A Brief Description of Invention: A digital quantity gauge for an agricultural aircraft payload hopper using a magnetostrictive linear displacement

transducer (MLDT). Describe the Problem the Invention Solves: The quantity gauge measures the amount of liquid in the aircraft payload hopper. The gauge reading is used by the pilot to determine the weight of the aircraft prior to take-off and to regulate the product application rate, as the pilot dictates the rate of product dispensed from the payload hopper. Current payload hopper quantity gauges have accuracy and reliability issues that lead to improper loading of the aircraft and coverage rate. In addition, due to the constant movement of the aircraft, sloshing in the payload hopper causes volume reading variations. How the invention solves the Problem: My invention is quantity gauge system that uses a MLDT to determine the liquid volume in the payload hopper. The MLDT transmit the height reading to a converter/display box mounted in the cockpit. The converter/display filters the signal, thereby removing the sloshing in the signal, and converts the filtered height to a volume that appears on a digital display. The MLDT possesses a single physical wear point, the float, utilizing this mostly solid state electronic system increases the total reliability. The MLDT system supplies an additional advantage in that there is no mechanical limitation to the resolution that the MLDT can give. Taking the advantages of the higher resolution and pairing those with a calibrated filter and signal converter allows us to digitally display the precise quantity of product in the payload hopper. Is the Invention an Improvement over what Currently Exists? Yes. Current quantity gauges utilize either a full mechanical system that use a float rigged thru additional linkages or an electrical system such as a resistive potentiometer or reed switch LDT. These systems have linkages with loose connections that cause backlash in the gauge and sliding electrical contact wear points, which limit the reliability of the gauge and the resolution that can be displayed. In a MLDT system there are no moving parts aside from the probe float; having this mechanically simple solution works to increase the reliability of the system in the physically rugged environment of agricultural aircraft. In addition, the resolution capabilities of the MLDT system , a height resolution of .001", are far superior to the current agriculture aircraft industry systems, such as the reed switch system that has a resolution of .375". This gain in resolution allows for increased accuracy of the gauge Part or Components of the Invention:

Please refer to the drawings at the end of this example for a key to the reference numbers. Reference Number Name of Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper Probe Float magnetostrictive linear displacement transducer (MLDT) wiring Filtering electronics Converter electronics Digital Readout Converter/Display

The Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1 is a storage tank mounted internally or externally on the agricultural aircraft that holds liquid product for application. The Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1 can be made of metal, plastic, or fiberglass. The shape may be a simple geometric shape, but are more commonly a complex shape with a drafted bottom. The Probe Float 2 is an object that consists of a buoyancy component such as wood, Styrofoam, or a sealed metal object making it less dense than the liquid being measured so that it may mark the position of the liquid surface. The float also contains a permanent whose position is sensed by the MLDT probe. The magnetostrictive linear displacement transducer (MLDT) 3 is a distance measuring device. It uses magnetostrictive technology to sense the distance the permanent magnet is away from the head MLDT. The wiring 4 comprises a current-conducting material that electrically connects the components of the quantity gauge. The Filtering electronics 5 is an electrical circuit that is used to smooth or clean the raw data from the sensor. If you are filtering an analog signal you can use a resistor capacitor circuit, an inductor capacitor, just a capacitor or any other filter known in the art. If you are filtering a digital signal this is normal done using some sort of program. This could be as simple as averaging the digital readings over a set period of time or using a statistical analysis to remove the high and low outliers to smooth out the signal, or any other currently used digital signal filtering. The Converter electronics 6 is an electrical circuit that is used to convert the filtered signal to a source that the digital readout can then display. This can be done with

selected non-linear comparators to build the conversion curve or could be programmed into a micro controller to do the conversion. The Digital Readout 7 is a display used to show the product quantity in the payload hopper. This may be a seven segment display, LCD display, LED, display or any other electronic numeric display. The Converter/Display 8 is a grouping of the filtering, converter and digital readout components. These do not need to be isolated into a single box however, reducing the number of components that need to be mounted in the aircraft is beneficial. Relationship between the components: The embodiment shown in the drawing includes a single Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1 with a MLDT 3 mounted within. There is a Probe Float 2 that moves up along the MLDT 3 dependent upon the fluid level in the Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1. The Signal from the MLDT 3 is sent to the Converter/Display 5 through the wiring 4. Inside the Converter/Display 8 the signal is sent through Filtering electronics 5 then the Converter electronics 6 and output on the Digital Readout 7. One possible variation is to send the signal through the converter electronics 6 before the filtering electronics 5. The filtering electronics 5, converter electronics 6, and Digital Readout 7 may be placed in individual boxes and located throughout the aircraft. The most space saving variation for the cockpit area would be to mount only the digital readout 7 mounted in the cockpit, with Converter electronics 6 and Filtering electronics 5 located elsewhere in the aircraft. How the Invention Works: In operation, the Probe Float 2 is at the surface of the liquid in the Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1. The MLDT 3 sends a signal of the height of the Probe Float 2 through wiring 4 to the Converter/Display 8 where the signal is processed and the quantity is displayed on the Digital Readout 7. The Filtering electronics 5 is set to smooth out the sloshing of the liquid in the Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1 so that the Digital Readout 7 shows a stable quantity. The Converter electronics 6 is used to convert the height of the Probe Float 2 in the Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1 to the quantity of liquid in the Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1. Necessary and Optional Elements of the Invention: All of the components are necessary to operate the unit successfully, although you could combine the Filtering electronics, Converter electronics, and Digital Readout drivers to be controlled by a single microprocessor. This would simplify your electronic lay out and would just require programming to run.

Optional additions to the unit would include a selector switch to be able to select from 3 point to level flight pitch attitude, this would change the scale of the converter to account for the pitch attitude change. There could also be a way to adjust the brightness of the display in the cockpit. This could be done using a dimmer, like a rheostat, or a push button switch to select thru different levels of brightness or any other adjustment method known in the art. You could also mount a second display in a location for the aircraft loader to see. How to make the Invention: This invention may be made by installing a MLDT 3 with an analog output in an Agricultural Aircraft Payload hopper 1 with a probe float 2. And connecting the analog output of the MLDT 3 to the Filtering electronics in this case a 10 micro farad capacitor across the analog inputs. You could combine the converting electronics and the Digital display drivers in a micro processor using a map function to scale the analog input signal to the quantity. You could then use the digital outputs of the microprocessor to control a Backlit LCD display. Can the Elements be reconfigured to achieve the same results? You could select to have an MLDT that would output a digital signal that you could then run into a microprocessor and then run the filtering and converting all inside a single chip and output to the digital display. Or you could run an analog converting system to send the output to a multi-meter and take your readings off of that. Because it is signal processing you can do this in many different ways but the required components are the payload hopper, MLDT, probe float and the digital display. How to use the Invention: To use the invention, a person would install the device in an agricultural aircraft, when they turn the power on the device would then start to display the quantity of liquid in the payload hopper. Can it be used In a Different Way? This invention is not limited to just agricultural aircraft payload hoppers but due to the limits of the digital readout this invention would be limited in industrial applications, and due to the high cost of the components would not be practical for use in most consumer products. A system that could benefit from the invention: The Present invention may be applied to any agricultural aircraft to increase the accuracy and reliability of the payload hopper quantity gauge. Can the function of the Invention be performed by a machine or computer?

The signal processing part of the process can be performed by a computer and in the setup discussed partly is being done on a micro processor. But without the accuracy and reliability of the MLDT this system would still fall to the shortcomings of prior units.