Level sensors monitor fuel consumption in specialized auto race

MTS supplies liquid level transmitters for the IMSA-sanctioned American Le Mans Series' Michelin Green X Challenge. MTS System Sensors Division sensors provide real-time measurement data for each team's fuel usage, which is transmitted to a control room and used to calculate each team's fuel efficiency.

By Control Engineering Staff

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When race cars are evaluated on fuel efficiency and not just speed, accurate fuel level sensors become just as important as a stopwatch.

MTS Systems Sensors Division has established a history of providing its magnetostrictive sensors to the racing industry. Now the company has added the IMSA-sanctioned American Le Mans Series’ Michelin Green X Challenge . This environmental race-within-a-race ranks teams on overall performance, fuel efficiency, and environmental impact. MTS’ Level Plus sensors have been incorporated into the fuel dispensers at each pit stall to provide real-time measurement data for each team’s fuel usage, which is transmitted to a control room and used to calculate each team’s fuel efficiency.

“MTS Systems has been providing motorsport testing solutions for decades and is used by a majority of top race teams in several racing series,” said Lee Aiken, product marketing manager, MTS Sensors. “We are excited that IMSA has elected to use MTS as the supplier for this crucial function within the innovative Michelin Green X Challenge.”

The American Le Mans Series has long been considered among the most sophisticated and technical racing series in the world, and is often the catalyst for transferring new automotive technologies from racecars to consumer automobiles. As the only major racing series in the world in which all cars run on one of three street-legal alternative fuels--clean diesel, E10, or cellulosic E85--the American Le Mans Series is also the global leader in green racing.

The Michelin Green X Challenge debuted at the Petit Le Mans, the signature endurance race of the American Le Mans Series last October, and will be in effect for the entirety of the 2009 season. This year will introduce an E10 gas-electric hybrid as an optional fuel source.

Read more about magnetostrictive level sensors .

—Edited by Peter Welander, process industries editor, PWelander@cfemedia.com ,
Control Engineering Process Instrumentation & Sensors Monthly
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