Fuel heater and fuel contamination detecting apparatus
AssigneeAisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYasuhiro Kawabata
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Abstract
A fuel heater and fuel contamination detecting apparatus for automotive vehicles which includes a casing member in the form of a heating body made of a compound which is manufactured by mixing a thermoplastic resin and short metal fibers such as aluminum, copper, silver or alloys of these metals. The resistance of the heating body becomes infinite when the temperature rises above a predetermined level. Also provided are a reed switch and a magnet for activating the read switch and which is attached to a float. The float is in turn located in a reservoir formed in the casing member.
Claims4
A fuel heater and fuel contamination detecting apparatus for automotive vehicles, said apparatus comprising:
- a casing member in the form of a heating body which comprises a thermoplastic resin and a plurality of short metal fibers and which forms a fluid reservoir therein;
- a filter located within said casing member;
- a pair of terminals embeded in said casing member for selectively heating said casing;
- a reed switch located proximate to a bottom portion of said casing and being connected to an alarm for activating said alarm upon closing of said reed switch;
- a float slidably disposed in said fluid reservoir formed in said casing member;
- and
- a permanent magnet fixed to said float, said magnet cooperating with said reed switch to automatically close said reed switch due to shifting of said float caused by contamination of said fuel with a liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.