How to find out the volume of the tank in the car. Maximum volume of fuel tanks

Each car has its own There is no specific standard for the volume parameter that all car manufacturers would adhere to. Let's see what are the capacities of fuel tanks different type, we define the features and arrangement of these elements.

How manufacturers calculate

It is believed that a car must have enough fuel so that it can travel 500 kilometers on one gas station. This is an unwritten rule that many automakers adhere to. Therefore, the capacity of the fuel tank will be different for cars with high and low fuel consumption.

Average fuel tank holds 55-70 liters of gasoline, however, due to the reduced fuel consumption of small engines, there is a tendency to reduce the capacity of the fuel tank. This is logical, because a passenger car with a small engine displacement needs much less fuel in order to travel 500 km. In addition, the efficiency of the fuel itself is growing due to an increase in the octane number and the use of various additives, which also implies savings and a decrease in tank capacity. A big jeep with a voracious engine will "eat" much more gasoline, therefore, its fuel tank should be more capacious.

As for diesel, the fuel tank of cars that consume diesel fuel is often smaller compared to petrol cars. This is logical, since the efficiency diesel fuel higher than the efficiency of gasoline. Therefore, a car with a 40-litre tank full of diesel fuel will travel the same distance as a car with a full 50-litre tank. But this is too rough a comparison.

Fuel tanks of passenger cars

In order to roughly understand the numbers, you need to refer to technical parameters cars. The new "Lada Vesta" of the Russian concern "AvtoVAZ" is equipped with a tank with a capacity of 55 liters. This is a fairly high figure, and the closest competitors - Kia Rio and Hyundai Solaris - are equipped with 43-liter tanks. The fuel consumption of these cars is approximately the same, which means that the Lada will travel a longer distance on a full tank, which is one of the advantages.

More big car Volkswagen Tiguan is equipped with a tank with a capacity of 58-64 liters (depending on the specific modification), and such huge cars as Toyota Land Cruisers, with high fuel consumption, have 93-liter tanks.

As for the size, everything is much more complicated with this. Some manufacturers make rectangular tanks that can be approximately 60x40x20 cm. There are tanks with completely different dimensions, and some manufacturers adapt these fuel containers to fit into the design. Their size cannot be described by three or four parameters.

Truck tank capacities

As for trucks, the KamAZ car is popular, the fuel tank of which, depending on the model, can have a different volume. The smallest capacity is 125 liters. However, due to the high fuel consumption, KamAZ is not able to travel a long distance (and even with a load) on such a tank, so the manufacturer has provided for other containers that are used on this vehicle. Thus, a KamAZ fuel tank can have a capacity of 125 to 600 liters in increments of 50 or 40 liters.

There may also be non-standard modifications of tanks for 700 liters. The fact is that not only the manufacturing plant manufactures fuel tanks, third-party manufacturers can also do this. In general, there is little chance of finding products from the KamAZ plant on the market, most often there are tanks from third-party manufacturers.

The second popular truck is the GAZelle. Despite the fact that this machine is a cargo, GAZelle fuel tank holds only 60 liters of gasoline. And this is very inconvenient, given that the fuel consumption of the car is quite large. Therefore, when driving long distances, you have to take additional canisters of fuel with you.

Some owners of these cars change the old, small tank for a new one. Third-party manufacturers produce fuel tanks for the GAZelle with a capacity of up to 150 liters.

All this allows us to conclude that the fuel tank is a variable, not a constant value, and it is different for different cars. Even in two identical models can be used perfectly various capacities for fuels with different capacities.

Huge trucks like SCANIA 113 have tanks for 450-500 liters. The XF can have an 870-litre fuel tank, while the heavy-duty F90 has a 1,260-litre tank. It's just incredibly large capacity, and small 45-liter tanks passenger cars mobiles on their background look just ridiculous.

Fuel tank device

Now that we understand how many liters a fuel tank can hold gasoline, we can talk about its design. On the cars it is placed in the rear of the body, under the passenger seats. At the same time, it is covered with a strong metal plate to avoid deformation during a collision, and is also isolated from overheating using special heat-insulating gaskets.

