FUEL LEVEL SENSOR, METHOD FOR MEASURING FUEL LEVEL BY ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING THE TYPE OF ETHANOL/GASOLINE FUEL BLEND

摘要

The present invention relates to a fuel level sensor, a method to measure the fuel level by electrical conductivity and a method to identify the type of fuel being the fuel level sensor (100) housed inside a rectangular pit (3) within a wall of a fuel tank (2) or within a shoulder inside it, having a lower opening (7) for the entry of fuel. The sensor (100) further comprises three parallel conductive elements (8, 9, 10) separated by two longitudinal pits (12, 13) to house the fuel entering through the lower opening, and the elements also have contact terminals (14, 15, 16), to provide contact with an electrical circuit. The method to measure the fuel level consists of applying a standard voltage (V_REF) between two contact terminals (14, 15), applying the same to the circuit, and measuring the output voltage between the terminals (15, 16). The method for identifying the type of fuel consists of measuring the temperature of the ethanol/gasoline blend with a thermal transducer and comparing them with the pre-stored conductivity values to find the concentration of ethanol in the blend.