Journal of Energy and Chemical Engineering Apr. 2014, Vol. 2 Iss. 2, PP.

74-80

Design and Simulation of Portable Fuel Adulteration

Detection Kit
Ranjan Dey*1, Anumeha Dwivedi2
*1
Department of Chemistry, BITS Pilani K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Zuarinagar, Goa-403726, India
2
BITS Pilani K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Zuarinagar, Goa-403726, India
*1
ranjandey@goa.bits-pilani.ac.in; 2anumeha4293@gmail.com

Abstract- Adulteration of fuels by mixing cheaply available kerosene, naptha and other such adulterants, not only causes pollution
and engine troubles but also proves to be a costly affair for the end consumer. To effectively check adulteration, it is essential to
provide a monitoring device to the consumers, who can then monitor fuel quality at the distribution point itself. It is therefore
desirable to have a quick and handy fuel adulteration detection device, preferably economic and easy to use as well. With this aim in
mind, a device design using TSM BAW microacoustic sensor with dual density-viscosity sensing and integrated temperature sensor
is being developed. It is an ongoing work and hence, this paper focuses on the simulation (using COMSOL Multiphysics v4.2) and
analysis of MEMS based AT and SC cut quartz resonators for their suitability to be employed for fuel adulteration detection.
Keywords- MEMS; Microacoustics; Fuel Adulteration Detection; AT Cut; SC Cut; TSM; BAW

I. INTRODUCTION
Due to rising prices of fuel and the subsidy on kerosene in India, even 10-15% adulteration is immensely profitable [1].
Adulteration of automobile fuels for financial incentives, especially mixing diesel in gasoline and kerosene in diesel, is
therefore, commonly observed. While less than 10% adulteration is not that financially attractive, more than 30% is easily
detectable by the end user [2]. Although there are existing laboratory and on-field methods for adulteration detection [3-7],
none of them seem to be suitable option for the end consumers who are the most affected, as these usually involve bulky and
expensive equipment, though they might provide highly accurate results. Field techniques produce results more quickly but
cannot give results that are as detailed or as quantitatively accurate as laboratory tests. For the majority of the tests, accurate
data on uncontaminated fuels are also a pre-requisite. Hence, there is a need for a device which is portable as well as efficient
and can be easily used by the consumers to detect fuel adulteration at the distribution point itself. Adulteration detection using
ultrasonic velocity proves to be a good option but it is known to have the following limitations –The transducer TX / RX
(Transciever/Reciever–generally an ultrasonic piezoelectric crystal) has narrow bandwidth, which causes the long ringing tails
in the emitted pulse. So there is no sharply defined start and end point of the pulse emitted. Also, the emitted acoustic pulse
gets attenuated in the medium, the attenuation being proportional to the square of the frequency. Therefore, the higher
frequency components of the pulse get more attenuated than its lower frequency components. As a result, the received pulse is
broadened more as compared to the transmitted one. Noise also corrupts the received pulse and echoes from other objects
making it difficult to identify the echo from the object under study. The resolution (for distance measurement) is limited by the
width of the acoustic pulse as well [2].
Our main aim is to utilize an alternate method, which can overcome the limitations of ultrasonic method and to propose an
economical and hand-held portable device for easy detection of adulteration in fuel beyond permissible limits. With this aim in
mind, we have come up with the following basic device model, developed using CATIA v5 (Fig. 1) which would employ a
special kind of micro-acoustic sensor to fulfill our purpose. CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive
Application) is CAD (Computer Aided Design) software that greatly simplifies the development of 3D models and doesn’t
require any special design skills to be used.

