Motor Vehicle Tank Venting Device with Common Nipple
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional venting devices for motor vehicle tanks face challenges in handling high gas volume flows during operation and refueling, leading to increased stress or destruction of fuel vapor filters due to low separation efficiency and complex fluid management, which results in high component count and production costs.
Innovation Solution
A venting device with a common connection nipple on the filler pipe for both ventilation access and degassing outlet, utilizing a separate liquid separator with a larger volume and a guide bend to separate gases from liquids within the filler pipe, allowing gases to escape through a degassing outlet while liquids drain back into the tank, reducing the load on the fuel vapor filter and minimizing components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional separating nipples on the filler pipe are used, then the device complexity is low, but the separation efficiency is insufficient for high gas volume flows
Solution Approach 1:
The venting system is segmented into separate functional components: a common connection nipple for fluid connections, a guide bend for flow direction, and a separate liquid separator for efficient separation. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, achieving high separation efficiency while maintaining reasonable device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A separate liquid separator is introduced as an intermediary component between the filler pipe and the fuel vapor filter. This intermediary device handles the separation function externally, allowing the filler pipe and connection nipple to maintain their simple structures while achieving efficient liquid-gas separation through the dedicated separator unit.
2Reliability
If separate connection nipples for inlet and outlet are used, then the separation efficiency is improved, but the device complexity and production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The common connection nipple is designed with multi-functionality, serving as a universal connection point for both the ventilation line inlet and the degassing line outlet. This single component replaces what would traditionally require multiple separate connection nipples, reducing device complexity and production costs while maintaining the necessary separation efficiency through the integrated system design.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple connection functions are merged into a single common connection nipple on the filler pipe. The nipple simultaneously accommodates the ventilation line connection for gas inlet and the degassing line connection for liquid outlet, consolidating what would be separate components into one integrated element, thereby reducing component count and simplifying the overall device structure.
3Device complexity
If the liquid separator is integrated into the filler pipe, then the device complexity is reduced, but the working volume for separation is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The liquid separator is positioned in a separate spatial location from the filler pipe, connected through the degassing line. This dimensional separation allows the separator to have a large working volume for effective liquid-gas separation without increasing the complexity of the filler pipe structure. The separator operates as an independent volumetric element in the system architecture.
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 solution effectively manages high gas volume flows with fewer components and lower production costs, ensuring reliable operation and extended filter life by using the filler pipe's volume for separation and directing gases to the vapor filter while liquids are returned to the tank.
Implementation Method 1
a guide bend (6) arranged and shaped in such a way that vapor entering the filler pipe (1) through the vent access (3) is guided between the inner wall of the filler pipe (1) and the guide bend (6) along the circumference of the filler pipe (1), so that a gas portion of the entering vapor escapes through the degassing outlet (5) and a liquid portion of the incoming vapor drains away
Implementation Method 2
The gas volume flow is conducted upstream of the liquid separator (10) via a vent access (3) into a filler pipe (1) of the motor vehicle tank and removed from the filler pipe (1) via a degassing outlet (5) before it reaches the liquid separator (10)
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
AI summary
A venting device for venting a motor vehicle tank, comprising a filler pipe (1), a vent line (2) which is fluidly connectable to the motor vehicle tank at a first end and is fluidly connected to the filler pipe (1) at a second end opposite the first end via a vent inlet (3), and a degassing line (4) which is fluidly connected to the filler pipe (1) at a first end via a degassing outlet (5), wherein the degassing line (4) is fluidly connected to a liquid separator (10) at a second end opposite the first end, wherein the vent inlet (3) and the degassing outlet (5) are formed on a common connection nipple (9) on the filler pipe (1).