Cessna Cardinal 177 & 177 RG Fuel Level Sensor

Well we produced another configuration of our fuel level sender for a very popular Cessna Aircraft model with a rabid and enthusiastic following.

---- Yes the Cessna Cardinal 177 ----

We had sought out common aviation fuel level sensors to copy into our format and we had a few mixed results, for example owners of Cessna 177's would send in the sensors per our request,  but the part numbers of the units supplied only matched up to another model Cessna Aircraft and did not match any of the Cessna Fuel Level drawings we have on hand.  

Finally, last year we got what we were looking for - Senders from an aircraft that matched the P/N for the aircraft. 

Note:  When you get involved in this small segment of aviation - It becomes very clear why fuel level in aviation has a very low reputation.

A Cardinal Aircraft owner tells a better story: 

Anyway, I saw the mention of CiES on one of the Cardinal Flyers Digests and gave them a call.  I spoke with Scott Philiben, who said that they could build them for me, and it would interface correctly with the JPI.  JPI confirmed this.  This was last FEB 2014 when I initially purchased the JPI, based on that answer.  

I had to wait till July 1 to start install, both due to the cold weather here, and because that was my annual date  (I also wanted to install an Oilamatic Pre-oiler and an Alpha Systems AOA Gauge).  

What Scott didn't tell me initially, was that I was to be the guinea pig for them getting a TSO sender for Cardinals as this minor variation needed to be sent to the FAA and approved - they had predicted an October delivery.

Scott & company finally came thru with fully TSO'd senders in late Nov, but I then encountered the passing of my Mom, which has led to further down time - anyway, FINALLY got the senders installed last Saturday.

CiES Above - Competitor Below

I was quite impressed on the substantial difference internally between CiES senders and the Electronics International ones.  The electronics in CiES look great, and based on the digital freq meter I have, they work VERY smoothly. I am also impressed with the machining on the fuel senders.

For JPI's part, their wire harness to the wing has three wires - +5V, Ground, and Signal. The JPI diagram says NOT to connect the +5V for CiES, but what they didnt say, and I didnt know until early Nov (when I mentioned that to Scott at CiES) is that the CiES units need +12V!! Turned out not to be an issue - the JPI harness has a "Y" connection in the harness shortly after the harness leaves the JPI box enroute to the wings - I unpinned the +5 wire that comes from the JPI and capped it off, and instead ran a +12 supply from one of the Circuit Breakers (dont remember which at the moment) into the same pin spot. (There is NO interface box as there is with some other senders. Not sure if my JPI is any different internally - JPI could answer though.) Works great (again, on my digital freq meter out at the sender)

One thing I particularly like about the CiES is that the float arm wire is 3x as thick as the one from Cessna, BUT the CiES float arm easily disconnects from the sender, making installation MUCH MUCH MUCH easier. I placed a long tie wrap on the fuel sender arm (in case I dropped the float/arm combination into the tank while working the sender into position) and then after the sender was connected and small cotter pin inserted, the tie wrap was removed. The senders come with a new rubber gasket, and there is no chance of leakage in the middle (like Cessna supplied Rochester, Stewart Warner, or Leigh senders) as there is no pass-thru screw terminal.  CiES uses a 3-pin connector with a twist lock shield. VERY easy to plug in.

At first, Scott and his engineers were concerned about MIN/MAX settings, but they had an epiphany one night and realized that all measurements are relative. They were worried about setting hard "stops" these are the little metal tabs on Cessna original equipment fuel senders that limit the float arm travel.   Turns out the CIES senders have the capability to move thru-out an almost 180 degree range from straight down to straight up.  The original equipment Cessna fuel sender contained a 60 degree potentiometer which limited the angle range allowed by these senders.   The calibration in the JPI is what establishes the fuel level limits and the physical limits of the fuel tank are the physical limits of the sender.

Scott Philiben's phone number is 541-408-1095 - they are in Oregon, so there is a 3hr time difference for me. His email is scott.philiben@ciescorp.com I still have the prototype sender/float combination that we used for testing and verification that this new simpler configuration would not hit any internal ribs/structure. Can't see internally, but externally it looks exactly like the ones with the TSO labels on them!

