US 5,669,361 A · Vehicle refueling valve

Abstract

A refueling valve for a motor vehicle includes an integrated control valve therein having a vent tube that has a first valve seat on one end thereof and a second valve seat on the other end thereof that cooperate respectively with a float valve and with a diaphragm controlled pressure responsive cut-off valve that is operative in accordance with a sensed pressure condition in a fuel filler pipe to control fuel venting to a charcoal canister and to prevent the escape of fuel vapors from a filler neck. The diaphragm is communicated with a pressure sensing port in the filler neck below a trap door therein that opens during refueling and is closed once the fuel nozzle is removed. The pressure sensing pot is located upstream of a venturi that produces negative pressure at the pressure sensing port and on the diaphragm member. A spring biases the cut-off valve normally closed. The diaphragm is responsive to a reduced pressure condition in the filler neck to open the cut-off valve to allow vapors to be vented from the fuel tank to the charcoal canister during refueling.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A vapor recovery system for an automotive fuel tank having a refueling valve communicated with a vapor storage canister, a float valve in the refueling valve, a filler neck having a trap door for sealing the filler neck when a fuel nozzle is removed;

a liquid seal in said filler neck;
a pressure sensing port in said filler neck located between said trap door and said liquid seal and operative during fuel fill to sense a below atmospheric pressure condition in said filler neck;
a control valve comprising a valve body having a chamber;
a first passage connecting said chamber to the refueling valve;
a second passage connecting to said pressure sensing port;
a diaphragm separating said first and second passages and sealing said first and second passages from one another;
an outlet for connecting said chamber to a vapor storage canister;
a vent tube that has a first valve seat on one end thereof and a second valve seat on the other end thereof that cooperate respectively with said float valve and said diaphragm to control vapor venting from the fuel tank to the charcoal canister;
said diaphragm being moved in response to a predetermined pressure at said pressure sensing port to open communication between said first passage and said outlet for vapor flow out of the fuel tank during refueling.

6 more elements

A refueling valve for a vapor recovery system for a fuel tank having a vapor storage canister communicating with the fuel tank via the refueling valve and a filler neck for refueling the fuel tank that has a pressure sending port, the refueling valve having a float valve and an integrated control valve comprising;

a valve body having a first chamber and a second chamber;
a diaphragm in the valve body separating and sealing said first and second chambers from one another;
a first passage connecting the first chamber to the float valve including a vent tube having one end disposed in said first chamber and an opposite end projecting out of the first chamber and into the float valve for closure by a float valve element;
the one end of the vent tube being engaged by the diaphragm to close communication between the vent tube and the first chamber;
an outlet in the valve body for connecting the first chamber to the vapor storage canister;
a second passage in the valve body for connecting the second chamber to the pressure sensing port of the fuel filler neck so that the diaphragm is moved away from the one end of the tube in response to a predetermined pressure at said pressure sensing port to open communication between the float valve and the outlet for vapor flow out of the fuel tank during refueling.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Vehicle refueling valve

Life of this patent

Vehicle refueling valve

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims13