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Resqueline
- Jul 31, 2009
- 2,848
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2009
- Messages
- 2,848
Ultrasound echosounder.
Resqueline
- Jul 31, 2009
- 2,848
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2009
- Messages
- 2,848
Look it up with Google...
Define simple & cheap..
Simple & cheap is to me my head & a flashlight.. Making electronics "simple & cheap" is up to you as the designer, I just provide the "only" viable solution I can imagine.
If it was reliable, super-simple and universally applicable don't you think there would already be a product on the market?
Given that the motorbike will be banking around corners, so not always level, and the fuel will be sloshing around far more than it would be in a car, this is very difficult. If you used an ultransound method, you'd also probably need a tilt switch of some sort so that samples of level were only taken when the bike is truely vertical, and also averaged over a period of time to reduce fluctuations from the sloshing around. This is far from simple, so would be a challenge to do anything reliable cheaply, especially given the restricted size of the filler cap for getting anything into the tank, and the risk of fuel ignition from any electronics. I wouldn't want any electronics in the tank personally, so depending on your filler cap position I think I'd be inclined to be looking at something that could be integrated onto that and given a well sealed "portal" to look through.
Sorry I can't be much more help than that.
You could do it optically.
If you have a series of plastic rods of different lengths, and a small light source, you may find that a sensor (phototransistor) bonded to the top of the rod will detect a difference when the end of the rod is immersed in the fuel (you would have to do some testing).
This method is used in a device I have to detect the levels of solution in a darkened tank (in this case ambient light is the light source) I think it relies on suppressing the reflection from the polished end of the rod and would also depend on the indexes of refraction of the plastic tube and the liquid.
Another possibility (and a pretty clever one I think) is to use the volume of air above the tank to control the frequency of an oscillator. I'll have to find a reference for this, but I saw some circuits which placed a speaker in a variable size enclosure (think accordion) and used feedback to get an oscillator to oscillate at the resonant frequency. The beauty of this is that it relies more on the volume of air in the tank than where it is located. The problem with this is that the sound of the engine may make it impractical.
Hmmm, I can't quickly google something useful...
If you have a series of plastic rods of different lengths, and a small light source, you may find that a sensor (phototransistor) bonded to the top of the rod will detect a difference when the end of the rod is immersed in the fuel (you would have to do some testing).
This method is used in a device I have to detect the levels of solution in a darkened tank (in this case ambient light is the light source) I think it relies on suppressing the reflection from the polished end of the rod and would also depend on the indexes of refraction of the plastic tube and the liquid.
Another possibility (and a pretty clever one I think) is to use the volume of air above the tank to control the frequency of an oscillator. I'll have to find a reference for this, but I saw some circuits which placed a speaker in a variable size enclosure (think accordion) and used feedback to get an oscillator to oscillate at the resonant frequency. The beauty of this is that it relies more on the volume of air in the tank than where it is located. The problem with this is that the sound of the engine may make it impractical.
Hmmm, I can't quickly google something useful...
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