One of the variants of the device, which allows you to control the amount and speed of liquid (in particular fuel) flowing through the line, was described in the article by I. Semenov et al." Electronic flow meter liquid" ("Radio", 1986, No. 1). Reproduction and adjustment of this flow meter is associated with certain difficulties, since many of its parts require high precision processing. Its electronic unit requires good noise immunity due to high level interference in on-board network car. Another disadvantage of this device is the increase in measurement error with decreasing fuel flow rate (in idle move and low engine load).

The device described below is free from the listed disadvantages and has more simple design sensor and electronic unit circuit. It does not have a device for monitoring the rate of fuel consumption; its function is performed by a total consumption meter. The frequency of operation is proportional to the rate of fuel consumption and is perceived by the driver by ear. This does not distract from driving, which is especially important in city traffic. The flow meter consists of two components: a sensor with an electrovalve built into the fuel line between the fuel pump and carburetor, and an electronic unit located in the vehicle interior. The design of the sensor is shown in Fig. 1. Between the body 8 and the tray 2, an elastic diaphragm 4 is clamped, dividing the internal volume into upper and lower cavities. The rod 5 moves freely in the guide sleeve 7 made of fluoroplastic. The diaphragm is clamped at the bottom of the rod with two washers 3 and a nut. A permanent magnet 9 is installed at the upper end of the rod. In the upper part of the body, parallel to the channel in which the rod is located, two additional channels. They are equipped with two reed switches 10. In the lower position of the magnet, and therefore of the diaphragm, one reed switch is triggered, and in the upper position, another.

Figure 1. 1-Fitting, 2 - Pan, 3- Washers, 4 - Diaphragm, 5- Rod, 6 - Spring, 7 - Bushing, 8 - Housing, 9 - Magnet, 10 - Reed switches

The diaphragm moves to the upper position under the influence of fuel pressure coming from the fuel pump, and spring 6 returns it to the lower position. To connect the sensor to the fuel line, three fittings 1 are provided (one on the pan and two on the body). Hydraulic circuit flowmeter is shown in Fig. 2. Through channel 3 and the solenoid valve, fuel from the fuel pump enters channels 1, 2 and fills the upper and lower cavities of the sensor, and through channel 4 enters the carburetor. The valve is switched under the influence of signals from an electronic unit (not shown in this diagram), controlled by a reed switch of the sensor.

Puc.2 Hydraulic diagram of the fuel flow meter.

In the initial state, the solenoid valve winding is de-energized, channel 3 communicates with channel 1, and channel 2 is closed. The diaphragm is in the lower position, as shown in the diagram. The gasoline pump creates excess fluid pressure in the lower cavity 6. As the engine produces fuel from the upper cavity and the sensor, the diaphragm will slowly rise, compressing the spring. When the top position is reached, reed switch 1 will operate and the electrovalve will close channel 3 and open channel 2 (channel 1 is constantly open). Under the action of a compressed spring, the diaphragm will quickly move down to its original position and pass fuel through channels 1, 2 from cavity b to a. Then the flow meter operation cycle is repeated. The electronic unit (Puc.3) is connected to the sensor and solenoid valve with a flexible cable through the XT1 connector. Gorkoms SF1 and SF2 (1 and 2, respectively, according to Fig. 2) are installed in the sensor (in the diagram they are shown in a position where the magnet does not act on any of them); Y1 - valve solenoid winding. In the initial position, transistor VT1 is closed, contacts K1.2 of relay K1 are open and winding Y1 is de-energized. The sensor magnet is located next to the SF2 reed switch, so the reed switch does not conduct current.

Puc.3 Electronic fuel flow meter unit .

