Abstract:
A fuel pump for a vehicle comprises: a driving motor; an impeller having a substantially circular shape, the impeller being rotatable by operation of the driving motor; and a pump casing covered with a casing cover, the pump casing and casing cover together defining a central cavity for receiving the impeller rotatable therein, the pump casing and casing cover including a fuel inlet port and a fuel outlet port, the pump casing and casing cover each further including a circular groove formed along the surface thereof in respective fluid communication with the central cavity of the pump casing and casing cover. The impeller includes a plurality blades of generally V-shape cross-section disposed along an outer surface of the impeller with a plurality of blade grooves defined between the blades, the blade grooves in fluid communication with respective circular groove of the pump casing and casing cover, wherein each of the blades includes a fuel inlet blade portion disposed at an inner area of the blade grooves and a fuel outlet blade portion disposed at an outer area of the blade grooves, with a boundary portion disposed between the fuel inlet blade portion and the fuel outlet blade portion, in which a front surface angle and a rear surface angle of each of the fuel inlet blade portion and the fuel outlet blade portion respectively varies relative to the length of each of the blades.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/900,633, filed Jul. 28, 2004, now abandoned and entitled “Impeller For Fuel Pumps”, which application is currently pending and claimed priority from Korean Patent Application 2004-0025432 filed on Apr. 13, 2004. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates, in general, to fuel pumps for vehicles and, more particularly, to an impeller for fuel pumps of automobiles which increases the fuel pumping efficiency and the amount of fuel discharge of the fuel pumps by controlling the fuel guide angles of the blades of the impeller, thus providing high operational pressures of the fuel pumps. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Fuel pumps are devices that are provided in automobiles to effectively feed fuel from a fuel tank to a fuel injection system of an engine. 
     Among the fuel pumps, a turbine-type fuel pump is well known in the art. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a fuel pump for automobiles typically comprises a pump housing  200  which is fabricated with an upper casing  210  and a lower casing  220 . An impeller  300  is installed in the pump housing  200  to rotate, while a drive motor  400  is coupled to the impeller  300  via a drive shaft which transmits a rotating force of the motor  400  to the impeller  300  to rotate the impeller  300  within the pump housing  200 . The fuel pump further comprises a check valve  500  to controllably discharge the fuel from the fuel pump to an injector of an engine while the fuel is drawn into and discharged from the fuel pump by the centrifugal force of the rotating impeller  300 . 
     The impeller  300  of the conventional fuel pump comprises a disc-shaped body as shown in  FIG. 2 . A plurality of radial blades  320  are provided around the outer edge of the impeller  300  while being spaced out at regular intervals, with a plurality of fluid communication chambers (hereinafter to be referred as blade grooves)  340  defined between the blades  320  such that each of the blade grooves  340  is vertically formed through the disc-shaped impeller  300 . 
     In  FIGS. 1 and 2  of the accompanying drawings, the reference numerals  230  and  240  respectively denote a fuel inlet port and a fuel outlet port of the pump housing  200  to introduce and discharge the fuel into and from the pump housing  200  during a rotation of the impeller  300 . 
     The above-mentioned impeller  300  is operated as follows during an operation of the fuel pump. When the impeller  300  rotates by the rotating force of the drive motor  400 , fuel is forcibly discharged outward from the fuel outlet region of each blade groove  340  in a radial direction by the centrifugal force of the rotating impeller  300 . The fuel discharged from each blade groove  340  collides with and thus is guided by an inner surface of a fuel path defined between the upper and lower casings  210  and  220  of the pump housing  200 , thus being forced to flow into the fuel inlet region of an adjacent blade groove  340 , so that the fuel sequentially circulates through the blade grooves  340  and the pressure of the fuel gradually increases. As such, the outside area of the blade grooves becomes a fuel outlet region and the inside area of the blade grooves becomes a fuel inlet region. In a brief description, the kinetic energy of the impeller  300  during a rotation of the impeller  300  is transmitted to the fuel, so that the pressurized fuel is pumped from a fuel tank to an injector of an engine. 
     In the meantime, the operational pressures of the fuel pumps of automobiles are typically determined according to engine capacities. In recent years, the fuel pumps of automobiles are required to provide high operational pressures. However, in the fuel pumps having the above-mentioned conventional impellers, an increase in the amount of fuel discharge from the fuel pumps during the high-pressure operations of the fuel pumps is limited. Thus, impellers for fuel pumps of automobiles capable of increasing the amount of the fuel discharge during the high-pressure operations of the fuel pumps have been actively studied in recent years. 
     For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,533,538 and 6,767,179 disclose certain impeller structures contemplated to improve the pump efficiency while reducing disturbance and frictions in the fuel flow in fuel pumps. However, these known impellers do not typically provide an optimized fluid flow about the impeller. More particularly, because these impellers are typically shaped to have either gradually increasing or gradually decreasing surfaces in their front and rear surfaces of the blades, the fuel inlet region and the fuel outlet region are not well divided and thus causes complex fluid flows, such as disturbance in the flow, which in turn leads to deterioration in the fuel pump performance. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an impeller for fuel pumps of automobiles, in which the structure of blades that feed fuel from a fuel tank to an injector of an engine is changed to increase the fuel discharge efficiency of the fuel pump during a high-pressure operation of the fuel pump, thus improving operational performance of the fuel pump. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an impeller for fuel pumps of automobiles, in which the fuel inlet region and the fuel outlet region are distinctively divided for reducing the disturbance or other complex flow problems in the boundary area between the fuel inlet region and the fuel outlet region. 
     In order to achieve the above and other objects, a fuel pump for a vehicle according to one aspect of the present invention provides: a driving motor; an impeller having a substantially circular shape, the impeller being rotatable by operation of the driving motor; and a pump casing covered with a casing cover, the pump casing and casing cover together defining a central cavity for receiving the impeller rotatable therein, the pump casing and casing cover including a fuel inlet port and a fuel outlet port, the pump casing and casing cover each further including a circular groove formed along the surface thereof in respective fluid communication with the central cavity of the pump casing and casing cover. The impeller includes a plurality blades of generally V-shape cross-section disposed along an outer surface of the impeller with a plurality of blade grooves defined between the blades, the blade grooves in fluid communication with respective circular groove of the pump casing and casing cover, wherein each of the blades includes a fuel inlet blade portion disposed at an inner area of the blade grooves and a fuel outlet blade portion disposed at an outer area of the blade grooves, with a boundary portion disposed between the fuel inlet blade portion and the fuel outlet blade portion, in which a front surface angle and a rear surface angle of each of the fuel inlet blade portion and the fuel outlet blade portion respectively varies relative to the length of each of the blades. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, an impeller is provided for a vehicle fuel pump. The fuel pump preferably includes a pump casing and a casing cover coupled with each other face to face and having a central cavity defined therein. The pump casing and casing cover each further preferably includes a circular groove formed along a respective inner surface opposing to each other, with the respective circular groove in fluid communication with the central cavity of the pump casing and casing cover. The impeller of the fuel pump of the invention comprises: an impeller body formed in a substantially circular shape, the impeller body being rotatably disposed in the central cavity of the pump casing and casing cover; a plurality blades of generally V-shape cross-section disposed along an outer surface of the impeller body with a plurality of blade grooves defined between the blades, the blade grooves in fluid communication with the respective circular groove of the pump casing and casing cover; and a ridge projecting horizontally outwards from an outer surface of the impeller body at an inner area of each of the blade grooves; wherein each of the blades includes a fuel inlet blade portion disposed at an inner area of the blade and a fuel outlet blade portion disposed at an outer area of the blade, a boundary portion disposed between the fuel inlet blade portion and the fuel outlet blade portion, a front surface angle and a rear surface angle of each of the fuel inlet blade portion and the fuel outlet blade portion respectively varying relative to the length of each of the blades. 
