Patent ID: 6799562
Filing Date: 2004-10-05
Classification: B60K,F02D,F02M,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of balancing fuel tanks in a motor vehicle that comprises:A) a fuel-consuming engine for propelling the vehicle; and B) a fuel system for fueling the engine, wherein the fuel system comprises: i) multiple fuel tanks, each for holding liquid fuel for the engine; ii) for each tank, a respective sender for providing data representing the level of liquid fuel in the respective tank; iii) a pump for drawing fuel from the tanks and delivering the drawn fuel to the engine; iv) for each tank, a respective fuel draw conduit through which the pump draws fuel from the respective tank; v) for each tank, a respective fuel return conduit through which excess fuel is returned from the engine to the respective tank; and vi) a valve mechanism for controlling flow of return fuel to the fuel return conduits; the method comprising: processing the data from the respective senders; and causing the valve mechanism to disallow return fuel flow to a tank whose sender data indicates that the level of fuel is greater than that indicated by sender data from the sender of another tank by some defined amount while the pumping apparatus continues to draw fuel from both tanks through the fuel draw conduits.