page_title: Fuel dispenser
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Fuel dispenser / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: Hydrogen station pump
context_page_description: A fuel dispenser is a machine at a filling station that is used to pump gasoline, petrol, diesel, CNG, CGH2, HCNG, LPG, LH2, ethanol fuel, biofuels like biodiesel, kerosene, or other types of fuel into vehicles. Fuel dispensers are also known as bowsers, petrol pumps, or gas pumps.
context_section_description: A modern fuel dispenser is logically divided into two main parts — an electronic "head" containing an embedded computer to control the action of the pump, drive the pump's displays, and communicate to an indoor sales system; and secondly, the mechanical section which in a ‘self contained’ unit has an electric motor, pumping unit, meters, pulsers and valves to physically pump and control the fuel flow.
  In some cases the actual pump may be sealed and immersed inside the fuel tanks on a site, in which case it is known as a submersible pump. In general, submersible solutions in Europe are installed in hotter countries, where suction pumps may have problems overcoming cavitation with warm fuels or when the distance from tank to pump is longer than a suction pump can manage.
  In modern pumps, the major variations are in the number of hoses or grades they can dispense, the physical shape, and the addition of extra devices such as pay at the pump devices and attendant "tag" readers.
  Light passenger vehicle pump flow rate ranges up to about 50 litres (13 US gallons) per minute (the United States limits this to 10 US gallons (38 litres) per minute); pumps serving trucks and other large vehicles have a higher flow rate, up to 130 litres (34 US gallons) per minute in the UK, and airline refueling can reach 1,000 US gallons (3,800 litres) per minute. Higher flow rates may overload the vapor recovery system in vehicles equipped with enhanced evaporative emissions controls (required since 1996 in the US), causing excess vapor emissions, and may present a safety hazard.
  Historically, fuel dispensers had a very wide range of designs to solve the mechanical problems of mechanical pumping, reliable measurement, safety, and aesthetics. This has led to some popularity in collecting antique dispensers, especially in the USA.
caption: Hydrogen station pump
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