     Each of the blades of the impeller is preferably configured to have the front surface angle and rear surface angle of the fuel inlet blade portion and the rear surface angle of the fuel outlet blade portion, respectively, gradually increasing, and the front surface angle of the fuel outlet blade portion first gradually decreasing and then gradually increasing, as they respectively approaches from a root area of the blade towards a tip area of the blade. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front sectional view illustrating the construction of a typical fuel pump for automobiles, to which the impeller of the present invention may be applied; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view illustrating the construction and operation of a conventional impeller installed in a fuel pump such as the fuel pump of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a partially broken perspective view of an impeller according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view illustrating the position and operation of the impeller of  FIG. 3  when the impeller is installed in a fuel pump; 
         FIG. 5  is a partially broken and enlarged perspective view of a part of the impeller of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a top plan view of the impeller of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a side sectional view taken along a part of the fuel inlet region of the impeller of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a side sectional view taken along a part of the fuel outlet region of the impeller of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a side sectional view illustrating flow of fuel about the impeller of  FIG. 3  that is installed in the fuel pump; 
         FIG. 10  is a graph for illustrating an example of the surface angle distribution of the impeller of  FIG. 3  with respect to the lengthwise section (i.e., diameter) of the impeller; and 
         FIG. 11  is a graph illustrating the operational pressure of a fuel pump as a function of the effective amount and pressure of fuel discharge according to a change in the fuel inlet and fuel outlet angles of the impeller of present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made in greater detail to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
       FIG. 3  is perspective views of an impeller according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 4  is a sectional view illustrating a fuel path in a pump housing when the impeller is installed in the fuel pump. The impeller of the present invention can be installed or assembled into the fuel pump of a vehicle in a manner and construction as illustrated and described above in connection with  FIG. 1 . 
     First, the general construction of the impeller will be described herein below with reference to  FIGS. 3-6 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , pump casing  8  is covered with casing cover  10 , and the pump casing  8  includes a central cavity  24  of circular cross-section which is sized to receive impeller  12  rotatably coupled in the cavity. The pump casing  8  and casing cover  10  respectively include circular flow channels or circulation grooves  20  and  22  of generally semicircular cross-section in fluid communication with the central cavity  24  of the casing  8 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3-6 , the impeller  12  comprises a plurality of blades  32  which are provided around the outer edge of impeller body  28  while being spaced out at regular or irregular intervals. Thus, a plurality of blade grooves  26  are defined between the blades  32 , and also between a circular outer rim  30  and the central impeller body  28 , such that each of the blade grooves  26  is vertically formed through the impeller  12  as shown. The blade grooves  26  are in fluid communication with the grooves  20  and  22  of the casing  8  and casing cover  10 . A horizontally projected ridge  38  is extending radially outwardly from the central body  28 , along an inner circumferential surface of each of the blade grooves  26  to divide each of the blade grooves  26  into upper and lower sections as depicted in  FIG. 4 . Extending from the ridge  38 , two oppositely disposed outer convex regions  34  and  36  are formed at the outer section of the central body  28  with the regions  34  and  36  preferably having the same or substantially similar surface radius as that of the flow channel grooves  20  and  22  in order to facilitate fluid circulation around the two opposing circular cavities defined respectively by the upper groove  20  and the upper convex region  34  and by the lower groove  22  and the lower convex region  36 . 
     To allow for a smooth flowing of fuel into and out of the blade grooves  26 , each of the blades  32  is formed in a V-shaped cross-sectional shape having oppositely inclined side surfaces extending from the center of the blade, with upper and lower inclined surfaces respectively formed on upper and lower parts of each side surface of each blade  32  to be symmetrical with respect to the horizontal ridge  38 . The preferred shape of each blade  32  is further described below in details. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4-5 , in particular with  FIG. 4  illustrating fuel currents within each of the blade grooves  26 , a fuel inlet (inflow) region  40  through which fuel flows into the blade groove  26  is defined at an inside area of the blade groove  26 , while a fuel outlet (outflow) region  42  through which the fuel flows out of the blade groove  26  is defined at an outside area of the blade groove  26 . In the present invention, the fuel inlet region  40  and the fuel outlet region  42  are divided by a boundary region  44  for facilitating independent and non-disturbing flow in the adjacent regions where the fuel flows in the opposite direction. The boundary region  44  extends between the fuel inlet region  40  and the fuel outlet region  42  while bent in one direction, preferably bent in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the impeller  12 . By this configuration, each blade  32  is composed of fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  (in the fuel inlet region  40 ) and fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  (in the fuel outlet region  42 ), however, they are not extending in a straight line relative to each other as in conventional impellers described above. 
     The fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  is configured to have a thickness preferably of the same throughout the V-shaped section. Optionally, in consideration of the actual manufacturing process for facilitating discharge of the impeller product from the mold, the thickness of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  can be gradually reduced to a small degree toward the terminal ends (i.e., edges) relative to the thickness at the central portions (i.e., the V-shaped central bent portions) of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a . Having substantially the same thickness throughout the section of the inlet blade portion  32 , the frictional loss in the fuel flow can be reduced because the inlet angle of the fuel becomes substantially the same. 
