Britten-Norman Islander Fuel Quantity Senders

Britten-Norman Islander Fuel Quantity Senders  

We just completed a set of Britten-Norman Islander senders for the manufacturer.   

We placed the old Britten-Norman sender design alongside the CiES design for contrast.  Like a lot of small aircraft manufacturers, Britten-Norman had to modify commercial resistance senders to work in their application until we came along.

If you look closely you will see the careful welds on the legacy sender float arm and if you look inside you will see tank sealant applied to the riveted and electrical connections to prevent fuel leakage through the sender body.

The CiES fuel level sender is built for the application, with a custom arm dedicated to this assembly.  Our non contact fuel quantity measurement insures that leakage will not happen through the sender body.  

All of our sensor electronics are fully enclosed in the aluminum housing.  Unlike traditional failure prone senders - our senders have amassed an impressive record of 300,000 hrs of flight time without error or in service replacement.   We will change your opinion of what float fuel senders are capable of - both from a precision and reliability standpoint.

Finally a fuel level sender designed for the aviation market.

CiES Fuel Level Senders for Jet Aircraft

Series Production For Jet Senders 

This week we are producing multiple shipsets for a production jet aircraft.  The use of our technology on jet aircraft is in keeping with the reliability, simplicity and accuracy of our aircraft fuel level sensing solutions.  These units can output fuel level and local fuel temperature.  

The CiES Fuel Level System solution does not rely on complex electronics to limit the energy in the fuel tank.  We simply keep the electronics out of the fuel environment.  

The CiES Fuel Level System does not have to correct for fuel temperature or entrained air.  We simply measure the position of the fuel surface, and we measure it to an repeatable accuracy of 0.03 in.  In all temperatures and under all aircraft conditions.


The CiES Fuel Level System does not require a summing or conversion box all calculations for summing and output conversion are handled internally to the unit.

The CiES Fuel Level System can output a variety of formats compatible with most aircraft, from the same internal system.  

This sophisticated Fuel Level System  is just as happy providing accurate fuel level in any class of aircraft.

We recently completed a set of fuel senders with the same technological advancements for a 1938 Fairchild 24.

Something new in the sky - An FAA  TSO'd Fuel Level Sending System applicable to the breadth of aviation. 

FAA TSO'd Fuel & Oil Level Senders

Another Milestone Accomplished 

We received our second TSO C55a designation for our aviation fuel level senders. 

To meet this requirement our senders were rigorously tested in in harsh environmental and electrical conditions.

In these conditions, the CiES senders had to provide a stable and effective fuel level output.

Our output quality level met the most rigorous FAA TSO standard for fuel level sending @ 0.75% of full tank volume.  A fuel level standard that the big iron fuel senders can only hope to achieve. 

Meeting these standards proves that CiES technology provides an accurate fuel level output for any aircraft or rotorcraft type.

The fact that a float based sensor meets this critical FAA requirement - proves our technological and patent advantages, as

only CiES produces FAA TSO Approved Float Sensors. 

Additionally there are no wires or electrical components in the fuel volume.  The requirements of the FAA Advisory Circular AC 25.981-1C - Fuel Tank Flammability are inherently met in our fuel sender design.

What was Added to the New Sensor

• Universal Level Output
• Resistance 
• Voltage
• Frequency
• Fuel Temperature Output 
• Lbs or Kilos Fuel Level Capability
• Flying Lead Connection
• Better Connection Flexibility
• Unlimited Connection Interface.
• Can Accommodate Limited or Tight Connection Clearance  
• Simpler Data Transmission Between Senders.
• 7 fold Increase in Output Sensitivity
• Improved Flexibility in Meeting Future Fuel Level Challenges
• Larger Data Processing Headroom
• Filtering and Smoothing 
• Internal Fuel Tank Mapping Capability  

TSO'd Turbine Helicopter Fuel Level Sender

Turbine Helicopter                Fuel Level Sender 

It is interesting to us to see where our unique fuel level technology turns up next.   We are making rapid progress making CiES the company to turn to for aviation fuel level.

This is the 3rd new configuration we have revealed this week alone, and there are several we can't talk about at the moment.  Each one is on a more sophisticated platform than the next.

Our technology is simple, reliable and not in contact with the fuel.  It makes for a robust and effective helicopter or turboprop fuel level system.

We had several new challenges to measure a tank of 40" or 100 cm.  We rose to the opportunity and we developed new technology to effectively handle this fuel depth, as well as reporting fuel temperature.

Our combination of simple float and sophisticated sensor technology has proven itself to be the "Go To" technology to provide fuel level in all aviation applications. 

This design is an expansion of our Cirrus SF50 Jet design.

Video of the Cirrus SR22 Retrofit

Post by CirrusPilot.