Design of a microwave sensor for measurement of water in fuel contamination

Abstract In this paper the modeling and the design of a microwave sensor is proposed for real-time fuel quality monitoring, with particular regard to water-in-fuel measurement. A mechanical and fluid-dynamic design has been performed, evaluating the stiffness, the robustness of the sensor structure and the pressure field acting on it. Furthermore, an electromagnetic study has been carried out to verify the validity of the physical measurement principle. The adopted procedure involves the modeling of the sensor in CAD and the simulation of its behavior. The sensor, based on microwave transmittance, is attractive because of its simplicity and foreseeable low cost.