An Automated Capacitance-Based Fuel Level Monitoring System for Networked Tanks

Abstract

The making of an effective fuel measuring system has been a great challenge in the Nigerian industry, as various oil organization are running into different problems ranging from fire outbreak, oil pilfering, oil spillage and some other negative effects. The use of meter rule or long rod at most petrol filling stations for quantity assessment of fuel in tank is inefficient, stressful, dangerous and almost impossible in a networking environment. This archaic method does not provide good reorder date and does not give a good inventory. As such there is a need to automate the system by providing a real time measurement of fuel storage device to meet the demand of the customers. In this paper, a system was designed to sense the level of fuel in a networked tanks using a capacitive sensor controlled by an ATMEGA 328 Arduino microcontroller. The result was automated both in digital and analogue form through radio frequency Transmission using XBee and interfaced to Computer System for notification of fuel level and refill operations. This enables consumption control, cost analysis and tax accounting for fuel purchases.