Update - Installed and calibrated - first impressions are good 

Tecnam Fuel Level Sensor

A few blog post ago we talked about our  UNIVERSAL AIRCRAFT FUEL SENDER and the opportunities that this would open up for us in the aviation market.

Today we will be delivering units for several applications and customers.

Tecnam after first trying to utilize Capacitive Fuel Level Sensors for their aircraft and not being satisfied with their performance decided to try CiES. 

Our success on the Cirrus platforms - Both SR2X Series and the Jet warranted a close look at our technology and capability.

This is the first pair of Tecnam Fuel level sensors.

Magneto Resistive is an excellent technology to apply to fuel level solutions.

It is robust, non-contact, reliable and very accurate.


Let us know about your critical fuel level challenge -
  

New Advertisement - Cirrus SR22 Retrofit

Resistance is Futile

When you are talking about Fuel Level.  

When we designed our new digital fuel level sender we gave a lot  of thought on how to interface with older aircraft systems.

The question was:

Could we produce an resistance output to mimic an existing resistance fuel level reporting system.  

There would be a few clear benefits:

• We could interface with many more legacy aircraft 
• Incorporation of our system in aircraft already using resistance based sending would be easier.

However some of the issues of legacy aircraft were directly related to relaying resistance through the aircraft wiring as issues with resistance can provide false or error prone signals.   Resistance measurement on an aircraft was identified by us early on in the design process as not the most favorable method for accurate fuel measurement:

• Aircraft have long wiring runs
• There are multiple sensors and connections
• The connections needed to be ordered to produce a series for multiple sensors
• There were other connections in the aircraft - bad connections produced resistance 
• There were multitudes of different resistance values even for the same aircraft
• There were amplifiers in some aircraft to address the issues above
• The wire run was subject to aircraft vibration 
• The gauge quality and accuracy in legacy aircraft was - not ideal

The favorable aspect of resistive gauging was that it was easy for the average mechanic to diagnose.

• All they needed was an Ohmmeter.

• We had heard stories of Cessna 210 Centurion and Cessna Twin Aircraft with the dreaded Cessna breakout box to tune and diagnose the capacitive system.

So what we needed was a simple digital signal that could be read with the modern equivalent of a ohmmeter  - the Digital MultiMeter (DMM).  We can now get a digital frequency output of any connected sender.

We found that Digital Frequency gave us clarity for fuel level information over all the known wiring challenges - corroded contacts, poor splices and induced signals.  More importantly it gave us a good signal or nothing - induced errors did not conspire to give bad fuel level.

What seemed more natural is that the signal was similar to that used by the fuel flow transducer.  It seemed a natural  - and we could read the read and diagnose the signal on a DMM.

When we sat down after months of delivering a fuel level sending product that had zero issues and was easy to diagnose.  ---

We had come to  realized that we had found the best method for reporting fuel level on the aircraft and a communication standard for any application we applied our product to

Why Anisotropic Magneto Resistive

Why use Anisotropic Magneto Resistive Sensors 

Anisotropic Magnetoresistive (AMR) Sensors Technology used by CIES Inc  for our fuel level solutions   These sensors use the basic premise that the electrical resistance of certain ferromagnetic alloys, such as permalloy, are influenced by external magnetic fields.

Like a compass that always points North no matter how you move - our sensor always points to the float.

For larger fuel tanks like those in aviation or marine applications  - we need more information or position information to correctly depict the amount of fuel in the tank.  Our sensor technology does this we can measure tiny fractions of a degree. So not only pointing North but also with a high degree of precision.  In fact we have thousands of discrete data points to measure fuel level.

Automotive resistance sensors re-configured for these critical applications - are just not adequate.   60 discrete points might be good enough for 18 gallons - but it falls short  handing 5 times that volume - plain and simple.  The 60 or so discrete points found on thick film resistance cards just don't cut it.  Fuel movement found in aviation and marine applications adds additional problems to resistive senders - float motion out of of the pivot plane tends to make the resistance wiper act as a make and break switch.

