Quantity Gauging
AssigneeSmiths Group PLC
InventorHarry Atkinson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft fuel quantity gauging system has a number of probes within a tank to measure the height of fuel at different locations. Each probe includes a still well and an ultrasonic transducer mounted at the top and bottom of the still well. The lower transducer transmits pulses of acoustic energy upwardly through the fuel to its surface and measures the time of travel back of the reflected pulse back to the transducer. This is used to derive a first, bottom-up measure of fuel height. Similarly, the upper transducer transmits pulses down through air to the fuel surface to derive a second, top-down measurement. These are compared to check for correct operation of the probes.
Claims20
A quantity-gauging system comprising:
- a first sensor arranged to determine the distance below a first location of an interface between two different fluids;
- a second sensor arranged to determine the distance of said interface above a second location;
- and a processing unit connected to receive outputs of said first and second sensors to provide an indication of quantity of one of the fluids.
A quantity-gauging system comprising:
- a first sensor located in a fluid for providing an indication of the height of said fluid above a lower location, a second sensor located above said fluid for providing an indication of the distance of a fluid surface below an upper location, and a processing unit for comparing the outputs of said first and second sensors to determine if the system is performing accurately.
A fluid quantity-gauging probe comprising:
- a tube and first and second sensors for providing separate indications of the height of fluid along the probe.
A fluid-gauging probe comprising:
- a still well;
- a first acoustic transducer mounted at the lower end of said still well for determining the height of a fluid interface above said first transducer;
- and a second acoustic transducer mounted at the upper end of said still well for determining the distance of said fluid interface below said second transducer.
A fluid-gauging probe comprising:
- a pair of concentric capacitive electrodes arranged to be filled with fluid such that the height of fluid can be determined from the capacitance between the electrodes;
- and an acoustic transducer mounted at one end of the probe for determining the distance of a fluid interface from the transducer.
A method of determining an indication of the quantity of a fluid comprising the steps of:
- determining the height of an interface of said fluid above a first location below said interface, determining the distance of said interface below a second location above said interface, and determining the quantity of fluid accordingly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.