Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hirofumi Hanafusa

Yasuo Iwata

Yuuichi Sasagawa

Shinichi Imura

Shinichi Iimura

A fuel heating device comprises a heater housing () including a bottom wall (), an upper inlet opening () provided in an upper part of the heater housing and an outlet opening () provided in a lower part of the heater housing diametrically opposite to the inlet opening, and a heater member () including a heat emitting portion () received in a middle part of a heating chamber () defined by the heater housing. As the inlet opening is provided in an upper part of the fuel housing, bubbles that may be created by the vaporization of the fuel heated by the heater member is allowed to rise upward and then escape out of the inlet opening. The bubbles that have returned to the fuel supply passage () are cooled by fresh fuel, and condense to liquid state once again. Therefore, the heater housing and fuel supply passage are kept free from the presence of fuel vapor, and the fuel therein can be pressurized by a fuel pump to a proper level at all times. Also, the presence of fuel vapor in the heating chamber is controlled so that the heater member is prevented from being exposed to the vapor phase of the fuel.

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Wako, Japan

Hirofumi Hanafusa