Patent ID: 8017009

Claim:
A fuel filter comprising an elongated flat filter housing having a longitudinal axis, at least first and second longitudinally extending side walls, and opposing ends extending vertically to said longitudinal axis, at least one elongated flat filter element contained in the elongated flat filter housing, the at least one elongated flat filter element being arranged overall as planar or flat in shape having a clean side and a dirty side which are both planar and are situated parallel to each other, the clean side being disposed between a first elongated surface of the elongated flat filter element and the first longitudinally extending side wall of the elongated flat filter housing, and the dirty side being disposed between a second elongated surface of the elongated flat filter element and the second longitudinally extending side wall of the elongated flat filter housing, which second elongated surface opposes the first elongated surface, a fuel inlet provided on an end of the elongated flat filter housing delivering fuel to be filtered into the elongated flat filter housing and a fuel outlet provided on an end of the elongated flat filter housing delivering filtered fuel from the elongated flat filter housing, at least one wall encapsulating the clean side of the elongated flat filter element, the at least one encapsulating wall being disposed between the clean side of the elongated flat filter element and the first longitudinally extending side wall of the elongated flat filter housing, wherein the elongated flat filter element and the at least one encapsulating wall together constitute a filter insert which is inserted into the elongated flat filter housing, and a gap in the region of the fuel inlet extending in the longitudinal direction of the elongated flat filter housing between the at least one wall encapsulating the clean side of the elongated flat filter element and the first longitudinally extending side wall of the elongated flat filter housing, wherein the at least one wall encapsulating the clean side of the elongated flat filter element has grooves in the side of the wall oriented toward the first side longitudinally extending wall of the elongated flat filter housing forming part of the gap for uniformly distributing fuel from the fuel inlet over the elongated flat filter element to the dirty side of the elongated flat filter element.