CN106232976A - fuel distribution unit - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for delivering fuel from a fuel tank to an internal combustion engine, comprising a filling container (1) and a support housing (2) fixed to the filling container (1). The securing is achieved using a locking closure. The first part (8) of the locking closure is horizontally movable and fixed to the deformable element (3). The second closure part (9) is coupled to the first closure part (8) and facilitates locking. The first and second closing portions (8, 9) and the main deformable element (3) together have a minimally defined vertical space inside the tank. The support housing (2) is internally coupled to the filling container (1) so as to prevent or make impossible the emptying of the container by siphoning. This arrangement of the locking closure has optimized features for production using polymer injection molding due to the absence of recessed surfaces. The invention covers variations of its geometry so that the deformable element (3) has a greater or lesser rigidity.

Description

fuel distribution unit

technical field

The invention relates to a unit for delivering fuel from a fuel tank to an internal combustion engine, having a filling container and a support housing secured to the filling container. In order to limit the relative movement between the support shell and the filling container, the two are interconnected by a locking closure. More particularly, the invention relates to the arrangement and method of securing such a locking closure between the support housing of the pump and the filling container of the fuel delivery device.

Background technique

The fuel delivery system of an internal combustion engine contains many components. Typically, a fuel pump pumps fuel from a fuel tank to an internal combustion engine. To facilitate pumping from the fuel tank when the vehicle is speeding up/slowing down or going uphill/downhill, a fill container is fitted inside the fuel tank to ensure a minimum fuel level for the pump.

The fill container forms a fuel dispensing unit in combination with the support housing. The casing has, inter alia, the function of supporting the pump and damping its inherent vibrations during operation. To fix the support shell to the filling container, one makes use of fixing elements, such as locking closures or welded joints, the former being used more frequently.

In the prior art, locking closures have been found for fuel dispensing units of various geometries and arrangements. There are developments aimed at minimizing costs, simple geometries of dispensing units and reduction of manufacturing materials. Another technical feature sought with regard to locking closures is the prevention of leakage of fuel through the windows of the locking closure, since the presence of openings or windows in the filling container results in a lower amount of fuel within the fuel dispensing unit. Another challenge is to obtain the improvement of the aforementioned features by using as little as possible the vertical space inside the fuel tank, because in the prior art the vertical dimension of the fuel dispensing unit occupies almost the entire vertical space inside the fuel tank . This is disadvantageous because, for a fuel dispensing unit of the same size, a smaller volume of fuel is stored in the unit.

Document US6854451 of the prior art shows a locking closure for a fuel dispensing unit made of plastic material, wherein horizontal displacement of a first closure part allows coupling of a second closure part, thereby providing a lock between the two parts. The first closure part is fixed to the support shell and the second closure part is fixed to the filling container. The locking closure is a snap fit closure and has the property of having no negative faces on the first and second closure parts. Therefore, there is no need to introduce the slider into the mold used to inject the polymer to make the locking closure. The first closing part is formed by an extension of the supporting shell: this extension has a protrusion suitable for the performance of its function and extends beyond the filling container and below the level of the liquid contained in this container, which mainly Dimensions are parallel to a vertical axis passing through the center of the filling container. The main internal stress responsible for the horizontal displacement of the first closure part is torsion about a horizontal axis tangential to the support shell at the height at which the support shell engages the first closure part.

However, siphonic closures are known to be detrimental to the retention of fuel within the reservoir because the fuel is guided out of the reservoir by capillary action. The geometries of the locking closures disclosed in the aforementioned documents JP250119 and US6854451 facilitate the appearance of siphonic closures. The siphon thus leads to leakage from the filling container up to a level corresponding to the position of the lower end of the surface forming the capillary action, such leakage being undesirable for the action of the fuel dispensing unit.

Prior art document US0192922 shows a locking closure of a fuel dispensing unit, wherein the locking closure comprises a deformable element fixed to the support housing, a first closure part fixed to the deformable element and a second closure part fixed to the filling container . Horizontal displacement of the deformable element allows coupling of the first closure part to the second closure part, thereby providing locking of the unit. This locking closure is a snap fit closure and has a deformable element with a substantially vertical main direction. This element deforms under torsional stress about two horizontal axes, one of which is tangential to the support shell and the other of which is parallel to the first but away from the center of the filling container. The fact that the deformable element separates the locking closure from the wall of the filling container eliminates the possibility of fuel leaking through the window of the locking closure. However, as previously stated, the geometry presented in document US0192922 has a greater complexity and, therefore, higher manufacturing costs due to the need for more complex molds for injection molding polymers, compared to the arrangement presented in document US6854451 .

Document WO2009017685A1 of the prior art shows a locking closure of a fuel dispensing unit made of plastic material, wherein a horizontal displacement of a second closure part fixed to the filling container allows coupling to a first closure part fixed to the support housing, Thus providing a lock between the two parts. This locking closure is a snap-fit closure and has the characteristics of having a negative face and, due to the fact that the end of the support housing extends into the filling container, no capillary forming outside the reservoir of the filling container. active part, thus preventing siphoning. However, as previously mentioned, document WO2009017685A1 has negative faces on the first and second parts of the locking closure, resulting in the need to introduce the slider into a mold for injection molding the polymer in order to manufacture the dispensing unit.