These compromised systems attempting to scale current automotive ceramic resistive elements by adding a longer float arm or other measures - simply provides poor performance.  

CIES Inc Patented Method

Utilize a solid state magnetoresistive effect or anisotropic magnetoresistance can be fabricated in thin film technology, allowing the production of a very precise yet cost-effective angular measurement sensors.  Replace the coarse variable resistor with a solid state device.

From Wikipedia: 

Anisotropic Magneto Resistive - (AMR) is the property of a material in which a dependence of electrical resistance on the angle between the direction of electric current and orientation of magnetic field is observed. 

Why is this a better way to measure fuel 

It works under all conditions, temperatures and with moving fluid volumes - PROVEN IN AVIATION 

And there is a combination of influences but for an AMR sensor the built in 

strong magnetic external field attached to the float arm locally saturates the sensor, the actual magnitude of the local field strength has no impact on the measurements. - Remember temperature effects on both the magnetic strength and the efficiency of the sensor.

Only the direction of the field is evaluated.

Only the local magnetic field on the rotor has influence - the presence of other nearby magnetic fields such as motors will have no effect on the sensor as long as the rotor magnetic field strength is dominant. 

While other magneto resistive sensors are available - AMR has the capability to work under all conditions and give proven repeatable results. 

Non-contact fuel level sensing is a good idea.  It was a good idea to remove the electronics from the fluid measured.

Other fuel level reporting systems don't measure up


SUMMARY OF AMR ADVANTAGES

• Voltage in the case of our AMR sensor is converted to a bit stream digital output.
• More information for every degree of float travel
• Independence of magnetic drift during lifetime
  
• Independence of magnetic drift with temperature
  
• Independence of mechanical assembly tolerances
  
• Independence of mechanical shifts caused by thermal stress 

Vibration Testing a Float Based Sender

Float based Fuel Level senders are not expected to see any vibration as the internal fluid is supposed to dampen the motion.

There are several critical applications where this is not  the experience in the field and people have turned to alternative technologies like - Capacitive or Ultrasonic fuel level sensors to get better performance

However -   Each one of these systems also struggles with agitated fluid  -

A float still rides on the surface giving the potential for an accurate reading no matter what is going on - The real issue with float sensors is not the float,  it is the method for recording the float position.    Resistance based senders wear as the contact rubs vigorously over the resistance trace.  Fluids attack the resistance grid and wiper

What if we kept the good part of this level sensor - the float and replaced it with a clever bit of electronics

Best of both worlds - Simple and Effective

Aerospace Logic - Cirrus Design Retrofit

In creating a new fuel level system for Cirrus Aircraft we kept in the back of our mind  the opportunity to provide this technology to legacy Cirrus Aircraft as well as other aviation applications.

Aerospace Logic was the obvious choice - 

We chose their 200 series unit over other 2 1/4 instruments as Aerospace Logic has created a quality and sunlight readable  display with a clear and concise level indication.

More importantly, Aerospace Logic like CIES saw accurate and reliable fuel level indication as a valuable instrument in the cockpit.  Aerospace Logic was hampered in achieving it's goals for fuel level indication by fuel level senders that were previously available to the aviation market.  CIES Level senders with our new and patented technology completely changed the fuel sender game.

You will note that a digital value of fuel is displayed below each quantity gauge.  This gives an unmatched accurate calculation of quantity in each tank.

Aerospace Logic has worked with us to incorporate appropriate warnings that a quality fuel level indication system can provide.

Note:  The upper display is indicating a fuel "Imbalance Condition"
and the flashing Amber bar is indicating you have exceeded the POH recommendations for fuel level imbalance. Switch to the flashing AMBER tank.

One of the most important characteristics of the Aerospace Logic Display is the trend graph featured on the second page.  This provides graphical information of fuel level over time.  The use of the displayed trend data makes it easier to manage fuel in a single engine aircraft.

Most importantly,  Aerospace Logic was willing to work with CIES in developing a display unit that would allow a digital interface between the display and fuel level sender.