As fuel is consumed from sensor cavity a, the magnet slowly moves from reed switch SF2 to reed switch SF1. At some point the SF2 reed switch will switch, but this will not cause any change in the block. At the end of the stroke, the magnet will switch the reed switch SF1 and the base current of the transistor VT1 will flow through it and resistor R2. The transistor will open, relay K1 will operate and contacts K1.2 will turn on the valve solenoid, and contacts K1.1 will close the power supply circuit of the pulse counter E1. As a result, the diaphragm together with the magnet will begin to quickly move down. At some point the reed switch SF1 after reverse switching will break the base current circuit of the transistor, but it will remain open, since the base current now flows through the closed contacts K1.1, diode VD2 and reed switch SF2. Therefore, the rod with the diaphragm and magnet will continue to move. At the end reverse the magnet will switch the reed switch SF2, the transistor will close, the valve electromagnet Y1 and the counter E1 will turn off. The system will return to its original state and a new cycle of its operation will begin.
Thus, counter E1 records the number of sensor activation cycles. Each cycle corresponds to a certain volume of fuel consumed, which is equal to the volume of space limited by the diaphragm in the upper and lower positions. The total fuel consumption is determined by multiplying the meter readings by the amount of fuel consumed in one cycle. This volume is set when calibrating the sensor. For the convenience of measuring fuel consumption, the volume per cycle is chosen to be 0.01 liters. If desired, this volume can be slightly reduced or increased. To do this, it is necessary to change the distance between the reed switches in height. With the specified sensor dimensions, the optimal aperture stroke is approximately 10 mm. The duration of the sensor cycle depends on the engine operating mode and ranges from 6 to 30 s. When calibrating the sensor, it is necessary to disconnect the pipeline from the car's gas tank and insert it into a measuring vessel with fuel, and then start the engine and produce a certain amount of fuel. Dividing this amount by the number of cycles on the counter, the value of the unit volume of fuel per cycle is obtained.
The flow meter has the ability to turn it off using toggle switch SA1. In this case, the sensor diaphragm is constantly in the lower position and fuel through channels 2 and 3 through cavity a will directly flow into the carburetor. To realize the possibility of turning off the device in the solenoid valve, it is necessary to remove the rubber cuff covering channel 3, but this will worsen the error of the flow meter. The electronic unit is mounted on a printed circuit board made of fiberglass 1.5 mm thick. The board drawing is shown in Fig. 4. The parts installed on the board are outlined in the diagram with a dot-dotted line. The board is mounted in metal box and is mounted in the car interior under the instrument panel.

Puc.4 Drawing of the fuel flow meter electronic unit board

The device uses a RES9 relay, passport PC4.529.029.11; solenoid valve - P-RE 3/2.5-1112. Counter SI-206 or SB-1M. Permanent magnet You can use any one with an end arrangement of poles and a length of 18...20 mm, it is only necessary that it moves freely in its channel without touching the walls. For example, a magnet from a remote switch RPS32 will do; you just need to grind it down to required sizes. The sensor body and tray are machined from any non-magnetic petrol-resistant material. The wall thickness between the channels of the reed switches and the magnet should not be more than 1 mm, the diameter of the hole for the magnet is 5.1+0.1 mm, the depth is 45 mm. The rod is made of brass or steel 45, diameter - 5 mm, length of the threaded part - 8 mm, total length- 48 mm.

The thread on the sensor fittings is M8, the hole diameter is 5 mm, and the thread on the solenoid valve fittings is conical K 1/8 GOST 6111-52. The spring is wound from steel wire with a diameter of 0.8 mm GOST 9389-75. Spring diameter - 15 mm, pitch - 5 mm, length - 70 mm, force full compression- 300...500 g. If the rod is made of steel, then the magnet is held on it due to magnetic forces. If the rod is made of non-magnetic metal, then the magnet must be glued or strengthened in any other way. To ensure that the operation of the sensor is not interfered with by the pressure of air compressed above the magnet, a bypass channel with a cross-section of about 2 mm2 should be provided in the bushing. The diaphragm is made of polyethylene film 0.2 mm thick. It must be molded before installation into the sensor.
To do this, you can use the sensor pan assembled with a fitting. It is necessary to make a technological clamping ring from sheet duralumin 5 mm thick. The shape of this ring exactly matches the assembly flange of the pallet. To form the diaphragm, the rod assembly with its blank is inserted with inside into the hole of the pallet fitting and clamp the workpiece with a technological ring. Then the assembly is evenly heated from the diaphragm side, holding it above the burner flame at a distance of 60...70 cm and, slightly lifting the rod, the diaphragm is formed. In order for the diaphragm not to lose elasticity during operation, it is necessary that it is constantly in the fuel. Therefore, when long-term parking car, it is necessary to clamp the hose from the sensor to the carburetor to prevent evaporation of gasoline from the system.
The sensor and solenoid valve are installed on a bracket in engine compartment near the carburetor and fuel pump and a cable is connected to electronic unit. The performance of the flow meter can be checked without installing it on the car using a pump with a pressure gauge connected instead of a fuel pump. The pressure at which the sensor is triggered should be 0.1 ... 0.15 kg/cm2. Tests of the flow meter on Moskvich and Zhiguli cars have shown that the accuracy of measuring fuel consumption does not depend on the engine operating mode and is determined by the error in setting a unit volume during calibration, which can easily be adjusted to 1.5...2%.

