Method and apparatus for ultrasonic measurement of fuel quantity and density

摘要

An ultrasonic fuel-gauging system has a tank with several ultrasonic probes having reflectors spaced along their length. A vibrating cylinder densitometer is located at the bottom of the tank and provides an output to a control unit representative of fuel density at that location. The control unit calculates the speed of sound reflected from the reflector closest to the densitometer and uses this and the density measurement to calculate a fuel constant. The control unit calculates the density of fuel at different heights from the fuel constant and speed of sound measurements from other reflectors. From these density measurements the control unit calculates mean density and fuel mass.