Integrated Cooling Sensor Combining Pressure and Level Detection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing systems for internal-combustion engines require separate pressure and level sensors for cooling fluid, leading to complex stock management, increased assembly time, and difficulty in distinguishing which sensor is malfunctioning due to separate components and wiring.
Innovation Solution
An integrated pressure and level sensor is developed, combining both functions into a single body that can be securely mounted on the expansion tank, with a pressure sensor using a membrane and counter spring mechanism and a level sensor employing a toroidal float or capacitive electrodes, simplifying assembly and electrical connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate pressure sensor and level sensor are used, then each sensor can be optimized for its specific function, but the device complexity and stock management complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines a pressure sensor and a level sensor into a single integrated sensor unit. The pressure sensor includes a membrane that contacts the cooling fluid, while the level sensor uses a float mechanism within the same housing. This merging eliminates the need for separate sensors and their individual wiring connections, directly reducing device complexity while maintaining the functional optimization of both sensing mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated sensor serves multiple functions simultaneously: it monitors both pressure and liquid level in the cooling system. The single sensor unit incorporates both a pressure-sensitive membrane and a level-detecting float mechanism, allowing one component to perform what previously required two separate components, thereby simplifying stock management and installation.
2Ease of repair
If separate pressure sensor and level sensor are installed, then each sensor can be independently maintained, but the assembling time and labor cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
By integrating both pressure and level sensing functions into a single replaceable unit, the patent reduces assembly operations from installing and wiring two separate sensors to installing one integrated sensor. This significantly reduces assembling time and labor cost, while the modular design allows the entire integrated unit to be replaced as a single component if maintenance is needed.
3Device complexity
If separate sensors with single warning light are used, then the electrical system is simpler, but it is difficult to distinguish which sensor is malfunctioning
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated sensor incorporates two distinct warning lights that provide visual differentiation between pressure and level warnings. This allows the electrical system to maintain relative simplicity while clearly indicating which specific function (pressure or level) is malfunctioning, eliminating the ambiguity present in systems with a single shared warning light.
4Measurement precision
If two distinct sensors are used, then each sensor can be optimized for its specific measurement, but the stock management becomes more complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges pressure sensing and level sensing into a single integrated component that can be stocked and managed as one item. This eliminates the need to manage separate inventory codes and stock levels for pressure sensors and level sensors, simplifying stock management while preserving the measurement precision of both sensing functions through their specialized design elements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This integrated sensor reduces stock management costs, simplifies assembly and electrical systems, and provides a single device for monitoring both pressure and level, enhancing reliability and reducing the complexity of identifying sensor malfunctions.
Implementation Method 1
a gas under pressure comes into contact with a membrane 12, integral with an axis 13 which is perpendicular to the plane of the membrane itself
Implementation Method 2
a toroidal float 23 which can move vertically in said compartment, short-circuiting some metal foils 25 placed on a thread 24 coaxial with the toroid, when said compartment is flooded by the cooling fluid
Data Source
Figure 1~4
Figure 5~6
Figure 7
AI summary
Integrated pressure and level sensor of a cooling fluid which integrates in a single body (30): (I) a pressure sensor 1 comprising a membrane 12 with the function to rise because of the pressure caused in an expansion tank, against the force of a counter spring 13, this way an axis 13 integral with the membrane opens an electric contact 14; (II) a level sensor 2 comprising a toroidal float 23 with the function of going up along a vertical compartment 22, closing some metal foils which constitute a thread 24 coaxial with said toroidal float; (III) a terminal board 3, with the function to pick up the electric signals generated by said sensors 1 and 2.