Bombardier Motor Corporation of America

Outboard Marine Corporation

Harvey Ruth

Richard P Kolb

Peter E Lucier

A vent control system having a closed biased vent valve is used to separate vapor and/or air from a liquid in an enclosed chamber. The closed biased vent valve has a float having an upwardly extending float arm which cooperates with a lever arm of the closed biased vent valve to prevent unintended release of vapor or liquid from the enclosed chamber. The upwardly extending float arm and the lever arm are coupled to one another when the float is located beneath a designated level in the enclosed chamber and are decoupled from one another when the float rises above the designated level. The vent control system is much less susceptible to vibration induced vent opening than a traditional vent valve. The vent control system is well suited for use in a fuel vapor separator that includes a housing having the enclosed chamber formed within it.

Vent control system

A fuel delivery system uses a single electric fuel pump to deliver fuel to a fuel injected engine and returns excess fuel to the single electric fuel pump via a vapor separator and two pressure regulators. A primer bulb draws fuel from a fuel tank with a fuel supply line and transfers the fuel to the single electric fuel pump. The single electric fuel pump delivers fuel to a fuel rail assembly, which enables fuel to be distributed to each fuel injector during engine operation. A fuel return line connects the fuel rail assembly to the single electric fuel pump via the vapor separator to remove excess fuel from the fuel rail assembly and to transfer the excess fuel back to the single electric fuel pump for re-circulation. The first pressure regulator maintains a substantially constant pressure within the fuel injectors while the vapor separator purges entrained gas from the excess liquid fuel to avoid vapor lock. The second pressure regulator allows transfer of fuel to the single electric fuel pump from the vapor separator while preventing reverse flow of fuel from the fuel tank to the vapor separator.

Fuel delivery system using two pressure regulators with a single electric fuel pump

A fuel vapor separator is disclosed having a fuel distribution network, a damper chamber, and a closed biased vent valve. The fuel vapor separator has a housing having two opposed ends enclosed by top and bottom covers. The housing is formed by extrusion and the top and bottom covers are molded identically. An integral fuel distribution network is provided to supply fuel to each fuel injector of an engine and to receive fuel return from each fuel injector. A fuel damper chamber communicates with the fuel inlet port to absorb pressure surges. A fuel float having an upwardly extending float arm is located in an enclosed fuel chamber and connected to a closed biased vent valve mounted in the housing. The float is arranged to decouple from the closed biased vent valve to present &ldquo;engine spit.&rdquo;

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Maryland Heights, MO, United States of America

Harvey Ruth