Abstract: A fuel system valve assembly may include a housing, a spring, and a body. The housing may have a fuel passage defined in part or more by a fuel passage wall. The fuel passage wall may have a seat and a cylindrical section. The cylindrical section may have a constant diameter and may be located downstream of the seat. In use, the body may reciprocate linearly in the housing between an open position and a closed position. The body may be biased to the closed position by the spring. The body may abut the seat when the body is in the closed position.

Abstract: In one implementation, a liquid pump includes a pumping element, an electric motor and a brush housing. The electric motor is coupled to the pumping element to drive the pumping element for rotation, and the motor has a commutator, brushes engaged with the commutator to provide electricity to the commutator and at least one biasing member yieldably biasing the brushes into engagement with the commutator. The brush housing defines brush cavities in which the brushes are received, where the brushes have a first surface engaged with the commutator and a second surface spaced from the first surface and acted upon by said at least one biasing member. The second surface is inclined at an acute included angle relative to the first surface.

Abstract: In at least some implementations, a fluid pump includes a drive shaft including at least one drive surface and a pumping element. The pumping element includes an opening in which a portion of the drive shaft is received so that the pumping element is driven for rotation by the drive shaft, and the opening is larger than the drive shaft to provide a clearance between the pumping element and at least part of the drive shaft. The pumping element also includes at least one engagement surface arranged to be engaged by the drive surface of the drive shaft when the drive shaft is rotated where one or both of the drive surface and the engagement surface are angled to provide a surface area of engagement between the drive surface and engagement surface that is at least 1% of the surface area of the drive surface.

Abstract: A fuel system valve assembly may include a housing, a spring, and a body. The housing may have a fuel passage defined in part or more by a fuel passage wall. The fuel passage wall may have a seat and a cylindrical section. The cylindrical section may have a constant diameter and may be located downstream of the seat. In use, the body may reciprocate linearly in the housing between an open position and a closed position. The body may be biased to the closed position by the spring. The body may abut the seat when the body is in the closed position.

Abstract: A pressure control valve has a non-uniformly tapered valve bore that has an increasing diameter as it extends downstream. An interface angle, defined in part between a valve ball and the valve bore in the area of the smallest gap between them, increases as the valve ball is increasingly displaced away from a valve seat of the valve bore.

Abstract: In one implementation, a liquid pump includes a pumping element, an electric motor and a brush housing. The electric motor is coupled to the pumping element to drive the pumping element for rotation, and the motor has a commutator, brushes engaged with the commutator to provide electricity to the commutator and at least one biasing member yieldably biasing the brushes into engagement with the commutator. The brush housing defines brush cavities in which the brushes are received, where the brushes have a first surface engaged with the commutator and a second surface spaced from the first surface and acted upon by said at least one biasing member. The second surface is inclined at an acute included angle relative to the first surface.

Abstract: A fluid pump may include an electric motor having an output shaft driven for rotation about an axis and a pump assembly coupled to the output shaft. The pump assembly has a first cap and a second cap with at least one pumping channel defined between the first and second caps, and an impeller between the first and second caps. The impeller is driven for rotation by the output shaft of the motor and includes a plurality of vanes in communication with the at least one pumping channel. Each vane has a root segment and a tip segment and a line from a base of the root segment to an outer edge of the tip segment trails a line extending from the axis of rotation to the base of the root segment by an angle of between 0° and 30° relative to the direction of rotation of the impeller.

Abstract: A fluid pump includes an electric motor having a commutator and one or more brushes communicated with the commutator, and a pumping assembly driven by the electric motor. An outer shell of the pump encloses at least a portion of the electric motor and the pumping assembly, a cap is carried by the outer shell and has a brush passage formed therein for each brush, with each brush passage including a cavity defined by at least one wall. A brush cap has an end received in the cavity with an interference fit wherein the end of the brush cap has an outer diameter that is larger than the diameter of the cavity and the end of the brush cap has strength that causes it to deform upon installation into the cavity without causing significant plastic deformation of the wall of the cavity.

Abstract: A pressure control valve has a non-uniformly tapered valve bore that has an increasing diameter as it extends downstream. An interface angle, defined in part between a valve ball and the valve bore in the area of the smallest gap between them, increases as the valve ball is increasingly displaced away from a valve seat of the valve bore.

Abstract: A pressure control valve has a non-uniformly tapered valve bore that has an increasing diameter as it extends downstream. An interface angle, defined in part between a valve ball and the valve bore in the area of the smallest gap between them, increases as the valve ball is increasingly displaced away from a valve seat of the valve bore.

Abstract: A low cost bypass pressure regulator preferably for a returnless fuel system supplying liquid fuel to a fuel injector of the combustion engine. The pressure regulator preferably has a valve head disposed at least in part in a valve chamber defined by a circumferentially continuous inner surface carried by a valve body and which transitions radially outward with respect to a center axis and in a downstream direction. The valve head preferably tapers radially inward from a downstream peripheral outer edge of the head. In a closed position, the valve head engages a seat carried by the body with the peripheral outer edge downstream of the seat and radially spaced from and fitted closely to the valve chamber continuous inner surface thus defining a close fit region therebetween. As the valve head opens, the flow cross-section enlarges which reduces or eliminates oscillation of the valve head.

