 4% 3%

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND CNG TO YOUR FRIEND

PERCENTAGE

YES

96%

NO

4%

TIME PREFERRED FOR FILLING

TIME OF DAY
EVENING MORNING NIGHT NOON

PERCENTAGE
53% 30% 9% 8%