All car owners know that the lion's share of the cost of car maintenance is fuel-related.
That's why it's so important to control it. This can be done in a variety of ways, but the most common and popular is the fuel level sensor.
Prior to this, the mechanical sensors were installed directly on the fuel tank, so the driver had to check the fuel level before each trip to determine whether the fuel was sufficient. The cheap car models were equipped with such primitive devices until the end of the 20 years of the last century.
Today, fuel-level sensors and low fuel control lamps are installed in almost all vehicles.
Most fuel level sensor types are performed in the form of a metal rod and are placed in a regular or specially drinked hole of the fuel tank.
Poplar Paid
The vast majority of modern vehicles are equipped with a fuel sensor of float type.
It shall be fitted to the vehicle by the manufacturer. Data on the level of fuel from the float sensor are supplied to the instrument panel of the vehicle.
The floating fuel level sensor is simple and low cost. Unfortunately, the evidence of such devices has a large margin of error, which does not allow for accurate control of fuel consumption.
Analog fuel cell sensors
Many modern vehicles are equipped with analog fuel level sensors.
They have been widely used since the late 1960s.
The working principle of analog fuel level sensors is based on the changing fuel level in the tank changes the voltage of the sensor output. The dependency of this data can be either directly or inversely proportional. The registration of changes is the basis of the measurement system.
The accuracy of analogue fuel meters is within 4%, so for accurate measurements, they are not entirely appropriate. In addition, analog sensors are sensitive to external influences: proximity of metal objects, accumulation of dirt, presence of magnetic fields. All these factors increase the margin of error. It also reduces the accuracy of the evidence and reduces the use of additional converter filters.
Digital fuel level sensors
The construction of a digital fuel cell sensor includes a secondary electronic circuit board, which is used to analyze sensor readings.
The price of digital sensors is determined by the functionality of the electronic card, but the accuracy of the digital sensors is in any case significantly lower than in analogue.
A distinguishing feature of the fuel level digital sensors is the correction of fuel level measurements by means of correction factors. This is very important because the changing temperature of the environment changes the density of the fuel in the tank, and the adjustments to the level indicators also take into account the temperature of the fuel.
Another advantage of the digital fuel level sensor is the independent power supply, which prevents interruption of the battery or generator.
Some of the fuel level digital sensors have a signal averaging function. Filtering of fuel surges in the tank can be previously processed electronically by the digital fuel cell sensor.
With the correct installation, the digital sensor becomes a very effective instrument for precise control of the fuel level.
Fuel-level ultrasonic sensors
The fuel-level ultrasonic sensor is a technically complex modern instrument with a radiator and an electronic unit.
The electronic unit is processing the signal received from the emitter, converts it to a digital signal, and transmits to the input of the monitoring system.
The radiator attached to the bottom of the tank transmits ultrasonic signals. They overcome the metal casing and the contents of the tank, reflect the level (liquid-air) and return to the radiator. The time for the return of radiation depends on the level of the fuel in the tank.
Ultrasonic fuel level sensors are a low error. The accuracy of their measurements is comparable to the digital fuel level sensors.
Their main advantage is that the additional openings of the fuel tank are no longer necessary. Deficials include high cost and sensitivity: dirt and water at the bottom of the tank can significantly distort the indicators of ultrasonic sensor.
Interestinely, in our time some of the business class cars can pass information on the amount of remaining fuel to the owner's mobile phone.
