Walbro Corporation

Other

Charles H Tuckey

Kirk D Fournier

G Clarke Oberheide

James Thompson

Ronald B Kuenzli

Kevin L Williams

Edward J Talaski

Ronald H Roche

Joseph M Ross

David E Mroczka

Kirk D Doane

Wayne T Lipinski

J D Tuckey

William E Galka

George H Bucci

Daniel A Gilmour

Peter P Kuperus

Lawrence E Egle

Thomas M Hoover

John F Combest

Matthew L Werner

Joseph M Graham

Steven R Tuckey

J D Tuckey, Deceased

Brian K Asselin

Alan D Romig

By Barbara E Doerr, Co-successor Trustee

By Jay D Tuckey, Co-successor Trustee

Muniappan Anbarasu

Martin L Radue

David M Asher

Laurie J Swanson

Randall P Izydorek

Billy R Blackwell

A closed loop steam engine assembly includes a steam generator and a prime mover which is driven from steam produced by the generator. A compressor receives exhaust steam from the prime mover and compresses the steam to a liquid state which is stored in a reservoir downstream of the compressor. A feed pump delivers a portion of the compressed and heated liquid from the reservoir to the steam generator, while another portion of the liquid is delivered to an inlet of the compressor, where the liquid flashes to mist and combines with the incoming exhaust steam to help condense the exhaust steam to liquid with greater efficiency than the compressor alone. An oil/fluid separation device may segregate any oil contained in the exhaust stream and route the oil back to an oil inlet of the prime mover.

Closed loop steam engine assembly with feedback features and method of operation

A positive displacement rotary fluid pump assembly includes a pump housing and a rotor supported within the housing for rotation about an axis offset with respect to a housing axis and including a plurality of chambers of increasing volume on an low pressure side of the pump and of decreasing volume on a high pressure side of the pump. A fluid inlet communicates with the plurality of the chambers of increasing volume for admitting fluid into the pump under a first low pressure, and a fluid outlet communicates with a plurality of the chambers of decreasing volume for selectively expelling fluid from the pump under a second higher pressure. At least one fluid control valve is operative to selectively close one or more of the chambers of decreasing volume from communication with the fluid outlet when the fluid pressure in such chambers is below the predetermined value and to open one or more other chambers of decreasing volume when the fluid pressure in such chambers is at or above the predetermined value.

Rotary pump with discharge control

An improved vane pump assembly is provided. The vane pump assembly includes a housing with an open chamber that is circular in shape when viewed in cross-section and has an inner wall that surrounds the open chamber. A rotor is rotatably disposed in the open chamber of the housing. As with the open chamber, the rotor is circular in shape when viewed in cross-section and has a diameter. The rotor further has at least one through-passage which extends diametrically across the rotor. The rotor is positioned such that it has a center that is offset from a center of the circular open chamber of the housing.

Vane pump assembly

A vehicle fuel system has an electronic control module received within a fuel tank to send data to and receive data from the electronic control unit (ECU) for the vehicle engine and other vehicle control systems, to provide an electronic control of the vehicle fuel system and to receive signals from one or more sensors mounted within the fuel tank which provide information about the operation of the fuel system. The fuel system integrates a plurality of components into the vehicle fuel tank to reduce the number of openings through the vehicle fuel tank and the number of external connections which must be made in assembly of the fuel system into a vehicle. By disposing a fuel vapor canister within the fuel tank, each vapor vent valve within the fuel tank can communicate completely within the tank with the vapor canister with a single outlet extending from the fuel tank to communicate fuel vapor from the canister with an intake manifold of the engine. Desirably, this outlet may extend through the same opening in the fuel tank through which the fuel pump, vapor canister, electronic control module and other components of the vehicle fuel system are inserted into the fuel tank. Notably, the number of openings in the tank is reduced and in one embodiment, only two openings are used in the tank, one for a fill pipe through which fuel is introduced into the tank and the other for the insertion of the various fuel system components into the tank.

Vehicle fuel system

A fuel pump module disposed within a vehicle fuel tank has a fuel pump therein to draw fuel from the fuel tank and deliver that fuel under pressure to the vehicle engine, and a jet pump driven by the fuel pump to lower the pressure within the module to draw fuel from the fuel tank through a filtered inlet of the module when the fuel pump is operating. When the fuel pump is not operating, such as when the vehicle is not in use, the jet pump ceases to operate and the pressure within the module returns to that of the fuel tank. When the level of fuel in the fuel tank is lower than that within the fuel pump module and the pump is turned off, a portion of the fuel within the module returns to the fuel tank, through the filtered inlet of the module thereby dislodging at least some of the contaminants trapped by the filter.