Abstract: A fuel filter and vapor separator arrangement having at least one layer of liquid fuel permeable material defining at least one substantially enclosed cavity. The permeable material has at least one opening to provide fluid communication of liquid fuel within the cavity with an inlet of a high pressure fuel pump outside the cavity. A jet pump and/or fuel vapor vent is arranged relative to the cavity to facilitate the elimination of fuel vapor flowing to the high pressure fuel pump.

Abstract: A multi-stage fuel pump has a drive assembly, a pump assembly including first and second pumping elements disposed between various plates of the pump assembly, and first and second pumping channels each having an inlet and an outlet circumferentially offset from the inlet and the outlet of the other pumping channel. Desirably, the pumping channels are offset to control or orient the forces acting on the drive assembly, pumping elements and the plates of the pump assembly, including radial, axial and torsional forces.

Abstract: A multi-stage fuel pump has a drive assembly, a pump assembly including first and second pumping elements disposed between various plates of the pump assembly, and first and second pumping channels each having an inlet and an outlet circumferentially offset from the inlet and the outlet of the other pumping channel. Desirably, the pumping channels are offset to control or orient the forces acting on the drive assembly, pumping elements and the plates of the pump assembly, including radial, axial and torsional forces.

Abstract: A fuel system for a marine engine has a recirculation cooler which receives a portion of fuel discharged from a fuel pump, cools that fuel, and then returns the cooled fuel to the inlet of the fuel pump to reduce fuel vapor formation and to cool the pump as the cooled fuel flows through the pump. The recirculation cooler is preferably formed of a material of high thermal conductivity and has a water passage adjacent to the fuel passage to reduce the temperature of the fuel that flows through the recirculation cooler. The recirculation cooler is preferably used in high heat applications or with a speed controlled fuel pump, with a pulse width modulated drive, for example. In these applications, during at least some fuel flow conditions, the flow of fuel through the fuel pump may be insufficient to cool the fuel pump motor and may cause increased fuel vapor formation.

Abstract: A fuel pressure regulator is provided between the outlet of the fuel pump and an inlet of a jet pump to control the flow of fuel to the jet pump. Desirably, during low voltage conditions in a vehicle, the flow of fuel to the jet pump may be temporarily restricted or terminated to decrease the amount of fuel diverted from the engine and thereby increase the flow rate of fuel to the engine and improve the performance of the engine. The regulator may also function to bypass fuel delivered from the fuel pump in excess of the engine fuel demand to control the pressure of and limit the maximum pressure of fuel supplied to the engine.

Abstract: A no-return system for supplying fuel from a tank to a fuel injected internal combustion engine of an automotive vehicle in response to the fuel demand of the engine. The pump supplies more fuel than that required by the operating engine and the excess fuel is diverted from the engine by a bypass fuel pressure regulator and returned to the tank through a fluid-activatable switch movable to electrically open and closed states in response to the rate of flow of excess fuel through the switch. An electric control circuit is responsive to the state of the switch to change the magnitude of the power applied to the electric motor to change its operating speed and thereby modulate the output fuel flow rate of the pump in response to the fuel demand of the engine.

Abstract: A lateral channel fuel pump with a stator having a pumping channel and a second channel each of which cooperates with vanes in a rotor driven to rotate by an electric motor to generate pressure within both the pumping channel and the second channel. The second channel and preferably cavities communicating with it are disposed so that the fuel pressure generated within the channel and any cavities produces forces which, when combined with the forces generated in the pumping channel, provide net forces which are substantially equal or uniform across the lower face of the rotor so that the forces produced by outlet fuel acting across the upper face of the rotor do not tend to cock or tilt the rotor relative to the stator. Further, the second channel and any cavities increase the total force acting upwardly on the lower face to reduce the magnitude of the net force on the rotor urging the rotor towards the stator and hence, to reduce the frictional forces between the rotor and stator.

Abstract: A fuel pump module constructed to be disposed in a vehicle fuel tank has a primary fuel pump with a fuel inlet disposed adjacent the bottom of the module and a fuel outlet which delivers pressurized fuel to an engine and also a jet pump disposed in a recess of the module and closely adjacent the bottom of the fuel tank to draw fuel into the module from the fuel tank in response to fuel flow through the jet pump. Disposing the jet pump in the recess of the module and closely adjacent to the bottom of the fuel tank enables the jet pump to draw substantially all of the fuel from the fuel tank into the module to ensure that the primary fuel pump can deliver an adequate supply of fuel to the engine even during extremely low fuel level conditions in the fuel tank.

Abstract: An electric motor turbine-type fuel pump having an impeller with a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes disposed about the periphery of the impeller with each vane being inclined relative to a plane defined by the axis of rotation of the impeller and a radius of the impeller extending to a leading face of that vane with the leading face of each vane having a generally concave or cup shape. The vanes have a base connected to a main body of the impeller and a free end or tip radially outwardly of the base. Preferably, the vanes are inclined such that the tip trails the base as the impeller rotates and are generally arcuate along both their axial and radial extent. This orientation of the vane and the concave or cup shape of each vane improves the circulation of the fuel about the periphery of the impeller to improve the efficiency of the fuel pump.