Urea pump module for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10458303-B2
Application number	US-201715829939-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2017
Priority date	Oct 18, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A vehicular urea pump module includes a structure capable of preventing urea from permeating into electrical elements such as a pump, a heater, and a sensor of the urea pump module; a structure capable of easily defrosting frozen urea; a structure of separating foreign substances; a structure of reducing vibration noise; a structure of enabling the discharge and suction of urea using a single pump; and a structure of increasing the efficiency of assembly for ease of assembly of respective elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicular urea pump module, comprising:
a case including a separation plate having a urea discharge port and a plurality of pipes formed in an upper surface thereof, and upper and lower protective plates integrally formed on upper and lower surface rims of the separation plate respectively;
a cylindrical heater including a first sealing material molded over a surface of a cylindrical heat sink coupled with a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) element, the heater having a first fastening hole formed in an outer-diameter portion thereof, into which each pipe is inserted and fastened;
a motor including a second sealing material molded over a surface of a hollow stator having a coil wound around an outer-diameter portion thereof and a terminal assembled to a top thereof, the motor having a second fastening hole formed in the outer-diameter portion so that a tip end portion of the pipe, which has passed through the first fastening hole, is inserted into and fastened to the second fastening hole; and
a pump including a rotor rotatably mounted on a top thereof so as to be inserted into the hollow stator of the motor, a suction port and a discharge port formed in a bottom portion thereof, and a pair of gears rotatably mounted therein so as to rotate forwards or in reverse,
wherein, in a state in which the motor and the pump are inserted and disposed in a hollow portion of the heater, heat of the heater is transferred to the motor and the pump and also transferred to urea inside a urea tank.

2. The module of claim 1 , wherein the separation plate of the case has a lower surface to which a circuit board is attached to process signals from a urea capacity detection level sensor and an invalid urea concentration detection sensor, and the lower protective plate has a connector for input/output of the circuit board and a urea support port communicating with the urea discharge port.

3. The module of claim 1 , wherein the lower protective plate is fused to a sealing cover that seals electronic elements on a lower surface of the separation plate and inside the lower protective plate, and the sealing cover has a check-valve-type air vent formed therein.

4. The module of claim 1 , wherein the first sealing material includes a first molding portion primarily over-molded on a portion of an inner-diameter surface and an outer-diameter surface of the cylindrical heat sink coupled with the PTC element and a second molding portion secondarily over-molded on an upper surface and a remaining inner-diameter surface of the heat sink, and the first molding portion and the second molding portion have therebetween a contact surface provided with a serration structure.

5. The module of claim 1 , wherein the second sealing material and a lower surface of the hollow stator have therebetween a contact surface provided with a serration structure.

6. The module of claim 1 , wherein the pump includes a third sealing material molded over a surface of the rotor thereof, and an E-ring is fastened to an upper end of a rotating shaft exposed from an upper surface of the rotor to prevent separation of the rotor.

7. The module of claim 1 , wherein the gears have a bypass line formed in a rotation center thereof so as to communicate with an inside of the urea tank, the bypass line serving as a path to remove a remaining high pressure when the gears mounted in the pump rotate forwards or in reverse.

8. The module of claim 1 , further comprising a filter assembly mounted in a space between an inner diameter of the upper protective plate and an outer diameter of the heater to filter the urea introduced in a horizontal flow form through a urea inlet port formed in the upper protective plate and to guide the urea to the suction port in the pump.

9. The module of claim 8 , wherein the filter assembly includes:
a housing having an outer-diameter portion that is opened so as to communicate with the urea inlet port formed in the upper protective plate, the housing being formed to have a top opening structure for filter assembly and being seated onto and assembled with a side portion of the upper surface of the separation plate;
a filter formed on a bottom of the housing via insert injection molding;
an upper cover closely assembled to a top opening in the housing to cover the filter; and
a suction pipe configured to protrude from an inner-diameter portion of the housing so as to communicate with a space inside the housing after filtering of the filter, the suction pipe being connected to the suction port in the pump.

10. The module of claim 1 , further comprising a urea capacity detection level sensor and an invalid urea concentration detection sensor mounted on the upper surface of the separation plate at independent positions.

11. The module of claim 10 , wherein the urea capacity detection level sensor and the invalid urea concentration detection sensor are mounted on the upper surface of the separation plate at independent positions in such a manner that the urea capacity detection level sensor is mounted to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in a vertical direction and the invalid urea concentration detection sensor is mounted to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in a horizontal direction.

12. The module of claim 11 , wherein the urea capacity detection level sensor includes a cylindrical guide configured to guide transmission and reception of vertical ultrasonic waves, and the invalid urea concentration detection sensor includes an ultrasonic wave emitter and a reflector, which horizontally face each other on the separation plate.

13. The module of claim 1 , wherein the first sealing material molded on a surface of the heater and the second sealing material molded on a surface of the motor include a plurality of ribs, having a round cross section, formed on upper surfaces thereof to prevent reflection of the ultrasonic waves that have been emitted from the urea capacity detection level sensor and reflected from a urea flow plane.

14. The module of claim 1 , wherein the pump includes a first rubber having a ring shape and attached to a lower surface thereof, which is in contact with the upper surface of the separation plate, to absorb vibrations, and a second rubber is attached to a contact portion between an upper surface of the cylindrical heater and the motor upon assembly thereof.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp
• Hyundam Ind Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Sung Won
• Choi Seung Hoon
• Park June Young
• Lee Tae Yoon
• Lim Jun Sik
• Hwang Yong Taek
• Jeon Chan Yo

Classifications

• F01N2610/144

  Control thereof · CPC title

• F01N2610/1406

  Storage means for substances, e.g. tanks or reservoirs · CPC title

• F01N2610/10

  the substance being heated, e.g. by heating tank or supply line of the added substance · CPC title

• F01N2610/02

  the substance being ammonia or urea · CPC title

• F01N2610/1493

  Purging the reducing agent out of the conduits or nozzle · CPC title