Smart Fuel Theft Detector
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Date
2014
Authors
Amjad Rabaya
Adham Sawafta
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Abstract
AbstractAs a result of a small survey, we can say the following:The majority of companies stated that it is very important for them to identify exactly their expenses on the fuel consumption.A significant number of the sample suffers from uncertainty in the amount of its fuel consumption.Some of the companies are sure that there is some kind of fuel theft from their vehicles.Some of the companies have already bought a system to find track the fuel consumption in their vehicles.Some of the companies mentioned that the fuel theft is performed by persons not from the drivers.Due to the high fuel price, fuel theft became worrying phenomenon and it is very important for companies and foundations to monitor its fuel consumption rate in order to put its best budget.According to the Palestinian distributing fuel stations the cost of one litter of diesel in excess of 5.7 NIS (as of 12:00 a.m. April 29, 2013), so any storage of fuel can be a target for theft as well as transportation vans. In our project we provide a smart electrical system to help our client to deal with this problem and we aim to protect our clients from the fuel theft especially the transportation vans and vehicles.Our duty to stop the fuel theft so, before we start the smart fuel level detector idea, we set some advice for the fuel consumers which can help to a void the fuel theft.Consider installing a locking gas cap. Remember that many of the fuel doors that open remotely or with a key are flimsy and easily compromised.Avoid parking in dark, isolated areas (especially for extended periods). At home, park in a locked garage where possible. If you dont have a garage, park as close as possible to the house and avoid parking on the street.If you must park on a street or in a parking lot, attempt to locate your vehicle so the fuel door is visible to you or other residents in your area.If you have bulk fuel on your property, ensure you lock the tank and or dispenser to prevent access. Our fuel level detector continuously monitors your tank fuel with the ultrasonic fuel detector, the easiest solution to prevent fuel theft and fraud.Fuel theft: the moment our system tracks an unusual rate of decrease in the fuel-level (i.e. in usual conditions, the vehicle consumes a certain amount of fuel; while in the theft case, the rate of decrease of the fuel will be faster than the usual case) the fuel-tracker will send an alarm via a GPRS module (may be a SMS) and can be automatically configured to ring an audible alarm when the fuel theft occurs. The tracker is sensitive enough to detect when someone tries to 'skim' excess fuel from a vehicles tank.The level of the fuel, especially in cars and vehicles, is very important since it gives indication about the remaining amount of fuel in the tank of the vehicle. However, particularly, for the companies which have number of vehicles it is essential to monitor the fuel level at all times in order to identify its budget and expenses also to capture the fuel theft.The level measurement of fuel in the vehicles tank is a special case of general level measuring applications because:The flammability of the fuel, so it is very dangerous to put any electrical devices or wires inside the fuel tank.The very accurately closed tank, so it isnt preferred to make holes other than the main opening.The dynamic motion of the fuel, which means that the measuring process must take into consideration the road condition such that if the road is flat or has some slope (either positive or negative).In our project, we aim to design a smart fuel level measuring system which:Measures the amount of fuel in the tank accurately and in real time.Has the ability to measure the amount of fuel even if the vehicle is moving on a flat or has some slope roads.Can store the measurements in order to do some extra process such as consumption rate per day or month etc.Can be configured with a microcontroller to send the measurements via GPRS.Capture the fuel theft even if the vehicle is turned off! Finally, our scope of work will be:Specify which kind of sensors will be suitable for our requirements.Make some data processing such as Filtering.Store the measurements.Capable to make data communication (GPRS).Display the measurements as graphical representation.Alarm in case of fuel theft. As a result of the high cost of the fuel, it is very essential for the companies which have its own transportation vehicles and vans- to identify and calculate its consumption and expenses on the fuel so as to put their efficient and reliable budget.Also, as we found from the survey, most of the local companies mentioned that its very important for them to know as exact as possible their fuel consumption and expenses. Moreover, we found there is a critical need for those companies to protect their vehicles from the fuel theft whoever the thief.From the need of our market in Palestine, we took the first step in our project and then started to combine the main features of our system in order to meet the needs of those companies and foundations. Our duty is to design a smart system to mainly detect the fuel theft in various conditions and secondly allow those companies and foundations to know exactly their expenses on the fuel.In the first part of our graduation project, we have studied the circumstances surrounding the environment of the system and then identified the best and reliable components which will be assembled and built in the next part of the graduation project in the next semester. The main part is the sensor responsible to take the level of the fuel inside the tank and we have chosen the Ultrasonic HC-SR04 sensor for that role, then we have selected the PIC16f877a microcontroller to filter and process the Ultrasonic readings, finally we have preferred the GPRS module to transmit the readings to the server of the company in order to store and handle those readings as they want.In the second part of our graduation project, we have built the system, combined the sensors, added new elements like the LSM303DLH, derived mathematical equation to relate the slope of the road with the fuel level, sent the readings to the microcontroller then through the serial port to the computer.One of the problems we faced was the lack and the high cost of the GPRS modules in our market, as a result, we couldnt perform the transmission using it, instead we have sent the data using the serial port of the computer to a database to simulate the real database of the target company.Finally, based on our study in the electrical engineering department at an-Najah University, we hope to design a valuable and useful system so as to contribute to solving one of the problems which our companies face regarding the fuel theft and consumption, which to some extent- will help them to do their best in achieving their jobs as better as possible.