Regenerative fuel pump

Abstract

An electric-motor regenerative fuel pump that includes a housing with a fuel inlet and a fuel outlet, and an electric motor with a rotor responsive to application of electrical power for rotating within the housing. A pump mechanism includes an impeller coupled to the rotor for corotation therewith and having a periphery with a circumferential array of open impeller vanes. An arcuate pumping channel surrounds the impeller periphery, and is operatively coupled by inlet and outlet ports at opposed ends of the channel to the inlet and outlet in the pump housing. The pumping channel has a circumferential array of radially curved grooves axially opposed to the impeller periphery and extending radially inwardly from the impeller vanes. A circumferential rib extends radially into the pumping channel opposed to the impeller periphery, and has arcuate dimension within the channel that coincides with the dimension of the channel groove array.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.