Filling system for vehicular fluid container

• US 8,919,393 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2010
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Plastic Omnium Advanced Innovation and Research
• Original Assignee: Inergy Automotive Systems Research SA (Burelle SA)
• Inventors: Budzyk, Laurent, Elong, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): ARNETT, NICOLAS ALLEN
• Application Number:
  US13/502,444
• Publication Number:
  US 20120199246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,538 Days
• Field of Search: 141/290, 141/369, 141375-376, 141/392
• US Class Current: 141/290
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 15/04 Tank inlets B60K15/077 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2015/047 Manufacturing of the fuel inlet or connecting elements to fuel inlet, e.g. pipes or venting tubes

Abstract

The invention is based on the insight that a filling system obtained by combining a “Kruse” compatible threaded socket and an annular magnet as required for the operation of the “Elaflex” nozzle, will exhibit air exchange problems related to the difference in the positioning of the respective air intake openings of the “Kruse” bottle and the “Elaflex” nozzle. More particularly, the invention is based on the insight that by judiciously providing a chamber in fluid communication with the volume of air or vapor in the tank, filling may be made possible with a “Kruse” bottle as well as with an “Elaflex” nozzle.

Claims

1. A fitting for the filling opening of a fluid tank, comprising:

a tubular main body having a first end for connection with said tank and a second end adapted to receive a spout, said main body being adapted to be equipped with a magnet substantially spanning the circumference of said main body for authorizing a flow in said spout, and a tubular coupling section at said second end,

wherein said tubular coupling section is adapted to detachably couple to a bottle having a fluid outlet and an air intake,

wherein said fitting comprises a chamber between said second end and said magnet,

wherein, when in use, an end of a first ventilation conduit is present in said chamber, said first ventilation conduit being in fluid communication with a volume of gas present at said first end for connection with said tank, such that in the coupled position of said bottle said air intake is located in said chamber and said fluid outlet flows out in the direction of said first end, and

wherein, when in use, an end of a second ventilation conduit is present in said tubular main body at said first end for connection with said tank, said second ventilation conduit being in fluid communication with said volume of gas present at said first end for connection with said tank.

2. The fitting of claim 1, wherein said bottle is a screw-on bottle, and wherein said tubular coupling section has a thread for detachably coupling to said bottle.

3. The fitting of claim 2, wherein said tubular coupling section is adapted for being coupled with said bottle, such that said fluid outlet substantially seals said chamber from said first end in the coupled position of said bottle.

4. The fitting of claim 1, wherein said tubular main body comprises a peripheral groove for holding said magnet and that one of said first ventilation conduit and said second ventilation conduit extends substantially axially through said groove.

5. The fitting of claim 4, wherein said one of said first ventilation conduit and said second ventilation conduit is embedded in an axial ridge intersecting said radial groove.

6. The fitting of claim 4, wherein the magnet has an interrupted ring situated in said peripheral groove, wherein a section over which the interrupted ring is interrupted is adapted to flank said one of said first ventilation conduit and said second ventilation conduit.

7. The fitting of claim 6, wherein the section over which the interrupted ring is interrupted extends over a sector measuring between 20°

and 40°

.

8. The fitting of claim 1, wherein one of said first ventilation conduit and said second ventilation conduit is formed by a central cavity of the tubular main body, said central cavity receiving a part of the bottle in the coupled position, and wherein the central cavity is dimensioned with a radius that exceeds a radius of the received part of the bottle in an amount sufficient to provide fluid communication between the chamber and the tank side of the main body.

9. The fitting of claim 1, wherein said first and said second ventilation conduit are bifurcations of a single conduit in fluid communication with said volume of gas present at said first end for connection with said tank.

10. The fitting of claim 1, further comprising a funnel shaped section at said first end.

11. The fitting of claim 1, further comprising a connecting flange near said second end, and wherein said tubular coupling section protrudes beyond said flange.

12. The fitting of claim 1, further comprising a constricted zone with a reduced inner diameter, substantially equal to the diameter of said spout and said outlet of said bottle.

13. A vehicular fluid tank, comprising the fitting according to claim 1.