Good questions.
Yellowing of the tank might affect the performance, but as long as it
is still transparent I believe it should work. The yellow might also
mean that it is more optically transparent in the infrared.
Bulging tank will be a problem. I can't think of a solution for that.
A flexible circuit board might be an option.
Regarding installation after the tank has been put in, I don't see why
not. One board can be mounted on the baggage bay bulkhead with a few
drilled holes to allow the light through, and the other board would
need access to the front of the tank, which should be accessible
through the bottom access panel. I plan on attaching the board to the
fuel tank with a few fiberglass brackets glued to the tank.
On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 1:17 PM, Richard Wheelwright
<rpwheelwright@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Just a couple of things to consider ??
> The tank will yellow with age will this effect the light?
> The tank will also change shape (bulge) the surface you are fitting the
> circuit
boards too will mole her be flat. Will this also cause a problem?
>
> Just thinking out loud!!!
>
> Regards
>
> Richard
>
>> On 23 Jun 2014, at 17:52, Tony Renshaw <tonyrenshaw268@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi Andrew,
>> Thanks for the YouTube video. Youve got what appears to be a solid prototype.
Im just wondering how easily the strip of LEDs can be installed if the tank
has already been put in, if in fact it can?
>> Regards
>> Tony Renshaw
>>
>>> On 22 Jun 2014, at 7:12 pm, Andrew Sarangan <asarangan@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Regarding the fuel indicator, I made a brief video to show how it
>>> works. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zagLfErDOQI
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 6:51 PM, Paul McAllister
>>> <paul.the.aviator@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Andrew, since you are writing code you might like to incorporate
>>>> compensation
tables for the shape of the tank so you get a linear scale.
>>>>
>>>> The system I have is a variant of Tony K's that weights the fuel with a 0
~ 1" pressure transducer. The fuel sloshing and tank shape compensation is done
with a PIC Micro. It has worked flawlessly for 10 years.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers, Paul
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
>>>> [mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Andrew
>>>> Sarangan
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 9:03 AM
>>>> To: Europa List
>>>> Subject: Re: Europa-List: Noncontact fuel level indicator
>>>>
>>>> I will take some photos and write up some details in a few days.
>>>>
>>>> The idea was based on what I accidentally observed one day when holding a
flash light to the fuel tank. When the flash light is held below the fuel level,
the entire fluid lights up. When the flash light is above the level, the tank
lights up. The contrast across the fluid level is about 10x. This is due to
light being trapped above or below the level. See attached pictures.
>>>>
>>>> So, I made a board with four LEDs in a column, and another board with
>>>> 10 photodetectors in a column. Using a microcontroller, I am flashing each
LED in sequence, and then computing the liquid level based on the measured
contrast.
The output is displayed on a 10-bar display. The LED board will attach
to the aft of the baggage bay bulkhead, with four holes to allow the light to
get through. The detector board has to attach somewhere on the front side of
the tank. This might be the tricky part because I need to make sure it is
secure,
but also removable and does not interfere with the controls.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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