Backflow preventing combination for vehicle fuel tanks

Abstract: The valve includes a tubular body (10) for fitting in the filler pipe of a fuel tank and having an inner annular valve seat (14) facing into the tank. An obturator constituted by a bell-shaped element (12) is imprisoned in a portion of the tubular body (10) between the valve seat (14) and the end of the body (10) facing the tank and has its open end facing the tank. The bell-shaped element (12) is freely slidable in the body (10) and can engage the seat under the action of fuel blowing back up the filler pipe due to excessive pressure in the tank. The bell element (12) includes a skirt (16) radially spaced from the surrounding wall of the tubular body (10) so as to allow fuel to flow into the tank. It also has a sealing surface preferably defined by the periphery of an ogival end wall (18).

Description: The present invention relates to a backflow preventing combination for vehicle fuel tanks, comprising an upright portion of a filler pipe and a non-return valve enclosed within the said upright portion. Prior art non-return valves are already known which comprise a tubular valve body fitted in the upright portion of the filler pipe, an internal annular valve seat facing the tank, and an obturator which is imprisoned in a portion of the tubular body between the seat and the end of the body nearer the tank so as to be freely slidable in the tubular body and capable of engaging the seat under the action of the fuel should this blow back up the filling pipe as a result of an excess of pressure in the tank. In such known non-return valves, the obturator is constituted by a hollow ball made of plastics material contained in a cage. This known design has two disadvantages. A first disadvantage is that the ball tends to crack and fill with fuel, becoming heavier to a point at which the force exerted by fuel blowing back from the tank cannot raise it high enough to engage the valve seat. Another disadvantage is that the hollow plastics balls are made by blow-moulding in a mould constituted by two halves which leave a seam around a meridian of the ball. When the seam engages the valve seat, the ball does not seal the valve satisfactorily. On the other hand, in a low-cost manufacturing process, it is not practical to eliminate this seam. The object of the invention is to provide a backflow preventing combination of the type mentioned above which overcomes the two disadvantages described and is both easy to manufacture and cheaper than prior art valves. This object is achieved according to the present invention by means of a backflow preventing combination according to Claim 1. In a combination according to the invention, the obturator of the non-return valve is fundamentally different from a ball obturator in that, as it is open at the bottom, it is unable to retain liquid fuel. When a spurt of fuel reaches the obturator, this fuel floods the cavity in the obturator and exerts both a hydrostatic and a hydrodynamic upward thrust on it. This double thrust ensures that the valve closes effectively. When the blow-back of fuel stops, the fuel flows back into the tank. As will be better understood from the description with reference to the drawings, a bell-shaped obturator according to the invention is suitable for moulding in two-half-moulds or dies, the junction of which is not in correspondence with the sealing surface which cooperates with the valve seat. Any seam left by the junction between the two dies will be in a region of the obturator which has no sealing function. Document US-A-5 282 497 discloses a non-return valve for inhibiting over-filling of a vehicle fuel tank. This known valve comprises a tubular valve body adapted to be fitted in a fuel tank at a lower terminal end of a filler pipe in such a position that the longitudinal axis of the valve body is substantially horizontal. The valve body has an internal annular valve seat facing into the tank. An obturator is imprisoned in a portion of the tubular valve body between the valve seat and the end of the body nearer the tank so as to be slidable in the valve body. The tubular valve body contains a spring for normally biasing the obturator against the valve seat so as to define a "normally closed" position. The obturator is constituted by a bell-shaped element which is open towards the tank and has a skirt spaced radially from the surrounding wall of the tubular body. Additional characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred but non-limitative embodiment, illustrated in the appended drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a partially sectioned elevation view of a fuel tank with a filling pipe incorporating a non-return valve; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the non-return valve; Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of this valve, and Figure 4 is an enlarged cross section along the plane indicated IV-IV in Figure 2. With reference to Figure 1, a fuel tank T (for petrol, diesel or the like) has a filler pipe P closed by a cap C. A non-return valve V is fitted in the filler pipe P. L indicates the level of fuel in the tank T while S indicates the space above the level L. If the pressure in the space S rises above atmospheric pressure, for instance as a result of overheating due to the vehicle being stopped in the sun, this pressure tends to make the fuel rise up the pipe P. Should the cap C be removed under these conditions for refilling with fuel, in the absence of the non-return valve V, the fuel could overflow, even violently, from the mouth of the pipe P. The purpose of the non-return valve V is to prevent just such an occurrence by preventing the fuel from rising up the filler pipe P as a result of the high pressure in the space S but to allow the tank T to be filled in any case. With reference to Figures 2 to 4, a non-return valve according to the invention comprises only two parts made of fuel-resistant plastics material, for example an acetal resin. One of these parts, indicated 10, is a tubular valve body which can be fitted in known manner into the filler pipe P of Figure 1. The other part, indicated 12, is an obturator. The obturator 12 is imprisoned in the tubular body 10 in a way which will be clarified below. The body 10 has an inner, essentially frusto-conical annular valve seat 14 (Figure 2) and is installed with the seat facing towards the tank. The obturator 12, which will now be described, is imprisoned in a portion of the tubular body 10 between the seat 14 and the end of the body 10 which, when this is fitted in the vehicle, is the lowermost and faces into the tank. As can be seen in Figures 2 and 3, the obturator 12 is constituted by a bell-shaped element opening towards the tank. The skirt of the bell-shaped element 12 is indicated 16 and the end wall is indicated 18. The outside of the skirt 16 has spacer ribs 20 which slidably engage the surrounding wall of the tubular body 10. The ribs 20 maintain the obturator 12 coaxially in, and spaced radially from the surrounding wall of the body 10 so as to allow fuel to flow into the tank during refuelling. In order to facilitate the flow of fuel into the tank, the end wall 18 is, to advantage, ogival, as shown in the drawings. The periphery of the ogival wall 18 defines an annular sealing surface shaped to cooperate with the annular seat 14. In order to hold the obturator 12 slidably imprisoned in the tubular body 10, the ribs 20 have projections 22 of substantially saw-tooth profile in longitudinal section. This profile is defined by a straight edge 22a and a ramp edge 22b. The straight edge 22a faces the open end of the skirt 16 and the height of the ramp edge 22b decreases from the end of the straight edge 22a towards the opposite end of the skirt 16. Apertures 24 are formed in the peripheral wall of the tubular body 10 and the projections 22 are permanently engaged therein. As a result of this, no additional parts are needed to hold the obturator in the valve body whereas, in the prior art ball valves, a third, cage element was needed to hold the ball in the valve body. The two parts 10 and 12 constituting the valve are fitted together simply by the insertion of the obturator 12 into the body 10 in the direction of the arrow A of Figure 2 until the ramp edges 22b engage the open lower rim of the body 10. At this point, thanks to the resilience of the material forming the body 10, this rim expands in the direction of the arrows B of Figure 2 under the cam action of the inclined edges 22b until the projections 22 snap-engage the apertures 24. Once they are snap engaged, the tubular body 10 and the obturator 12 are permanently interconnected, owing to the fact that the straight edges 22a of the projections 22 prevent the obturator 12 from being extracted from the fixed body since, when the valve is open, the straight edges 22a bear against the corresponding lower edges of the apertures 24. When the non-return valve is hit by fuel blowing back from the tank, the fuel floods into the bell 12, urging it upwards with both hydrostatic and hydrodynamic thrust until it reaches the position, illustrated by the broken line in Figure 2, in which it closes the valve. Once the blow-back ceases, the fuel flows out of the bell 12 which returns to its position in which the valve is open, as shown by the unbroken line of Figure 2. A bell obturator like the one illustrated can be injection-moulded in two half-moulds or dies, the junction between which is remote from the sealing surface defined by the ogival portion 18. To advantage, the join is in the position indicated by the line 26 of Figure 3, thus forming a harmless seam. As can be seen, this line 26 is in the portion immediately below the projections 22 of the ribs 20.

