Capacitance Fuel Measurement for Automotive Applications

Fuel measurement by capacitance techniques have been widely used for aircraft applications. Recent developments in integrated circuits now make it possible to adapt this method economically to the automobile; with the advantages of increased accuracy, readability and reliability.

The method is compared briefly with other approaches. An automotive fuel measurement system is described. It takes advantage of the microcomputer’s capabilities to eliminate errors caused by variations in dielectric constant of the fuel; and to adapt the system to fuel tanks of differing shapes and sizes.