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consaka · 03-14-2009, 08:37 PM

The solution is a cheap flowmeter OR a positive displacement pump.
The flowmeter is the best bet and they arent even hard or sohpisticated to design. They had the little plastic ball discussed earlier, in the '70 and early 80's. Those were not very accurate but they did the job. You could also do it with a vane type design or perhaps even a impeller. ideally the design must not impede fuel flow like the ball types did. The ball types used a lightweight plastic ball that went around a little raceway and the fuel came in through a small orifice made out of rubber. This "nozzle" caused the ball to spin around that track like crazy and caused big block engines to run like crap when under any kind of significant load.

Now a positive displacement flowmeter is a bit more tricky since it attempts to seal the fuel as it goes though. Imagine is similar to a oil pump being used backwards as an hydraulic motor only with lightweight poly gears.

The best thing about using some kind of flowmeter is that it can be made to work on ANY vehicle. Carbs, diesels, Old cars, New cars.
Old cars with carbs only need 1 flowmeter. newer cars and diesels will need 2 with a little converter box to subtract return line pulses from the fuel supply pulses. The converter box would run the calculated pulses to the MPGuino. MPGuino already has some very talented programmers who I am positive would have NO trouble whatsoever converting the software to figure the pulses per gallon. The cool part would be that you should only need one number for all vehicles.
Once the design for the flowmeter is made im pretty sure they could be made very cheap over there in China or someplace. After all it only has one moving part or maybe two for a positive displacement unit.

03-14-2009, 08:37 PM	#112 (permalink)
consaka EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Vancouver, WA Posts: 48 Active Learning - '93 Chevy Suburban Silverado 90 day: 10.67 mpg (US) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	The solution The solution is a cheap flowmeter OR a positive displacement pump. The flowmeter is the best bet and they arent even hard or sohpisticated to design. They had the little plastic ball discussed earlier, in the '70 and early 80's. Those were not very accurate but they did the job. You could also do it with a vane type design or perhaps even a impeller. ideally the design must not impede fuel flow like the ball types did. The ball types used a lightweight plastic ball that went around a little raceway and the fuel came in through a small orifice made out of rubber. This "nozzle" caused the ball to spin around that track like crazy and caused big block engines to run like crap when under any kind of significant load. Now a positive displacement flowmeter is a bit more tricky since it attempts to seal the fuel as it goes though. Imagine is similar to a oil pump being used backwards as an hydraulic motor only with lightweight poly gears. The best thing about using some kind of flowmeter is that it can be made to work on ANY vehicle. Carbs, diesels, Old cars, New cars. Old cars with carbs only need 1 flowmeter. newer cars and diesels will need 2 with a little converter box to subtract return line pulses from the fuel supply pulses. The converter box would run the calculated pulses to the MPGuino. MPGuino already has some very talented programmers who I am positive would have NO trouble whatsoever converting the software to figure the pulses per gallon. The cool part would be that you should only need one number for all vehicles. Once the design for the flowmeter is made im pretty sure they could be made very cheap over there in China or someplace. After all it only has one moving part or maybe two for a positive displacement unit.