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US 7,255,094 B2Granted
Fuel vapor recovery canister
AssigneeStant Manufacturing Inc.
InventorTimothy James King
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle fuel system includes a fuel vapor recovery canister containing a carbon bed configured to capture hydrocarbon material associated with fuel vapor discharged from the fuel tank into the canister. A purge vacuum is applied to the canister to draw fuel vapor carrying reclaimed hydrocarbon material from the canister into an intake manifold coupled to an engine so that the reclaimed hydrocarbon material can be burned in the engine.
Claims17
A fuel vapor recovery canister comprising
- an elongated housing having a length and formed to include an inlet end, an exit end, and an interior region extending therebetween,
- a vapor-cleaning material located in the interior region, wherein the elongated housing includes a high-speed flow pipe and a tube that has a first cross-sectional area, the high-speed flow pipe has an opened end exposed to the atmosphere and a second cross-sectional area that is relatively smaller than the first cross-sectional area to cause a stream of fuel vapor flowing in the interior region of the elongated housing toward the inlet end in response to a vacuum applied to the interior region of the elongated housing at the inlet end to flow at a first velocity in the tube and at a faster second velocity in the high-speed flow pipe to hasten release of hydrocarbon material adsorbed on a portion of the vapor-cleaning material located in the high-speed flow pipe into the stream of fuel vapor flowing in the tube toward the inlet end, and
- wherein the exit end includes a conduit extending generally in the direction of the length of the housing for providing flow into and out of the exit end.
A fuel vapor recovery canister comprising
- an elongated housing formed to include an inlet end, an exit end, and an interior region extending therebetween,
- a vapor-cleaning material located in the interior region, wherein the elongated housing includes a tube having a first cross-sectional area and containing an inner portion of the vapor-cleaning material and a high-speed flow pipe having a smaller second cross-sectional area than the first cross-sectional area and containing an outer portion of the vapor-cleaning material and
- wherein the housing has an inlet end wall at the end of the length of the housing and the inlet end wall includes an opening for providing flow into and out of the inlet end.
A fuel vapor recovery canister comprising
- an elongated housing formed to include an inlet end, an exit end, and an interior region extending therebetween,
- a vapor-cleaning material located in the interior region, wherein the elongated housing includes a straight tube containing a first portion of the carbon granules and a funnel coupled to the straight tube and configured to contain a second portion of the carbon granules, the funnel includes a high-speed flow pipe formed to include the exit end and a horn-shaped transition pipe coupled to the high-speed flow pipe, and the second portion of the carbon granules is located in both of the high-speed flow and horn-shaped transition pipes of the funnel, and
- wherein the housing has a tubular noncircular shape.
A fuel vapor recovery canister comprising
- an elongated housing comprising a tube having a length, a flow velocity increaser coupled to one end of the tube, an inlet cover coupled to another end of the tube and formed to include an inlet, and an outlet cover formed to include an outlet and coupled to the flow velocity increaser to locate the flow velocity increaser between the outlet cover and the tube,
- a vapor-cleaning material located in the tube and in the flow velocity increaser, wherein the flow velocity increaser is configured to provide means for causing a stream of fuel vapor flowing in the tube toward the inlet in response to a vacuum applied to the tube at the inlet to flow at a first velocity in the tube and at a faster second velocity in the flow velocity increaser to hasten release of hydrocarbon material adsorbed on carbon granules located in the flow velocity increaser into the stream of fuel vapor flowing in the tube toward the inlet and
- wherein the housing has a tubular noncircular shape with a first port at the inlet and a second port at the exit and wherein the first and second ports each have an axis extending through the port center and extending generally along the length of the housing and wherein the axes of the first and second ports are not colinear such that the ports are offset from each other at the respective inlet and exit.
A fuel vapor recovery canister comprising
- an elongated housing having a length and formed to include an inlet end, an exit end, and an interior region extending therebetween,
- a vapor-cleaning material located in the interior region, wherein the elongated housing includes a high-speed flow pipe and a tube that has a first cross-sectional area, the high-speed flow pipe has an opened end exposed to the atmosphere and a second cross-sectional area that is relatively smaller than the first cross-sectional area to cause a stream of fuel vapor flowing in the interior region of the elongated housing toward the inlet end in response to a vacuum applied to the interior region of the elongated housing at the inlet end to flow at a first velocity in the tube and at a faster second velocity in the high-speed flow pipe to hasten release of hydrocarbon material adsorbed on a portion of the vapor-cleaning material located in the high-speed flow pipe into the stream of fuel vapor flowing in the tube toward the inlet end, and
- wherein the tube has a generally constant cross section along its length and the flow pipe extends from the exit end of the tube beginning with a decreasing cross sectional portion and ending with a constant cross sectional portion and wherein the center of the constant cross sectional portion is offset from the cross section of the tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.