Claims: A backflow preventing combination for vehicle fuel tanks , comprising an upright portion of a filler pipe (P) for the tank (T) and a non-return valve (V) enclosed within said upright portion, the valve comprising a tubular valve body (10) fitted in the upright portion of the filler pipe (P) and having an internal annular valve seat (14) facing towards the first side of the filler pipe portion directed towards the tank (T) and an obturator (12) of plastics material imprisoned in a position of the tubular body (10) between the seat (14) and the end of the body (10) nearer the tank (T) so as to be freely slidable in the tubular body and capable of engaging the seat (14) under the action of the fuel when this rises up the filler pipe (P) as a result of an excess of pressure in the tank (T), wherein the obturator is constituted by a bell-shaped element (12) which is open towards the tank (T) and has a skirt (16) spaced radially from the surrounding wall of the tubular body (10) to allow fuel to flow into the tank (T) and having a sealing surface (18) facing the seat (14) and adapted to cooperate therewith. A combination according to Claim 1, characterised in that the bell-shaped element (12) constituting the obturator has an ogival end wall (18) the periphery of which defines the said sealing surface. A combination according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, characterised in that the skirt (16) of the bell-shaped element (12) has outer spacer ribs (20) which slidably engage the surrounding wall of the tubular body (10), apertures (24) being formed in this surrounding wall in correspondence with the ribs (20) and the ribs (20) having projections (22) which engage the apertures to prevent the bell-shaped element (12) from sliding out of the body (10). A combination according to Claim 3, characterised in that the said projections (22) snap engage in the said apertures (24) as a result of resilient expansion of the tubular body (10). A combination according to Claim 4, characterised in that the projections (22) are substantially saw-toothed in longitudinal profile, with a straight edge (22a) facing the open end of the skirt (16) and a ramp edge (22b) the height of which decreases from the top of the straight edge (22a) towards the opposite end of the skirt (16) so as to enable the bell-shaped obturator (12) to be snap engaged into the tubular body (10) by the force fitting of the projections (22) through the open end of the skirt (16) into positions in which the projections (22) are in the respective apertures (24).

Inventors: LOBASCIO OSVALDO, ROCCA ANDREA, LOBASCIO, OSVALDO, ROCCA, ANDREA
Applicants: ERSI ITALIA SPA, ERSI ITALIA S.P.A.
Application year: 1995
Main classification: F16K15
IPC codes: F16K15, B60K15