Material

Tanks can be made of metal, aluminum, plastic. Aluminum tanks are used to store diesel and gasoline fuel, steel tanks are used for gas. As for plastic tanks, they have become very popular in recent times due to the ease of production and molding. Due to the peculiarities of plastic to quickly acquire the desired shape, manufacturers create tanks of various design difficulties. In addition, this material is not subject to corrosion, well protects against leaks due to the use of different technologies (coating the inner surface with fluorine is one of them).

Fuel filler neck

The tank is filled through the neck, which is most often located above the rear wing of the right or left side. The experts explain that the left side is ideal from the point of view of safety of the fuel filler neck, since when refueling it reduces the chances of starting off before the filling nozzle is removed from the tank. So the driver has better control over the process.

The neck is connected to the tank through a pipeline, and it is located under a special cap of the fuel tank neck. This cover on older cars opens from the outside (that is, any passer-by can open it), but on modern machines the lid opens from inside. The most commonly used mechanical method of opening with a cable.

fuel line

The supply of gasoline or diesel fuel to the engine power system is carried out through the output fuel line. A fuel pump is also used for this, which pumps gasoline from the tank into the engine power system. Fuel not consumed by the engine is returned to the tank. So gasoline constantly circulates through the fuel line: part of it is spent on the operation of the engine, and the second is returned back.

Level control sensor

This sensor is in all tanks and is part of the fuel pump. If the gasoline level goes down, the float goes down. This entails changing the resistance of the potentiometer connected to the float. As a result, the voltage in the mains drops, and the arrow on dashboard displays the change. So the driver sees how much gasoline is left in the tank.

Ventilation

One of the important systems is ventilation. The fact is that in the tank you must always maintain a pressure equal to atmospheric pressure, and ventilation is responsible for this. Modern machines equipped with a closed tank ventilation system, which prevents a drop or increase in pressure inside it. If the pressure inside the tank drops, then it can deform, and an increase in pressure in general can tear the tank apart. Considering that there is fuel inside, a lot of attention is paid to the implementation of an effective ventilation system.

When the fuel leaves the tank, the pressure in it drops, resulting in a vacuum. Thanks to the ventilation system, this effect is eliminated: the safety valve lets air in. This valve is located at the neck cover, and it can only pass air in one direction.

When refueling, excess air enters the tank, which causes gasoline vapors to form. These excesses are forced out by the ventilation system through a special pipeline. Gasoline vapors can also form at elevated temperatures, which also leads to an increase in pressure. And only the ventilation system saves the tank from its complete rupture into pieces.

Conclusion

The fuel tank of a car is a rather complex structure. Despite the apparent simplicity of the device, many different processes occur in the tank (evaporation, fuel oxidation), which must be taken into account when developing these tanks. But if we compare the tank device with a motor, or at least with a power system, then it will seem primitive.

Now you know how the fuel tank works, what is its volume in cars and trucks, as well as why it is so small in small cars. Against the background of all this, the tendency to reduce the capacity of the tank in modern

It would seem that there can be nothing tricky inside the fuel tank - after all, it is just a container for gasoline or diesel fuel, perhaps especially durable and resistant to hydrocarbons. But it seems so only at first glance

The fuel tank has a shape determined by the design of the vehicle. Often it, being a single volume, is, in fact, two connected containers. For what? The fuel supply is a significant load for a car, approximately equal to the weight of one passenger, which is a lot. Of course, this "passenger" is modest in urban minicars: their tanks have a volume of 35-40 liters. Medium-sized sedans and hatchbacks have a tank capacity of 45-60 liters, heavy SUVs - 75-90 liters, commercial vans - 90-120 liters, and long-haul tractors - already 300-600 liters.

Half full or empty?

Tank placement is a challenging task for engineers. After all, you have to take into account the load on the car, which, when refueling under a traffic jam, can fall on one side. You have to somehow divide the tank, turning it into a kind of butterfly in shape. Well, or positioned so that even when fully refueled, other devices compensate for the load on one of the sides. When choosing the location of the tank, the risk of damage in a collision is also taken into account.