Domestic development.

Why exactly flow-through fuel flow sensors?
The answer is simple - only they give an accurate real consumption fuel, and not calculations based on indirect measurements (fuel level in the tank, injector opening time, etc.), which are easily falsified and often provide only estimates and not exact values.

How to choose a fuel consumption meter or fuel metering system?

For vehicles ( passenger cars, trucks, buses, tractors, special equipment, etc.) the Swiss-made fuel consumption meters of the series have proven themselves to be the most successful VZP and VZD And DFM, Czech flow meters diesel fuel DWF, and Eurosens Direct And Eurosens Delta. Mechanical fuel meters VZO4 and VZO8 are often used for tractors and special equipment. And specialized fuel metering systems PORT-1 received well-deserved recognition in monitoring actual fuel consumption and many other parameters many years ago.

The direct choice of a meter or metering system for determining the fuel consumption of equipment is primarily based on the value of the maximum fuel flow that flows in the fuel line. The choice of diesel fuel flow meter must not be based on the connecting size or pipeline diameter! You cannot select a flow meter based on the passport data on engine fuel consumption, especially for two-pipe fuel systems (with return), and they make up the vast majority. What is important is the fuel flow in the fuel line, which is usually determined by the performance of the booster pump.

The second criterion for choosing a fuel consumption sensor is the required functionality of the device.

If it is convenient to take flow readings manually, you should focus on fuel meters with a digital (mechanical or LCD) indicator on the device - VZO4 (mechanical dial), VZO8 (mechanical dial), VZD4 (LCD on the meter), VZD8 (LCD on the meter), Eurosens Direct (LCD on the meter) , DFM with DFM-BC (LCD), Eurosens Delta (LCD on the body), Eurosens Delta with a separate display for installation in the Display F1 cabin, with an attached remote LCD monitor (installed in the cabin or temporarily connected to the controller for taking readings).

If an automated accounting system with data output to a computer is required, you need to make sure that there is a pulse output on the fuel flow meter - VZO4 OEM, VZO8 OEM, VZD4, VZP4, VZD8, VZP8, DFM8, DWF, Eurosens Delta, DFM20, DFM25, various modifications PORT-1 systems. More detailed information You can find information about this equipment in or use the search. Our review articles can be viewed in the section THIS IS INTERESTING: and.

To obtain highly accurate data in the Russian climate, we recommend using the DFM8D system with DFM-BC (diesel fuel flow sensor with on-board computer) or DWF with PORT controller. Fuel consumption is taken into account by the dfm system using a high-precision flow meter specially adapted for operation in shaking and harsh operating conditions, which even allows compensation for errors due to the difference in temperature of the fuel supplied to and discharged from the engine.

In most cases, there is no need to obtain highly accurate data and an error of 1 to 3% is quite acceptable, which makes it possible to successfully use the above-mentioned PORT accounting systems and fuel meters.

It should be noted that our company most often records diesel fuel in transport using meters VZP8, dfm8eco, Eurosens Delta PN 250 (KAMAZ, MAZ, almost all imported trucks and special equipment, marine engines and generators). Having gone through the calibration procedure, and sometimes even without it, diesel fuel accounting turns into simple procedure recording fuel use for each consumer. Less commonly, we use fuel meters VZP4 and Eurosens Direct PN 100 (tractors, agricultural machinery, engines without a return line).