Aerospace Logic and CiES Inc. look forward to pilot response for this system.

http://www.aerospacelogic.com

Press Release - TSO Granted - AOPA Summit

NEWS RELEASE                                    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CIES Corporation receives FAA TSO approval for new digital fuel level senders

October 10, 2012, CIES Corporation of Redmond, Oregon has received FAA TSO C55a approval for its line of digital fuel level senders. The float based fuel level senders are designed to replace the majority of the existing fuel level sending systems in general aviation aircraft. The proprietary and patented system provides a new level of accuracy, reliability, and stability to fuel level indication in the cockpit. CIES meets a TSO standard of 2% variance in tank volume, a standard normally reserved for corporate and commercial aircraft with corrected capacitive solutions. No other float based system meets this stringent TSO standard while achieving the intrinsically safe (i.e. “no wires in the tank”) requirement.

Richard Kirkness, Vice President of CIES said, "As a manufacturer of aircraft systems, we see FAA certification as critical to our success and the foundation for everything we do. FAA approval is the result of months of hard work on the part of our team here in Redmond and could not have come at a better time for CIES as the company continues to grow and strives to achieve the goal of becoming a world class supplier of advanced systems and technologies.”

Charlie Babb, General Manager of CIES added, “After the successful introduction at the beginning of this year of our senders on all new Cirrus production aircraft, we began working with other manufacturers and owners groups to provide specific fuel level sending solutions for production and legacy aircraft. The next logical step was to acquire FAA certification to validate our quality control system and lean manufacturing processes while making aircraft integration and approval significantly easier to obtain.”

The CIES fuel level senders require a dedicated digital fuel level display to ensure that the 2% accuracy achieved in the fuel tank is provided in the cockpit as well. As a result, CIES partnered with Aerospace Logic in Hamilton, Ontario to utilize their digital fuel level cockpit display. Aerospace Logic updated their fuel level gauging system to accept the digital communication link from the CIES digital senders.

CIES Corporation of Redmond, Oregon USA provides a range of high-technology products and support services to aviation, aerospace, and the broader transportation marketplaces.

For additional information on CIES and its products please visit the CIES Inc Website

For additional information on Aerospace Logic and its products please visit the Aerospace Logic Website

Fuel Level Sender Video

Video Overview of Fuel Level History and Retrofit

We will start getting videos together of units in test and evaluation

Aerospace Logic Instrument Panel Interface

Here is the interface for the digital fuel level sender 

History of AMR Fuel Level

Charles Beck, a Navy Veteran, Lawyer, NASA Alumni and Engineer has looked closely at the issue of fuel level reporting and annunciation in aircraft.

Charles had designed and produced, through his company International Avionics,  master caution and annunciation panels and other electrical systems for great number of popular general aviation aircraft.

Charles had a particular interest in the number of aviation accidents regarding fuel in aviation or the lack thereof.  His insight and skills as a pilot and engineer allowed him to look at the problem to see if he could apply his considerable technological skills and spacecraft experiance to mitigating the hazard.

Charles initiated this work at an accurate low fuel warning system - known to most as the annunciation system on the Mooney M20 series aircraft.  This system  has been copied and emulated in software by a majority of the GA industry.  It was not an FAA requirement at that time to have a separate annunciated low fuel warning - It was just a good idea.

Charles ran into a problem however in that the information from the fuel level senders available to the GA fleet did not lend themselves to accurate and reliable output.

At first Charles addressed this with signal conditioning and looked at methods for getting the sensor out of the fuel.   Patents followed these efforts and Charles turned his attention to Hall Effect sensors as a possible opportunity to remotely and accurately measure fuel level.   His experiments with Hall effect did not produce a reliable aviation sensor.   Temperature, magnetic fields and drift over time rendered these Hall Effect efforts to be unsuitable to the aviation application.

About this time an old technology, in a new and compact form became commercially available  -  We may remember the Suunto wristwatch compass as the first consumer application of Anisotropic Magneto Resistive (AMR) technology - an electrical sensor discovered by Lord Kelvin to measure the direction of a magnetic flux.

Combining the remote moving magnet connected to mechanical float or other means and measuring the position  of that magnetic field  remotely and accurately with AMR technology  lead to Charles fuel level patent.

AMR technology allowed an angular measurement potential down to 0.02 degrees -and  provided a  remote, safe and accurate fuel measurement immune from temperature, other magnetic fields, drift or wear.

Charles Beck's relationship with Mooney Aircraft allowed him opportunity to test this system and improve it's output and interface.   As Mooney Aircraft struggled to find firm footing,  first with economic and then competitive issues this system and its advantages was literally left waiting in the wings.

I was encouraged by two Mooney Alumni to take a close look at the system and it's advantages.   Issues with fuel level systems were on the  top ten customer complaints for every major air and rotorcraft OEM  -  there was a clear opportunity for something new, and CIES has captured  that opportunity. 

Float Based Sensors - Accuracy Quality Reliability

Float Based Sensors 

These sensors have been in use for a long period of time.  They have a few advantages that are difficult to overcome.   If they have a less than stellar reputation it is more about the electronics used, than the method  of finding a fluid level.    We will assume that quality and good practice

• The float will find the surface 

• Provides a reliable value for full and empty
• Provides a stable output, even under fluid agitation.

• Simple mechanism and controlled motion about a pivot.

• Used everyday in the most critical applications 

• Independent of fluid type or composition

• The singular most popular method for measuring liquid level 

• A float and pivot arm can be maintained for millions of operational cycles 

The typical methodology for finding level is resistance - either in a wound wire or a resistance grid.  The output is simply a distinct resistance value.  However this mechanical method for obtaining an electrical value for fluid level has a few problems.

• This practice introduces a mechanical wear item into the system.  It is this wear on the resistance surface that draws the most criticism.

• The CIES Inc float sensor design has only a pivot to wear - and we can utilize a lighter float as there is limited friction to overcome.

• Resistance needs electrical modification to correlate with volume 

• The CIES Inc. float sensor design is digital output and can be programmed to tank volume 

• Resistance circuits immersed in fluids are susceptible to corrosion from alcohol in gasoline or de sulfered diesel or potentially to the 100LL replacement.

• The CIES Inc. float sensor design sensing element is outside of the fuel compartment no chance for corrosion 

CIES Inc answered the quest  - What if we could combine the simple and effective elements of a pivoted float and replaced the resistance element and its problems from the fuel tank sending system

Only CIES Inc has a patent to combine a sophisticated, reliable and stable sensor technology to a simple float mechanism.

CIES FUELRITE Level Sensor 

Utilizing the patented Anisotropic Magneto Resistive technology allows CIES Inc in an intrinsically safe non contact system.

CIES Inc  effectively married the simplicity and effectiveness of the float based system with a non contact level sensing technology with the following characteristics:

• Effective 
• Accurate
• Sensitive - Measures down to 0.02 Degrees 
• Immune to nearby magnetic fields
• No hysterisis -
• No drift over time or temperature - stable 
• Intrinsically Safe 

A proven system backed by exhaustive testing. 

Let us know your unique application

Contact Us

How Do You Inspire Pilot Confidence

- The Answer is Simple -

You Provide Them with Information They Can Trust 

It seems uncomplicated, ... accurate, reliable and trusted information is key to instilling a conviction that everything is going well.

Imagine a Synthetic Vision System that throws a few imaginary mountains at you, just for fun.   This would not be a system that inspires confidence.    Random false information would make a routine IFR flight more stressful and  stomach clenching even if you knew without a doubt that no mountainous terrain exists at any time in the State of Illinois.

  Conflicting information no matter how outrageous or unbelievable adds to pilot workload.

Cross checking normally reliable sources and getting similar results are the hallmarks of a good pilot.  Minor anomolies in calculation or display can be noted and corrected before a situation occurs.  To make this effective, any display in the cockpit should match what the pilot believes to be true most of the time.

In aircraft fuel level systems - reliable trusted information is hard to come by.