     In the drawings, reference θ 1  and θ 2  respectively denote a front surface angle (or inflow leading-face angle) and a rear surface angle (or inflow trailing-face angle) of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  as shown in  FIG. 7 , and reference θ 3  and θ 4  respectively denote a front surface angle (or outflow leading-face angle) and a rear surface angle (or outflow trailing-face angle) of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  as shown in  FIG. 8 , in which each surface angle θ 1 -θ 4  is measured relative to a reference line extending vertically from the outer surface of the impeller body  28 . Each of the front surface angle θ 1  and the rear surface angle θ 2  of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  are configured to have a larger angle than the front surface angle θ 3  of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b . The thickness of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  gradually reduces as it approaches from the central area of the blade to the terminal ends of the blade as shown  FIG. 8 . In addition, the rear surface angle θ 4  gradually increases as it approaches from the root of the blade (i.e., the hub of the impeller body in the fuel inlet region) to the tip of the blade, but it is preferable that the front surface angle θ 3  gradually decreases as it approaches from the root of the blade (i.e., the hub of the impeller body in the fuel inlet region) to the tip of the blade. 
     It is preferable that the front surface angle θ 1  and the rear surface angle θ 2  of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  are formed in the same angle, however, the tip portion can optionally be made a little thinner for facilitating discharge of the impeller product from the mold. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 10 , the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  in the fuel inlet region  40  is not configured to have the same blade angle between the root area of the impeller body  28  to the tip area of the outer rim  30 , but is configured to have a shape that both of the front surface angle θ 1  and the rear surface angle θ 2  increase gradually and that the rear surface angle θ 4  of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  in the fuel outlet region  42  also increases gradually. 
     To the contrary, however, the front surface angle θ 3  of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  in the fuel outlet region  42  is preferably shaped to generally decrease as approaching towards the tip area of the outer rim  30  in order to facilitate a smoother outlet flow of the fuel. If the front surface angle θ 3  of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  decreases continuously to the tip of the outer rim  30 , the central portion of each blade becomes thick and the cavity volume of the blade grooves becomes too small to function adequately. Thus, according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in  FIG. 10 , this drawback is offset by increasing the front surface angle θ 3  at the tip portion of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  to a small degree. 
     According to the preferred embodiment as shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  in the fuel outlet region  42  is configured to have a generally decreasing front surface angle θ 3  and a gradually increasing rear surface angle θ 4  as approaching to the tip portion of the blades, and thus, the thickness at V-shape bending area B in the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  becomes greater than the thickness at V-shape bending area B 1  in the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a.    
     According to the preferred embodiment as shown in  FIG. 9 , the rear surface angle θ 2  in the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  is shaped to gradually (or generally proportionally) increasing from about 27° to about 33° in its radial outward direction. However, in alternate embodiments, this rear surface angle θ 2  can increase in a range from about 20° to about 45° in its radial outward direction. In the preferred embodiment as shown in  FIG. 9 , the front surface angle θ 3  in the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  is shaped to gradually (or generally proportionally) decreasing from about 29° to about 25° in its radial outward direction. However, in alternate embodiments, this front surface angle θ 3  can decrease in a range from about 40° to about 20°. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , in operation the impeller  12  of the present invention starts rotating when the rotating shaft  18  of a driving motor (such as motor  400  assembled in the fuel pump as shown in  FIG. 1 ) rotates, and the fuel in the fuel tank (not shown) starts flowing through a fuel inlet port (such as fuel inlet port  230  of the fuel pump as shown in  FIG. 1 ). The fuel introduced to the blade grooves  26  from the fuel inlet port  230  is subject to a rotating force by the rotating blades  32  and leads to a circulation flow about the impeller  12 . More specifically, the fuel is first directed outwards in the blade groove  26  by the centrifugal force due to rotation of the impeller  12 , it then flows around the semicircular grooves  20  and  22  of the pump casing  8  and casing cover  10  and circulates about the impeller  12  in a similar manner illustrated in connection with  FIG. 2  described above. As the fuel circulates about the impeller  12  rotating in a high speed, the pressure of the fuel increases over a certain preset value and the fuel exits the fuel outlet port  240  is then directed to the combustion chamber (not shown) of the vehicle engine. 