An assessment of the standard size of a diesel fuel meter manufactured by Aquametro AG can be made based on the table below:

Engine				Fuel meter
Power			Fuel consumption	Bandwidth	Nominal diameter DN
hp	kW	l/h		l/h	mm
250	184	50		1…80	4
680	500	135		4…200	8
2 000	1 470	400		10…600	15
5 000	3 680	1 000		30…1 500	20
10 000	7 360	2 000		75…3 000	25
30 000	22 000	6 000		225…9 000	40
100 000	73 600	20 000		750…30 000	50

Please note that the data given in the table are estimates. The main indicator for choosing a fuel flow meter for a car is knowing the minimum and maximum flow in the fuel line. If you find it difficult to choose a meter, please fill out and send us the questionnaire presented on the website or contact us by contact numbers, our specialists will definitely answer all your questions.

Fuel flow meter for a car. Monitoring fuel consumption on trucks

The decision about which diesel fuel flow meter or system to use for a car also depends on the specific engine power supply system. Sometimes for engines with high-pressure fuel injection pumps we use only one fuel meter, slightly modifying the power system (examples in the “”) section. For fuel systems with pump injector, electronic injection or CommonRail, two single-chamber flow meters are always used: on the forward and return fuel lines or one two-chamber flowmeter (DFM, Eurosens Delta, DWF).

The choice of equipment is also determined by your requirements for it. It is necessary to obtain data without the driver knowing about it - a fuel metering system is used without a monitor or indication on the meters. If it is required that the driver controls both engine hours and consumption (total, per trip, daily, instant), an on-board computer (dfm8 + dfm-bc system) or a monitor (PORT systems with viewing and control functions) is installed in the cab. If you want to track all the driver’s actions, namely: driving route, speed, time and place of stops, consumption at each stage of the journey and other data, you should install the PORT-1 monitoring system with the GPS/GLONASS function. It is necessary to receive this data in real time - a controller with a GSM function allows you to transmit data online. Today, monitoring vehicles with actual fuel consumption is an inexpensive, quickly payback functionality.

The choice of equipment has been made. What's next?

Solutions for installing fuel consumption sensors or systems for metering fuel consumption are usually straightforward and can be easily viewed on site. Installation is carried out either by our specialists or equipment maintenance personnel in accordance with the diagrams specified in the installation and operating instructions supplied with the devices.

To install a DFM or DWF fuel flow meter into the fuel line, Eurosens Delta/Direct or VZO are usually used installation kits or simply herringbone-type fittings, the hoses are fastened with ordinary clamps. Mounting material is not always included with the device, but can be purchased separately. Fuel meters VZD and VZP have an adapted input M14x1.5. To install fuel metering systems of the PORT-1 series, all installation material is included with the product.

Any fuel consumption sensor, and even vzp, vzo, vzd with an internal safety mesh, is always installed after the filter (with a corresponding filter element) to prevent foreign dirt from entering the device mechanism. Dirt can not only cause malfunction of the device, but also disable it, which in turn will lead to clogging of the fuel line and deterioration of engine performance under heavy loads.

The diesel fuel consumption meter (and dwf, Eurosens Direct, Eurosens Delta meters are better horizontally) must be mounted on the frame (not on the engine!), it is recommended to protect all connections from interference by unauthorized persons (we seal removable connections). You cannot install the fuel flow meter in the immediate vicinity of the fuel injection pump; if this situation cannot be avoided, then in order to avoid water hammer, use a flexible hose at least 2 meters long, rolled into a ring to reduce the space it occupies.

For measuring fuel consumption on locomotives, ships, powerful diesel generators fuel flow meters are used as for a car various designs, but the most widely used flow meters are the larger standard size series VZO (VZO15, VZO20, VZO25 even VZO40) and DFM (DFM8S, DFM8D, DFM8ECO, DFM12eco, DFM20S, DFM25S) from Aquametro, Eurosens Direct PN 250, Eurosens Direct PN 500, Eurosens Delta PN 250, Eurosens Delta PN 500 from Mechatronics. Also recently, we have been installing flow meters of the OGM series (OGM25 different modifications) Shanghai company “Maide Machine”, the measurement error of which is only 0.5% or 0.25%.

Basic installation diagrams of a fuel consumption monitoring system for recording fuel consumption in the fuel system of vehicles are included in the “installation and operating instructions” for the equipment we offer. On this page we will present only the general solution. The basic diagram for constructing a complex for metering engine fuel consumption is presented in the figure below and includes two fuel consumption sensors installed on the forward and return lines. The difference in the readings of the flow sensors is the actual amount of fuel consumed by the engine.

