Fuel supply device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10190554-B2
Application number	US-201415126134-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2014
Priority date	Apr 7, 2014
Publication date	Jan 29, 2019
Grant date	Jan 29, 2019

Abstract

In a fuel supply device for separating raw fuel into high-octane fuel and low-octane fuel and supplying the fuel, to arrange the structural components compactly and to facilitate sealing against fuel vapor, the fuel supply device (1) includes: a raw fuel tank (2) for storing raw fuel; a separator (6) provided inside the raw fuel tank to separate the raw fuel into high-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with high octane numbers than the raw fuel and low-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with low octane numbers than the raw fuel; and a high-octane fuel tank (5) provided inside the raw fuel tank to store the high-octane fuel separated from the raw fuel by the separator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel supply device, comprising:
a fuel tank for storing fuel, wherein the fuel comprises components with different octane numbers;
a separator provided inside the fuel tank to separate the fuel into high-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with high octane numbers than the fuel and low-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with low octane numbers than the fuel; and
a high-octane fuel tank provided inside the fuel tank to store the high-octane fuel separated from the fuel by the separator, wherein the separator has two chambers partitioned by a separation membrane, such that the high-octane fuel in a gas state included in the fuel supplied to one of the chambers is caused to pass through the separation membrane by pervaporation to be collected in the other of the chambers,
the fuel supply device further comprising a condenser provided inside the fuel tank to condense the high-octane fuel in the gas state separated by the separator.

2. The fuel supply device according to claim 1 , wherein the condenser is placed higher than the high-octane fuel tank.

3. The fuel supply device according to claim 1 , further comprising a heater provided inside the fuel tank to heat the fuel supplied from the fuel tank to the separator,
wherein the condenser causes the fuel to exchange heat with the high-octane fuel before the fuel passes through the heater.

4. A fuel supply device, comprising:
a fuel tank for storing fuel, wherein the fuel comprises components with different octane numbers;
a separator provided inside the fuel tank to separate the fuel into high-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with high octane numbers than the fuel and low-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with low octane numbers than the fuel;
a high-octane fuel tank provided inside the fuel tank to store the high-octane fuel separated from the fuel by the separator; and
a heat exchanger provided along an inner surface of a wall portion of the fuel tank to cause the low-octane fuel to exchange heat with the wall portion after the low-octane fuel has passed through the separator.

5. The fuel supply device according to claim 4 , wherein the wall portion where the heat exchanger is provided is a bottom wall portion of the fuel tank.

6. The fuel supply device according to claim 4 , wherein an outer surface of the wall portion is provided with fins.

7. A fuel supply device, comprising:
a fuel tank for storing fuel, wherein the fuel comprises components with different octane numbers;
a separator provided inside the fuel tank to separate the fuel into high-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with high octane numbers than the fuel and low-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with low octane numbers than the fuel; and
a high-octane fuel tank provided inside the fuel tank to store the high-octane fuel separated from the fuel by the separator, wherein:
the fuel tank has a fuel tank opening extending through an upper wall portion of the fuel tank and a lid that openably closes the fuel tank opening;
the high-octane fuel tank has a high-octane fuel tank opening extending through an upper wall portion of the high-octane fuel tank; and
the high-octane fuel tank opening is located to align with the fuel tank opening and is openably closed by the lid.

8. The fuel supply device according to claim 7 , further comprising a high-octane fuel supply pipe extending from inside the high-octane fuel tank to outside through the lid to supply the high-octane fuel in the high-octane fuel tank to outside.

9. The fuel supply device according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a high-octane fuel pump disposed inside the high-octane fuel tank to feed the high-octane fuel under pressure to outside via the high-octane fuel supply pipe; and
a cable including a signal line and a power supply line for the high-octane fuel pump and extending from inside the high-octane fuel tank to outside through the lid.

10. The fuel supply device according to claim 7 , further comprising a high temperature medium transport pipe that extends from outside to an interior of the high-octane fuel tank or an interior of the fuel tank through the lid to circulate a high temperature medium for heating the fuel supplied from the fuel tank to the separator.

11. A fuel supply device, comprising:
a fuel tank for storing fuel, wherein the fuel comprises components with different octane numbers;
a separator provided inside the fuel tank to separate the fuel into high-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with high octane numbers than the fuel and low-octane fuel that contains a greater amount of components with low octane numbers than the fuel; and
a high-octane fuel tank provided inside the fuel tank to store the high-octane fuel separated from the fuel by the separator, wherein the high-octane fuel tank has a communication passage that connects a gas phase portion in an upper part of the high-octane fuel tank and a gas phase portion in an upper part of the fuel tank.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ishimitsu Kengo
• Oda Yusuke
• Chishima Hiroshi
• Kudo Hirotsugu

Classifications

• B60K2015/03105

  with supplementary interior tanks inside the fuel tank · CPC title

• B60K15/03177

  made of non-metallic material, e.g. plastics, or of a combination of non-metallic and metallic material (B60K15/03006 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B01D2313/38

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60K2015/03197

  Systems for exchanging data · CPC title

• F02M31/18

  to vaporise fuel · CPC title