The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 20, 1989
Filed:
Dec. 11, 1987
Emilio A Fernandez, Fairfax County, VA (US);
Angel P Bezos, Montgomery County, MD (US);
Charles H Kimball, Carroll County, MD (US);
Pulse Electronics, Inc., Rockville, MD (US);
Abstract
A fuel measuring system of the bubble type is adaptable for use with a plurality of tanks of predetermined differing geometries. The system employs at least two bubbling tubes located at predetermined locations in a tank. A predetermined volume flow of air is made to pass through each tube. Pressure transducers are used to periodically measure the air pressures supplied to the bubbling tubes. Temperature is also periodically sampled, and the pressure and temperature data is used by a microprocessor to make the necessary computations to first determine the averaged normalized air pressure and then the height of the fuel in the tank. In order to correlate the computed value of fuel height with the actual quantity of fuel in the tank, the microprocessor accesses data in a table lookup memory for the particular tank and performs calculations in order to derive the instantaneous volume of fuel in the tank. The instantaneous volume of fuel is then digitally filtered with two time constants, and the results of the digital filtering is used to determine whether fuel is being added to the tank at a rapid rate as in refueling or fuel is being drawn off the tank at a relatively slow rate as when fuel is being supplied to an engine. Depending on the results of the test, an approximate, but stable, value of fuel volume is generated for display.