Modular fuel sender for motor vehicle
AssigneeGeneral Motors Corporation
InventorsOrrin A. Woodward, Edward A. Hantle, Christopher J. Mahoney
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A modular fuel sender including a reservoir in a fuel tank of a motor vehicle, an electric fuel pump in the reservoir, and a jet pump for aspirating fuel into the reservoir. The electric fuel pump includes a regenerative turbine pump having a pump channel around the periphery of an impeller and a bleed orifice between an inlet and a discharge of the pump channel for bleeding a mixture of fuel and vapor from the pump channel. The bleed orifice is connected a nozzle in the jet pump. The mixture of fuel and vapor bled from the pump channel issues as a jet stream from the jet pump nozzle for aspirating fuel into the reservoir.
Claims4
In a modular fuel sender including
- a reservoir in a fuel tank of a motor vehicle,
- a jet pump having an inlet chamber connected to said fuel tank, a venturi passage between said inlet chamber and said reservoir, and a nozzle with an orifice aimed at said venturi passage, and
- an electric fuel pump in said reservoir including a regenerative turbine pump and an electric motor,
- said regenerative turbine pump further including an impeller drivingly connected to said electric motor, a housing defining a substantially annular pump channel around said periphery of said impeller, an inlet port at an upstream end of said pump channel connected to said reservoir for admitting fuel at ambient pressure to said pump channel, a discharge port at a downstream end of said pump channel for discharging fuel therefrom at a discharge pressure, and a bleed orifice in said housing open to said pump channel between said inlet port and said discharge port for bleeding a mixture of liquid fuel and vapor from said pump channel at a pressure between ambient and said discharge pressure,
- the improvement comprising:
- means connecting said bleed orifice to said nozzle in said jet pump so that said mixture of fuel and vapor bled from said pump channel issues from said orifice in said jet pump nozzle as a jet stream and into said venturi passage in said jet pump whereby fuel from said inlet chamber is aspirated into said reservoir through said venturi passage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.