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US 5,178,115 AGranted
Fuel rail assembly having self-contained electronics
AssigneeSiemens Automotive Corporation
InventorPaul D. Daly
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeSiemens Automotive Corporation
InventorPaul D. Daly
Estimating the term…
A number of fuel injectors are mounted on an elongated carrier that is inserted endwise into an open end of an elongated hole in a member such as a tube or an engine manifold. The fuel injectors' nozzles are received in sealed manner in holes extending through the wall of said member. A keeper also inserted endwise through the elongated hole in the member keeps the carrier in place. In one embodiment, electrical lead wires extend from the fuel injectors along the carrier to a connector on the exterior to provide for the fuel rail assembly to be electrically connected by a wiring harness to the engine management computer. In another, the injectors are connected to the connector by means of an electronic circuit board assembly that is mounted on the carrier. The electronic circuit board assembly contains circuitry that is programmed to secure the proper dynamic calibration of the injectors over their entire dynamic operating range.
In a fuel rail assembly for multi-point injection of liquid fuel into an internal combustion engine via electrically operated fuel injectors carried by a fuel rail member which has a main fuel rail hole via which a liquid fuel supply is presented to the injectors carried by the fuel rail member, the improvement which comprises a fuel injector carrier which carries said fuel injectors and disposes said fuel injectors within said main fuel rail hole so that said fuel injectors are immersed in said liquid fuel supply, nozzle-receiving means in said fuel rail member for receiving nozzles of said fuel injectors in a sealed manner so that fuel can be injected from said nozzles without fuel from said liquid fuel supply leaking through said nozzle-receiving means, and electric circuit means from said injectors to terminations that are at the exterior of said fuel rail.
The improvement set forth in claim in which said electric circuit means comprises electrical conductors extending along said carrier to a connector containing said terminations.
The improvement set forth in claim including keeper means that acts between the wall of said hole and said carrier to keep said nozzles received in said nozzle-receiving means.
The method of making a fuel rail which comprises mounting a plurality of electrically operated fuel injectors at spaced apart locations along the length of an elongate carrier, inserting said injector-containing carrier endwise into an open end of a hole in a member that has a plurality of spaced apart nozzle-receiving means for receiving nozzles of said carrier-mounted fuel injectors to register said nozzles with said nozzle receiving means, and then transversely displacing said carrier to dispose said nozzles in said nozzle-receiving means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.