The best, or more precisely, the most accurate measurements using Swiss flow meters can be achieved using a DFM fuel meter (DFM8D and DFM8S sensors with an on-board computer DFM-BC):

The dfm diesel fuel meter is connected to the DFM-BC computer

The DFM (Difference Flow Meter) fuel meter allows you to obtain accurate data thanks, first of all, to the mutual calibration of the forward and reverse flow sensors, as well as the possibility of introducing a temperature correction. It’s no secret that the fuel in the return line (after the engine) has more high temperature than in the supply line, and therefore the backflow sensor will provide inflated results. Temperature errors are especially evident in the cold season during the warm-up stage and the first hour of machine operation. The dfm system allows calculations with an error of up to 1%.

On machines equipped with an in-line injection pump, as a rule, you can use a return line loop circuit. This allows you to directly measure fuel consumption and save on the purchase of equipment by purchasing and installing only one dfm (dfm8s) or vzo/vzd/DRT PORT fuel meter. An example of such an installation diagram is shown in the following figure:

One of the options for installing a fuel meter dfm or vzo, or OGM on ship engine to account for fuel consumption:

Other, more specific schemes for installing fuel meters to track consumption can be viewed on the pages of the “THIS IS INTERESTING” section.

When installing fuel consumption meters, it is necessary to take into account that the meters and optional equipment should be installed in places that are convenient and accessible for installation, maintenance and readings. Installation of the fuel meter dfm, vzo and others is carried out in compliance with the direction of the arrow on the flow meter body, if any.

Hello! I'll tell you about my attempt to make an onboard flow meter based on Arduino Nano. This is my second product from Arduino, the first was a walking spider. After experimenting with light bulbs and servos, I wanted to do something more useful.

Of course, you could buy a finished product, maybe even for lower price(although I couldn’t find it for less). But it wasn't fun, and it might not have the features I wanted. In addition, a hobby, like sports, rarely justifies the costs in material form.

Before I talk about the process, I’ll show you a picture of what it looks like now. The program is still in the debugging stage, so the controller hangs on wires in the cabin, and the display is stuck on double-sided tape) In the future, this will be installed humanly.

The device calculates and displays kilometer fuel consumption on the display: instantaneous on the bottom line, average over the last kilometer on the top line.

The idea of making this thing came to me a long time ago, but it was hampered by the lack of information about what and how it works in my car. I have it quite old - Corolla E11 with a 4A-FE engine. I knew about the engine that it is fuel-injected and that the injectors have more or less constant performance, which is what its own control unit counts on. Therefore, the main idea of measuring flow is to measure the total duration of opening of the nozzles.

ECU, as suggested good man and as the instructions later confirmed, it controls the injector in the following way: plus is always supplied to it, and minus opens and closes depending on the wishes of the ECU. Therefore, if you connect to the negative wire of the injector, you can track the moment of its opening by measuring the potential: when the ECU shorts the injector to ground, 14 volts drop to zero. This simple thought did not immediately occur to me, because my knowledge of electronics is limited to a school physics course and Ohm’s law. Next, we needed to turn +14V into +5V, which can be supplied to the logic input of the controller. Here I somehow came up with a shunt circuit known to all electronics engineers, but before that I had to study the manuals and make sure that the injector resistance was negligibly small, and the logic input resistance was almost infinite.

To calculate the kilometer consumption, it was necessary to obtain data from the speed sensor. Everything turned out to be simpler with it, because it produces steps 0... +5V, the more steps, the more mileage. These steps went directly to the logical input without transformations.

I really wanted to display data on the LCD display. I was considering different variants and settled on a MELT text display for 234 rubles based on the Hitachi HD44780 microcontroller, which Arduino has been able to work with since birth.

After long and painful reflection, the following diagram was drawn up:

In addition to resistors that reduce the voltage from the injector, there is a voltage stabilizer here in order to power the controller from the on-board network, as well as on the advice of grandfather and good friend capacitors were added to smooth out possible voltage peaks, and a resistor “just in case” for each logical input. And yes, I decided to send signals from the injector and sensor to analog inputs, which I later did not regret at all, because in digital mode the analog inputs did not want to understand the difference between a closed and open nozzle, but in analog they showed very clearly different level voltage. Perhaps this is a flaw in my scheme, but everything was done for the first time, blindly and without testing on a breadboard, in general, at random.

