Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Susan Scott Labine

Thomas Charles Meiller

Charles H Covert

Robert Augustine Zaso

Richard W Wagner

Jonathan M Oemcke

Eileen Alanna Scardino

Susan Buckner

Robert Thomas Cook

Purging of a fuel vapor storage canister of an internal combustion engine is optimized through the provision of fuel vapor storage apparatus. A real time measurement of the fuel vapor content of the canister is enabled by providing the canister with a fuel vapor sensor located in at least one of the purge line and the fresh air port of the canister. The fuel vapor sensor is most preferably an adsorption sensitive resistor which operates on the principle of adsorption according to Vander Walls &ldquo;a&rdquo; constant, and the electrical resistance of the fuel vapor sensor preferably varies with respect to the fuel vapor concentration present.

Canister purge hydrocarbon sensing

An auxiliary canister operates with a storage canister of an evaporative emissions control system to reduce the amount of fuel vapor emitted from a vehicle to very low levels. The storage canister contains a first sorbent material and has a vent port in communication therewith. The auxiliary canister comprises an enclosure, first and second passages, a heater and a connector. Inside the enclosure, a second sorbent material is in thermal contact with the heater. Attached at one end to the bottom of the enclosure, the first passage is connectable at its other end to the vent port to allow flow between the storage and auxiliary canisters. Attached at one end to a top of the enclosure, the second passage is connectable at its other end to a vent valve of the control system to allow flow between the auxiliary canister and the vent valve. Incorporated into the enclosure, the connector is used to convey electrical power from the vehicle to the heater. During a regenerative phase of operation for the control system, the heater can be used to heat the second sorbent material and the passing purge air. This enables the second and first adsorbent materials to more readily release the fuel vapor they adsorbed during the previous storage phase of operation so that they can be burned during combustion.

Evaporative emission canister with heated adsorber

A fuel vapor storage canister having a leak-proof screen assembly between a mass of carbon granules in the storage canister and a purge port of the storage canister. The fuel vapor storage canister includes a cup-shaped plastic body, an integral partition which divides the canister body into a pair of relatively deep carbon bed chambers, and a plenum in the canister body at an end of one of the carbon bed chambers which is connected to the purge port and which is covered by the leak-proof screen assembly. The leak-proof screen assembly includes a plastic frame ultrasonically welded to the canister body and a flat fabric screen having a peripheral edge insert molded to the plastic frame.

Fuel vapor storage canister

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Avon, NY, United States of America

Susan Scott Labine