STATIONARY DIESEL TANK MONITORING

Know your fuel. Control your inventory. Reduce unaccounted losses.

How much diesel is actually in your storage tank right now? How much was delivered, and can you explain the difference between the fuel you received and the fuel remaining? For generators, production facilities, data centres and critical infrastructure, Primera Automations turns stationary fuel tanks from manually checked assets into continuously monitored, measurable ones.

An 80 GHz radar level sensor installed on the manway flange of a diesel storage tank

A Primera installation: non-contact radar on the tank manway, and the 4G monitoring controller mounted at the tank, photographed on site, not from a catalogue.

001THE BLIND SPOT

Manual dipping tells you about the tank at the moment someone checked it.

Traditional tank management relies on manual dipping, visual inspection or periodic measurements. The problem is simple: what happens between those checks? Diesel may be delivered, consumed or transferred without management having continuous visibility of the tank level.

The objective is not simply to know that there is fuel in the tank. It is to know how much fuel is there and how that inventory is changing.

01Current fuel inventory
02Fuel received
03Changes in tank level
04Historical inventory levels
05Abnormal or unexpected variations
06Replenishment requirements
002CONTINUOUS MONITORING

From manual tank checks to a reading every few minutes.

Live screens from GPSTankmatic, the tank-monitoring platform we install, calibrate and support ourselves.

Twenty days of diesel level history for an 80,000-litre storage tank, showing daily drawdown and two large deliveries
Twenty days of one 80,000-litre tank: the sawtooth is daily generator drawdown, the two big steps are deliveries, each measured the moment it happened.
Raw telemetry log showing tank level in litres, fuel height in centimetres and temperature, recorded every five minutes
The raw record behind the chart: height, temperature and litres, logged every few minutes.

Level and volume, measured, not implied.

The sensor measures level. After proper tank calibration, the platform converts that level into litres remaining and percentage full. Consumption is then derived from changes in inventory over time, so every figure traces back to a physical measurement with a timestamp.

003ADVANCED RADAR LEVEL MONITORING

Measure the diesel without putting a sensor into it.

Our recommended approach uses industrial radar for non-contact measurement. The sensor is installed at the top of the tank and measures the distance between itself and the surface of the diesel, the sensing process never touches the stored fuel.

Where higher performance matters, 80 GHz radar provides a focused measurement beam and high-resolution readings. A contact or submersible sensor can also be used, both approaches work, and we recommend the right one for your tank, not the one on the shelf.

The radar gauge head on a tank manway, displaying the measured distance to the fuel surface
The gauge head reading live on the manway.
A new stainless mounting flange welded onto the tank manway plate during installation
Flange fabrication: the mounting is engineered, not improvised.
01

Non-contact measurement

The sensing device sits above the stored fuel and reads the surface from the top of the tank. Nothing stays immersed in the diesel.

02

Low-maintenance approach

No immersed sensing element that needs routine removal for inspection or cleaning.

03

Continuous measurement

Tank levels are monitored around the clock, not only when someone climbs the tank with a dip stick.

04

High-resolution reading

80 GHz radar provides a focused beam and precise measurement of the distance to the fuel surface.

05

Digital integration

The sensor feeds a monitoring controller and 4G communication system, so the reading leaves the site automatically.

06

Built for the long term

Designed around permanent, continuous measurement rather than occasional manual readings.

A submersible hydrostatic level sensor probe with RS485 output

When a submersible sensor is the right call

For some tanks, smaller capacities, tight manways, or where the budget leads, a contact sensor immersed in the fuel measures level through hydrostatic pressure and reports over RS485. It is a proven approach. We evaluate the tank, the fuel and the operation first, then recommend radar or submersible on merit.

004WHERE IS THE COST SAVING?

The point isn’t automating a measurement. It’s fuel inventory control.

Opening tank inventory
+ Fuel delivered
− Fuel used
= Expected closing inventory

The system provides the measured closing inventory. When the expected figure and the actual measurement don’t agree, the variance can be investigated, and even small recurring discrepancies become significant when multiplied across months of operation.

  • Unaccounted fuel losses
  • Delivery discrepancies
  • Unexpected consumption patterns
  • Inventory inaccuracies
  • Inefficient replenishment practices
A fuel analysis report for a storage tank: opening volume, closing volume, net change, fill events and flagged anomalies
One tank, one period: 12,333 L opening, 53,611 L closing, 80 deliveries totalling 121,766 L, and 162 flagged events queued for investigation.
Daily statistics table: opening and closing level, litres filled, litres consumed and net change for each day
The daily ledger: start and end level, fills, usage and net change, day by day, with anything abnormal already marked.
Anomaly log listing rapid fills and rapid drains, each with volume change, duration and timestamp
Every rapid fill and rapid drain of 500 L or more inside five minutes is flagged with its volume and exact time, the data required to investigate, not an accusation.
005A CONNECTED STATIONARY TANK

The sensor is one part. The system is the product.

Sensor → 4G monitoring controller → central platform. For multiple tanks, one consolidated view of fuel inventory.

The 4G monitoring controller installed at a tank site, with its antenna and touchscreen display
The 4G controller at the tank: local display, remote reporting.
The controller touchscreen showing two tanks side by side with level in litres, temperature and fuel height
Two tanks on one controller, 8,450 L and 3,062 L, read on site or from anywhere.
Manual measurementAutomated measurement
Periodic checksContinuous monitoring
Estimated inventoryMeasured inventory
Limited visibilityCentralised visibility
Reactive replenishmentBetter fuel planning
006WHY PRIMERA AUTOMATIONS

Not an equipment-supply exercise.

For a tank monitoring system to deliver reliable information, the sensor selection, tank installation, calibration, controller, communication infrastructure and monitoring process must work together. Our role is to design and integrate those components around your operation, and to still be here when the system needs support.

Measure the fuel accurately.
Monitor the inventory continuously.
Understand what is changing.
Decide with real numbers.

From a storage tank to a smart asset.

Tell us the tank size, what it feeds and where it sits. We’ll recommend the right sensor, install it properly and put the inventory on your screen.

Talk to an engineer
GET IN TOUCH

Tell us what you want to keep an eye on.

Send us a few details and we’ll come back with a straight answer, what it would take, and what it would change for you.

+234 811 119 4438, Call & WhatsApp+234 911 015 9327, WhatsApp only
42 Local Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos

Goes straight to the Primera team. We reply in under an hour.

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