Following the diagram, I added markings printed circuit board(yes, I immediately rushed to type, because I didn’t really want to mess around with a bunch of wires on the circuit board):

The board was etched for the first time and with some technology violations, so the result came out so-so. But after tinning everything came back in order. I etched using a laser iron, learned from well-known videos on easyelectronics. After etching the board turned out like this:

To solder the elements onto the board, we had to make a lot of holes in it. I didn’t want to buy an expensive drill like a Dremel or similar, and in order to save a couple of thousand rubles, I made a micro drill from a motor and a collet clamp, which were bought at a radio store nearby:

After drilling holes, tinning and soldering, the board began to look like this:

Here I foolishly soldered an extra stabilizer, which was later replaced with a resistor.

After the product was ready, I began testing it in combat conditions, that is, directly on the car. To do this, at my request, the wires from the injector and sensor were routed into the cabin. For the microcontroller I wrote test program, which wrote raw data to the COM port - the number of pulses from the speed sensor and the milliseconds during which the injector was open. After sitting in the car with my laptop and seeing that the data corresponded to reality, I was incredibly happy and went home to write a working version of the program.

After two or three testing sessions, the program began to show valid data. At first I calculated average consumption according to the time interval (5-10 minutes), which caused an interesting effect: after five minutes of standing at a traffic light (not even a traffic jam, but a slight semblance), the kilometer consumption jumped to prohibitive values of 50-100 liters per 100 km. At first I was perplexed, but then I realized that this is a common thing, because the consumption is per kilometer, and I average it over time: the clock is ticking, gasoline is flowing, and the car is standing still. After that, I came up with the bright idea of averaging by mileage: in the current version, the program calculates how much gasoline was consumed in the last kilometer and shows how many liters will be consumed if you drive 100 km at the same pace. The “instant” flow rate is calculated as the average for the last second and is updated every second.

Source code (if anyone is interested) I

December 24, 2011 at 03:23 pm

Homemade flow meter for auto

Development for Arduino

Hello! I'll tell you about my attempt to make an on-board flow meter based on Arduino Nano. This is my second product from Arduino, the first was a walking spider. After experimenting with light bulbs and servos, I wanted to do something more useful.

Of course, it was possible to buy a finished product, maybe even for a lower price (although I didn’t find it for a lower price). But it wasn't fun, and it might not have the features I wanted. In addition, a hobby, like sports, rarely justifies the costs in material form.

The ECU, as a good person suggested and as the instructions later confirmed, controls the injector in the following way: plus is always supplied to it, and minus opens and closes depending on the wishes of the ECU. Therefore, if you connect to the negative wire of the injector, you can track the moment of its opening by measuring the potential: when the ECU shorts the injector to ground, 14 volts drop to zero. This simple thought did not immediately occur to me, because my knowledge of electronics is limited to a school physics course and Ohm’s law. Next, we needed to turn +14V into +5V, which can be supplied to the logic input of the controller. Here I somehow came up with a shunt circuit known to all electronics engineers, but before that I had to study the manuals and make sure that the injector resistance was negligibly small, and the logic input resistance was almost infinite.

To calculate the kilometer consumption, it was necessary to obtain data from the speed sensor. Everything turned out to be simpler with it, because it produces steps of 0... +5V, the more steps, the greater the mileage. These steps went directly to the logical input without transformations.

I really wanted to display data on the LCD display. I considered different options and settled on a MELT text display for 234 rubles based on the Hitachi HD44780 microcontroller, which Arduino has been able to work with since birth.

After long and painful reflection, the following diagram was drawn up:

In addition to resistors that reduce the voltage from the injector, there is a voltage stabilizer to power the controller from the on-board network, and on the advice of my grandfather and good friend, capacitors were added to smooth out possible voltage peaks, and a resistor “just in case” for each logical input. And yes, I decided to send signals from the injector and sensor to the analog inputs, which I later did not regret at all, because in digital mode the analog inputs did not want to understand the difference between a closed and open injector, but in analog they very clearly showed different voltage levels . Perhaps this is a flaw in my scheme, but everything was done for the first time, blindly and without testing on a breadboard, in general, at random.

