Custom fuel level sensors for airport buses
How an airport bus manufacturer in Slovenia replaced unsuitable float sensors with factory-configured DUT-E AF sensors from Wagencontrol — and saved about 40% on the component.
An airport bus maker in Maribor
The plant in Maribor, Slovenia, has built buses since 1946 — school, intercity and airport buses. Its best-known products are airport buses that carry passengers between the terminal and the aircraft at airports across the EU and the Middle East.
- 300+ employees
- 400+ airport buses a year
- 70+ years in business
A tall, narrow tank that float sensors can’t read
Airport buses must carry as many passengers as possible on a low floor, and that dictates where every component goes. The 190-litre tank of the VivAir bus (MAN D0836 LOH 41 engine, 176 kW) is about a metre tall, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top.
A standard float (lever) sensor from road trucks can’t travel the full height of such a tank, so it can’t measure correctly. Custom float sensors from several manufacturers were too expensive at roughly 400 units a year, and their delivery times were too long.
DUT-E AF, made to the tank
Wagencontrol proposed DUT-E AF capacitive fuel level sensors in a custom version. With no moving parts, the sensor is highly reliable and measures fuel volume within 1%. Its tubes reach almost to the bottom of the tank, so it reads from the lowest to the highest possible level.
The sensors were made exactly 960 mm long — the height of the tank — so nothing has to be trimmed on the line. The tank calibration table and all signal settings are stored in the sensor’s memory, and the sensors come with a mounting plate made to the manufacturer’s drawings.
In 2017 the custom DUT-E AF saved about 40% of the budget for this component. Delivery takes 2–3 weeks from order to the manufacturer’s warehouse, which makes component planning easier. On the assembly line, workers simply install the sensor in the tank and connect the signal cable to the standard analogue-to-digital converter that feeds the dashboard — no configuration training needed.
Task → Solution → Result
Unusual tank shape
A metre-tall, narrow-bottomed tank that standard float sensors can’t measure, and custom floats too costly.
Factory-configured DUT-E AF
Capacitive sensors cut to 960 mm, pre-calibrated, with a custom mounting plate.
About 40% saved
Lower component cost, 2–3 week lead time, and plug-in installation on the line.
We spent a lot of time looking for suitable fuel level sensors for VivAir buses. Proposals of other suppliers did not suit us either because of design, or because of price and delivery time. DUT-E AF functions exactly as we expected. It is very important for us that we get the sensors already fully configured, having required length of measuring probe and with a special mounting plate made according to our drawings.
CEO · Airport bus manufacturer, Slovenia
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