Misfueling prevention device for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9908403-B2
Application number	US-201615341187-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2016
Priority date	Apr 29, 2016
Publication date	Mar 6, 2018
Grant date	Mar 6, 2018

Abstract

A misfuelling prevention device for preventing inappropriate fuel from being added to a vehicle utilizes a diameter difference between a gasoline gun and a diesel gun in order to prevent misfuelling. The misfuelling preventing device is constructed such that when the diesel gun having a relatively larger diameter is inserted, a locking button is not pressed while a flapper is opened, whereas when the gasoline gun having a relatively smaller diameter is inserted, the locking button is pressed while the flapper is not opened. As a result, misfuelling of the vehicle with inappropriate fuel is fundamentally prevented.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A misfuelling prevention device, comprising:
an upper housing fixedly mounted at an inlet side of a fuel inlet;
an inner housing mounted to be disposed at an inside of the fuel inlet and to be disposed at a lower part of the upper housing;
a flapper having a hinge, the flapper being mounted at one side of the inner housing, and configured to pivot downwardly by the hinge to be opened due to contact with a fuel gun; and
a unit for preventing the flapper from being opened, the unit comprising a locking button and a hinge stopper respectively disposed above and below the flapper to move in a linked manner through contact between the locking button and hinge stopper,
wherein the locking button is configured to move relative to the flapper and move the hinge stopper into engagement with a stopper hole so as to prevent opening of the flapper, the locking button being positioned and sized to allow a standard diesel nozzle of the fuel gun to engage the flapper without pressing the locking button to allow the standard diesel nozzle to open the flapper.

2. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 1 , wherein the inner housing engages with an inside of a spring fixed at the upper housing to be horizontally movable.

3. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 1 , wherein the locking button comprises a circular plate disposed in parallel to the flapper and arranged above the flapper, and a bar extending from a lower surface of the circular plate and passing through the flapper to contact the hinge stopper below the flapper.

4. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 3 , wherein the circular plate of the locking button has a smaller diameter than an inner diameter of a standard diesel gun and a larger diameter than an inner diameter of a standard gasoline gun.

5. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 1 , wherein the hinge stopper is engaged with a guide member formed at a lower surface of the flapper to be guided upon horizontal movement thereof, while being elastically supported by a hinge spring.

6. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 1 , wherein the hinge stopper includes a contact part with a curved surface so as to contact the locking button.

7. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 1 , wherein upon downward movement of the locking button, the locking button is accommodated in a seat groove formed in an upper surface of the flapper.

8. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 1 , wherein the inner housing has an inner circumferential surface with a plurality of fuel gun guide members uniformly spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction.

9. The misfuelling prevention device according to claim 8 , wherein each of the fuel gun guide members has an arc shaped inner upper end.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Woo Ji Hoon
• Ryu Bu Yeol

Classifications

• B60K2015/0461

  comprising a filler pipe shutter, e.g. trap, door or flap for fuel inlet · CPC title

• B60K15/04 Primary

  Tank inlets (B60K15/077 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B67D7/04

  for transferring fuels, lubricants or mixed fuels and lubricants · CPC title

• B67D7/42

  Filling nozzles · CPC title

• B67D7/344

  by checking a correct coupling or coded information · CPC title