Receptacles – Container attachment or adjunct – Filling member
Patent
1990-08-03
1993-02-02
Moy, Joseph Man-Fu
Receptacles
Container attachment or adjunct
Filling member
B65D 318
Patent
active
051831708
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a fuel tank for motor vehicles in accordance with the introductory part of claim 1.
When such fuel tanks are being filled, a strong mixing action takes place between the fuel and the volume of air in the tank. As a result, the air displaced from the tank as it is filled contains a large percentage of hydrocarbons. Furthermore, severe frothing can occur, especially in the case of diesel fuels.
At the present time legal regulations are being considered for the prevention of the escape of fuel vapors into the atmosphere when tanking. To solve this problem complicated suction devices connected to the pump nozzles or valves in the filling spout are being proposed, which are pushed open by the pump nozzle and which have a gasket sealingly surrounding the pump nozzle. These solutions are complicated and they do not prevent the fuel from frothing in the tank and charging the air with fuel vapors which, when the internal combustion engine is started, have to be passed through active charcoal filters in the air intake system of the engine. The large amount of fuel vapors calls for a correspondingly large active charcoal filter whose containment within the engine compartment of the vehicle presents considerable problems.
Especially in order to prevent or reduce the frothing of the fuel when the tank is filled it is known (German Federal Pat. 34 37 475) to provide within the tank a fuel guiding surface extending in an arc from the end of the filling spout to close to the tank bottom. When the tank is filled the fuel no longer falls free from the end of the filling spout to the tank bottom or to the level of the fuel already in the tank, but is guided downward along this surface, to prevent or reduce the frothing of the fuel and the mixing of fuel vapors with the air in the tank. This purpose, however, can be achieved only partially, since when the tank is filled at comparatively high pressure the fuel is already partly agitated within the spout, and only a small part of it is in contact with the fuel guiding surface as it emerges from it.
The invention is addressed to the problem of creating a fuel tank of the generic type in which frothing of the fuel and charging the air volume with fuel vapors while filling is reduced and, on the other hand, the emission of air mixed with fuel vapors while filling is largely prevented.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,010,445 discloses a fuel tank having a filling spout adjoined by a tube which extends all the way to the tank bottom or terminates close to same. The tube is provide with longitudinal slits and surrounded by a sieve. The purpose of this known arrangement is to achieve a filtering of the fuel when the tank is being filled, without the danger that the sieve may be damaged by the nozzle of the pump gun. Frothing of the fuel and charging the air volume with fuel vapors when the tank is being filled cannot be prevented with this known arrangement, since during the filling the fuel strikes the edges of the longitudinal slits and is more greatly agitated. The fuel and fuel vapor pass transversely of the length of the tube through the longitudinal slits and through the sieve surrounding them, into the interior of the fuel tank, and while the tank is being filled the sieve is unable to prevent fuel vapors present inside of the fuel tank from passing through the sieve into the pump nozzle and thus into the atmosphere.
Setting out from U.S. Pat. No. 2,010,445, the invention addresses itself to the problem of creating a fuel tank of the generic type, in which frothing of the fuel and charging the air volume with fuel vapors will be reduced while tanking, and on the other hand the emission of air mixed with fuel vapors will be prevented insofar as possible while tanking.
This problem is solved in accordance with the invention by the features stated in the specific part of claim 1.
When the tank is being filled, the fuel flows from the filling spout through the open-pore component largely free of turbulence to the bottom of the tank. At the same time the fuel is guided down
REFERENCES:
patent: 2010445 (1935-08-01), Sparks
patent: 2153199 (1939-04-01), Miller
patent: 2576192 (1951-11-01), Poznik
patent: 3698597 (1972-10-01), Burke
patent: 4122968 (1978-10-01), Germain
patent: 4856568 (1989-08-01), Murphy et al.
Audi A.G.
Man-Fu Moy Joseph
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