Pilots Trust in Fuel Sight Gauges 

Ignoring the issues of having a flammable substance with clamped connections on transparent and UV susceptible tubing or a fragile glass tube in the cockpit  - pilots trust seeing fuel as the most confidence inspiring  vs. any other method of level gauging.   If I can see it,  I have fuel and I know how much.   If I can't see it,  I don't have fuel in that tank.   I trust it, universally most pilots do.   But the limitations (high wing mostly)  revolve around the visibility of fuel  - Cessna uses a ball on the 162 Skycatcher.  But really these systems are best left in the dark.

Pilots have Faith in Capacitive Fuel Gauges

Professional pilots use them, they are the system of commercial aviation.  I hear from pilots that capacitive systems have no moving parts and are exact and reliable,  these pilots have not taken a careful look at commercial systems or the problems and solutions contained in a commercial or business aircraft system.   Good capacitive systems are expensive - the have extensive compensation for the fuel characteristics,  like temperature, water, entrained air, component corrosion These are all part of the capacitive equation for fuel level.   Good commercial Capacitance level systems compensate for this,  systems that rely on the capacitive reputation and fail to compensate or address these issues leave quite a bit to be desired.

Pilots will Believe in Anisotropic Magneto Resistive 

While more difficult technology to grasp,  digital output for fuel level from a float based system truly represents a real breakthrough in fuel level sensing.  

• It is safe, reliable - no wear parts
• There are no electronics in the fluid
• It is compatible with modern cockpit displays
• The fuel flow totalizers will match fuel quantity - giving you a truly redundant system in the cockpit.
• Provides a level output under extreme conditions

Youtube Video of the Sender under Test

Fuel Level Sensors for Collector Vehicles

Aviation Float Fuel Sender - Historical Perspective

Dawn of Aircraft Instrumentation

The initial non-electrical float system was used on various aircraft, the most famous being the Piper J-3 "Cub." which used a cork with a wire imbedded in it that extended into the view of the pilot. Lots of wire showing, lots of gas; no wire showing, no gas.  Equally glass sight gauges are used in high wing aircraft and high wing fuel can to flow to the engine by means of gravity.

Electrical Aircraft Instrumentation Comes of Age

With the addition of electrical systems in aircraft the float was connected to the arm of a variable resistor whose electrical leads are brought through the wall of the tank and connected to the fuel quantity gauge and to the ship's electrical bus. 

Thus, the change in resistance as the float follows the level of the fuel.  This electrical value causes the needle on the fuel quantity gauge to deflect indicating the quantity of fuel in the tank.  Simple and direct.

For odd shaped tanks, particularly a flat tank in a wing with dihedral, multiple resistance floats are connected in series to correctly categorize this onger sloped tank.

This is the fuel gauging system on most, if not all, automobiles, the majority of piston engine aircraft, and some turbine aircraft. This system has been given very poor reviews over the years, some of which is deserved, but a large portion of the criticism is not.

If the resistance float is poorly designed and constructed, if the gauge is poorly designed and constructed, if the gauge is poorly marked, if the damping of the complete system is not suitable for aircraft or it's particular use,  or if the system is poorly installed and calibrated,  criticism for poor operation is rightly deserved. 

Digital Display and Interface  

In the instance of fuel level - Nothing really 

Well in the case of Commercial Aircraft the capacitance value was converted to ARINC 429 protocol and transmitted to the cockpit.

Until Now 

The First Digital Output General Aviation Fuel Level Sender 

  

The answer to a more accurate reliable Fuel Level Sender - May be right in front of you.

Service Bulletin

In a recent software update - two items were added

These selections were not part of the previous software options list.  

Let us know if you would like more information.


More Information

Cascade Business News - Again

CiES Advances Patented Fuel Sensor Technology to New Markets

Roland White

Redmond company develops new Digital Fuel Level units for use in aviation, marine, propane and agriculture applications.

CiES Inc, was founded in 2010 with the idea to manufacture a highly accurate fuel sensor technology targeted for the aviation industry. Company founders Scott Philiben and Richard Kirkness seized an opportunity when they purchased the patent for AMR fuel level sending, (Anisotropic Magneto Resistive technology.)

