Ti Group Automotive Systems Corporation

Jeffrey L Yager

Steven R Hilderley

Timothy J Barnes

Wallace J Booms

A fuel vapor recovery system of a vehicle has a fill pipe inlet assembly located at a distal end of a fuel tank fill pipe. The inlet assembly has a cylindrical wall defining an elongated cavity divided axially into upstream and downstream regions by a restrictor plate which carries a hole for close receipt of a fuel supply nozzle of a remote fuel pump. During refueling of the tank, fuel vapor flows from the tank via a recirculation tube and into the inlet cavity of the fill pipe to become entrained into the flowing liquid fuel as oppose to being released to atmosphere. The fuel vapor enters the upstream region at an aperture carried by the wall disposed immediately upstream from the restrictor plate and downstream from a hood. The hood limits vapor release to atmosphere and draws the vapor downstream through a port carried by the restrictor plate for entrainment of vapor into the liquid fuel in the downstream region. Toward the end of the refueling process, any fuel welling or backing up within the fill pipe is generally limited to the downstream region of the cavity via the restrictor plate and an automatic shutoff feature of the remote fuel pump. Liquid fuel is thus less likely to enter the recirculation tube in the upstream region even if the automatic shut-off feature of the remote refuel pump should fail. Consequently, it is less likely that liquid fuel will flow into the canister of the vapor recovery system even when the automatic shut-off feature of the remote refuel pump has failed.

Growing community of inventors

Windsor, CA, United States of America

Jeffrey L Yager