A Novel Multipurpose Fuel Sensor for Efficient Estimation of Fuel-Level, Dual-Axis Inclination, and Two-Component Fuel Composition

Abstract

Modern automotive technologies necessitate monitoring of a wide variety of physical parameters, such as fuel level, dual-axis vehicle inclination, and fuel composition. Traditionally, this is achieved through the incorporation of numerous sensors, resulting in increased complexity, expense, and bulkiness. This article proposes a novel solution by designing a single capacitive-based sensor system capable of simultaneously monitoring fuel level, dual-axis vehicle inclination, and fuel mixture composition. In contrast to current fuel sensing architectures, the proposed sensor eliminates the need for movable parts and is immune to fuel type. This makes it compatible with any gasoline-powered combustion engine automobiles. The proposed sensor incorporates a dual-axis inclination measurement, which is essential for accurate level measurement, and ensuring vehicle safety. In addition, due to the current availability of a wide variety of fuel mixtures in the market, knowledge of fuel composition is critical in any vehicle for optimizing engine performance. Implementation of all these features through a single sensor eliminates the requirement for supplementary components, resulting in a reduction in both hardware implementation expenses and system complexity. This is the first of its kind such a single sensing scheme is reported. The prototype sensor demonstrates high linearity of 0.43% and 0.88% for level and inclination measurements, respectively. The sensor prototype was also tested with ethanol-petrol fuel mixtures and exhibits a worst case linearity error of 2.43% for concentrations ranging from E0-petrol to E100-petrol. The developed sensor promises a feasible and economically efficient solution for integration into contemporary automobiles.