Ultrasonic fuel tank probe VS standard CLS probe

Hi.

I finally got a price for WEMA fuel tank probe but i must say, am quite surprised on this price range. Anyhow i was thinking to go with something cheaper and ultrasonic version would be it.

Anyone try to make gas tank level measurements using some ultrasonic probe or external sensor ?

Regards !

Reply to
gm
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Have not tried to make gas tank level measurements . But have been looking at using ultrasonic sensors with the Arduino. You can buy the Arduino for about $3 including the usb cable to program it. And the sensors are about a dollar each. Depending on what you want for display, it could get more expensive. If you just want to light one of eight leds to show the fuel le vel , it would be cheap.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

The gas tank probes on aircraft are usually capacitive. Just a coaxial pipe structure with some vent holes maybe. The signal conditioning is easy, and energy protection isn't hard.

Simmonds Precision Products, Inc in Vergennes, Vt does this a lot. I did a computer system for them once, for an LNG barge. It had a 2-axis inclinometer to measure the list of the barge, and the software had to nab the capacitive sensor readings, account for list, account for tank shape, and compute liquid volume.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
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Reply to
John Larkin

Sounds interesting and easy to make. Do you in any way remember the frequency used, and are you allowed to post that here?

Thanks, joe

Reply to
joe hey

It's been a while, but I recall it being a few KHz maybe. The outer pipe was driven with a few volts RMS sine wave and the inner ran basically into the summing point of a mediocre opamp, to measure the induced AC current. There was probably a synchronous detector after that. A bunch of resistors and zeners was supposed to make sure that there was no way to make a spark in the tank.

The gauge was pretty simple, but my software sure wasn't. I did it bare metal in PDP-11 assembly.

I did some liquid helium level measurement too. That's a very weird sensor, a self-heating superconductive wire. I wanted to do that capacitively too, but I couldn't get anyone to believe it would work; the dielectric constant of liquid helium is awfully close to 1.

Reply to
John Larkin

Hi gm,

I worked in this area for a few years. In my considered opinion, if you are not an expert in the area, then this is something you should avoid. Google UL 913 to see some of the safety considerations involved. Consider the high voltage in an ultrasonic driver. Consider the ease of ignition and the amount of energy in a tank of gasoline. Consider how gasoline degrades many materials over time. This is the kind of information derived from past dramatic experience and errors - it's not the kind of thing you want to learn on your own, since your learning mistakes could have tragic consequences.

Even if you buy an off the shelf sensor you need to consider the UL standards on your driving circuit, since even an otherwise safe sensor can cause an explosion if improperly driven.

$50 for a fuel sensor intended for the purpose is not a lot of money.

ChesterW

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Reply to
ChesterW

-------- Hi. That was exactly the answer that i needed ! I am in R&D part so i have to define what will we use in end project. The buyer has his wishes but we will decide what and how will this be done.

Wema tank probe ( with linear measurements ) costs 100 Euros, which is way to much for end project. Ultrasonic is cheap and we can set it under fuel tank but as you mentioned there could be bunch of problems. I totally agree with you, safety should be on the first place.

Can you send a link to this $50 probe ? I can spend up to $80 for a sensor / probe but that's upper limit.

Regards !

Reply to
gm

quite

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33 bucks including shipping. Google fuel level reed switch for more.
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Reply to
ChesterW

------------------- Hmm. The problem with last wema probe was that it hast just 10 steps at cca 35 cm range. But main thing was that you can move slider for cca 2 cm and there will be no reading whats so ever. In other words, this "gap " was around few cm and this in this range a i can not detect anything. From practical POV this is big problem because this few cm is equal to fer liter of gasoline...

Reply to
gm

------------------ @Chester Did you try the probe that you suggested ? Can you tell me how many "steps" does it have.

The wema probe that i have has only 10 steps and this gap between steps is a big problem, because i can not read anything.

On this particular probe, gap is around 3 cm which is really much, if i want to use this probe for some exact fuel measurement or alarm. If i loose two or more deciliter, that's already a problem...

Reply to
gm

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