     According to the present invention, because the front and rear surface angles of the blades  32  at the fuel inlet region  40  and the fuel outlet region  42  are selected to have varying slope of optimized degrees as described above, the circulation efficiency and discharging pressure of the fuel becomes maximized and the energy loss during the circulation becomes minimized. Moreover, the discharging amount of the fuel from the impeller can also be maximized by having the optimized blade configuration in which the front surface angle θ 3  in the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  is smaller than the rear surface angle θ 4 . Thus, the impeller of the invention provides a superior pump as compared to the conventional impellers discussed above. 
     A better understanding of the present invention may be obtained through the following examples which are set forth to illustrate, but are not to be construed as the limit of the present invention. The following examples were executed using similitude of fuel pumps having various impellers with different fuel guide angles by the Fluid Machinery Laboratory of Seoul National University of Korea to define the relation between the inlet guide angles within the fuel inlet regions and the outlet guide angles within the fuel outlet regions of the impellers. 
     EXAMPLE 1 
     An impeller was prepared, in which blades  32  were designed such that the average fuel inlet angles θ 1  and θ 2  of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  at the fuel inlet region  40  relative to a vertical plane of the impeller was set to 27°, and the average fuel outlet angle θ 3  of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  at the fuel outlet region  42  relative to a vertical plane of the impeller was set to 25°. A similitude of a fuel pump having the impeller was operated while sequentially changing the operational pressure, and a variation in the amount (and pressure) of fuel discharge was measured. The measuring results are given in Table 1 and a performance curve of the fuel pump is given in the graph of  FIG. 11 . 
     EXAMPLE 2 
     An impeller was prepared, in which blades  32  were designed such that the average fuel inlet angles θ 1  and θ 2  of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  at the fuel inlet region  40  relative to a vertical plane of the impeller was set to 32°, and the average fuel outlet angle θ 3  of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  at the fuel outlet region  42  relative to a vertical plane of the impeller was set to 38°. A similitude of a fuel pump having the impeller was operated while sequentially changing the operational pressure, and a variation in the amount (and pressure) of fuel discharge was measured. The measuring results are given in Table 1 and a performance curve of the fuel pump is given in the graph of  FIG. 11 . 
     EXAMPLE 3 
     An impeller was prepared, in which blades  32  were designed such that the average fuel inlet angles θ 1  and θ 2  of the fuel inlet blade portion  32   a  at the fuel inlet region  40  relative to a vertical plane of the impeller was set to 32°, and the average fuel outlet angle θ 3  of the fuel outlet blade portion  32   b  at the fuel outlet region  42  relative to a vertical plane of the impeller was set to 25°. A similitude of a fuel pump having the impeller was operated while sequentially changing the operational pressure, and a variation in the amount (and pressure) of fuel discharge was measured. The measuring results are given in Table 1 and a performance curve of the fuel pump is given in the graph of  FIG. 11 . 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Average 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Average fuel 
                 fuel 
                 Variation in 
                   
               
               
                   
                 inlet angle 
                 outlet 
                 amount 
                 Maximum 
               
               
                 Section 
                 (θ1 and θ2) 
                 angle (θ3) 
                 of fuel discharge 
                 efficiency point 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Example 1 
                 27° 
                 25° 
                 Increase by 5-8% 
                 Move to high 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 from reference 
                 pressure side 
               
               
                 Example 2 
                 32° 
                 38° 
                 Reference 
                 Reference 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 discharge 
               
               
                 Example 3 
                 32° 
                 25° 
                 Increase by 2-5% 
                 Move to high 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 from reference 
                 pressure side 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     From Table 1 and the graph of  FIG. 11 , it is noted that, in each of Examples 1 and 3 of the present invention, the maximum efficiency point is moved to a high-pressure side, and the amount and pressure of fuel discharge during a high-pressure operation of the fuel pump is further increased in comparison with the reference Example 2. In general the amount of fuel discharge is proportional to the discharge pressure of the fuel in fuel pumps. 
     Therefore, when the impeller of the present invention with a fuel guide angle of an inlet guide region being different from a fuel guide angle of an outlet guide region is used in a fuel pump for automobiles, the fuel pump provides a higher operational performance at a high-pressure operation. 
     As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a fuel pump for vehicles and an impeller thereof, that can improve or otherwise maximize the amount and pressure of fuel discharge in the fuel pumps by controlling the fuel inlet angle and the fuel outlet angle of the blades of the impeller, thus providing high operational pressures in the fuel pumps and also improving operational performances of the fuel pumps. 
     Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.