Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

Interest from regulators and cylinder manufacturers

Radio Frequency ID (RFID) technology has a certain future in the natural gas vehicle industry says Viridis Technologies CEO, Ian Patterson, speaking at NGV 2008 in Rio. Initially designed to verify vehicle and cylinder installations prior to and during refueling, he says the technology is proving to have even more uses.
“On safety alone, the technology is justified but it is proving to be even more flexible than we thought” says Patterson. Additional benefits now include the ability to verify cylinder sizes, package information for customer billing and even being able to integrate with dispensers and write data to the RFID tag on a cylinder.

Interest from regulators and cylinder manufacturers

Patterson says authorities around the world are showing a keen interest in the system and it was just a matter of time before it was adopted as a regulatory requirement. “A number of incidents involving unauthorized installations in recent years could have easily been prevented with a verification system such as this in place. Regulators will adopt such systems – the only question is which one will be first.”

He says he has also had enquiries from CNG cylinder manufacturers, some of which have even expressed a willingness to provide funding to support it. “The cylinder manufacturers in particular recognize that there is a lot at stake. With the sort of growth the industry is predicting in future years, now is the time to get verification systems in place.”

Patterson contact details can be found at www.viridistech.com.