Following the diagram, I wrote down the layout of the printed circuit board (yes, I immediately rushed to print, because I didn’t really want to mess around with a bunch of wires on the circuit board):

After drilling holes, tinning and soldering, the board began to look like this:

Here I foolishly soldered an extra stabilizer, which was later replaced with a resistor.

After the product was ready, I began testing it in combat conditions, that is, directly on the car. To do this, at my request, the wires from the injector and sensor were routed into the cabin. For the microcontroller, I wrote a test program that wrote raw data to the COM port - the number of pulses from the speed sensor and the milliseconds during which the injector was open. After sitting in the car with my laptop and seeing that the data corresponded to reality, I was incredibly happy and went home to write a working version of the program.

After two or three testing sessions, the program began to show valid data. At first, I calculated the average consumption over a time interval (5-10 minutes), which caused an interesting effect: after five minutes of standing at a traffic light (not even a traffic jam, but a slight semblance), the kilometer consumption jumped to prohibitive values of 50-100 liters per 100 km. At first I was perplexed, but then I realized that this is a common thing, because the consumption is per kilometer, and I average it over time: the clock is ticking, gasoline is flowing, and the car is standing still. After that, I came up with the bright idea of averaging by mileage: in the current version, the program calculates how much gasoline was consumed in the last kilometer and shows how many liters will be consumed if you drive 100 km at the same pace. The “instant” flow rate is calculated as the average for the last second and is updated every second.

Source code (if anyone is interested) I

This article lists and describes in detail most modern solutions ensuring control of fuel consumption on vehicles. This information will allow you to expand your knowledge of the types of equipment used, and will allow you to take a more balanced and rational approach to the choice of control methods and purchased measuring instruments. Using this material You will certainly be able to avoid unnecessary costs for experiments.

Modern methods of monitoring fuel consumption and other parameters in transport.

First, let's answer a few questions, the solutions to which we will consider individually below.

Which facilities typically require the use of fuel consumption controls?

passenger vehicles
freight transport
special equipment
agricultural machinery
stationary tanks for storing and dispensing fuels and lubricants

What types of fuel do they usually want to control?

diesel fuel
petrol
GAS (propane, butane)

Which modern methods and methods for monitoring fuel consumption exist?

connect to the standard analog fuel level sensor vehicle
connect to vehicle injector
connect to CAN bus vehicle
install a fuel level sensor in the vehicle tank
install a flow-through fuel meter on the vehicle engine
install an ultrasonic fuel level sensor (US) on the vehicle tank or LPG cylinder
install a fuel level sensor on the gas cylinder to control the gas level

Now let's look at each control method separately....

Monitoring fuel level and consumption using a standard analog sensor.

Here is another example of how a fuel meter is installed on an engine. It doesn't take much time.

If the customer is against loopback (changes) fuel system You can install differential fuel meters on both fuel lines (supply and return) at once. You can install a differential meter, for example, after the fuel pump low pressure), both fuel streams of the vehicle are conveniently located nearby. IN in this case It is worth remembering that meters are afraid of dirt, so it is advisable for a differential fuel consumption control meter to install an additional filter in front of the meter in the supply line so that dirt from the bottom of the tank does not get into it.

If the fuel meter is clogged, there is nothing to worry about. They can be cleaned in just 15 minutes. An example of how this is done can be found in the “reference book” of the “info center” on our website. Regardless of the type of meter and its manufacturer, the technology is the same. For example "Cleaning (flushing) of the flow fuel meter VZO 8 (OEM)" or "Cleaning (flushing) of the flow fuel meter VZO 4 (OEM)".

Whatever meter you choose to monitor vehicle fuel consumption, you must take into account that fuel meters are susceptible to water hammer from the injection pump. These water hammers can create errors in measurements; to avoid this, an additional one must be installed after the meter. check valve or a hose ring at least 2 meters long.

Another nuance of using differentiated fuel consumption monitoring meters is that they are not suitable for all vehicles. On some vehicles, foam from the pressure drop forms at the outlet of the injection pump from diesel fuel, and this foam is incorrectly counted by the fuel meter. You can fight it with defoamers or diaerators, but it doesn’t always help. In this case, it is better to choose a different method of control.

The fuel meter only monitors the fuel actually consumed by the engine; the vehicle tank remains uncontrolled. In this case, there is no need to rely on control of fuel fillings and drains.