Fuel pump module

An internal combustion engine having at least one and preferably two cylinders each with a reciprocating piston, and a compressor which has a reciprocating piston driven by the engine to compress a rich fuel and air mixture within the compressor to inject the mixture directly into the combustion chamber of each engine cylinder. The mixture is ignited by a spark plug to drive the pistons of the engine through their power strokes and rotate an associated crankshaft which is connected to a compressor crankshaft to reciprocate the piston within the compressor and thereby compress and then inject the fuel and air mixture into the engine cylinder. A carburetor preferably supplies an enriched fuel and air mixture to the compressor to reduce the complexity of the system. The fuel and air mixture is preferably substantially atomized through nozzles adjacent each cylinder to improve combustion of the mixture. Preferably the engine is a two-stroke engine with two cylinders and the compressor is driven at twice the speed of the engine.

Direct cylinder fuel injection

A lateral channel fuel pump with a stator having a pumping channel and a second channel each of which cooperates with vanes in a rotor driven to rotate by an electric motor to generate pressure within both the pumping channel and the second channel. The second channel and preferably cavities communicating with it are disposed so that the fuel pressure generated within the channel and any cavities produces forces which, when combined with the forces generated in the pumping channel, provide net forces which are substantially equal or uniform across the lower face of the rotor so that the forces produced by outlet fuel acting across the upper face of the rotor do not tend to cock or tilt the rotor relative to the stator. Further, the second channel and any cavities increase the total force acting upwardly on the lower face to reduce the magnitude of the net force on the rotor urging the rotor towards the stator and hence, to reduce the frictional forces between the rotor and stator. Alternatively, the pump may have dual pumping channels about 180.degree. out of phase with each other to balance the forces across the rotor. Reducing the frictional forces between the rotor and the stator and balancing the forces across the rotor so that it is not cocked or tilted relative to the stator increases the efficiency of the pump, decreases the wear between the rotor and the stator to increase the life of the fuel pump, and increases the output capacity and pressure generated by the pump.

Force balanced lateral channel fuel pump

A fuel pump module constructed to be disposed in a vehicle fuel tank has a primary fuel pump with a fuel inlet disposed adjacent the bottom of the module and a fuel outlet which delivers pressurized fuel to an engine and also a jet pump disposed in a recess of the module and closely adjacent the bottom of the fuel tank to draw fuel into the module from the fuel tank in response to fuel flow through the jet pump. Disposing the jet pump in the recess of the module and closely adjacent to the bottom of the fuel tank enables the jet pump to draw substantially all of the fuel from the fuel tank into the module to ensure that the primary fuel pump can deliver an adequate supply of fuel to the engine even during extremely low fuel level conditions in the fuel tank. Disposing the inlet of the primary fuel pump closely adjacent to the bottom of the module and also the bottom of the fuel tank facilitates initial priming of the primary fuel pump after the fuel tank and module become empty and fuel is subsequently added to the fuel tank. Thus, after a vehicle has run out of gas, and the operator pours a small amount of gas into the gas tank, the primary fuel pump is able to prime, operate the jet pump to draw some of the added fuel into the module and deliver added fuel to the engine so that the engine may be started and the vehicle driven to a gas station.

Recessed fuel pump module

A high flow rate fuel vapor vent valve assembly has a delayed fall away fill level control float responsive to the level of fuel in the fuel tank and constructed to control the closing of an outlet passage through which fuel vapors are vented from the fuel tank when a desired maximum fuel level is reached within the fuel tank during refueling of the tank. The fill level float is constructed to sink after refueling of the fuel tank is completed, and preferably several minutes thereafter, to control the opening of the outlet passage and permit fuel vapors to once again vent from the fuel tank. Staggered openings in the housing of the valve assembly permit the fuel vapor to vent from the fuel tank through the outlet passage when it is open but prevent splashing or sloshing fuel within the fuel tank from flowing through the outlet passage and to a vapor canister downstream of the outlet passage. During filling of the fuel tank when the outlet passage is severely restricted or closed, the pressure within the fuel tank increases to cause fuel to rise in the fill pipe and actuate the automatic shut-off of a refueling nozzle of a fuel station fuel pump and prevent substantial additional fuel from being added to the fuel tank.

Fuel tank fill level control and vapor venting valve

A positive displacement gear rotor fuel pump with a plurality of spaced apart outlet ports through which fuel is discharged from a fuel pumping assembly and a valve which prevents any fuel downstream of the outlet ports which is at outlet pressure, from reentering portions of the pumping assembly which are at a lower pressure to prevent the higher pressure fuel from rapidly compressing and collapsing the fuel vapor in the pumping assembly to greatly reduce the noise of the operating fuel pump. This reduces the magnitude of the cavitation noise in the fuel pump which is the noise caused by the collapsing of the fuel vapor in the pump. The outlet ports are also constructed and arranged to prevent adjacent pumping chambers of the pumping assembly from communicating with each other to prevent the fuel at an increased pressure in a downstream pumping chamber from flowing into a lower pressure pumping chamber upstream thereof to also reduce cavitation noise in the fuel pump.

