KR19990051909A - Fuel level display device and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for improving the fuel tank so that the remaining fuel in the fuel tank can be accurately detected, and to accurately detect the remaining fuel in the fuel tank and to display it digitally. The above fuel amount display device is provided so that it is possible to accurately detect the remaining fuel amount in the fuel tank and notify the driver even when the vehicle attitude is inclined. The fuel level display device includes a fuel tank installed with a plurality of oil level detections detecting a height of oil level in the tank and generating a voltage corresponding thereto, and a voltage output from each of the oil level detections. And an indicator for visually displaying fuel amount data output from the fuel amount detection device, wherein the fuel amount detection device adds to calculate the average value and generates fuel amount data corresponding to the calculated average value. By such a device, the remaining fuel in the fuel tank can be accurately detected and displayed digitally, thereby preventing the fuel exhaustion from running out.

Description

Fuel level display device and control method thereof

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for detecting and displaying a fuel remaining amount of a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for improving a fuel tank to accurately detect a fuel remaining amount and to display the fuel remaining amount digitally.

Typically, a vehicle is equipped with a device for sensing the fuel level in the fuel tank and displaying it on the instrument panel. Such a fuel meter can inform the driver of the amount of fuel that can be driven so that the vehicle can be smoothly managed only when it is relatively accurate.

Currently, most fuel gauges applied to vehicles have floats that float in correspondence with the amount of fuel filled in the fuel tank, and a sliding resistance or strain gauge whose resistance is changed by vertical operation of the floats. gauge is attached to the top of the tank.

1A, 1B, and 1C are cross-sectional views of a fuel tank for explaining the operation of a fuel meter constructed by the prior art. 1A shows a state when the fuel tank is in a horizontal state, and FIGS. 1B and 1C show a state where the fuel tank is inclined because the vehicle is inclined. 1A, 1B and 1C, reference numeral 12 denotes a fuel tank having a metering zone divided into two diaphragms 14 in a central portion, 16 a float located in the metering zone, and 18 sliding Resistance sensor. Reference numeral 20 is a fuel pump.

The height of 16 is moved up and down depending on the amount of fuel in the fuel tank 12 configured as described above, and the height is changed. When the height of the float 16 is changed, the resistance value of the upper sliding resistance sensor 18 is changed, and the resistance value is measured analog or digitally to display the fuel remaining amount. Detailed descriptions of the operation of the fuel gauge having such a structure are described in pages 267 to 271 of the publication issued under the name "Structure of the Automotive Electronic Device" issued on September 5, 1994 by the domestic publisher "Dongshin Publishing Co.". It is described in great detail throughout, so please refer to the above publication for a detailed operation description.

However, the conventional fuel residual amount measuring device having the structure as shown in FIG. 1A has the same flow rate as the vehicle attitude, that is, the height of the float 16 in the fuel tank 12 when the fuel tank 12 is inclined is changed as shown in FIGS. In addition, the measurement value of the remaining fuel is different, there is a problem that the detection value is inaccurate.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a fuel remaining amount display device and a control method thereof for accurately detecting the remaining amount of fuel in a fuel tank and displaying it digitally.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a structure of a fuel tank having improved fuel amount measuring sensors to accurately detect the amount of fuel in the tank.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fuel remaining amount display device capable of accurately detecting and displaying fuel amount even when the vehicle attitude is positioned in an inclined state.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel remaining amount display device of a vehicle, comprising: a fuel tank having a plurality of oil level detections sensing a height of an oil level in a tank and generating a voltage corresponding thereto; And a fuel amount detection device for calculating an average value by adding voltages respectively output from the plurality of oil level detections and generating fuel amount data corresponding to the calculated average value, and visually displaying fuel amount data output from the fuel amount detection device. It is characterized by including an indicator to configure.

According to another principle of the present invention, in the fuel remaining amount display method of a vehicle having a fuel tank provided with a plurality of oil level sensor for detecting the height of the oil level in the tank and generating a voltage corresponding thereto, the plurality of oil level sensor Averaging the voltages outputted from these fields and comparing them with a plurality of preset surface voltages corresponding to the amount of fuel in the fuel tank, and information on the amount of fuel corresponding to the surface voltages when searching for the same surface voltage by the comparing process. It is achieved by providing a vehicle fuel remaining amount display method characterized in that the display is made through the display.

1A, 1B and 1C are cross-sectional views of a fuel tank for explaining the operation of a fuel meter constructed by the prior art.

2 is a perspective view showing a cutaway view of a fuel tank that is a part of a fuel remaining amount display device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 shows a cross-sectional view of the fuel tank shown in FIG. 2;

4 is a view for explaining the electrical configuration of the strain gauge resistance according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a fuel remaining amount display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation control flowchart of the controller illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an accurate detection of a fuel amount using a fuel remaining amount display device constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that in the following description, only parts necessary for understanding the operation according to the present invention will be described, and descriptions of other parts will be omitted so as not to obscure the subject matter of the present invention. In addition, it should be noted that the same reference numerals are used for the same components as the functions already described.

2 is a diagram illustrating a cutaway perspective view of a fuel tank that is a part of a fuel remaining amount display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a plurality of surface height detections 2i (where i denotes 2, 4, 6, and 8), which detects the height of the surface of the tank and generates a voltage corresponding thereto, are installed at predetermined intervals. Fuel tank 12 is shown. The oil level detections 2i include a strain gauge resister 30 located above the fuel tank 12, a cylinder 32 located between the strain gauge resistor 30 and the lower surface of the fuel tank 12, within the cylinder 32. A knit 34 positioned and a spring 36 connected between the strain gauge resistor 30 and the knit 30. In this case, the strain gauge resistor 30 is a metal or semiconductor resistor, as is well known, and is widely used in the art as a device in which a resistance value changes when a deformation is applied to the resistor.

3 is a cross-sectional view of the fuel tank illustrated in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, it is shown that the floats 34 in the oil level detectors 2i move up and down according to the change in the oil level 40 of the flow rate in the fuel tank 12.

4 is a view for explaining the electrical configuration of the strain gauge resistor 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 42 shows that the resistor 42 and the strain gauge resistor 30 are connected in series between the battery (not shown) and the ground.

5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a fuel remaining amount display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this configuration, an adder 44 for adding and outputting voltages output from the plurality of oil level detectors 2i, and an analog to digital converter for converting the adder voltage output from the adder 44 into a digital signal. (Hereinafter referred to as "ADC") A look up table storing fuel amount data corresponding to the surface voltage at an address corresponding to a plurality of surface voltages set in advance corresponding to the amount of fuel in the fuel tank. LUT) 50 and an average value of the digitally converted sensed value, where the average value means a value obtained by dividing the voltage output from the adder 44 by the number of surface height detectors, and corresponding to the calculated average voltage value. A controller 48 for generating an address to access and output fuel quantity data corresponding thereto from the lockup table; Ryoryang decodes the data consists of the indicator driver 52 for driving the display of the digit. In the embodiment of the present invention, the indicator driver 52 shows an example of a segment driver.

FIG. 6 is an operational control flow diagram of the controller shown in FIG. 4, which is a masked program within the microprocessor in controller 48.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an accurate detection of a fuel amount using a fuel remaining amount display device constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Before describing the operation and control process of the fuel remaining amount display device according to the preferred embodiment configured according to the present invention in detail, it is assumed that a predetermined fuel is filled in the fuel tank 12 configured as shown in FIG. 2.

Now, when the fuel remaining amount display device configured as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 is operated, the fuel remaining amount in the fuel tank 12 is detected in various forms by the plurality of fuel level detectors 22, 24, 26, and 28.

For example, if the vehicle is located at an inclined position or the fuel tank 12 is inclined by driving on a sloped road, the oil level in the fuel tank 12 is in a state as shown in FIG. 7. At this time, the floats 34 in the plurality of oil level detectors 2i float on the top of the oil surface 40, and the length of the spring 30 coupled to the ends of the floats 34 is changed. It can be seen that the length of the spring 30 thus increased is proportional to the load based on the Hookes law. The change in the load changes the resistance value of the strain gauge resistor 30 configured as shown in FIG. 4. Therefore, when the value of the strain gauge resistor 30 configured as shown in FIG. 4 is changed, the voltage Vj (where j is 1, 2, 3, 4) output from the oil level sensor 2i is expressed by Equation 1 below.

In Equation 1, R30 is a resistance of the strain gauge resistor 30, and R42 is a value of the current limiting resistor.

Therefore, assuming that the fuel tank 12 is inclined as shown in FIG. 7, the levels of the surface detection voltages V1, V3, V2, and V4 output from the surface detectors 22, 26, 24, and 28, respectively, are differently output. Able to know. If the vehicle is inclined to either of the left and right sides, the levels of the surface detection voltages V1, V2, V3, and V4 output from the surface detectors 22, 24, 26, and 28 shown in FIG. 2 are different.

As described above, the adder 44 of FIG. 5, which inputs the surface sensing voltages V1 to V4 respectively output from the plurality of surface height detectors 2i in the fuel tank 12, adds all of the input surface sensing voltages V1 to V4 and outputs the same. do. At this time, since the adder used in the present invention is the addition operation of the generalized operational amplifier, a detailed operation thereof will not be described.

The added surface detection voltage SV is input to the ADC 46 connected to the output terminal and converted into digital data. Thus, the surface voltage data converted into digital is input to the controller 48. In this case, the controller 46 reads the surface voltage data output from the ADC 46 in step 56 of FIG. 6 and calculates an average value of the surface voltage data in step 58. The average value is calculated by dividing the input level voltage data by the number of level height detectors 2i installed in the fuel tank 12. Therefore, even if the oil level in the fuel tank 12 is inclined as shown in FIG. 7, the flow rate in the fuel tank 12 can be accurately detected by averaging the output voltages of the four oil level sensors 22, 24, 26, and 28. The average value of the oil levels thus detected is converted into fuel amount display data and output by the following procedure.

The controller 48 having calculated the average value generates an address corresponding to the average value in step 60. The controller 48 supplies the generated address to the address terminal of the LUT 50 in step 62 of FIG. 6 to access the data of the flow rate value from the LUT 50. In this case, the LUT 50 stores fuel amount data corresponding to the surface voltage at an address corresponding to a plurality of surface voltages set in advance corresponding to the amount of fuel in the fuel tank, and such data may be obtained and stored by an experiment.

In step 62, the controller 48 accessing the flow rate data corresponding to the average level voltage data from the LUT 50 supplies the accessed flow rate value data to the segment driver 52 as the display data in step 64. The segment driver 52 decodes the display data to drive the indicator 54 of the segment to display the remaining amount in the fuel tank 12 in digits.

Accordingly, it can be seen that the fuel remaining amount display device configured as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 accurately measures the residual amount even when the vehicle attitude is inclined and the oil level in the fuel tank 12 is different.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the output of the adder is converted into a digital signal to obtain an average value and displayed as a digital value has been described. It should be noted that it can be used as an instrument for displaying fuel amount in an analog manner.

As described above, the present invention can accurately display the remaining fuel amount by providing a plurality of oil level sensors in the fuel tank and detecting the flow rate by their average values.

Claims (5)

In the fuel remaining amount display device of the vehicle, A fuel tank installed with a plurality of oil level sensors sensing a height of oil level in the tank and generating a voltage corresponding thereto at a predetermined interval; A fuel amount detection device for calculating an average value by adding voltages respectively output from the plurality of oil level detections, and generating fuel amount data corresponding to the calculated average value; And an indicator for visually displaying fuel amount data output from the fuel amount detection device. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fuel amount detecting device comprises: an adder for adding and outputting voltages output from the plurality of oil level sensors, and an analog digital converter for converting an added voltage output from the adder into a digital signal; A lookup table that stores fuel amount data corresponding to the surface voltage at an address corresponding to a plurality of predetermined surface voltages corresponding to the amount of fuel in a fuel tank, and an average value of the digitally converted sensed values; And a controller for generating an address corresponding to a voltage value and accessing and outputting fuel amount data corresponding to the voltage value from the lockup table, and an indicator driver for decoding the fuel amount data to drive an indicator of the digit. Fuel level indicator. The fuel level indicator of the vehicle of claim 2, wherein the average value is a value obtained by dividing a voltage output from the adder by the number of the oil level sensors. In the fuel remaining amount display device of the vehicle, Oil level consisting of a strain gauge resistor located at the top of the tank, a cylinder located between the strain gauge resistor and the bottom surface of the tank, a float located in the cylinder, and a spring connected between the strain gauge resistor and the float A fuel tank configured to have height sensors spaced apart at predetermined intervals; And a display device for averaging the voltages output from the plurality of oil level sensors of the fuel tank and displaying the fuel amount as the value. A fuel level display control method having a fuel tank provided with a plurality of oil level sensors sensing a height of an oil level in a tank and generating a voltage corresponding thereto at a predetermined interval. Averaging the voltages output from the plurality of oil level detectors and comparing the voltages with the plurality of oil levels preset in accordance with the amount of fuel in the fuel tank; And displaying the information of the fuel amount corresponding to the surface voltage through the display when searching for the same surface voltage by the comparison process.