The capacity of the tank is a conditional value, it is impossible to fill it up to the stop, there will be some air left in it. When the car rolls, fuel can overflow from side to side, and this is fraught with a dangerous situation. We all know from the theoretical course of a driving school which of the tankers is more prone to capsizing: filled to the top or half empty. A significant mass of fuel, moving inside the tank, can also upset the balance of the machine. How do they deal with it? Partitions are made inside the tank to prevent overflow - their dimensions and location are carefully calculated.

Each tank is equipped with a ventilation system. In the heat, the fuel tends to evaporate, and the increased vapor pressure can even break the tank. And when gasoline or diesel fuel is produced, the pressure in the tank drops - it can flatten. The ventilation system not only prevents this, but also traps fuel vapors, preventing them from escaping into the atmosphere. A special valve prevents fuel from spilling when the vehicle rolls over or rolls heavily.

In modern tanks, as a rule, an electric fuel pump module is also built in. It is important to remember: pumps for modern car power systems do not like to run “dry”, because of this they quickly fail. Therefore, do not let the fuel run out completely, try to refuel as soon as the reserve light comes on, because the fuel pump is not cheap, and even the cost of replacing it ...

Do you smell?

In most cases, access to the pump module is possible from the inside of a car (often with the back seat). But it happens that you have to remove the entire tank from the car, and this is almost impossible without a lift or a garage pit. However, sometimes the pump works properly, but the tank still needs to be dismantled due to damage. How so, you ask, because it is very durable? It's true, but ... A bad head can break even more.

In my practice, there were three significant cases. In the first, the owner of the “middle-aged” already foreign car complained about the rattle from under the bottom while driving. It seemed to her that the muffler sagged and touched the asphalt. Having looked under the bottom with a flashlight, I found that one of the steel bands on which the fuel tank hung had burst from old age and corrosion! Naturally, it was impossible to fix the malfunction on the street, and we drove slowly and carefully to the nearest service. Fortunately, we were able to repair the damaged tape, rather than looking for a new one.

Another situation: once in the country, I felt a strong smell of gasoline emanating from the car. It was a wake-up call: it shouldn't smell like that. Looking under the bottom, I saw that fuel was actively dripping from a hole in the bottom of the tank. Broke? No, it looks like someone was trying to drain the gasoline in my absence: the hole was like a chisel, a random stone “caught” on the highway will not leave such. Then it was possible to “turn” the hole a little, drain the remaining fuel, remove the fuel intake, get into the tank with a hand and close the hole with a “sandwich” of a bolt with a nut and four washers (two steel and two rubber). "Sandwich", I must say, served for several years.

But in the third case, the tank of the SUV was pierced in "combat" conditions, and despite the fact that it was covered from below with reliable steel protection. Removing it showed that gasoline was leaking from under the rivet, which apparently secures the internal partition. No one undertook to weld the place of damage: the craftsmen are afraid to approach gas tanks with a welding machine, even if the tank has lain empty or filled with water for a week (everyone is well aware of the consequences of an explosion of fuel vapors). BUT new tank, even without fuel equipment, it costs 30-40 thousand rubles. It was possible to manage at lower costs: the damage was sealed with a “cold welding” compound.

sledgehammer strike

Fuel tanks are made of steel, aluminum or special plastic (polyethylene). How durable is plastic? I learned about this from the story of an employee of the UAZ plant. When a single 68-liter tank was developed for the Patriot instead of two 36-liter tanks located on the sides, multilayer plastic was proposed as a material. The commission that accepted the sample doubted its strength. One of its representatives was offered a sledgehammer: they say, hit with all your might and see what happens. He hit - and the sledgehammer rebounded, almost injuring him. Buck was unharmed.

Why do we stand up for the strength of the tank so much? That's right, we are afraid of an explosion of fuel in case of damage. But it is not so much an explosion that is dangerous, but a spill of the same gasoline and a large burning area, because it is not gasoline that burns, but its vapors. In addition, they are very difficult to extinguish. The same applies to diesel fuel: its vapors do not flare up as readily as gasoline ones, but it is even more difficult to extinguish spilled diesel fuel.