Cavitation noise abatement in a positive displacement fuel pump

An electric motor regenerative or turbine type fuel pump has a fuel pumping channel with a cross sectional area which decreases from adjacent its inlet to at least midway through the pumping channel to improve the efficiency and vapor handling capability of the fuel pump. Preferably, the pumping channel generally continuously decreases in cross-sectional area from its inlet to its outlet. In one form, the pumping channel is defined between a pair of plates or caps and a split ring received between the caps and surrounding an impeller having a plurality of vanes formed about its periphery and disposed within the pumping channel. Each of the caps preferably has a groove therein forming a portion of the pumping channel with each of the grooves having a greater cross sectional area adjacent the inlet of the pumping channel compared to the outlet of the pumping channel. In another form, a so-called side channel turbine pump, has a pumping channel defined by a groove in a flat face of a stator and a rotor driven to rotate by the motor has a circumferential array of vanes formed in a flat face and in communication with the pumping channel to develop increasing pressure from the inlet to the outlet of the pumping channel. This pumping channel has a greater depth and hence a greater cross sectional area adjacent its inlet as compared to its outlet.

Tapered channel turbine fuel pump

A two-stroke internal combustion engine having at least one cylinder with a combustion chamber defined between the cylinder head and a reciprocating piston, and a carburetor which delivers a rich fuel and air mixture to a compressor with a reciprocating piston driven by the engine to compress the mixture until the mixture is under sufficient pressure to open a differential pressure injection valve and thereby inject the mixture directly into the engine combustion chamber. The mixture is ignited by a spark plug to drive the engine piston through its power stroke and rotate its associated crankshaft which is connected to a crankshaft of the compressor to reciprocate its piston and thereby compress the fuel and air mixture and inject it into the cylinder in timed relation with the engine piston.

Mechanical direct cylinder fuel injection

A main fuel tank in an automotive vehicle contains a reservoir in which is located a two-stage electrically operated pump. The first stage is a rotary side lateral pump which draws fuel from the main tank and delivers it to the reservoir. The second stage is a rotary turbine pump which draws fuel from the reservoir and delivers it to the vehicle engine. The reservoir has overflow restriction means which allows air to vent while the reservoir is filling with fuel but which restricts fuel flow when the reservoir is full. This creates pressure in the reservoir to create back pressure against and shut down fuel flow from the first stage pump and also increase pressure on the fuel inlet of the second stage pump thus increasing the efficiency of the second stage fuel pump.

Vented fuel module reservoir with two-stage pump

A system to collect and control the flow of fuel vapor within a vehicle fuel system. In one embodiment, a vapor control unit mounted in the fuel tank permits fuel vapor to be drawn into a tank fill pipe when liquid fuel is being added to the fuel tank to condense at least a portion of the fuel vapor. In a second embodiment a diaphragm actuated valve permits fuel vapor flow from the fuel tank into the tank fill pipe when liquid fuel is being added to the tank to condense at least a portion of the fuel vapor. By condensing the fuel vapor the system reduces the total amount of fuel vapor within the fuel system while preventing the escape of fuel vapor which is hazardous to the environment.

Fuel system for reducing fuel vapor

A fuel delivery system for vehicles with more than one fuel tank or a single tank with separate sections under at least some fuel level conditions. The system has an electric fuel pump disposed in the fuel container and a jet pump connected to the electric fuel pump with fuel pickups connected to the jet pump through a siphon. The electric fuel pump powers the jet pump to fill the siphon with liquid fuel and draw fuel through the pickups which are spaced apart in separate sections of the fuel container. When the siphon is completely filled with liquid fuel and the jet pump is operating, any difference in the heads or fuel levels in the sections of the fuel container will cause fuel to flow through the siphon from the section with the greater head to the other section of the tank. This flow, due to the difference in pressure associated with different fuel levels, continues until the fuel levels and, hence, the pressures are substantially the same in each section of the container. Therefore, a single fuel level sensor can be used to monitor the total amount of fuel remaining in the tank or tanks. An air break interrupts the operation of the siphon when the jet pump is not operating to maintain the same fuel level in the sections or tanks even though the vehicle and hence the container or tanks are inclined when the vehicle and pumps are not operating.

Growing community of inventors

Cass City, MI, United States of America

Charles H Tuckey