Automotive fuel system having a pressure regulator without a movable diaphragm

A fuel flow system for an internal combustion engine comprising:

• a fuel rail for supplying fuel to fuel injectors;
• a fuel tank for containing fuel;
• a fuel pump for supplying fuel from the fuel tank under pressure to the fuel rail;
• and
• a fuel pressure regulator for regulating the pressure of the fuel supplied to said fuel rail to a predetermined pressure, said pressure regulator being sized to provide a substantially constant regulated pressure over a flow range of 20-150 kg/hr and without a movable diaphragm dividing the regulator into flow and non-flow chambers on opposite sides thereof,
• wherein said fuel pressure regulator includes a valve seat having a fuel inlet, a valve element movable toward and away from said valve seat, a flow channel director mounting said valve element on an opposite side thereof from said seat and a spring for biasing said valve element and said channel director toward said seat, said flow director having at least a pair of passages for flowing fuel past said valve element mounted on said channel director, said flow channel director having a single substantially constant diameter flow channel downstream of said pair of passages which satisfies the equation:
• d=(0.52±0.02){square root over (m)}
• where:
• d=channel diameter in mm
• m=mass flow rate in grams per second enabling the pressure regulator to provide a substantially constant pressure over a flow range useful for automotive fuel supply systems.

A fuel system for an internal combustion engine comprising:

• a fuel rail for supplying fuel to fuel injectors;
• a fuel tank for containing fuel;
• a fuel pump for supplying fuel from the fuel tank under pressure to the fuel rail;
• and
• a fuel pressure regulator for regulating the pressure of the fuel supplied to said fuel rail to a predetermined pressure, said pressure regulator being sized to provide a substantially constant regulated pressure over a flow range of 20-150 kg/hr and without a movable diaphragm dividing the regulator into flow and non-flow chambers on opposite sides thereof,
• wherein said pressure regulator is mounted within said fuel tank.