Pump arrangement for providing fuel at high pressure

In a pump assembly for high-pressure fuel production for a fuel injection system used in internal combustion engines, in particular a common rail injection system,

• having a low-pressure pump (1) that aspirates fuel from a fuel tank (2),
• a high-pressure pump (10) with a plurality of pump elements (11),
• a feed line (3), leading from the low-pressure pump (1) to the high-pressure pump (10), to which line a suction valve (14) of the applicable pump element (11) is connected,
• a flow control valve (4) of the slide type in the feed line (3),
• and having a return line (6) connected to the outlet side of the flow control valve (4),
• the improvement wherein
• the return line (6) is connected to the feed line (3) between the flow control valve (4) and the high-pressure pump (10);
• and
• a differential pressure valve (5), whose opening pressure is greater than that of the suction valves (14), is disposed in the feed line (3) between the connection of the return line (6) and the suction valves (14) of the high-pressure pump (10).