Which board to drive up to the column at the gas station? The filler neck can be located either on the right or on the left, this is indicated by a small arrow near the gas station symbol on the instrument panel (although sometimes it is not there). Cars with a tank mouth on the left, I call professional for myself, the rest are designed for white-handed women and tanker services.

Do not forget to close the neck cover and lock the hatch. Cases of fuel drain by intruders are still not uncommon. Although sometimes the tank is so cleverly arranged that it is problematic to pump out fuel. So you can’t help a friend in a difficult situation.

Refueling "pistols" of diesel dispensers have different sizes. The larger ones are designed for the filler necks of heavy trucks. The necks of some pickups can also have a similar diameter, then refueling under a cork on a cargo column will last a matter of seconds, which is convenient in cold winters. And in commercial vans, on the contrary, there are "passenger" necks - such a paradox.

Interesting fact fuel containers such as airfield tankers can be reported. They have a special device called Dead Man's Switch. When filling the tank at the oil depot, the driver or foreman is obliged to manually interrupt the fuel supply every few minutes, then start it again. This is done so that the system “understands”: the filling is under the control of a person, he is alive, everything is in order with him. If you do not interrupt the filling in time, it will be turned off automatically.

To store the fuel supplied to the engine, a special reservoir is provided in the design of each car - a fuel tank. It is a sealed container and, depending on the features of the machine model, may differ in shape, material of manufacture and volume. In automotive practice, the fuel tank is used for liquid fuels (gasoline, diesel) and gas.

Features of the location of the tank in the car

For each category of vehicles, optimal configurations of fuel tanks are developed, and the most rational location of the tank in the overall design is selected. So, for example, in passenger cars, the tank is located in the rear part under the seat (in front rear axle), since this zone is the most protected in a collision.

In trucks, fuel tanks (one or more) are most often installed between the front and rear axles on the sides of the frame. This is due to the fact that for this category of cars the most common accidents with a frontal collision. If the car has been “tuned”, its fuel tank can be moved to an arbitrary location, but in some cases this may threaten the owner with a fine.

Since the fuel tank is often located near the exhaust system, special heat shields are used to prevent it from heating up.

Types of fuel tanks and materials of manufacture

The main requirement for fuel tanks is the high tightness of the container, which prevents the leakage of fuel (or its vapors) into the environment. This ensures the safety of operation and the economy of fuel consumption in general.

For the manufacture of gas tanks, the following types of materials are used:

• Steel - used mainly in trucks, as well as in gas systems;
• Aluminum - used in gasoline-powered vehicles;
• Plastic is the most popular material because it is suitable for all types of fuel.

A sufficient amount of fuel reserve ensures uninterrupted engine operation and a longer interval of autonomous driving. Modern automotive industry standards provide for such a volume of capacity that would allow moving at least 400 km without refueling. On the other hand, if the tank is too large, this increases the weight of the machine and complicates its design.

The volume of the fuel tank can be conditionally divided into nominal (indicated in the vehicle documentation) and real (when filling under the neck). The actual capacity of the fuel tanks, depending on the model, may exceed the nominal capacity by 2 to 17 liters. The volume of a gas tank for passenger cars, on average, ranges from 50 to 70 liters. Some very powerful models have a tank volume of up to 80 liters, while small cars are equipped with tanks of only 30 liters. Trucks can have a fuel reserve of 170 to 500 liters.

Design of modern fuel tanks

There is no single form for the fuel tank of a car. To achieve the maximum volume of fuel tanks without sacrificing their compactness, they are given a complex geometry, which can vary not only depending on the make and model of the car, but also on the configuration of a particular car.

In metal containers, the complex shape is achieved by sheet metal stamping and sealed welded joints. Plastic tanks are impact molded high temperatures and pressure.