Contents of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel dispensing unit and a locking closure therefor. The dispensing unit includes a filling container and a support housing. The container and housing are interlocked by a positive union of first and second closure parts secured to the container and housing, respectively.

The first closure part is fixed to the container by a deformable element allowing horizontal displacement. This horizontal displacement allows the second closure part to occupy the space below the first closure part. Upon returning to its original position, the first closing portion facilitates the locking of the two parts and thus of the unit formed by the filling container and the supporting shell.

The fuel dispensing unit is installed within the fuel tank where there are vertical space constraints. It should be noted that the deformable element has a substantially horizontal orientation, which results in the closure portion being arranged to minimize the use of vertical space. This arrangement, which will be described below, has important improvements over elements known from the prior art.

In the present invention, neither the two closure parts nor the filling container has a negative face when viewed from the top down and from the bottom up. This particular property allows the manufacture by polymer injection molding without the use of slides complementary to the mould, where in the case of containers only one bipartite mould is required.

This feature proves to be an important advantage in reducing material usage, energy consumption and mainly the time to manufacture the filled container.

The support shell engages internally with the filling container. This property allows the present invention to have no capillary communication with the interior volume of the container extending below the fuel level. This prevents the fuel container from leaking through siphoning, thereby ensuring the main functionality of the invention, maintaining the fuel level in the suction of the pump above the expected minimum level.

Summarizing the above, the present invention simultaneously solves the following prior art problems: minimizing the use of vertical space and preventing leakage due to siphoning through the window of the locking closure. Furthermore, the invention further has simplified manufacture.

Description of drawings

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to examples of embodiment presented in the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings show:

Figure 1 is a front view of a fuel dispensing unit presenting the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top view of the filling container of the fuel dispensing unit of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a front view of the support housing of the fuel dispensing unit of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a detail of a filling container of a second embodiment of the fuel dispensing unit of the present invention; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a detail of a filling container of a third embodiment of the fuel dispensing unit of the present invention.

detailed description

Figure 1 shows a fuel dispensing unit 10 of the present invention. The fuel dispensing unit 10 has, inter alia, a filling container 1 , a support housing 2 , a deformable element 3 . The unit 10 also has a first closure part 8 and a second closure part 9 , both of which are not shown in FIG. 1 .

The filling container 1 is a fuel sub-reservoir provided in the fuel tank to maintain a minimum liquid level in the suction portion of the fuel pump 100 . This is to ensure that the pump will operate without admitting vapor gases, as these compressible fluids are detrimental to the operation of the fuel pump 100 and compromise the integrity of the fuel pump 100 .

The filling container 1 also has the function of supporting and fixedly supporting the shell 2 .

The supporting housing 2 has the main function of supporting the fuel pump 100 . The main deformable element 3 is fixed and is part of the filling container 1 . The horizontal displacement of the main deformable element 3 allows coupling and locking between the filling container 1 and the supporting shell 2 .

FIG. 1 also shows a filling container 1 . The filling container 1 has a cylindrical geometry and a bottom 12 and side walls 11 of circular cross-section, and the invention may have any other type of cross-section. The inner volume 14 comprised between the bottom 12 and the side wall 11 is the space in which fuel is stored in the fuel dispensing unit 10 .

Furthermore, the filling container 1 has the function of fixing and supporting the support shell 2 , the filling container 1 having an upper opening 13 through which the lower part 21 of the support shell 2 is introduced into the inner volume 14 of the filling container 1 .

As mentioned above, the siphon phenomenon is promoted from the filling container 1 and the surface forming capillary action below the fuel level. It was also stated above that a low fuel level in the suction of the fuel pump 100 impairs its functionality and compromises its integrity.

The fact that the lower part 21 of the support shell 2 is completely contained in the inner volume 14 eliminates the possibility of siphoning and thus emptying the filling container 1 due to capillary action. Thus, the desired liquid level for good performance of the dispensing unit 10 is ensured.

The filling container 1 has a plurality of recesses 4 , three of which are visible in FIG. 2 . The recess 4 protrudes into the filling container 1 and extends from the lower end 5 to the upper end 6 of the container, forming a surface parallel to the side wall 11 of the filling container 1 .

A plurality of deformable elements 3 are fixed to the side wall 11 , the number being equal to the number of recesses 4 . The main deformable element 3 is a continuation of the side wall 11 in the form of a cutout protruding above the recess 4 and below the upper end 6 .

The main horizontal dimension of the main deformable element 3 is parallel to the surface of the side wall 11 and significantly greater than its vertical dimension and thickness. The substantially horizontal arrangement of the main deformable element 3 is an advantageous characteristic of the invention, since there are restrictions on the use of vertical space when the fuel dispensing unit 10 is installed in a fuel tank.

