Dual Fuel Pumping System with Equalizer Tube for Additive Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fuel dispensing units face issues with additive contamination and lack of control over additive distribution, leading to inefficiencies and safety risks, particularly when switching between pure fuel and additive fuel deliveries.
Innovation Solution
A dual pumping system with separate units for pure fuel and additive fuel, combined with a manifold and equalizer tube to manage fall-back pressures and overfilling, and degassing devices to ensure accurate fuel measurement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the additive unit is connected at the suction side of the pumping unit, then the additive is sucked and no longer pressurized (reducing explosion risk), but the sucked additive circulates inside the pumping unit and generates pollution or contamination inside the pumping unit, fuel nozzle and hose
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two separate pumping units: a first pumping unit dedicated to delivering fuel with additive, and a second pumping unit dedicated to delivering pure fuel. This segmentation prevents contamination between the two fuel types and eliminates the circulation problem while maintaining safety benefits of suction-side additive injection.
Solution Approach 2:
The additive injection function is extracted and dedicated to the first pumping unit only. The second pumping unit is completely separated from the additive system, ensuring that pure fuel deliveries are not contaminated by additive circulation. This extraction resolves the contradiction by isolating the harmful circulation effect to only the unit that requires additive delivery.
2Ease of operation
If a blend of additive is requested after a delivery of pure fuel, then a lack of additive occurs due to the volume of fuel present between the nozzle of the fuel dispensing unit and the additive injection point
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-fills the additive injection point and associated conduits with the correct amount of additive before pure fuel delivery begins. When switching from pure fuel to additive fuel, the preliminary positioning of the additive in the system eliminates the lag time and ensures immediate correct dosing, preventing both over-dosing and under-dosing scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system monitors the state of the additive injection point and the fuel flow conditions, providing feedback to the additive dosing mechanism. This feedback loop allows the system to adjust additive delivery in real-time based on actual conditions, ensuring precise additive quantity control regardless of previous delivery states.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If two distinctive pumping units are used, then additive contamination is prevented and pure fuel delivery is ensured, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Both pumping units share common infrastructure including the fuel storage tank, manifold, filter devices, and control system. While the pumping units themselves are separate to prevent contamination, they utilize shared components to minimize overall system complexity. The manifold with integrated filter devices serves both units, reducing the need for duplicate components.
4Productivity
If the manifold connects both pumping units to the same fuel tank with filter devices, then fuel delivery is managed efficiently, but fall back pressure appears when one pumping unit is stopped after fuel delivery
Solution Approach 1:
The filter device acts as an intermediary element between the fuel tank and each pumping unit. It includes a check valve that allows fuel to flow from the tank to the pumping unit but prevents backflow when the pumping unit stops. This intermediary component resolves the pressure issue by blocking the reverse flow path while maintaining efficient forward fuel delivery during operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively prevents additive contamination, ensures accurate fuel delivery, and reduces safety risks by managing fall-back pressures and overfilling, while allowing high-speed refueling capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
an equalizer tube (11) arranged to fluidly connect the first recovery chamber (18) and the second recovery chamber (19)... allowing fuel to pass from one recovery chamber to another in order to compensate for fall-back pressures
Implementation Method 2
a first air separator for circulating a part of the fuel with low rate of gas toward a first fuel supply line (15) and to evacuate a gas-enriched part of the fuel toward a first recovery chamber (18)
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
The invention relates to a pumping system (2) for a fuel dispensing unit (1), comprising a first pumping unit (3) configured to suck fuel from a fuel storage tank and comprising a first air separator for circulating a part of the fuel with low rate of gas toward a first fuel supply line (15) and to evacuate a gas-enriched part of the fuel toward a first recovery chamber (18), a second pumping unit (4) configured to suck fuel from the fuel storage tank and comprising a second air separator for circulating a part of the fuel with low rate of gas toward a second fuel supply line (16) and to evacuate a gas-enriched part of the fuel toward a second recovery chamber (19), and a manifold (8) comprising a fuel inlet (34) connected to the fuel storage tank, a first fuel outlet (35) connected to a first supply inlet of the first pumping unit (3), and a second fuel outlet ( 36) connected to a second supply inlet (38) of the second pumping unit (4). The invention also relates to a fuel dispensing unit (1) for refueling vehicles.