The most popular option in GPS vehicle monitoring is fuel control. It was widely used on trucks and special vehicles with diesel engines. But on passenger cars with gasoline and gas, this can be done only according to regulations, additional sensors are not installed. Due to the incorrect geometric shape of the tanks, the explosiveness of the fuel and the impossibility of installing a fuel consumption meter, no additional fuel control sensors are installed on passenger vehicles.
A fuel control system can be used for diesel trucks, agricultural machinery, special machinery (thermal locomotives, diesel generators, etc.). There are at least 3 ways to keep track of fuel consumption:
- The fuel level sensor is a measuring device in the form of a metal tube, which is completely immersed in the fuel tank. It measures all possible changes in it.
- A flow meter or fuel flow sensor is a fuel meter that is installed on a high-pressure fuel pump or a Common Rail system. Counts the amount of fuel that directly entered the fuel system. There are single-chamber and two-chamber counters (differentiated).
- CAN bus reading is a method of obtaining data from the on-board computer, which are transmitted from the available sensors on the vehicle.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of them?
- Fuel level sensors have a high control accuracy of about 98-99%. They have a capacitive measurement principle. Allows you to control fuel filling, possible spills, as well as fuel consumption. Thanks to the GPS monitoring system, it is possible to receive information about the remaining fuel in the tank at any time. They do not require intervention in the fuel system. Among the shortcomings, it is possible to highlight that the level sensors are installed only on equipment with tanks of the correct geometric shape. It is also worth remembering that the key to high measurement accuracy is the correct calibration of the tank!
- Ultrasonic fuel sensors differ from capacitive sensors in the principle of measurement. Theoretically, they exist and should provide greater accuracy. They are available for sale, but in practice, no one has yet managed to find really working copies. In this regard, capacitive fuel level sensors are widely used.
- Flowmeters have greater accuracy than the level sensor - about 99-99.9%. They are not affected by slopes, temperature changes, but require a modification of the fuel system. To install a single-chamber system, it is necessary to loop the return through the bypass valve back to the supply. When using a two-chamber flowmeter, no changes need to be made, but its cost is almost 2 times higher than the cost of level sensors. Among the shortcomings, it is possible to single out the fact that the fuel meters do not allow controlling the amount of filling/draining of fuel in the tank. They have a higher cost than a level sensor.
- CAN-bus is a simple and inexpensive way to obtain a large number of parameters from the "brains" of the vehicle. Depending on the manufacturer, brand and year of manufacture, it is possible to obtain engine speed, temperature, engine load, instantaneous consumption, cumulative consumption with indication of the total amount of fuel consumed, fuel level in the tank, engine hours, oil pressure and many other parameters. Such a set of data is not available on all vehicles, sometimes only engine speed and temperature are available. Among the disadvantages of this method is the low accuracy of fuel control - 80-90%.
- CAN-Log is an adapter for reading data from the vehicle's CAN bus. It already has a large database of readable parameters for many popular vehicles. It allows reading more data even on vehicles with a standard connection. But this adapter must support GPS tracker and client software.
Don't know what method of fuel consumption control to choose? Contact us and we will be happy to help you choose the right and most accurate option.