The main functional characteristic of maintaining a minimum level of fuel in the suction of the fuel pump is improved since the locking device requires less vertical space usage, allowing the internal volume 14 of the filling container 1 to be increased. Thus, the invention ensures the integrity and good functionality of the pump with greater reliability than the prior art.

Due to the structural shape, the main deformable element 3 undergoes a greater elastic deformation than that experienced by the side wall 11 . The elastic deformation of the main deformable element 3 is mainly associated with a stress in the stress portion 7 that produces a torsion about a vertical axis, the linear displacement associated with this torsion being approximately along the horizontal direction.

Located between the main deformable element 3 and its corresponding recess 4 is a first closing portion 8 , this first closing portion 8 being fixed to the deformable element 3 . Below each main deformable element 3 there is a fitting space 15 , wherein the fitting space 15 is the upper extension of each respective recess 4 . Therefore, there are a plurality of fitting spaces 15 equal in number to the plurality of recesses 4 , and a plurality of support surfaces 16 equal in number to the plurality of recesses 4 .

FIG. 3 shows the support shell 2 . The support flange 23 of the support shell 2 bears on the support surface 16 of the filling container 1 . The support flange 23 and the support surface 16 are relied upon to resist the vertical stresses of the own weight of the support housing 2 and of the elements mounted thereon, in particular the fuel pump 100 .

As mentioned above, the lower part 21 of the support shell 2 extends into the inner volume 14 of the filling container 1 and the lower part 22 of the support shell 2 extends above the upper end 6 of the filling container 1 .

The second closing part 9 is located under the upper part 22 of the supporting shell 2 . When the second closure part is inserted in the fitting space 15 a locking takes place between the support shell 2 and the filling container 1 .

It should be noted that the first closure part 8 and the second closure part 9 are integral parts, unlike locking closures where one closure part is a male element and the other closure part is a female element.

In a male-female locking closure, the male part is inserted into the opening of the female closure part, thereby providing the lock. Typically, the opening of the female closure is the location subject to leakage. The arrangement of the locking closure of the present invention eliminates the possibility of leakage, thereby ensuring reliable functionality of the fuel dispensing unit 10 of the present invention.

Irrespective of what was disclosed above, it is pointed out that the first closing part 8 and the second closing part 9 do not have a negative face when viewed from above and from below. Since the object of the present invention, as well as the prior art, is to manufacture by polymer injection moulding, it is necessary to use a mold. The absence of negative faces simplifies injection molding because it eliminates the need for complementary slides to form these faces. In this way, the manufacturing costs of the fuel dispensing unit 10 can be reduced. Simplification for injection molding manufacture is therefore a characteristic advantage of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a second embodiment of the filling container 1 . The main deformable element 3 is an extension of the side wall 11 realized by two working sections 7 . In this way, the deformable element is more rigid, maintaining a minimal use of vertical space and the property of having no negative faces.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic illustration of a third exemplary embodiment of the filling container 1 . In this embodiment, the main deformable element 3 is fixed to the side wall 11 by means of two working sections 7 . In the non-deformed position, the two active sections 7 displace the main deformable element 3 relative to the face of the side wall 11 , away from the inner volume 14 . In this way, the deformable element is moderately rigid compared to the arrangements of FIGS. 2 and 4 , keeping the use of vertical space to a minimum and having no negative-facing properties.

reference sign

1 fill container

2 Support shell

3 deformable elements

4 concave

5 lower end

6 top

7 working section

8 First closed part

9 Second closed part

10 Fuel distribution unit

11 side wall

12 bottom

13 upper opening

14 Internal volume

15 fit space

16 Support surface

21 lower part

22 lower part

23 Support flange

100 fuel pump

Claims (10)

1. A fuel dispensing unit comprising a filling container (1) having side walls (11), a bottom (12) and a top opening (13), wherein a support housing (2 ) is fixed through the top opening (13), the filling container (1) and support shell (2) are joined together by a locking closure, characterized in that the locking closure has A main deformable element (3) extending substantially parallel to said bottom (12). 2. Fuel dispensing unit according to claim 1, characterized in that neither the first (8) nor the second (9) closure part and the filling container (1) have a negative face. 3. Fuel dispensing unit according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the side wall (11) of the filling container is provided with a plurality of recesses (4). 4. Fuel dispensing unit according to claim 3, characterized in that the recess (4) is displaced relative to the side wall (11) of the filling container (1 ) to the inner volume (14) of the container middle. 5. The fuel dispensing unit according to claim 4, characterized in that the recess (4) extends vertically upwards from the bottom (12). 6. Fuel dispensing unit according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the deformable element (3) is a continuation of the side wall (11) when seen from above. 7. Fuel dispensing unit according to claim 6, characterized in that the main deformable element (3) is interrupted with respect to the side wall (11). 8. Fuel dispensing unit according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the main deformable element (3) is displaced out of the filling container (1 ). 9. Fuel dispensing unit according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the deformable element (3) has an active section (7). 10. Fuel dispensing unit according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the deformable element (3) has two working sections (7).