Fuel equalizing system for plurality of fuel tanks

Fuel system for equalizing fuel in several fuel tanks of a truck, comprising:

• an equalizer valve including a first fuel inlet adapted to be connected to the outlet of a first fuel tank, a second fuel inlet adapted to be connected to the outlet of a second fuel tank, a fuel supply outlet adapted to supply fuel to the motor of a truck, and a first common passage connecting said first and second fuel inlets to said fuel supply outlet;
• a valve actuator member mounted in said first common passage for movement therein;
• a pair of spaced sensor elements attached to said actuator member and positioned in said first common passage to sense fuel pressure in different ones of said first and second fuel inlets and to move the actuator member in opposite directions depending upon which of said fuel inlets has the greater fuel pressure;
• said valve including a fuel return inlet adapted to be connected to the excess fuel return of the motor, first and second return outlets connected, respectively, to the first and second fuel tanks, and a second common passage connecting said first and second return outlets to the fuel return inlet;
• and
• a pair of valve elements mounted on said actuator member for movement therewith in said second common passage between open and restricted positions in communication with a different one of said first and second return outlets to vary the fuel flow therein so that more return fuel flows to the fuel tank containing less fuel to increase its fuel pressure as detected by the associated sensor element and thereby equalize the fuel content of said first and second tanks.

A method of equalizing the amount of fuel in a plurality of fuel tanks connected to the same motor, comprising the steps of:

• withdrawing fuel from at least two fuel tanks simultaneously through two outlet conduits and supplying such fuel to the motor through an inlet supply conduit;
• returning unused excess fuel from the motor through an outlet return conduit to the two fuel tanks through two inlet return conduits;
• sensing the fuel pressure in the two outlet conduits to determine which is greater;
• controlling the flow of the excess fuel returning to said two fuel tanks with an equalizer valve in response to the sensed fuel pressure in the two outlet conduits;
• and
• adjusting the positions of two return valve elements in said valve in response to the sensed fuel pressure, each valve element controlling the fuel flow in a different one of the two inlet return conduits to reduce the amount of excess fuel returned to the fuel tank which contains more fuel and has a corresponding higher fuel pressure in its outlet conduit.