US 7,610,905 B2Granted

Passive evaporative emission control module

OwnerDouglas J. Callahan, Brent J. Ertl +3inventors

InventorsDouglas J. Callahan, Brent J. Ertl, Juris J. Pruzinskis, Michael P. Farrey, Hans Bishop

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An emission control module (14) includes a housing (52) that includes an atmospheric air opening (102) and a vapor emission inlet (104) for communication with a vapor region (32) of a fuel reservoir (16). A hydrocarbon filter (56) is disposed between the atmospheric air opening (102) and the vapor emission inlet (104) to passively filter vapor emissions within the vapor region (32). The housing (52) is configured for purging of the hydrocarbon filter (56) due to a low-pressure draw from the vapor emission inlet (104).

Claims13

Dependent claims

A fuel reservoir assembly comprising:

(a) a fuel reservoir having a quantity of fuel and a quantity of fuel vapor, said fuel reservoir comprising;
an enclosure with an exterior wall;
and
an internal holding volume with a vapor region having said quantity of fuel vapor;
(b) a body securely mounted to said exterior wall, comprising;
a fuel inlet;
and
a fuel outlet in communication with said internal holding volume;
(c) a center fuel flow axis defined along the length of said body from said fuel inlet to said fuel outlet;
(d) a housing disposed around a circumference of said body and secured to said exterior wall, comprising;
at least one atmospheric air opening;
and
at least one vapor emission inlet for communication with said vapor region;
and
a hydrocarbon filter disposed between said at least one atmospheric air opening and said at least one vapor emission inlet and passively filtering said quantity of fuel vapor emissions within said vapor region, said hydrocarbon filter being purged due to draw of fuel from said fuel reservoir;
and
(e) an evaporative emission line coupling said housing to said fuel reservoir through said exterior wall;
wherein said housing comprises a hydrocarbon filter purge path for air and said quantity of fuel vapor to flow in said at least one atmospheric air opening, across said hydrocarbon filter, substantially along a plane that is not parallel to said center fuel flow axis, and through said at least one vapor emission inlet.

15 more elements

A fuel tank assembly, comprising:

a fuel reservoir having an interior for housing fuel and accumulated fuel vapor, said fuel reservoir being formed of a non-hydrocarbon permeation material;
a control module mounted proximate a highest elevation point on said fuel reservoir, said control module including a body portion and a housing portion;
said body portion includes a fuel inlet portion and a fuel outlet portion in fluid communication with said interior of said fuel reservoir;
said body portion defining a center fuel flow axis defined along the length of said body from said fuel inlet portion to said fuel outlet portion;
a fuel cap for releasable engagement with said fuel inlet portion of said control module;
said housing portion disposed circumferentially around said body portion;
said housing portion having an upper portion and a lower portion;
a hydrocarbon filter disposed in said housing portion;
a plurality of atmospheric openings formed in said upper portion of said housing portion to allow free flow of gas into and out of said housing;
a plurality of vapor emission openings formed in said lower portion of said housing portion and open to said fuel reservoir to allow free flow of gas into and out of said fuel reservoir;
wherein when the pressure in said fuel reservoir decreases, air is pulled into said fuel reservoir through said plurality of said atmospheric openings and said plurality of vapor emission openings, and when the pressure in said fuel reservoir increases, fuel vapor exits said fuel reservoir through said plurality of vapor emission openings, passes through said hydrocarbon filter and exits to the atmosphere through said plurality of atmospheric openings.

8 more elements

A fuel tank assembly, comprising:

a fuel reservoir having a quantity of fuel and a quantity of fuel vapor, said fuel reservoir including an exterior wall defining an interior of said fuel reservoir, said fuel reservoir being formed of a non-hydrocarbon permeation material;
a control module mounted proximate a highest elevation point on said fuel reservoir,
a body portion of said control module including a fuel inlet and a fuel outlet in communication with said interior of said fuel reservoir, said body portion defining a center fuel flow axis defined along the length of said body from said fuel inlet portion to said fuel outlet portion;
a fuel cap for releasable engagement with said fuel inlet portion of said control module;
a housing portion of said control module disposed circumferentially around said body portion;
said housing portion having an upper portion and a lower portion;
a plurality of atmospheric openings formed in said upper portion of said housing portion to allow free flow of gas into and out of said housing;
a plurality of vapor emission openings formed in said lower portion of said housing portion and open to said fuel reservoir to allow free flow of gas into and out of said fuel reservoir;
a hydrocarbon filter disposed between said plurality of atmospheric openings and said plurality of vapor emission openings and passively filtering said quantity of fuel vapor within said vapor region, said hydrocarbon filter being purged due to draw of fuel from said reservoir;
wherein when the pressure in said fuel reservoir decreases, air is pulled into said fuel reservoir through said plurality of said atmospheric openings and said plurality of vapor emission openings.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/963,146Filed 21 Dec 2007 · continuation
Priority: 22 May 2006
Published: US 2008/0092857 A124 Apr 2008
Granted: 3 Nov 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

F02M 37/0076
Apparatus or systems for feeding liquid fuel from storage containers to carburettors or fuel-injection apparatus; Arrangements for purifying…:…
B01D 53/0431
Constructional details of adsorbing systems: beds with radial gas flow
F02M 25/0854
Adding fuel vapours drawn from engine fuel reservoir: details of the absorption canister
B01D 2259/4516
Gas separation or purification devices adapted for specific applications: for fuel vapour recovery systems

Family

Application11/419,584Parent of this continuation · filed 22 May 2006
US 7,311,088 B1Parent of this continuation · filed 25 Dec 2007
US 2008/0092857 A1Pre-grant publication · published 24 Apr 2008
US 2007/0283937 A1Published application
US 7,610,905 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key