Sensor to make vehicles go fuel-thrifty

The sensor would enable vehicles to switch from gasohol E20 to E100 without any need for engine adjustments, Nectec assistant researcher Raksit Thitipatanapong said.

It will measure the percentage and the concentration of ethanol in a vehicle's fuel tank.

It will then send the information to the engine control unit (ECU), which will automatically adjust the engine depending on fuel type , Raksit said. While Mahidol University is developing the ethanol sensor, Nectec is building the engine-management system.

A vehicle's engine needs adjusting for gasohol with higher ethanol levels. Once the sensor is installed in the engine, there would be no need for such engine adjustments.

A prototype of the system is expected to come out in the next three months. Pilots will be conducted on fuel-injected motorcycles and then other vehicles.

Nectec had earlier developed an ECU for fuel-injected motorcycles that allows them to switch between benzene and gasohol fuel smoothly.

During the pilots, researchers will test if the system allows motorcycles to run on E100.

The development is aimed to make vehicles flexible enough to run on different types of fuel in the future, Raksit said.