Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Delphi Technologies, Inc.

William S Zimmerman

Ulf Sawert

Timothy F Coha

Gregory Keller Rasmussen

Randall Lee Dockery

Dan H Emmert

Matthew L Catlin

Wayne Frederick Harris

Leon Pitek

Neal M Letendre

Sharon E Beyer

Douglas J Golla

A float lever assembly for a fuel sender in a fuel tank of a motor vehicle includes a urethane float having a flat passage therein, a metal wire float lever attached to a pivot arm of a transducer of the fuel sender, and a bayonet connector formed integrally on the end of the float lever. The bayonet connector includes an inner leg, a relatively shorter outer leg, and a knee therebetween. The bayonet connector has a span dimension which exceeds a width dimension of the passage in the float so that when the bayonet connector is plugged into the passage, a tip on the outer leg of the connector bears against a side wall of the passage and defines a barb which prevents dislodgement of the bayonet connector from the passage.

Float lever assembly

Fuel sender at a remote or terminal end of a suction circuit of a fuel system of a motor vehicle. The fuel sender includes an unsealed reservoir in a fuel tank of the vehicle replenished by return fuel from a return fuel circuit of the fuel system and a junction chamber in the reservoir communicating with the terminal end of the suction circuit and with each of a primary flow channel and a secondary flow channel. The primary flow channel terminates at a primary screen in the fuel tank outside the reservoir. The secondary flow channel terminates at a secondary screen inside the reservoir. The secondary flow channel is restricted relative to the primary flow channel so that vacuum in the suction circuit induces flow in the primary flow channel in preference to flow in the secondary channel. Under low fuel conditions, the primary flow channel is blocked and vacuum in the suction circuit induces flow in the secondary flow channel from the reservoir. The secondary screen is flexible and actuates a differential pressure responsive bypass valve to connect the secondary flow channel directly to the reservoir when both the primary and the secondary screens are blocked.

Fuel sender for motor vehicle fuel system

A high pressure fuel hose for disposition between a fluid connector on a fuel pump canister in a fuel reservoir and a fluid connector through the reservoir wall. The fuel hose, located intermediate the fuel delivery system and a check valve at the fuel pump, has a flexible tubular body characterized by a plurality of annular sinusoidal convolutions well suited for accepting volumetric and pressure increases in the fuel trapped between the check valve and the fuel delivery system caused by temperature loading of the fuel following engine shut-down. A region of reduced wall thickness is formed in the tubular body to act as a pressure fuse having a predetermined burst pressure allowing system leakage due to overpressurization to be location controlled.

Fuel system pressure fuse

A modular fuel sender in a fuel tank of a motor vehicle includes a reservoir, a fuel pump in the reservoir, a low pressure conduit conducting hot return fuel back to the reservoir, a secondary pump in the reservoir for pumping new fuel from the tank into the reservoir, and a control which effects a recirculation mode of secondary pump operation when the new fuel level in the fuel tank is above a predetermined low level and a scavenge mode of secondary pump operation when the new fuel level in the reservoir is below the predetermined low level. In the recirculation mode, the secondary pump recirculates reservoir fuel to avoid overflowing hot fuel into the fuel tank. In the scavenge mode, the secondary pump continuously maintains a partial vacuum in a screen in the fuel tank regardless of the fuel level in the reservoir to maximize new fuel scavenged from the fuel tank before fuel starvation occurs.

Modular fuel sender for motor vehicle

Growing community of inventors

Grand Blanc, MI, United States of America

William S Zimmerman