Fuel Level Sender - All Cars - General

Fuel level sending has been the providence of electrical resistance since somewhere in the 1930's when electrification of the automobile hit full stride.  The Ford Model A used a very clever sight gauge so that you actually saw a liquid representation of fuel level - neat design but expensive.

http://www.facebook.com/Fuellevel

Resistance Level worked very well and was easy to understand  -  X Ohms Full - Y Ohms Empty

Simple

And then suddenly somebody decided to add alcohol -  to fuel -

Methanol and ethanol contain soluble and insoluble contaminants.[5] Halide ions, which are soluble contaminants, such as chloride ions, have a large effect on the corrosively of alcohol fuels. Halide ions increase corrosion in two ways: they chemically attack passivating oxide films on several metals causing pitting corrosion, and they increase the conductivity of the fuel. Increased electrical conductivity promotes electrical, galvanic and ordinary corrosion in the fuel system. Soluble contaminants such as aluminum hydroxide, itself a product of corrosion by halide ions, clogs the fuel system over time. To prevent corrosion the fuel system must be made of suitable materials, electrical wires must be properly insulated and the fuel level sensor must be of pulse and hold type (or similar). In addition, high quality alcohol should have a low concentration of contaminants and have a suitable corrosion inhibitor added.

So if you turn to any car chat blog (ANY CAR CHAT BLOG)  - Issues on failed fuel level sensors are driving OBD II cars to the shoulder.

So we need Smiths (Stewart Warner, VDO, Veglia)  to make Pulse and Hold fuel senders for us  - Easy fix

But not really

I have been working on a new non-contact fuel level sensor that I have the patent rights to utilize.

We are applying the sensor to aviation (aircraft, rotorcraft) - In aviation we don't have alcohol,  but we can't put wires in the tank - something about electricity and fuel

Aviation  requires - what cars - all cars using Alcohol mixed fuel need - A non contact fuel level sensor

I have my Morris Minor Smiths Sender above  and the Aviation Sender Unit Below

We use a new concept in our sender called Magnetoresistance - certain materials change resistance in the presence of a rotating magnetic field and they can do this from as far as 3/8" away actually from the dry side of the tank.

Most of us see this everyday in the compass on our smartphone

There is no pivot or contact resistance,  so the float can be smaller and the range can be larger (fuller fulls and emptier empties)

Picture below shows the little magnet next to the pivot pin

Neat thing is that the  output of this sensor  can mimic a resistive sensor - only issue is getting vehicle power to the sensor chip.

Hey if you find this interesting let me know

scott.philiben@ciescorp.com