Experimental Study of Fuel Tank Filling

Authors: Maurizio Mastroianni, Lou Savoni, Paul Henshaw, Gary W. Rankin

Abstract:

The refueling of a transparent rectangular fuel tank fitted with a standard filler pipe and roll-over valve was experimentally studied. A fuel-conditioning cart, capable of handling fuels of different Reid vapor pressure at a constant temperature, was used to dispense fuel at the desired rate. The experimental protocol included transient recording of the tank and filler tube pressures while video recording the flow patterns in the filler tube and tank during the refueling process. This information was used to determine the effect of changes in the vent tube diameter, fuel-dispense flow rate and fuel Reid vapor pressure on the pressure-time characteristics and the occurrence of premature fuel filling shut-off and fuel spill-back. Pressure-time curves for the case of normal shut-off demonstrated the classic, three-phase characteristic noted in the literature. The variation of the maximum values of tank dome and filler tube pressures are analyzed in relation to the occurrence of premature shut-off.

Keywords: experimental study, fuel tank filling, premature shutoff, spill-back

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1084482

References:

[1] S. Stoneman, "On the design of automotive fuel filler pipes," Automotive Engineer, vol. 22, no. 1, Feb. 1997, pp. 32-36.
[2] D. H. Frobese, "Pressure and Flow Rates Occurring In Road- Tanker/Petrol-Station Systems During the Delivery of Petrol," Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 62, no. 2, 1998, pp. 199-210.
[3] T. K. Garrett, Automotive Fuels and Fuel Systems, Volume 1: Gasoline, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, PA, 1991.
[4] N. Sinha, R. Thompson and M. Harrigan, Computational Simulation of Fuel Shut-Off During Refueling, SAE Paper 981377, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, PA, May 1998.
[5] M. Holloway, "Fill ÔÇÿEr Up," Scientific American, New York, NY, May 2000, pp. 92-93.
[6] National InstrumentsTM, The Measurement and Automation Catalog 2000, National InstrumentsTM Corporation, Austin Texas.
[7] ASTM Standard D 5191, Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Petroleum Products (Mini Method), 1996 Annual Books of ASTM Standards, American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, PA.
[8] G. O. Young, "Synthetic structure of industrial plastics (Book style with paper title and editor)," in Plastics, 2nd ed. vol. 3, J. Peters, Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 15-64. W.-K. Chen, Linear Networks and Systems (Book style). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993, pp. 123- 135.
[9] Mastroianni, M., Experimental Investigation of Automotive Fuel Tank Filling, M.A.Sc. Thesis, Mech., Auto. and Mat'ls Eng. Dept., University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada, 2000.