Since their startup they have perfected the CiES Digital Fuel Level Sender unit, established production and are selling units worldwide. The patented unit is FAA Certified and installed in current production aircraft. It is the fuel sensor equipment of choice for Cirrus Aircraft and an approved to retrofit many of their previous models.  

Philiben says, “Fuel accuracy is in the top five safety issues in aviation but accuracy is important in other forms of transportation. The unit has achieved a nearly 100 percent supplier rating from Cirrus Aircraft. With almost 4,000 units being used worldwide.  The fact that we haven’t had any warranty issues due to a product problem in aviation is phenomenal almost unheard of and a testament to our technology.”

CiES fuel sensor technology is being adapted to new markets with success in transportation, agriculture, marine and recreational applications. Philiben explains, “Where we saw the value of the patent was that people have the same fuel reading problems in aviation with boats, heavy equipment, recreational vehicles and other forms of transportation.”  

“Almost everyone has a story about running out of gas at some point in their life,” explains Philiben. "Most manuals for aircraft, marine and recreational vehicles tell you to don’t trust your fuel gage.  We’re restoring the trust in that gauge with the right technology.   The sender is so accurate that you can actually updates your range calculation based on actual fuel on board.   So with this concept we have developed some interesting technology that we are applying towards these new market niches.”

CiES has experienced additional success with propane fuel sensors providing  extremely good results.  Philiben says, “The first aircraft we did a retrofit on, it turned out that the old fuel sensor was the same type as used in the propane tank industry, so we evaluated this sender and found it totally unsuitable for the aviation job and questionable for the original market application.  We created a better device based on the AMR technology that produced the same high accuracy in propane level as the CiES units used for aviation.”

Once they had the propane fuel sensor developed they had an opportunity to test the units in a larger scale. Philiben says, “Our first foray into propane fuel sensors came from an inquiry from Italy, where there is the highest percentage of consumer propane vehicles that run on dual fuel technology, burning both gas and propane. In developing this product we utilized a wi fi device that included an iPhone app to read for the remaining fuel levels.” Although the propane sensor experiment in Italy didn’t produce any contracts they later reached out to two large propane suppliers for further testing with Roush Clean Tech and Clean Fuel USA.

As it turned out a fleet of buses powered by Roush Clean Tech propane tanks are running here in Central Oregon by the Bend La Pine School District. We will outfit several buses with CiES propane fuel sensors in their buses for a pilot evaluation. Philiben says, “So now the manager of the fleet is thrilled to have the technology to determine which buses need refueling and to calculate the savings they produce by using propane rather than diesel.” Gary Fiebick, operations and routing manager for special education transportation for Bend. says “The Bend-La Pine School District began acquiring propane buses about three years ago and now uses them on 18 of 21 special education routes.”

Philiben is excited when he says, “We are expanding this concept into other markets.  For anyone who has an RV They will tell you it’s no fun to crawl underneath your vehicle just to see how much propane is in the tank.  I have my RV equipped with the device and I can check the propane level with an iPhone App.

In addition to the aviation industry the CiES Fuel Level Sensor is ideally suited for  trucks, heavy equipment, lawn mowers, lift trucks and automobiles. This technology can also be adapted to include the home consumer market where the sensor can be used with home BBQ tanks letting you know by email that you are running out.

With 2013 nearly on the books Philiben looks back and says, "We grew by 100 percent from the year 2012.” Looking ahead into 2014 CiES is striving for another 100 percent increase in business.  

Philiben explains, “We already have the largest aircraft builder using the CiES fuel Sensors on their OEM’s and we are getting the second largest builder sometime soon.” Philiben elaborated on the possibilities for the propane market where CiES is considering courting investment partners. 

Philiben concludes, “Propane? We have to make that a go in the after markets we’re approved in... We will push really hard for those additional markets, automobile, marine, RV, commercial and Industry users that require accurate fuel sensor technology. " If a propane vehicle conversion company commits to CiES as OEM equipment vehicles, we will be slammed and most likely double in size.”