Fuel pump inlet chamber assembly for a vehicle fuel tank

#The present invention relates to a fuel pump inlet chamber assembly for defining a small chamber inside a vehicle fuel tank to prevent premature exposure of a fuel pump inlet tube due to movement of the fuel surface level inside the fuel tank, and in particular to such a fuel pump inlet chamber assembly having means for conveniently mounting a fuel pump thereon.

#When a vehicle makes a turn with a low fuel level, the resulting lateral acceleration causes a bulk of the fuel in the tank to move to one end of the fuel tank due to its inertia. To prevent the inlet tube of a fuel pump from admitting air, instead of fuel, in such a situation before the fuel level becomes truly low enough, a partly enclosed small chamber is defined inside the fuel tank, and the inlet tube of the fuel pump is placed in this small chamber. Such fuel pump inlet chamber assemblies are disclosed in Japanese patent laid open publication (kokai) No. 2-262428, Japanese utility model laid open publications (kokai) Nos. 2-51932 and 2-78422.

#According to such conventional fuel pump inlet chamber assemblies, the fuel pump is normally supported by the fuel inlet chamber assembly. More specifically, the fuel pump inlet chamber assembly is mounted on the bottom wall of the fuel tank via a chamber bracket, and a pump bracket integrally attached to the fuel pump is engaged with a cooperating recess provided in a wall of the fuel pump inlet chamber assembly. However, according to such a pump inlet chamber assembly, the use of a pump bracket adds to the number of the component parts included in the assembly, and increases the cost of the fuel tank assembly due to the increase in the work involved in the assembling process, and the increase in the cost for the component parts.

#Now the present invention is described in the following with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a preferred embodiment of the fuel pump inlet chamber assembly according to the present invention; and

#FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the assembly shown in FIG. 1.

#FIG. 1 shows a chamber assembly 1 in a sectional side view. This chamber assembly 1 is fixedly secured to a bottom wall 2 of an automotive fuel tank, and can retain a certain amount of fuel therein even when the fuel level is low and the fuel has moved to one end of the fuel tank due to inertia or lateral acceleration so that the suction of the fuel pump may be able to continue to draw fuel even in such a situation.

#As shown in FIG. 1, a metallic bracket 3 is fixedly secured to the bottom wall 2 of the fuel tank, for instance by welding, and a main body 4 of the chamber assembly 1 made of POM (polyacetal) resin material and molded into the shape of a box having an open top is fixedly secured to the tank bracket 3.

#As best shown in FIG. 2, an external flange 4a extends laterally from a bottom wall of the main body 4, and a resilient engagement piece 4b extends vertically from the other end of the bottom wall of the main body 4. Thus, the chamber assembly main body 4 can be secured to the tank bracket 3 by first engaging the flange 4a with a hook 3a provided in the tank bracket 3 and then engaging the resilient engagement piece 4b with an engagement claw or a recess 3b provided in a corresponding part of the tank bracket 3.