Fuel filter

Abstract

A fuel filter for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, comprising a divisible housing having a fuel inlet opening and an outflow opening, a replaceable ring filter element (3) mounted in the housing so that flow can pass through it radially from the outside to the inside, having an end disk on one end, namely a first end disk (13) and a second end disk, an alignment of the longitudinal axis of the ring filter element (3) that is upright during filter operation, an outflow channel (5) which leads from the bottom to the top out of the fuel outflow opening in the radial interior of the ring filter element (3), carrying filtered fuel away in a tube (4), a centrally arranged vent channel (6) that leads outward from the bottom and is closed at the top, with a throttle opening (7) in the upper closure, whereby this throttle opening (7) opens into the clean space or the crude space of the filter, should be designed so that the internal combustion engine cannot be operated when the ring filter insert (3) is missing. To this end, such a fuel filter is characterized by the following features: the outflow channel (5) carrying filtered fuel away communicates with the clean space upstream from this valve (8) exclusively through this valve (8), the valve (8) is opened when a ring filter element (3) is present and is closed when the ring filter element (3) is absent, the valve condition in the open or closed position is determined exclusively by the presence or absence of the ring filter element (3) as a valve actuating element.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.