Fuel tank mounted, motorized high pressure gasoline pump

A fuel supply unit connected to a fuel tank for supplying high pressure fuel from the fuel tank to an engine via a common rail, the fuel tank having inner and outer surfaces, a top, and a bottom, the fuel supply unit comprising:

• a motor assembly mounted on the outer surface of the top of the fuel tank, the motor assembly including a motor having a motor shaft extending into the fuel tank;
• a pump assembly disposed within and adjacent to the bottom of the fuel tank, the pump assembly comprising
• a high pressure pump sub-assembly including a pump body having axially spaced top and bottom ends and top and bottom end portions, the pump body defining a fuel passage and a drive bore traversing the pump body from the top end to the bottom end, and a plurality of plunger bores, a pumping plunger disposed within each of the plunger bores, a drive member rotatable within the drive bore, and a high pressure line adapted for providing fluid communication with the common rail, each of the plunger bores extending radially from an inner end opening into the drive bore to an outer end in fluid communication with the high pressure line, each of the pumping plungers having radially inner and outer ends, the drive member having an external profile which engages the inner end of each pumping plunger for a portion of each revolution of rotation thereby actuating reciprocal movement of the pumping plungers within their respective plunger bores between radially inner and outer limit positions,
• a coarse filter sub-assembly mounted to the bottom end portion of the pump body, the coarse filter sub-assembly including a housing and a coarse filter screen, the housing having an inlet providing fluid communication with the fuel tank, the coarse filter screen being disposed intermediate the inlet of the housing and the bottom end of the pump body,
• a fine filter sub-assembly mounted to the top end portion of the pump body, the fine filter sub-assembly including a cannister and a fine filter element disposed within the cannister, the fine filter element having radially separated inner and outer surfaces, the inner surface defining a cavity in fluid communication with the drive bore of the pump body, the outer surface of the fine filter element and the cannister defining an annular column in fluid communication with the fuel passage of the pump body;
• and
• a support column rotatably connecting the motor shaft to the drive member;
• wherein reciprocation of each pumping plunger towards the inner limit position induces a low pressure in the outer end of the plunger bore, thereby drawing fuel into the outer end of the plunger bore via the inlet and coarse filter screen of the coarse filter sub-assembly, the fuel passage of the pump body, the annular column, fine filter element, and cavity of the fine filter subassembly, and the drive bore of the pump body without the aid of a low pressure pump, and reciprocation of each pumping plunger towards the outer limit position induces a high pressure in the outer end of the plunger bore, thereby discharging fuel from the outer end of the plunger bore into the common rail via the high pressure line.

A fuel supply unit connected to a fuel tank for supplying high pressure fuel from the fuel tank to an engine via a common rail, the fuel tank having inner and outer surfaces and a bottom, the fuel supply unit comprising:

• a motor assembly mounted on the outer surface of the fuel tank, the motor assembly including a motor having a motor shaft extending into the fuel tank;
• a pump assembly disposed within the fuel tank, the pump assembly comprising
• a high pressure pump sub-assembly including a pump body having axially spaced first and second ends and defining a drive bore traversing the pump body from the first end to the second end and a plurality of plunger bores, a pumping plunger disposed within each of the plunger bores, a drive member rotatable within the drive bore, and a high pressure line adapted for providing fluid communication with the common rail, each of the plunger bores extending radially from an inner end opening into the drive bore to an outer end in fluid communication with the high pressure line, each of the pumping plungers having radially inner and outer ends, the drive member having an external profile which engages the inner end of each pumping plunger for a portion of each revolution of rotation thereby actuating reciprocal movement of the pumping plungers within their respective plunger bores between radially inner and outer limit positions,
• a coarse filter sub-assembly including a housing and a coarse filter screen, the housing having an inlet providing fluid communication with the fuel tank and an outlet, the coarse filter screen being disposed intermediate the outlet and the inlet of the housing, and
• a fine filter sub-assembly including a cannister and a fine filter element disposed within the cannister, the fine filter element having radially separated inner and outer surfaces, the inner surface defining a cavity in fluid communication with the drive bore of the pump body, the outer surface of the fine filter element and the cannister defining an annular column in fluid communication with the outlet of the housing of the coarse filter sub-assembly;
• and
• a support column rotatably connecting the motor shaft to the drive member;
• wherein reciprocation of each pumping plunger towards the inner limit position induces a low pressure in the outer end of the plunger bore, thereby drawing fuel into the outer end of the plunger bore via the inlet and coarse filter screen of the coarse filter sub-assembly, the annular column, fine filter element, and cavity of the fine filter sub-assembly, and the drive bore of the pump body without the aid of a low pressure pump, and reciprocation of each pumping plunger towards the outer limit position induces a high pressure in the outer end of the plunger bore, thereby discharging fuel from the outer end of the plunger bore into the common rail via the high pressure line.

A fuel supply unit connected to a fuel tank for supplying high pressure fuel from the fuel tank to an engine via a common rail, the fuel tank having inner and outer surfaces, a top, and a bottom, the fuel supply unit comprising:

• a motor assembly mounted on the outer surface of the top of the fuel tank, the motor assembly including a motor having a motor shaft extending into the fuel tank;
• a pump assembly disposed within and adjacent to the bottom of the fuel tank, the pump assembly comprising a high pressure pump sub-assembly including a pump body having axially spaced top and bottom end portions and defining a plurality of plunger bores, a drive bore for providing fluid communication with the fuel tank, and a fuel passage in fluid communication with the drive bore extending from the bottom end of the pump body, a pumping plunger disposed within each of the plunger bores, a drive member rotatable within the drive bore, and a high pressure line adapted for providing fluid communication with the common rail, each of the plunger bores extending radially from an inner end opening into the drive bore to an outer end in fluid communication with the high pressure line, each of the pumping plungers having radially inner and outer ends, the drive member having an external profile which engages the inner end of each pumping plunger for a portion of each revolution of rotation thereby actuating reciprocal movement of the pumping plungers within their respective plunger bores between radially inner and outer limit positions, the pump assembly also comprising a coarse filter sub-assembly mounted to the bottom end portion of the pump body, the coarse filter sub-assembly including a housing and a coarse filter screen, the housing having an inlet providing fluid communication with the fuel tank, the coarse filter screen being disposed intermediate the inlet of the housing and the bottom end of the pump body, the high pressure pump sub-assembly also including at least one resilient finger projecting downward from the pump body to bias the coarse filter housing towards the bottom of the fuel tank;
• and
• a support column rotatably connecting the motor shaft to the drive member;
• wherein reciprocation of each pumping plunger towards the inner limit position induces a low pressure in the outer end of the plunger bore, thereby drawing fuel into the outer end of the plunger bore via the drive bore without the aid of a low pressure pump, and reciprocation of each pumping plunger towards the outer limit position induces a high pressure in the outer end of the plunger bore, thereby discharging fuel from the outer end of the plunger bore into the high pressure line.