Patent ID: 7318422

Claim:
A fuel pump, comprising: an electric motor including a casing enclosing at least a portion of the motor and a drive shaft extending from the casing and driven for rotation about an axis by the motor; a separate housing releasably coupled to the casing, enclosing at least part of the drive shaft and having an inlet through which fuel enters the housing and an outlet through which fuel exits the housing; an inner gear rotor in the housing and coaxially aligned with and coupled to the drive shaft for rotation with the drive shaft about an axis; an outer gear rotor in the housing, encircling the inner gear rotor and driven for rotation by the inner gear rotor about an axis offset from the axis of rotation of the inner gear rotor providing a plurality of pumping chambers between the inner gear rotor and outer gear rotor; and a wear plate in the housing and disposed between the motor and the inner and outer gear rotors, and having an inlet port in communication with the inlet and through which fuel enters the pumping chambers, and an outlet port in communication with the outlet and through which fuel is discharged from the pumping chambers.