Liquid Fuel Tank

Basics

• This page goes over your "standard" fuel tank
• This page is mainly for Powercube applications (what versions)
• May fork off one the Open Source Fuels Construction Set is more developed

TO-DO

• Can these be used for:
  • Ethanol
  • Methanol
  • Methanol-Water Injection liquid? need a name + page for this
  • DME
  • DEF
  • etc

New Fuel Tank

This design will use a section of 1/4" x 6" x 12" tubing similar to that used for the hydraulic reservoir. The capacity is calculated as follows:

(5.5" x 11.5" - (pi x( 0.5)^2)) x 27.5 / 231 = 7.43 Gal

Let's say we want a 5 gallon tank, we can calculate the tube length as follows. Set the volume to 5 gallons, tube length to "L" and compute:

(5.5" x 11.5" - (pi x( 0.5)^2)) x L / 231 = 5 Gal

5 Gal x 231 / (5.5" x 11.5" - (pi x( 0.5)^2)) = L =~ 18.5"

Similarly, here are the calculations for 6 and 7 gallon tanks:

• 6 Gallon tank: 6 Gal x 231 / (5.5" x 11.5" - (pi x( 0.5)^2)) = L =~ 22.25"

• 7 Gallon tank: 7 Gal x 231 / (5.5" x 11.5" - (pi x( 0.5)^2)) = L =~ 26"

Off The Shelf fuel tank

SurplusCenter.com sells a 5.5 gallon "off the shelf" fuel tank for $40:

Item# 28-1756

Based on the given dimensions, I jammed together a Sketchup model and fit it into the Power Cube:

It could work, though we'd have to work out redirection of exhaust and mounting.

Update: This fuel tank is no longer for sale.

Designs using commercial fuel tanks will only work if the source is reliable.

Original Design

The current design includes a steel fuel tank, made with 1/4" x 4" x 8" tubing, yielding interior dimensions of 3.5" x 7.5", with 1/2" radius curved corners. The calculation below shows it holds 1.6 Gallons:

(3.5" x 7.5" - (pi x( 0.5)^2)) x 14.5 / 231 = 1.59 Gal

Internal Links

• Open Source Fuels Construction Set