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US 2014/0230796 A1Published application
Fuel vapor recovery canister
AssigneeStant USA Corp.
InventorsMichael S Brock, John C Long, II, Sukhjit Singh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle fuel system includes a vapor recovery canister containing at least two carbon beds. Each carbon bed is configured to capture hydrocarbon material associated with fuel vapor discharged from a vehicle fuel tank into the canister.
Claims20
A fuel vapor recovery canister comprising
- a filter bed housing formed to include an interior region, a canister inlet opening into an upstream portion of the interior region, and a canister outlet opening into a downstream portion of the interior region and communicating with the atmosphere,
- a hydrocarbon filter located in the interior region of the filter bed housing, the hydrocarbon filter including a first carbon bed positioned to lie in fluid communication with any pressurized fuel vapor and vacuum extant in the upstream portion of the interior region and a second carbon bed positioned to lie in fluid communication with any atmosphere extant in the downstream portion of the interior region and in spaced-apart relation to the first carbon bed to define a flow-controller compartment therebetween, and
- a two-stage vapor flow controller positioned to lie in the flow-controller compartment in fluid communication with each of the first and second carbon beds of the hydrocarbon filter and configured to provide means for allowing pressurized fuel vapor to flow from the first carbon bed to the second carbon bed to cause hydrocarbons entrained in the pressurized fuel vapor to be deposited on the first and second carbon beds during refueling of a vehicle fuel tank associated with the canister inlet of the filter bed housing and for allowing atmospheric air to be drawn, in sequence, through the canister outlet, second carbon bed, flow-controller compartment, first carbon bed, and canister inlet when a vacuum is applied to the first carbon bed via the canister inlet to cause hydrocarbon deposited on the first and second carbon beds to be entrained in the atmospheric air for delivery to a vehicle engine associated with the canister inlet during a hydrocarbon purge cycle to purge hydrocarbons that had been stored on the first and second carbon beds so that those hydrocarbons can exit the filter bed housing through the canister inlet to be burned in the vehicle engine.
A fuel vapor recovery canister comprising
- a filter bed housing including an inlet adapted to be coupled to a tank vent control system coupled to a fuel tank and to an intake manifold coupled to a vehicle engine and an outlet adapted to communicate with atmospheric air located outside of the canister,
- a hydrocarbon filter including first and second carbon beds located in spaced-apart relation to one another inside the filter bed housing, the first carbon bed being located near to the inlet, the second carbon bed being located near to the outlet, and
- a vapor flow controller located in the filter bed housing in a space provided between the first and second carbon beds, the vapor flow controller including a two-stage bleed emissions flow-control valve configured to provide means for normally blocking flow of fuel vapor and atmospheric air through the space provided between the first and second carbon beds as long as pressure and vacuum extant in the first carbon bed remains below predetermined threshold levels to minimize atmospheric discharge of bleed admissions from a fuel tank associated with the filter bed housing and for allowing flow of fuel vapor and atmospheric air through the space provided between the first and second carbon beds once pressure and vacuum extant in the first carbon bed equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold levels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.