Fig.1 Sample holder (left) and attachment (right)

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The sample holder on the left, with the sensor suspended into the sample from its sealing cap, will hold about 50 ml of fuel
sample to be tested for adulteration. The attachment, on the right, will comprise the signal conditioning circuit and data
processing element (miniature controller, signal processing and readout circuitry). Once the sample is taken in the holder and
sealed, the attachment, fitted with a digital display, can then be plugged in to get the final values. The general device schematic
planned is shown in Fig. 2. Of all the fuel properties generally monitored for deciding fuel quality, density and viscosity values
are easy to measure and in combination these values can be used to establish the level of adulteration with sufficient accuracy
in the targeted range of 10-30% (by vol.) adulteration. The issue faced in using density and viscosity values is their
dependency on temperature and therefore it makes sense to have a temperature sensor integrated into our MEMS
(MicroElectroMechanical Systems) based BAW (Bulk Acoustic Wave) density-viscosity sensing element for simultaneous
temperature measurement (similar to [8] but temperature sensor instead of heater coil to be used). There are existing designs of
such BAW resonators capable of serving as a dual density-viscosity sensor [9].By taking measurements for several samples
with different vol. % of mixing, a probabilistic model can be set up for the density, viscosity values and corresponding
temperature data, with which to calibrate the data processing element against, so that readings can be obtained for intermediate
values as well by some form of interpolation. Depending on the strength of the signal, amplification can be done if required.
As the quartz BAW sensor’s resonance frequency is to be measured for determining output, an oscillator circuit can be utilized
for the same. An inexpensive but accurate driving circuit for QCM (Quartz Crystal Microbalance) has already been proposed
in [10]. Similar novel designs for readout circuitry can also be found [11, 12].The detailed design of the attachment circuitry is
still being worked upon.

Fig. 2 General Device Schematic

II. SENSOR THEORY

A microacoustic sensor is basically a microfabricated or miniaturized sensor and in its widest meaning can be used to
indicate a number of significantly different devices with the common characteristic being that acoustic waves are involved in
the operating principle. The general advantages of microacoustic sensors are high sensitivity, simple fabrication and
quasidigital frequency readout [13]. The class of microacoustic sensors, in which properties of the surrounding medium are
sensed and measured from characteristics of the acoustic or electro-acoustic field in the sensor itself, makes extensive use of
the piezoelectric effect and comprises of a number of device types that differ either in the nature of acoustic waves involved or
in configurations adopted [14-23]. Piezoelectric resonators are widely used for building sensors, including advanced sensors
for harsh environments. The general physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, acceleration and mass can be measured
as an electrical signal, due to the piezoelectric effect. Many different modes of vibration can be excited such as bending,
torsional, extension, buckling, shear, and lateral as shown in Fig. 3 [24].

Fig. 3 Modes of vibration of quartz resonators [24]

In general, each of these modes dominates at a given frequency and it is possible to tune the electronic circuit to operate in
a specific transducer vibration mode. The resonator body vibrates, and its vibration is affected by the environment. An electric
quantity, charge or frequency, develops proportional to the physical quantity change. For liquid sensing, acoustic modes with

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shear polarization are often used in order to avoid radiation losses [13]. Depending on the application, the quartz blank is cut
with a selected orientation [25]. Crystal orientation is chosen based upon desired behavior, such as frequency vs. temperature
or frequency vs. pressure characteristics. The quartz crystal is cut in the form of thin plate, and typically for frequencies in the
MHz range, the Thickness Shear Mode (TSM) of vibration is selected. In such vibration the whole transducer body moves,
hence the name Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) resonator. The plate thickness determines the vibration frequency and hence the
operating frequency of the electronic circuit attached to it. The most commonly used types of quartz resonators in the shear
thickness vibration mode are the AT-cut and SC-cut, due to their very good frequency stability [26] as shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 Different Quartz Crystal Cuts [26]

III. SIMULATION AND RESULTS

As AT and SC cut quartz crystals are considered to be most stable, we have chosen to simulate the two and carry out a
comparative eigenfrequency study of their responses. The simulation software used for this purpose is COMSOL Multiphysics
v4.2a. Firstly, a 3D model of the quartz resonator body is made and rotated system angles are set as per requirement. The
thickness of the quartz plate is taken to be 334um for the simulation. Mass loading of crystal has then been done with respect
to density data of gasoline-diesel and diesel-kerosene mixtures and eigenfrequency study is carried. In unloaded condition, the
crystal is seen to have 5.11 MHz resonant frequency for both AT-cut and SC-cut. The eigenfrequency values show in results as
complex numbers wherein the real part provides the actual displacement frequency while the imaginary part is an indication of
the extent of damping. It was observed that the imaginary part remained small in value and constant and can therefore be safely
ignored when carrying out sensitivity analysis of the frequency responses of the two cuts. Figs. 5 and 6 show the displacement
profiles obtained for the two cuts in loaded and unloaded conditions.

