Fuel Tank Level Measuring

[hrhgroup]

Hi
Did any one know about measuring the level of fuel in a tank accurately???
Thanks

 

[alvarorahul]

there are various possibilities
1) use a float (a floating piece) which is loosely attached to one edge so that it can only move vertically with level of water.........then u can use a sensor to detect its height
2) you can use d mechanism of toilet flushes (not kidding) with a pointer at the other end to detect the level......or it can be attached to a tachometer to get electrical signal

 

[hrhgroup]

Thanks, but I am talking about FUEL tank, you know the consideration and also I want to know about that in details???

 

[smxx]

hi
plz
explain more about your tank.
open tank or closed ?
do you want level measuring or level indicator.
E+H ® have many sensor for this applications.
see this and search for more in E+H sensor

 

[Shani]

Use Friction Free Potentiometer

Assalamo Allykum !

Use the frction free potentiometer for this.

The detail is ::::

Conneet a pully at the shaft of the friction free potentiometer.
Then pass a string over this pulley.
Now connect the stone at the on end and at the other end connect the any thing that will not drawn in the water like Plastic.

But,
The weight of the stone shoul be greater than the weight of the other hand connected material (e.g. Plastic)

Now as the Level will rise then the potentiometer will rotate then you can get the volatage.

I have practically implement this and this was working perfectly.

Take Care

Enjoy it

Zeeshan Shareef

 

[artem]

https://www.getradar.com/DemoUnits/Demo6.htm

also ultrasound should be fine .

 

[VSMVDD]

know how much you put in
punch it into a keyboard and store each time you fuel {garages can send this data im sure easy,,,}


subract what you took out


then youll know right down to the tea spoon whats in it exactly
not just its level as this can be strange if the device is going uphill or is not level

and there is NO moving parts just a simple pic or fuel management mcu based design using rf pic or wireless networking etc

 

[artem]

there will be accumulated error. If not wrong propeller based flow meters have error something around few percents .

 

[hrhgroup]

Thanks All, I heard about magnetostrictive sensor but there is very little about the structure of this sensor: www.temposonic.com
If you know more please help me!!!

 

[flatulent]

There is also the safety issue. Any sparks will create an explosion. Whatever you use has to be hermetically sealed at the electrical end.

 

[artem]

hrhgroup, i really dont know well about product you mentioned . What you have to be aware of is that company (www.temposonic.com) is quite young (2 years) and you should get some refernce information. May be you can call them and ask for companies who bought that sensors, to get references from.
You can of course order one or few sensor and make a test in under different conditions.

If your tank is statically located - it can be possible to put loadcell under tank itself or measure weight of vertically mounted pipe
connected to tank at the bottom. Another method used is to make symmetric transmission
line in form of "U" and put it as delay element to ring generator. imho, i so somewhere in internet - the saudis did that. The time propagation and ring oscillator frequency will be dependent on amount of fuel in contact with propagation measuring transmission line. No electric contact is necessary - propagation will be depended on environment dielectric properties which is function of fuel level in tank .

Or as Archimed did ) put long closed pipe hung by wire to weight sensor into tank and measure it is weight .

Or another may be stupid idea - measure level by triangular optical method - divorced laser and camera mounted on the top of tank . Or if you can find fuel protective presure sensor - measure pressure on tank bottom .

And dont forget what the flatulent said - this could be dangerous if not done properly .

 

[veiledcavalier]

Dear hrhgroup ,

i think it is better to explain more details about ur application ,

but any way i will explain an of a sensor which u can make manually or buy it but i don't remember its name.

the Sensor's idea is:

i want u to imagine that u have a tube wide sothat u can put a small fan in it like that:

________________________________________
liquide (fuel)...................\ /
------------>.................--- o ----
....................................../ \ ( small fan )
________________________________________

now when the fuel enters this tube it will moves the fan *( u can make the input of the liquid somehow have a lit slope to unify the dirction of the fan )

then on the shaft of the fan u can u can make a flange or edge which hits a limit switch when it rounds ,

the limit switch is fixed near the shaft vertically sothat u can get a pulse from it when the flange hits it.

now it is ur turn to calibrate the sensor u made to know how many turnes of the shaft equals 1 litre of the fuel for example ( it depends on the accuracy u need )

then this tube is connected to the tank, u should use any µ controller to calculate the number of pulses then controlls opening and closing the pump or the valve.

thats all

i hope it usefull to u and i am not away from ur application.

thanks alot
VEILED CAVALIER

 

[hrhgroup]

Hi
My application is simple in words, I want to measure the level of fuel in the tank online, and my main concern is the flamability of fuel, the volume of tank is large and a simple shape is like below::?::?:
Thanks all.

 

[veiledcavalier]

hi,

ok my dear i got what u mean ,
ur first aim is the safety of the real time measuring system no sparks, no wires.....

but tell me is the fuel entery the only hole from where u can see the fuel ??

if that true i think the mechanical methods mentioned before as SHANI said is good

i will search for other methods , i am realy intersted in this problem.

thanks alot

 

[hrhgroup]

Very thanks espesially veiledcavalier, yes the only the fuel entery is the hole from where u can see the fuel.
Thanks Alot.

 

[mmike]

Mercury Level / Switch Sensor may be used ...

 

[firefox_r195]

hi hrhgroup !

may be you could use a capacitive sensor.
as the fuel which is having a different permittivity with respect to air, if concentric circles of conductors are kept in vertical position , a height change in fuel will result in a proportional change in capacitance between the conductors. this can be fed to a circuit which can detect the change and thereby a change in fuel level..
regards
hemanth

 

[newelltech]

I have read about using an air pressure sensor at the top of a flexible tube whose bottom is held just above the bottom of the tank. The pressure in the tube changes as the liquid level goes up and down. This would be very safe, inexpensive, rugged and reliable.
I can't remember where I read it, but I think it was a winning design in one of the microcontoller design contests. Let me know if you're interested and can't find it - I'll help you search.

 

[hrhgroup]

Thanks all
Do you mean Philips ARM Design Contest 2005? I download the documents and reading them, if you can, please help me, I think it is for water level measuring.
Best Regards

 

[newelltech]

Yep that's the one. It is calibrated for water, but can easily be calibated for any liquid. You could fill the tank and take a measurement then drain the tank and take a measurement. Then use those 2 points to calibate it.

Or you could just change the scale factor by the ratio of diesel fuel to water. Should be easy to figure out.