Cessna Pennycap Press Release - Flying Magazine May 1968

Cessna Pennycap

Copyright Flying Magazine May 1968

Curiosity got the best of us the other day, and somebody wondered if there was a similar example to a disruptive fuel level technology in General Aviation aircraft.   I indicated that there was a different system and it enjoyed a brief and limited success.  This system came out in the late 1960's and was featured on Cessna aircraft.

I went for a magazine search for press releases, curious to see what virtues would be given to a better fuel quantity system.

This system was produced by Consolidated Airborne Systems - which still operates out of a garage location in New York state.

The headline for the article was entitled 

GAS GAUGES THAT TELL THE TRUTH 

"General aviation airplanes - those engineering marvels, this distillations of technical wisdom and aeronautical magic incarnate - use fuel measuring devices of the same arrangement that plumbed fuel quantity in automobiles since the Model A  float tipped rods that electrically drive instrument panel needles to positions approximating the volume of fuel left.  Many such devices are off by as much as 25 percent" Copyright Flying Magazine May 1968

Many mechanics swore at these systems, many are swearing at them still.  The never lived up to the billing as corrosion on these low cost systems quickly robbed them of any accuracy advantage.  If you remember - Penny was to indicate "low cost" and cap was to indicate "Capacitive"  i.e. Pennycap system by its marketing title was a low cost capacitive fuel system.

"For not much more than the cost of an annual, then you'll be able to have a fuel gauging system of honest go/no-go quality.  Can you hold in the soup for 45 minutes at your alternate, or should you declare an emergency and tell them to get you down?  Can you afford to try and get out of that mountain strip with half full tanks and your present baggage load, or are your tanks more like three-quarters full?  It can make a difference." Copyright Flying Magazine May 1968

What is old is now new again - as 48 years later for the price of an annual you can have a CiES fuel gauging system of honest go/no-go quality. 

Beech Baron Digital Fuel Sender Retrofit Part 6

Beech Baron 58 Fuel Level Senders

CIES Baron 58 Fuel Quantity Senders

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We have some results back on the Baron 58 Senders.    There was a slight glitch as the middle left sender somehow got caught on the initial calibration.  But that was rectified easily   

The result was a fairly simple curve with no major discontinuities - Nice Job.

Even better we got a good result in the air.  

We got the middle float unstuck on the left side, it was helpful that with a frequency output graph that you could pinpoint the problem remotely like that.

After it was free, we mirrored the calibration numbers on the right side with the offset we had from the first reading and They  seem very accurate,  within a gallon of the totalizer on the JPI 960.

Tank calibration curve

We put lots of work on this aircraft... we did air conditioner, new engines, props, & avionics.    The owner has flown in it,  but we are still tweaking and breaking in the new engines for him.   

So a gallon or so off of the totalizer on a 150 gallon aircraft -  Not bad at all. 

Legacy Beechcraft Senders

All dimensions for these new senders  were captured from a legacy set of Beech Baron 58 Fuel Level senders.  As the CiES design constraints are different from the legacy senders - there are a few little tricks to getting the right geometry in the tank 

For this short flight fuel level is in green and fuel flow in blue.  You can see the effects of pitch change on fuel level on takeoff and landing. But you can also see the steady drop in fuel level over time.


This was our first multiple sender summing aircraft and we are very happy with the result. 

We were looking forward to this system in the aircraft as it represents a chance for us to utilize the capability of summing multiple senders to achieve a single digital fuel tank output.  

Every day we see that we can meet or exceed  the 0.75% most stringent TSO quality standard.  In the case of the Baron - that would be 0.66% accuracy for fuel quantity. 

Beech Baron Digital Fuel Level Sender Retrofit - Part 3

Beech Baron 58 Fuel Level Senders

We have now digitized the Baron 58 Senders.  For the Baron 58 we have gone ahead with part production for top mount senders and only needed to establish the arm lengths to complete this design.   As we produce the arms in house - this gave us the shortest time to achieving a TSO Baron Fuel Sender for our customer.

All dimensions for these new senders  were captured from a legacy set of Beech Baron Fuel Level senders.  As our design constraints are different from the legacy senders - there is a little bit to getting the right geometry in the tank 

We are looking forward to this system in the aircraft as it represents a chance for us to utilize our capability of summing multiple senders to achieve a single fuel tank output 

One of the interesting items that came up in investigation is that every legacy Outboardd bottom mount Beechcraft Baron 58 Fuel Sender has a seemingly factory grind mark on the housing and screw  - Clearance ?

Stay tuned for further updates and pictures.

Cessna 210 Digital Fuel Level

CiES Added Another Aircraft Today 

So three new aircraft configurations this week in as many days.    This one was admittedly easy as it is identical to the Cessna 177 Design.   

I believe our greatest accomplishment this year is developing a methodology to add TSO'd configurations to our list.   

Our magnetic field design makes changes to fuel senders as easy as changing float arm length and an internal map profile 

Our technology for fuel level sending is eclipsed by no other method.  Magnetic Field is superior to both traditional aircraft Capacitive and Resistive fuel senders.  

Contact us to find out why we can make such a bold statement.

Cessna 206 - CiES Bladder Tank Fuel Senders

CiES Magnetic Field Fuel Senders for Cessna 206

We continue to add configurations to the CiES Fuel Sender Aircraft list. 

Today we completed the physical elements of the Cessna 206 Bladder Senders

In the picture you will see the new machined and red  anodized senders bracketed by the senders our customer  removed for the aircraft. 

This set of senders is for the Cessna 206 bladder tank fuel system.  The old sender on the right is a FAA PMA replacement and the one on the left is the factory Leigh Sender that this Cessna 206 Left the factory with.

As our sender design simplifies the mechanics of the float sensor  This is due to the increased travel range that our magnetic field senders allow. 

This simplified design may also be applicable to Cessna 182 and 172 Bladder tanks 

We have a set of 182 Fuel Senders from a bladder tank coming our way to confirm our belief.