Simultaneous ultrasonic guided and bulk wave techniques for detecting the fuels adulteration

This paper reports a novel sensor using integrated ultrasonic guided waveand bulk wave sensors to monitor fuel adulteration. The longitudinal-L(0,1), torsional-T(0,1) and flexural-F(1,1) modes were simultaneously generated in the helical-waveguide configuration using pulse-echo-(PE) and through-transmission(TT) techniques. A shear probe was connected at 45° orientation of the waveguide axis for transmitting and receiving all three modes in both techniques simultaneously. Also, the bulk wave (PE-approach) was integrated with the same ultrasonic setup for fuel density and sound velocity measurements using a longitudinal probe. We developed custom-made sensor holders to access guided wave-(GW) and bulk wave-(BW) sensors simultaneously to study fuel adulteration. In this measurement, we prepared different fluid samples by varying blend percentages (0% to 40%) in four cases: (a) ethanol with petrol, (b) kerosene with petrol, (c) ethanol with diesel and (d) kerosene with diesel. The novel sensor system detected fuel adulterations ≤2.5% w.r.to waveguide sensor’s F(1,1) mode attenuations and fuel mixture ultrasonic velocity measured using a bulk wave sensor. Multiple trials were performed (all cases) to ensure the sensors’ repeatability. Monitoring fuel quality is essential to reduce air pollution and prevent fuel adulterations (oil industries) to extend the life of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV).