Fuel delivery system and method
First Claim
1. A system for delivering a fuel to an internal-combustion engine based on one or more characteristics of a fuel in a tank, the system comprising:
- a first ultrasonic transducer configured to generate an output;
a temperature sensor configured to generate an output; and
a controller configured togenerate a plurality of control signals,send at least one of the plurality of control signals to the first ultrasonic transducer,receive the output of the first ultrasonic transducer,receive the output of the temperature sensor,determine one or more characteristics of the fuel based on the output of the first ultrasonic sensor and the output of the temperature sensor,compare the one or more characteristics of the fuel to a set of characteristics of a first fuel type and a second fuel type, andsend a control signal to a fuel delivery device if at least one of the one or more characteristics fall outside a predetermined set of boundary conditions.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for determining a plurality of characteristics of a fuel and controlling a fuel delivery system based on the characteristics of the fuel. A controller generates a plurality of control signals. The control signals are transmitted to at least one ultrasonic transducer, a capacitance sensor, and a temperature sensor. Each of the ultrasonic transducer, capacitance sensor, and temperature sensor generate at least one output signal which is transmitted back to the controller. The controller determines, based on the output signals, the plurality of characteristics of the fuel. The characteristics of the fuel can include, for example, temperature, density, dielectric constant, and the like. The controller then compares the characteristics of the fuel to a set of characteristics of a first fuel type and a second fuel type and controls a fuel delivery device based on the characteristics of the fuel.
50 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A system for delivering a fuel to an internal-combustion engine based on one or more characteristics of a fuel in a tank, the system comprising:
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a first ultrasonic transducer configured to generate an output; a temperature sensor configured to generate an output; and a controller configured to generate a plurality of control signals, send at least one of the plurality of control signals to the first ultrasonic transducer, receive the output of the first ultrasonic transducer, receive the output of the temperature sensor, determine one or more characteristics of the fuel based on the output of the first ultrasonic sensor and the output of the temperature sensor, compare the one or more characteristics of the fuel to a set of characteristics of a first fuel type and a second fuel type, and send a control signal to a fuel delivery device if at least one of the one or more characteristics fall outside a predetermined set of boundary conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of delivering a fuel to an engine based on one or more characteristics of the fuel in a tank, the method comprising:
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configuring a controller to generate a plurality of control signals; transmitting a first control signal to a first ultrasonic transducer; transmitting an output of the first ultrasonic transducer to the controller in response to the first control signal; transmitting an output of a capacitance sensor to the controller; transmitting an output of a temperature sensor to the controller; determining a set of characteristics of the fuel based on the output of the ultrasonic sensor, the output of the temperature sensor, and the output of the capacitance sensor; comparing the set of characteristics of the fuel to a set of characteristics of a first fuel type and a set of characteristics of a second fuel type; and controlling a fuel delivery device based on the characteristics of the fuel. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of delivering a fuel to an engine based on one or more characteristics of the fuel in a tank, the method comprising:
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configuring a controller to generate a plurality of control signals; transmitting the control signals to a first ultrasonic transducer, a capacitance sensor, and a temperature sensor; receiving a plurality of output signals from the first ultrasonic transducer, capacitance sensor, and temperature sensor in response to the control signals; determining a set of characteristics of the fuel based on the plurality of output signals; altering the delivery of the fuel to the engine based on the set of characteristics of the fuel; and disabling a fuel delivery system when the fuel does not satisfy a set of predetermined boundary conditions. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification