DAR ES SALAAM INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPATRMENT OF COMPUTER STUDIES

ORDINARY DIPLOMA IN COMPUTER ENGINEERING
NTA LEVEL 6
PROJECT 1
PROJECT TITLE: CAR DIGITAL FUEL GAUGE METER
PROJECT TYPE: PROBLEM SOLVING
CASE STUDY: PERAGUANA TRANSPORTATION COMPANY LIMITED
STUDENT NAME: MOHAMED FARUKU
ADMN NUMBER: 120222191281
PROJECT SUPERVISOR: MR.NNKO J.J

JUNE, 2015

DECLARATION

I MOHAMED FARUKU I declare that this project is an original work of my mind with my own
knowledge. It’s not copied from elsewhere except the discussion and extracts taken from other
sources that I explained each in detail.
………………………………………………………..
Student: MOHAMED FARUKU

………………………………………………………..
Project Supervisor: MR. NNKO, J.J

…………………………..
Date
 ABSTRACT
Now a day’s auto mobile takes a major role in world economic due the rise of petrol cost, on
another side almost every car use analog fuel gauge meter this meter has weakness drivers are
unable to estimate the real actual volume of fuel present in the tank and what is entered during
refueling some of them only show if the tank is full or if the tank is empty this is nothing to help
the driver to know the actual volume.To solve this problem the digital display system has to be
designed and implemented. This project consist of two parts software and hardware development
in which it contain three unit which will be designed so that to reach the implementation of
digital system where those components are sensing unit, control unit and display unit.
Sensing unit will responsible for detecting the volume found in the tank takes the analog values.
Control unit is PIC microcontroller based which has inbuilt ADC analog to digital converter
which will be responsible for conversion of analog values from the tank which have been sent by
the sensing unit into digital values so that they can be manipulated to give out the desired output
volume. Display unit is responsible for giving out the real reading from the tank to the user.
The project is intended to be implemented to the PARAGUNA TRANSPORTATION
COMPANY which is headquarter is located at DODOMA region but has its branches at
Dar Es Salaam and all over East Africa. The company involved in cargo transportation along
East and Mid Africa. The company use various tracks in transportation like Scania, Isuzu, Fuso
this tracks use analog fuel gauge meter. In order to meet the solution the method used for this
project the prototyping methodology is used. Various tools will be used for data collection like
interview, questionnaire, observation and documentary and other project review. The data that
will be collected from all tools will help to the accomplishment of the project. If the project is
successful could be extended further to show the amount of temperature rise, mileage, and also
truck the car tank fuel tank as it is used as it travel through a certain distance.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Up to this moment I would like to express my sincere appreciation to God almighty for giving
me health and strength during the whole time of preparation of this first phase of the project.
I would like to express my deep appreciation to Mr. NNKO who is my supervisor of the project
without forgetting all the members of staff in the department of Computer studies at DIT for their
contribution to my report writing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION...............................................................................................................................................i
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.................................................................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................................................................vi
LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................................................vii
LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................................................viii
CHAPTER ONE..............................................................................................................................................1
1.1Introduction........................................................................................................................................1
1.2Problem statement.............................................................................................................................1
1.3Main objective....................................................................................................................................1
1.4Specific objectives..............................................................................................................................1
1.5Significance of the project..................................................................................................................1
1.6Scope of the project...........................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER TWO.............................................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................................3
2.1.Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
2.2Existing system...................................................................................................................................3
2.2.1 Sensing unit................................................................................................................................3
2.2.2The indicator unit........................................................................................................................3
2.2.3 Block diagram of the current system..........................................................................................4
2.2.4 Weakness of the current system................................................................................................4
2.3 Proposed system...........................................................................................................................5
2.3.1Relevant views about the proposed system................................................................................5
2.3.2Digital fuel gauge meter..............................................................................................................5
2.3.3Sensing unit.................................................................................................................................5
2.3.4Analog to digital converter..........................................................................................................5
2.3.5Control unit..................................................................................................................................5
2.3.6Display unit..................................................................................................................................5
2.3.7 Block diagram of the proposed system.......................................................................................6
 2.3.8Advantages of the proposed system...........................................................................................6
CHAPTER THREE..........................................................................................................................................7
METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................7
3.2LiteratureReview................................................................................................................................7
3.3 Data Collection..................................................................................................................................7
3.4 Data Analysis.....................................................................................................................................7
3.5 Design of theCircuit...........................................................................................................................8
3.6 Circuit Simulation..............................................................................................................................8
3.7 Building the prototype.......................................................................................................................8
METHOD OF THE PROJECT.......................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER FOUR..........................................................................................................................................10
DATA COLLECTION.................................................................................................................................10
4.1 introduction.....................................................................................................................................10
DATA COLLECTION TABLE......................................................................................................................10
4.2 DATA SHEETS FOR CIRCUIT COMPONENTS......................................................................................11
4.2.1 Crystal oscillator.......................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER FIVE............................................................................................................................................12
DATA ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................................12
5.1 Power Supply (rectified AC mains)...................................................................................................12
5.2 Controller unit.................................................................................................................................14
RUNNING CIRCUIT SIMULATION FOR THE DESIGN................................................................................17
4.3 PROJECT COST ESTIMATION............................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................19
APPENDICES..............................................................................................................................................20
APPENDIX A.......................................................................................................................................20
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PERAGUNA EMPLOYEE...................................................................................20
APPENDIX B.......................................................................................................................................21
INTERVIEW GUIDED QUESTIONS FOR EMPLOYEE AND DRIVERS.......................................................21
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LCD – liquid crystal display

PIC - programmable Integrated circuit
DC- Direct current
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure.1: Current system.............................................................................................................................4
Figure.2: proposed system...........................................................................................................................6
Figure 3:flowchart for project method.........................................................................................................9
Figure 4: crysatal oscillator data sheet.......................................................................................................11
Figure 5: floating sensor............................................................................................................................13
Figure 6:analog signal...............................................................................................................................14
Figure 7:analog signal sampling................................................................................................................14
Figure 8:analog signal quantization...........................................................................................................15
Figure 9:circuit simulation.........................................................................................................................17
 LIST OF TABLES
Table1:data collection...............................................................................................................................10
 CHAPTER ONE

1.1Introduction
Chapter will consist of background of PARAGUNA TRANSPORTATION COMPANY
LIMITED, Problem statement, Main objectives and Specific objectives, Significance of the
project and Scope of the project.
1.2Problem statement
The existing gauge meter is analog based which using a wiper moving on the scale to indicate
the reading. In this system got some limitations which make it inefficient to perform its work
efficiently to meet the accurate readings to the user.

1.3Main objective
To design and implement the digital system for measuring the amount of fuel found in the car
tank.
1.4Specific objectives
• Designing of power regulator – involve designing of a desirable DC for utilization of
the circuit component.
• Designing of central control system – involve designing of the circuit control system.
• Construct circuit – this involve construction of the circuit in circuit simulating tools.
• Circuit simulation and testing – this involve testing and free the circuit from bugs.
• Transfer and build the circuit on the PCB board – the tested circuit is transferred and
soldered on the PCB board.
• Testing the PCB board circuit – after transferring on the board the built circuit is
tested and free it from bugs.
• Implementing of the system – involve system implementation and delivery.

1.5Significance of the project

• Provide easy reading: majority didn’t know how to read analog meter found in the car
dashboard but this will be easy for them to read since it is digital meter display the
actual value directly.
 • Provide actual reading at a time since does not involve movable part like springs
which may lead to reading delay.
• It will provide help for national authorities which are responsible for quantity
measurement standards during inspections so that they recognize which petrol
stations committing theft to the customers.

1.6Scope of the project

The scope of this project is to replace the analog gauge meter to a digital gauge meter by
converting analog values into digital format which can provide desirable friendly display
to the user of the meter.
 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1.Introduction
Literature reviews shows the study of the existing system, its weakness and it gives the
explanation of the existing system.

2.2Existing system
The existing system of the car fuel gauge meter is analog based, which is used to show the
amount of fuel found in the tank.
It consist of two parts:
• Sensing unit
• The indicator

2.2.1 Sensing unit

The sensing unit usually uses a float connected to a potentiometer. Typically printed ink design
in a modern automobile. As the tank empties, the float drops and slides a moving contact along
the resistor, increasing its resistance. In addition, when the resistance is at a certain point, it will
also turn on a "low fuel" light on some vehicles. As the tank is full the resistor decrease its value
hence indicate (Full fuel)

2.2.2The indicator unit

“Is usually mounted on the dashboard is measuring and displaying the amount of electrical
current flowing through the sending unit. When the tank level is high and maximum current is
flowing, the needle points to "F" indicating a full tank. When the tank is empty and the least
current is flowing, the needle points to "E" indicating an empty tank”.(WIKIPEDIA the free
encyclopedia(2014).fuel gauge)
 2.2.3 Block diagram of the current system

POWER SUPPLY

ANALOG MATER
FLOATING
SENSOR IN THE
CAR TANK

Figure.1: Current system

2.2.4 Weakness of the current system

i. Unfriendly meter scale reading since it involve user estimations due to having scale
ranges 0-5
ii. Does not provide accurate readings.
iii. Contain many moving parts which can wear out.
iv. Reading delay it does not provide current reading at a time for example during
refueling needs some time for the car to settle and slowly indicate the reading (this can
be taken as advantage for fuel stations theft).
v. Accompanied with wearing and tearing of system parts due to having of movable parts
like springs,wiper.
2.3 Proposed system
2.3.1Relevant views about the proposed system
Digital fuel gauge meter its operating mechanism does not vary much from the existing one, this
work in a digital way convert the analog inputs signals into digital format then processed by the
microcontroller and give out the desired output according to the situation in the environment.It
consist of four parts
• Sensing unit
• Analog to digital converter unit
• Control unit
• Display unit

2.3.2Digital fuel gauge meter

its operating mechanism does not vary much from the existing one, this work in a digital way
convert the analog inputs signals into digital format then processed by the microcontroller and
give out the desired output according to the situation in the environment.

2.3.3Sensing unit
This unit consist of floating sensor located in the tank used to detecting the amount found in the
tank.

2.3.4Analog to digital converter

In this unit is where conversion of analog values in to digital values which will be processed later
to give desired digital values.

2.3.5Control unit
In this unit accept input from ADC and process it to give out the values in digital format

2.3.6Display unit
This unit provide actual reading output from the tank to the user.
 2.3.7 Block diagram of the proposed system

POWER SUPPLY

CAR TANK
WITH
FLOATING
SENSOR

MICROCONTROLLER
DISPLAY ANALOG TO DIGITAL
UNIT CONVERTER (ADC)

Figure.2: proposed system

2.3.8Advantages of the proposed system

i. Provide accurate reading
ii. Provide reading at a time
iii. Provide friendly reading of values, since it does not involve user estimation.
iv. Portable system can be easily installed in any motor vehicle
 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter will explain different steps that will be taken in order to accomplish the
objectives of the project.
• Literaturereview

• Data collection

• Data analysis

• Circuitdesigning

• Circuit simulation

• Testingof thecircuit

3.2LiteratureReview
Literature review has been done through reading electronics books so asto obtain relevant
information relating to my project and counseling from my project supervisor.

3.3 Data Collection

Under this category various sources and methods have been used to collect information that
will be used in buildingup of the circuit, methods such as reading different books.

3.4 Data Analysis

This h a s beendonefromthecollecteddatatodeterminethe appropriatecomponentsvalues to
beusedtoenable the required circuitoperation.
3.5 Design of theCircuit
In this part the circuit was designed using the knowledge of electronics required to to meet the
intended functionality for the circuit to perfome.

3.6 Circuit Simulation

Proteus7 professional software used to simulate the circuit to determine the signal flow with
respect to each component value as wellas to determine whether the circuit operates ornot
before to be build.

3.7 Building the prototype

This will be done by implementing the simulated circuit on the circuit board by soldering all
thethe required component.
 METHOD OF THE PROJECT

Figure 3:flowchart for project method

 CHAPTER FOUR
DATA COLLECTION
4.1 introduction
This is an important part in any design or solving the problem.It consists of taking or recording ordered
information orobservations from reality and transferring them to some recording system so that
behavior andcharacteristics can be understood or predicted Circuit components datasheet

DATA COLLECTION TABLE

Specification Quantity
Components

Microcontroller 1
16F887
oscillator Crystal 1

Variable Resistor 1
10KΩ POT
Resistors Variable resistor 2

Electrolytic type 2

Capacitor
Ceramic type 1

display Lcd 20 x 4 1

Voltage regulator LM7805, 5V 1

Battery 9-12v 1
 Table1:data collection

4.2 DATA SHEETS FOR CIRCUIT COMPONENTS

4.2.1 Crystal oscillator

Figure 4: crysatal oscillator data sheet

 CHAPTER FIVE
DATA ANALYSIS

5.1 Power Supply (rectified AC mains)

FromV 1/V 2=N 1 /N 2
The peak primary voltage,Vp=V 1∗√ 2

Vp=220∗√ 2=311V

Now is to determine the peak secondary voltage

Therefore Vm=Vdc π /2
¿(12 V ∗π )/2=18.85V
N 1 Vpp 311
= ⇒
N 2 Vps 18
h ence t h e required transformer ratio N 1 : N 2=17 :
2Vpp
(
finding t h e peak invere voltage PIV =
N )
( 2∗311)
PIV = =36 V
( 17 )
Hence the diode chosen is (1N007 which have PIV of 50V with I hence it is safe to use it as
rectifying diode)
Finding the bridge output
Vm=Vdc π /2 =12 V∗π /2=18.85V
FromVrms=Vm /√ 2
Vrms=18.85V/√2
Vrms=13.4V
Bridge output is 13.4V-(diode voltage drop)
13.4-(0.7*2) =12V
But the desired voltage regulator is needed because the peak voltage Vm=√2*12=16.9V
The type of voltage regulator used is 7805 which gives a constant output voltage of 5V to the
circuit for either 12V or 8.V output and hence a constant output voltage is maintained.
voltage regulation:
The type of voltage regulator used is7805 which gives a constant output voltage of 5Vfor either
12V or 8.3V input.
Sensor:
Floating sensor – sensor float on the surface of the fuel found in the tank it works like a variable
resistor as fuel increases in the tank its resistance decreases hence low voltage drop as the fuel
level falls down the resistance rises hence high voltage drop on the resistance and low current
flowing

Figure 5: floating sensor

5.2 Controller unit
Signals in the real world are analog: light, sound, etc. So, real-world signals must be converted
into digital, using a circuit called ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter), before they can be
manipulated by digital equipment such as microcontroller.

Figure 6:analog signal

Analog to digital conversion

Three variables have to be controlled
• The sampling rate- controls how many samples are taken
• Sampling precision (resolution)-control how many different gradations (quantization
levels) are possible when taking samples.
• The reference voltage - +VREF represent maximum analog value that can be converted
by ADC.
-VREF represent minimum analog value that can be converted into digital by ADC
Figure 7:analog signal sampling

You can see that as the sampling rate and precision (resolution) increase, the similarity between
the original wave and the ADC's output improves.
The figure below shows an analog signal and quantized versions for several different number of
quantization levels. With L levels, we need N=log2 L bits to represent the different levels or
conversely, with N bits we can represent L = 2N levels.

Figure 8:analog signal quantization

A number of microcontrollers have built in Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). Commonly,
these AD converters have 8-bit or 10-bit resolution allowing them voltage sensitivity of 19.5mV
or 4.8mV, respectively

The ADC for PIC 16F887 module has the following characteristics

1. Number of analog channel

i. The Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Converter module has 13 inputs for PIC16F887 (AN0 –
AN12) which corresponds to (RA0-RA5 & RE0-RE2 &RB0-RB4) as indicated on
PIC16F887 pins.
ii. The analog channels can be configured as digital input/output pins by configuring
ADCON1.
2. Resolution (precision)
i. The conversion of an analog input signal results in a corresponding 10-bit
digital number this means the conversion result has 1024 levels.
ii. The lower 8 bits of the result are stored at ADRESL register; the upper 2-bits
are stored at ADRESH register.
3. VRef+ / Vref- Configured by ADCON1 register such that
- Vref + is determined by RA3 voltage level pin or by VDD
Vref- is determined by RA2 voltage level or by VSS
Pic16F887 divides input to 1024 level (0-1023) with references
VDD (5 V) and VSS(0 V)
Level 0 => 0V, level 1023:5 V
If we have a level number between 0-1023, we can get the voltage by the following equation:
Level voltage
1023 5
 X ? => voltage = x*5/1023 V

RUNNING CIRCUIT SIMULATION FOR THE DESIGN

Figure 9:circuit simulation

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bishop, o. (2011). ELECRONIC CIRCUIT AND SYSTEMS(4th edition). amsterdam.
Brooks, F. ,. (1986). Information Processing. holland: B.V (North-Holland).
C.R.Kothari. (2004). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. NEW DELHI: NEW AGE
INTERNATIONAL (P) LIMITED, PUBLISHER.
EFY, m. (2015). http://www.mikroe.com/chapters/view/17/chapter-4-examples/#c4v6”.
Foddy, W. H. (1994). Constructing questions for interviews and questionnaires. UK: Cambridge
University Press.
SAMAN, J. B. (May 2008). digital display system. Malysia.
Schach, S. (2004). Classical and Object-Oriented Software Engineering. Newyork: WCB
McGraw Hill.
wikipedia. (2014). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_gauge.”.