Patent ID: 7819258

Claim:
A fuel filter assembly comprising: a housing connected between a fuel tank and a pump pumping fuel from the fuel tank and supplying filtered fuel to a common rail injecting the filtered fuel to an engine; a filter incorporated in inner circumference of the housing to filter impurities of the fuel pumped from the fuel tank; and a center pipe disposed in inner space of the filter in a longitudinal direction of the filter and substantially enclosed by the filter, wherein lower portion of the center pipe is spaced from inner bottom portion of the housing with a predetermined distance, the center pipe discharging the filtered fuel collected in the lower portion of the center pipe by the pump, wherein the center pipe includes: a hollow pipe body disposed over the inner bottom portion of the housing with the predetermined distance; and an upper body extending upwards from the hollow pipe body, the upper body tapered outwards with a predetermined angle with respect to longitudinal axis of the hollow pipe body, wherein outlet of the upper body is coupled to a pipeline connected to the pump, and wherein the support frame comprises: a frame body displaced on the inner bottom portion of the housing, wherein a portion of the frame body supports the lower portion of the center pipe upwards; ribs formed on the frame body and enclosing the center pipe by a predetermined interval to secure rigidity and form the opened passages to allow the fuel to pass therethrough and to be collected at the lower portion of the center pipe; and a gap forming end disposed at upper end of the support frame to allow an air discharge end portion between the upper body of the center pipe and the gap forming end of the support frame to collect air therebetween and to have an inclined section to correspond to the upper body of the center pipe.