Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Masafumi Kunimitsu

Kiyoshi Mori

Tomokazu Muraguchi

Yoichiro Ando

Yasuo Kimura

Kenji Kato

Masao Uesugi

Hirokuni Seto

A fuel tank device has a canister suitably mounted inside a fuel tank. The fuel tank device includes a tank body in which fuel is stored, a filler tube connected at one end to the tank body for supplying the fuel into the tank body, and a canister hung and supported by the edge of an opening formed through the tank body via a support member and a sealing member, for adsorbing and storing evaporative fuel generated in the tank body. The canister is mounted entirely within the tank body and located so as not to be directly exposed to the fuel when the fuel is being supplied from the filler tube.

Fuel tank device

A fuel evaporative emission treatment system includes a canister which has an evaporative fuel introduction part arranged for communication with a fuel tank, an evaporative fuel emission part arranged for communication with an intake system of an engine, and a vent part arranged for communication with the atmosphere, and which absorbs the evaporative fuel. The fuel evaporative emission treatment system includes a vent pipe having a first passage communicating to the vent part of the canister and to the atmosphere, a first solenoid valve for opening and closing the first passage, an air filter for cleaning atmospheric air flowing thereinto, the filter being provided on the first passage on the side remote from the canister with respect to the first solenoid valve, and a one-way valve or lead valve which defines a second passage communicating to the vent part of the canister. The valve is opened at fueling. The evaporative fuel generated in the fuel tank upon fueling contains a fuel component which is eliminated by the canister and emitted into the atmosphere through the second passage. As a result, the fueling performance will not deteriorate even if the air filter is provided.

Fuel evaporative emission treatment system

The fuel storage system includes a control valve having a valve body which is movable along the inner circumferential wall surface of a filler pipe and which defines a passage isolated from the inner space of the filler pipe. A fuel tank and a canister communicate with each other via a main vapor line. When a fuel cap is attached to the filler port of the filler pipe, the valve body of the control valve is pushed by the fuel cap to be shifted away from the filler port, whereby a first sub-vapor line extending between the fuel tank and the control valve via the passage defined by the valve body is communicated to a second sub-vapor line extending between the control valve and the middle part of the main vapor line, permitting evaporative fuel gas to be introduced from the fuel tank into the canister. When a feed nozzle is inserted into the filler pipe to open a lid disposed therein, the valve body is shifted toward the filler port to allow the second sub-vapor line to communicate to the inner space of the filler pipe, to permit evaporative fuel gas to be introduced from the fuel tank into the filler pipe, preventing inflow of the outside air through the filler port attributed to drop in the internal pressure of the filler pipe, and generation of fresh evaporative fuel gas. Lowering in the refueling performance and over-refueling can be also prevented.

Fuel storage system

A fuel evaporative emission treatment system installed in an engine fuel system has a canister for adsorbing evaporative fuel, a vent hose connecting a fuel tank and the canister, and a vent circulation hose connecting the vent hose and a filler neck of the fuel tank, and the sectional areas of the vent hose and vent circulation hose are set so that the ratio thereof may be a proper value. The negative pressure produced in the filler neck due to aspiration induced by refueling is canceled out by the pressure of fuel gas circulated to the filler neck through the vent circulation hose, whereby the internal pressure of the filler neck is controlled to a value appropriately smaller than the atmospheric pressure. Thus, inflow of the outside air into the filler neck, and thus generation of evaporative fuel gas, can be suppressed, and also the outflow of evaporative fuel gas from the filler neck is suppressed.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Masafumi Kunimitsu