The main components of the gas tank

In spite of different shape, the design of most modern gas tanks has common details:

• Filler neck - has access to the outer part of the body and is designed for filling fuel. Most often located on the driver's side (above the rear wing of the body). In most vehicles, the fuel filler has a special sealed screw cap to prevent fuel from escaping and dust from entering. However, some modern cars do not have such a cover. It has been replaced by the Easy Fuel system, a small electrically operated sunroof that opens and closes the gas tank.
• Body or walls (directly container).
• Fuel intake pipe - equipped with a filter to prevent the ingress of contaminants. On modern passenger cars, this function is performed by a submersible module. It is equipped with an additional removable filter (mesh).
• Drain hole (normally closed with a plug) - used when it is necessary to urgently drain the fuel.
• Fuel level sensor with a float - designed to measure the amount of fuel.
• Ventilation tube.

The device and principle of operation of the ventilation system

Special attention when considering design features and devices of the automobile fuel tank should be given to the ventilation system. It allows you to solve several important tasks at once:

• Removal of excess air that gets inside when refueling.
• Maintaining the pressure inside the tank at atmospheric level, which is necessary for normal operation generally. Since the tank is as tight as possible, a vacuum is created during fuel exhaustion, which can lead to deformation and rupture of the hull.
• Cooling the tank and maintaining a safe temperature.

Modern cars, as a rule, are equipped with closed ventilation systems. This design does not have a direct exit from the fuel tank to the atmosphere and is equipped with a number of devices designed for air intake and vapor extraction. Air intake is carried out using the fuel tank ventilation check valve. As soon as the vacuum builds up, under the action of internal pressure, the valve spring is pressed out and air enters. This happens until atmospheric pressure is established inside the tank.

To remove fuel vapors from the tank, a ventilation pipeline (steam pipeline) is provided through which the vapors enter. In it they condense and accumulate. When the canister fills, the purge system starts, supplying condensed fuel to the intake manifold for subsequent processing.

The service life of the fuel tank largely depends on the operating conditions and the quality of the fuel. Like any vehicle component, it requires appropriate after-sales service. First of all, this includes flushing the tank and removing contaminants. When flushing, do not use special cleaning additives that can adversely affect the main elements fuel system, and in some cases lead to the destruction and depressurization of the housing.

" The fuel tank seems to be filled more than its rated capacity!!!" "Never happened!!!"

Every driver, most likely, went through such an experience. Especially when refueling the car on a full tank, some drivers sometimes doubt the required amount of fuel. Especially when the amount of remaining fuel and filled fuel exceeds the capacity of the fuel tank officially specified by the car manufacturers. However, if such a difference is only 5-10 liters, this is natural. Because the tank was originally designed to be larger than the nominal fuel tank capacity listed in the owner's manual.

Therefore, when the above situation occurs, there is no need to get lost, you just need tocheck the actual difference from the rated capacity.

1. Official fuel tank capacity (nominal capacity)

① The “rated capacity” of passenger cars is designed to drive cars around *600km at 80-100km/h on highways. Rated capacity is based on fuel efficiency and vehicle body weight and therefore varies by vehicle model and engine size.

*Approximately 600 km is based on driving, assuming the driver drives the car 5-6 hours a day at a speed of 100 km without physical fatigue (based on 1 refueling per day).

② Why can the car drive another 50-60 km even when the fuel indicator light is on?

The indicator light has been designedwith reserve capacity so that the driver can reach the next service area (gas station) (average distance between service areas is about 50-60 km) on the highway, about 10% of the fuel tank capacity.

2. Why is the actual capacity larger than the rated capacity?

If the nominalcapacity of the fuel tank is 65ℓ, its actual capacity is about 75ℓ. Since in the manufacture of the fuel tank, the car manufacturer took into account the free capacity, 10-15% of the nominal capacity. The reason for this is as follows:

①It is designed to prevent the release of volatile organic compounds ( VOC ) in the case of an increase in volume caused by an increase in air temperature. If the fuel tank is filled to capacity, there is a risk that, due to the increase in internal temperature and therefore internal pressure, fuel may leak out.

②There is also a reserve space in the tank to prevent fuel leakage when the vehicle is parked on an incline with a full tank. This is called "reserve capacity to increase"