Fuel supply device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016265494-A1
Application number	US-201415031084-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 3, 2014
Priority date	Nov 5, 2013
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fuel supply device includes a fuel pump and a filter case that houses a fuel filter, a fuel pumped by the fuel pump from inside a fuel tank is filtered by the fuel filter and supplied from inside the filter case toward an internal combustion engine, and the filter case integrally includes, offset to a specific location of a circumferential direction, a fuel passage that allows fuel to flow downstream from the fuel filter, a discharge passage that discharges flowing fuel in the fuel passage toward the internal combustion engine, and a plurality of opening and closing valves that open and close the fuel passage.

First claim

1 . A fuel supply device, comprising:
a fuel pump; and a filter case that houses a fuel filter, wherein a fuel pumped by the fuel pump from inside a fuel tank is filtered by the fuel filter and supplied from inside the filter case toward an internal combustion engine, and the filter case integrally includes, offset to a specific location of a circumferential direction,
a fuel passage that allows fuel to flow downstream from the fuel filter,
a discharge passage that discharges flowing fuel in the fuel passage toward the internal combustion engine, and
a plurality of opening and closing valves that open and close the fuel passage.

2 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , wherein
the fuel passage, the discharge passage, and the plurality of opening and closing valves are housed in a protruding portion in the filter case, the protruding portion protruding from a housing location of the fuel filter toward the specific location.

3 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , wherein
the filter case includes, as one of the opening and closing valves, an internal residual pressure retention valve that, when the fuel pump is stopped, retains a pressure of fuel in a housing location of the fuel filter.

4 . The fuel supply device of claim 3 , further comprising:
a jet pump that transfers the fuel in the fuel tank to a vicinity of the fuel pump by spraying out fuel discharged from the fuel passage through the internal residual pressure retention valve.

5 . The fuel supply device of claim 4 , wherein
the filter case includes, as one of the open and closing valves, an external residual pressure retention valve that, when the fuel pump is stopped, retains a pressure of the fuel supplied toward the internal combustion engine by being discharged from the discharge passage, and the filter case integrally includes, at the specific location, a branch passage that branches from the fuel passage at a location upstream of the external residual pressure retention valve to guide discharge fuel from the fuel passage to the jet pump.

6 . The fuel supply device of claim 5 , wherein
the internal residual pressure retention valve is disposed in the branch passage.

7 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , wherein
the filter case includes, as one of the open and closing valves, an external residual pressure retention valve that, when the fuel pump is stopped, retains a pressure of the fuel supplied toward the internal combustion engine by being discharged from the discharge passage.

8 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a relief valve that releases a pressure of the fuel supplied toward the internal combustion engine by being discharged from the discharge passage; and a jet pump-( 4 - 54 that transfers the fuel in the fuel tank to a vicinity of the fuel pump by spraying out fuel discharged from the fuel passage, wherein the filter case integrally includes, at the specific location, a relief passage that guides fuel, which is diverted from a flow in the fuel passage toward the internal combustion engine, to the relief valve, and a branch passage that branches from the fuel passage to guide discharge fuel from the fuel passage to the jet pump.

9 . The fuel supply device of claim 8 , wherein
the discharge passage, the relief passage, and the branch passage open at a side surface of the specific location in the filter case.

10 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , wherein
the filter case includes, as one of the opening and closing valves, a relief valve that releases a pressure of the fuel supplied toward the internal combustion engine by being discharged from the discharge passage.

11 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a relief valve that releases a pressure of the fuel supplied toward the internal combustion engine by being discharged from the discharge passage, wherein the fuel passage, which is in communication with the relief passage, is turned back in an axial direction of the filter case.

12 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a port member joined to the specific location of the filter case, wherein the port member has an integrally formed fuel port that communicates the fuel passage with outside of the filter case.

13 . The fuel supply device of claim 12 , wherein
the filter case includes an outer circumferential surface curved in a curved surface shape, and the port member has the fuel port being formed along the outer circumferential surface.

14 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , wherein
the fuel passage includes a communication port, the communication port being in communication with a housing chamber in the filter case, which houses the fuel filter, at a location downstream from the fuel filter, the fuel passage allowing fuel to flow from the communication port, one of the opening and closing valves is an external residual pressure retention valve having a valve element that, when the fuel pump is operating, opens and becomes locked by a valve stopper, the external residual pressure retention valve being a spring-less type external residual pressure retention valve that, when the fuel pump is stopped, retains a pressure of the fuel supplied toward the internal combustion engine due to being discharged from the discharge passage, an other one of the opening and closing valves is an internal residual pressure retention valve having a valve element that, when the fuel pump is operating, resists a spring reaction force to open, the internal residual pressure retention valve being a spring-biased type residual pressure retention valve that, when the fuel pump is stopped, retains a pressure of the fuel in the housing chamber, the communication port opens at an offset location-(R 4 in the fuel passage, the offset location being offset from the internal residual pressure retention valve toward the external residual pressure retention valve, the fuel passage has formed therein
an external passage portion that allows fuel, which is for being discharged by the discharge passage toward the internal combustion engine, to flow from the communication port toward the external residual pressure retention valve, and
an internal passage portion that allows fuel to flow from the communication port toward the internal residual pressure retention valve, the internal passage portion narrowing down a fuel flow more than the external passage portion, and
when a passage cross-sectional area of the internal passage portion is converted into a passage cross-sectional area of a cylindrical pipe, a passage diameter D of this cylindrical pipe and a length L of the internal passage portion satisfy the equation L/D≧3.

15 . The fuel supply device of claim 14 , further comprising:
a relief valve having a valve element, the relief valve being a spring-biased relief valve that releases a pressure of fuel supplied toward the internal combustion engine by being discharged from the discharge passage, the valve element resisting a spring reaction force to open in order to release this pressure, wherein the filter case includes a relief passage in the fuel passage, the relief passage guiding, to the relief valve, fuel which is diverted, at a location downstream from the external residual pressure retention valve, from a flow toward the internal combustion engine.

16 . The fuel supply device of claim 1 , wherein
the fuel passage includes a communication port, the communication port being in communication with a housing chamber in the filter case, which houses the fuel filter, at a location downstream from the fuel filter, t

Assignees

• Denso Corp
• Kyosan Denki Kk

Inventors

• Niwa Yutaka
• Takahashi Hideto
• Okazono Tetsuro
• Oki Hironobu
• Sugiyama Akinari
• Ishitoya Akihiro

Classifications

• B01D35/26

  Filters with built-in pumps {filters provided with a pump mounted in or on the casing (aquarium pumps or filters A01K63/04)} · CPC title

• F02M2037/226

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• B60K15/01

  Arrangement of fuel conduits · CPC title

• B01D35/1475

  Pressure relief valves or pressure control valves · CPC title

• B01D35/0273

  Filtering elements with a horizontal or inclined rotation or symmetry axis submerged in tanks or reservoirs · CPC title