A MICROCONTROLLER- BASED FUEL LEVEL INDICATOR

Abdussamad Umar Jibia, Aliyu Abdullahi

Abstract


The paper presents a microcontroller-based petrol level gauge for a horizontally mounted underground cylindrical tank. The major blocks are a magnetostrictive level sensor, a microcontroller and a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit. The sensor basically senses the position of a permanent magnet to determine the distance between the permanent magnet and the sensor head. The output of the sensor is an analog signal, which is fed to the microcontroller. In order to determine the contents of tank fitted with petrol level sensor, the microcontroller is programmed with an algorithm employing a mathematical expression for computing data value based on petrol level sensor output and tank dimension. The output of the programmed microcontroller is read out to give the height in meters and volume in litres via an LCD display.  The prototype meter measures petrol in the range of 0 to 22.773 litres, with an accuracy of ±1.8 %, which is acceptable in comparison with commercial analogue petrol level gauge. 


Full Text:

PDF

References


Fraden, J. (2010). Handbook of Modern Sensors: Physics, Designs, and Applications. Springer Science & Business Media, LLC.

Golnabi, H. (2004). “Design and Operation of a Fiber Optic Sensor for Fluid Level Detection,†Optics and Lasers in Engineering, Vol. 41, pp 801-812.

Idris, K. (2004). Development of a digital fuel meter for cylindrical tank, Unpublished MEng Dissertation, Department of Electrical Engineering, Bayero University, Kano.

Islam, M. S. (2011). A comprehensive analysis of amount of liquid in a horizontally mounted right cylindrical tank. Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, vol. 11, issue 8, pp. 22-26.

Kersey, A. D., and Dandrige, A. (1990). “Application of Fiber-Optic Sensors,†IEEE Transactions on Components, Hybrids, and Manufacturing Technology, Vol 13, No. 1,

Microchip, T. I. (2008). PIC18F4520 Data Sheet, www.microchip.com.

Sakharov, V. E., Kuznetsov, S. A., Zaitsev, B. D., Kutnetsova, I. E., and Joshi, S. G. (2003). “Fluid Level Sensor Using Ultrasonic Lamb Waves†Ultrasonics, Vol 4, pp 319-322.

Singh, S. (2009). Industrial Instrumentation & Control. New Delhi: Mc Graw-Hill Publishing company Ltd.

Vazquez, C., Gonzalo, A. B., Vargas, S., and Montalvo, J. (2004). “Multi-Sensor System Using Plastic Optical Fibers for Intrinsically Safe Level Measurement,†Sensors and Actuators A, Vol. 116,.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.