Patent ID: 8444406

Claim:
A gear pump for pumping fuel from a fuel tank to a high-pressure fuel pump, comprising: a housing; a pump chamber formed in the housing and having circumferential walls; a pair of gear wheels meshing with one another disposed in the pump chamber; pumping conduits formed between outer circumferences of the gear wheels and the circumferential walls of the pump chamber that border on these outer circumferences, in which the fuel is pumped along; and a respective groove formed in each of the circumferential walls of the pump chamber, within angular ranges of the circumferential walls extending toward a pressure chamber, each of the respective grooves communicating with the pressure chamber, whereby a radial spacing between an outer circumference of the gear wheels and the circumferential walls is increased, and wherein the radial spacing between the outer circumference of the gear wheels and the circumferential walls assumes different values within the grooves, wherein relative to a respective axis of rotation of the gear wheels, ends of the grooves are disposed identically in the pressure chamber, and beginnings of the grooves are disposed away from the ends at different angular spacings.