Fig. 5 Displacement profile of unloaded (left) and loaded (right) AT-cut quartz resonator

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Fig. 6 Displacement profile of unloaded (left) and loaded (right) SC-cut quartz resonator

Fig. 7 shows how the density of fuel mixture varies as the percentage of adulterant in it increases. For gasoline-diesel
mixture, as the density of diesel is higher than that of gasoline, the density of mixture increases as percentage of diesel in it
increases while in the case of diesel-kerosene mixture, with increasing percentage of adulterant kerosene, the density of the
mixture is observed to decrease.

Fig. 7 Density variation of gasoline-diesel and diesel-kerosene mixtures with % adulteration

Table 1 and Table 2 contain the eigenfrequency study results of the cuts for both gasoline-diesel and diesel-kerosene
mixtures of different levels of adulteration (by vol. %). Upon loading, the dominant resonant frequency is found to lie in the
range 450-500 KHz for both.
o
TABLE 1 FREQUENCY RESPONSE DATA FOR GASOLINE-DIESEL MIXTURES AT 33 C

Gasoline/Diesel Density of mixture Eigenfrequency Eigenfrequency

Ratio (% vol) [3] (g/ml) [3] Response AT-cut (kHz) Response SC-cut (kHz)

100/0 0.76473 462.06 494.42

80/20 0.78334 460.80 493.67

67/33 0.79835 459.80 493.06

57/43 0.80754 459.19 492.69

50/50 0.81482 458.71 492.40

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o
TABLE 2 FREQUENCY RESPONSE DATA FOR DIESEL-KEROSENE MIXTURES AT 33 C

Diesel/Kerosene Density of mixture Eigenfrequency Eigenfrequency

Ratio (% vol) [3] (g/ml) [3] Response AT-cut (kHz) Response SC-cut (kHz)

100/0 0.85204 456.26 490.91

80/20 0.84374 456.80 491.24

67/33 0.83893 457.12 491.43

57/43 0.83526 457.36 491.58

50/50 0.83201 457.57 491.71

Fig. 8 Frequency response plot of AT-cut for both fuel mixtures

Fig. 9 Frequency response plot of SC-cut for both fuel mixtures

The frequency responses of the two cuts-AT and SC are shown in plots above (Figs. 8 and 9). It can be noted that there is
about 1KHz change in frequency for 10% adulteration change, which can be easily detected by an appropriate oscillator circuit
to determine and establish the level of adulteration in the fuel sample with a decent accuracy, especially in the range of 10-30%
of adulteration.

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Journal of Energy and Chemical Engineering Apr. 2014, Vol. 2 Iss. 2, PP. 74-80

IV. CONCLUSIONS
Both AT and SC cut quartz resonators are known to have good frequency stability with temperature changes for operation
in Thickness Shear Mode (TSM). However, from the frequency response plots above, it can be noted and concluded that,
contrary to theory, SC cut is observed to have a better sensitivity than AT cut, at least for fuel adulteration detection
application. Therefore, the SC Cut quartz crystal sensor can be employed in the device for fuel density sensing. Similar work
for simulation and analysis of their viscosity sensing mode is in progress. We conclude by saying that a significant amount of
work still needs to be done to get a more comprehensive and indepth picture of the proposed model.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Corresponding author is grateful to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India for financial
assistance.
Authors are thankful to Gautam Bacher, faculty Electronics and Electrical Engineering, BITS Pilani - K K Birla Goa
Campus for his valuable inputs and suggestions for the entire period of the work.

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