Pump unit

Details Pump unit Pump unit

2002-03-25

2004-08-10

Koczo, Michael (Department: 3746)

Pumps

Motor driven

Electric or magnetic motor

C123S509000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06773241

ABSTRACT:

The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-100938 filed on Mar. 30, 2001 including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a pump unit in which a unit case, which houses a fuel pump, is hung from an upper wall of a tank by a unit case supporting flange. Especially, the present invention relates to a pump unit equipped with a height adjusting part to install fuel tanks with different heights.
2. Description of Related Art
As for a fuel pump which supplies fuel to an engine, an in-tank fuel pump, which is installed in a fuel tank, is widely used these days. Furthermore, parts surrounding the tank are integrated to reduce vehicle cost, and so on. As a result, a filter element, which filters fuel discharged from a fuel pump, is combined with the fuel pump. And the filter element and the fuel pump form a pump unit. Then the pump unit is hung from an opening on an upper wall of the fuel tank.
FIG. 3
shows an example of installing the above-described pump unit in a fuel tank. A pump unit
30
according to
FIG. 3
includes a unit case body
35
, a pump
32
(described later), and a filter element
33
. A unit case supporting flange
34
is connected with the unit case body
35
by means of weld, and so on. The connected two parts form a unit case
31
. An engaging claw
37
of an engaging part
36
, which extends downward from the unit case
35
, is engaged with an engaging hole
41
of a pump holder
40
which supports the lower end of the pump
32
. As a result, the pump holder
40
is supported by the unit case body
35
. A flange part
38
of the unit case supporting flange
34
is hung and fixed on an upper wall
39
of the fuel tank. As a result, the unit case supporting flange
34
supports the entire pump unit
30
.
A filter housing part
42
is located on the side of the unit case body
35
. The filter element
33
is housed and fixed in the filter housing part
42
. A pump connection
43
is provided in the proximity of the filter housing part
42
and fits into an outlet
45
of the pump
32
through a grommet
44
. An opening
46
of the pump connection
43
is connected with an upper-end opening
47
of the filter element
33
, which is housed in the filter housing part
42
, through a connecting space
48
. The connecting space
48
is located on the underside of the unit case supporting flange
34
.
As described above, the lower end of the pump
32
is placed on the pump holder
40
which is supported by the unit case body
31
. The outlet
45
, which is located at the upper end of the pump
32
, is connected with the pump connection
43
through the grommet
44
and incorporated into the pump unit
30
. A suction filter
51
is attached to a suction hole
50
of the pump
32
. The suction filter
51
extends along a bottom wall
52
of the fuel tank to suck in fuel in the lowermost part of the fuel tank.
A fuel supplying part
55
is provided at the unit case supporting flange
34
. As described above, fuel in the tank is supplied through the suction filter
51
, the pump
32
, the opening
46
, the connecting space
48
, and the filter element
33
to an engine from the fuel supplying part
55
after flowing through a channel surrounding the pump
32
(not shown). In the pump unit
30
described above, a height of the entire pump unit
30
needs to correspond to a length from the bottom wall
52
of the fuel tank to the upper wall
39
due to the following two reasons. The first reason is that the pump unit
30
is hung from the upper wall
39
of the fuel tank. The second reason is that the suction hole
50
of the pump
32
needs to be located in the proximity of the bottom wall
52
of the fuel tank to suck in fuel in the fuel tank as much as possible. However, a length from a bottom wall to an upper wall of a fuel tank differs depending on the type of a vehicle. Therefore, a height adjusting means is needed to use the same tank as much as possible and correspond to as many fuel tanks as possible.
To correspond to fuel tanks with different heights, structures shown in
FIGS. 4A and 4B
, for example, may be adopted. According to the structure shown in
FIG. 4A
, a pump unit is substantially identical to the pump unit
30
shown in FIG.
3
. In this case, the pump unit is manufactured to be installed in the shortest fuel tank in which the pump can be fitted. The shortest tank has a minimum height of H
1
. When the pump is applied to a taller tank with a height of H
2
, as shown in
FIG. 4B
, a joint pipe
55
with a length of L
1
(−H
2
-H
1
) may be provided between the pump connection
43
and the outlet
45
of the pump
32
to correspond to the height H
2
.
The joint pipe
55
is connected to the pump connection
43
through the grommet
44
at a unit connection
56
located at the upper end. At a pump connection
57
located at the lower end, the joint pipe
55
is connected to the outlet
45
of the pump
32
through the grommet
58
. Therefore, fuel from the outlet
45
can he discharged to the opening
46
, located at the pump connection
43
of the unit case body
35
, through the joint pipe
55
.
According to the structure adopting the joint pipe
55
, relative relation regarding positions of the pump
32
and the unit case body
35
deviates vertically. As a result, the pump
32
moves relatively downward and the pump holder
40
, which supports the lower end of the pump
32
, also moves downward. Therefore, a housing
59
needs to be provided between the pump holder
40
and the engaging part
36
located below the unit case body
35
. Regarding the housing
59
, the engaging hole
61
, which is provided at a unit connection
60
located at the upper end, is engaged with the engaging claw
37
of the engaging part
36
. An engaging hole
63
, which is provided at a holder connection
62
located at the lower end, is engaged with the engaging hole
41
of the pump holder
40
. As a result, the pump holder
40
is fixed on the unit case body
35
through the housing
59
, and the housing
59
supports the lower end of the pump
32
. Therefore, a length of the joint pipe
55
is set to L
1
which is equal to that of the housing
56
.
According to the structure adopting the joint pipe
55
for adjusting height, the joint pipe
55
, the grommet
58
, and further, the housing
59
are needed. Therefore, it is inevitable that manufacturing cost for each component and assembly man-hour will increase. As a result, the end product becomes expensive.
Also, it is conceivable that a length of each part can be adjusted, as shown in
FIGS. 5A and 5B
, for example, to correspond to fuel tanks with different heights. In other words, like FIG.
3
and
FIG. 4A
,
FIG. 5A
shows the pump unit
30
which is manufactured to be installed in the shortest fuel tank in which the pump can be fitted.
FIG. 5B
shows, for example, when a height of a tank is changed from H
1
to H
2
. It is conceivable that a length of the unit case supporting flange
34
be lengthened by L
1
to correspond to the changed height. Furthermore, as shown in
FIG. 5C
, for example, when a height of a tank is changed from H
1
to H
3
, it is conceivable that a length of the unit case supporting flange
34
be lengthened by L
1
like the example of
5
B and a length of the upper part of the unit case body
35
be lengthened by L
2
. According to the example shown in
FIG. 5C
, the joint pipe
55
is adopted like the example of
4
B and lengthened by L
3
to correspond to a tank with a height of H
3
. The example in
FIG. 5C
includes all the above-mentioned height adjusting means.
As described above, when the unit case supporting flange
34
or the unit case body
35
needs to be lengthened to correspond to fuel tanks with different heights, a volume of the connecting space
48
, which is located between the opening
46
connected to the outlet
45
of the pump and the upper-end opening
47
of the filter element
33
, increases in proportion to the l

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