Diagram for installing a fuel pressure meter:

Scheme for installing the fuel meter for discharge:

Installation diagram of a differential fuel meter:

Fuel level monitoring using ultrasonic sensors (ultrasound).

Ultrasonic fuel consumption monitoring sensors operate on the FLS principle (they measure the fuel level in the vehicle tank), only you do not need to drill into the tank to install them. This equipment is installed from below fuel tank by attaching an ultrasound emitter. These systems today are not cheap. The only advantage is that there is no need to make a hole in the tank. The disadvantages include the following: the ultrasonic fuel control sensor (US) is sensitive to dirt at the bottom of the tank and to the presence of water. The reason lies in the method of measuring the fuel level in a vehicle tank using an ultrasound sensor. The fact is that the signal from the emitter is reflected from the difference in the transmission medium of the ultrasound wave. In other words, the sensor passes through the level of diesel fuel in the tank and is reflected on the upper boundary (air), and the electronics, recording these readings, determines the height of the fuel level in the tank. If other media appear in the path of the emitter (water at the bottom of the tank or a particle of debris floating along the bottom of the tank), reflection will occur earlier and lead to a false fuel level value. This is not a big deal once, the GLONASS satellite monitoring program will filter out these readings, but if there is a lot of garbage and the tanks get clogged frequently, this can lead to a serious error. After installing an ultrasonic fuel consumption monitoring sensor, the vehicle tank must also be calibrated.

The working principle looks something like this:

Or in this video you can see how similar work is done on site.

Monitoring the gas level in the LPG cylinder using an external sensor.

A lot of our clients are interested in the issue of monitoring gas consumption on commercial vehicles. It is clear that technologically it is not realistic for drivers to drain GAS. They steal here simply by “under-refueling” or at the same time refueling their car. Plus the addition of mileage, plus overestimation of consumption standards, in the end - despite the significant difference in price from other types of fuel, GAZ has firmly taken its place in the list of fuel frauds.

As a rule, gas consumption on a vehicle is monitored by the driver based on the kilometers traveled and a mechanical sensor located on top of the LPG cylinder. Extremely inconvenient, of course, but there is no choice. Recently it has appeared gas equipment With electronic sensors, readings from which are displayed on various indicators of the gas level in the cylinder, or directly in standard systems TS. These sensors work extremely inaccurately, with jerks, jumps, etc.

Ordinary mechanical sensor The gas level on the HBO cylinder usually looks like this:

It can be replaced with an analogue one, also with an indication and an analogue output for the GLONASS monitoring system. After installation gas cylinder it is also necessary to calibrate, as a result, in the GLONASS transport monitoring system it will be possible to monitor the state of the gas level in the LPG cylinder, as a result of the actual fuel consumption and refueling. Now variants of fraud will be stopped. It looks like this after installation:

Also, to ensure control of gas consumption on vehicles, you can use control over the vehicle injector, or install an ultrasonic sensor (ultrasound) - these methods were described above, so we will not waste time on this again.

When implementing fuel consumption monitoring equipment, regardless of the type of control and equipment manufacturer, it is worth understanding the main thing - it will only work correctly installed equipment! Fuel consumption monitoring systems lead to significant savings and are very different short terms payback period (no more than three months, and often this is a month)! As a result of installing such equipment, the flow error can be reduced to the minimum possible indicator - 1% -3% no more. And before installing fuel consumption monitoring systems at enterprises, this error is at least 10%, and often reaches 30% (sometimes higher). Also, we must not forget that at gas stations they do not add enough fuel and the fuel trucks that bring fuel and lubricants to the enterprise are also being cunning! Using fuel monitoring systems, you can stop fuel theft by drivers, identify and control fuel suppliers, and also see which gas stations operate honestly and which ones cheat. All this together leads to restoration of order and enormous savings of money.

This data is based on our 10 years of implementation experience similar systems. Don't believe me? Take the equipment to FREE test drive!

There are a lot of modern ways to control fuel consumption on vehicles. Which solution should you choose? Weigh the pros and cons yourself or take our advice. We do not charge money for consultations. Specialists of the company "STAVINTEKH" will select for you optimal solution monitoring the operation of the vehicle, at a price and the required measurement accuracy. Most equipment is available for FREE trial use! Want to check how it works? Contact

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