Patent Application
20210062770
The present disclosure relates to fuel delivery systems for internal combustion engines.
Internal combustion engines include fuel delivery systems that are configured to transport fuel from a storage container, such as a fuel tank, to the individual cylinders of the internal combustion engine.
A fuel delivery system for an engine includes a fuel rail, a fuel injector, and a clip. The fuel rail has a cup that defines an opening. The fuel injector has an upper end that is disposed within the opening such that the cup and fuel injector are axially aligned. The clip is secured to the fuel injector and engages the cup to orient the fuel injector radially relative to the cup. The clip has a tab that extends outward relative to the fuel injector. The tab defines a central orifice that is configured to receive a fastener. The fastener is configured to mount a wire harness.
A fuel delivery system for an engine includes a fuel injector and a clip. The fuel injector is configured to engage a fuel rail cup. The clip is secured to the fuel injector and is configured to engage the fuel rail cup to prevent relative rotation between the fuel injector and the fuel rail cup. The clip has a tab that extends outward relative to the fuel injector. The tab is configured to receive a fastener. The fastener is configured to mount a wire harness.
A clip that is configured to secure a wire harness to a fuel injector and that is configured to orient the fuel injector radially relative to a fuel rail cup includes a central body, a prong, and a tab. The central body defines a slot that is configured to engage the fuel injector to secure the clip to the fuel injector. The prong extends upward from the central body. The prong is configured to engage the fuel rail cup to orient the fuel injector radially relative to the fuel rail cup. The tab extends outward from the central body. The tab defines a central orifice that is configured to receive a fastener for mounting a wire harness.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein. It is to be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely examples and other embodiments may take various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features could be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the embodiments. As those of ordinary skill in the art will understand, various features illustrated and described with reference to any one of the figures may be combined with features illustrated in one or more other figures to produce embodiments that are not explicitly illustrated or described. The combinations of features illustrated provide representative embodiments for typical applications. Various combinations and modifications of the features consistent with the teachings of this disclosure, however, could be desired for particular applications or implementations.
Referring to
The fuel delivery system 10 includes a fuel rail 16. The fuel rail 16 is configured to deliver fuel to the individual cylinders of the internal combustion engine. The fuel rail 16 may be a straight pipe or tube in the event the internal combustion engine has inline cylinders (e.g., a straight four-cylinder engine or a straight six-cylinder engine). Alternatively, the fuel rail 16 may be a pipe or tube that is U-shaped in the event the internal combustion engine is V-shaped (e.g., a V-6 or V-8 engine). It should be noted that only a fragmented portion of the fuel rail 16 is illustrated in
The fuel rail 16 may include a fuel rail cup 18 that defines an opening 20 that is configured to receive an upper end 22 of the fuel injector 14. Stated in other terms, the fuel injector 14 may be configured to engage the fuel rail cup 18 such that the upper end 22 of the fuel injector 14 is disposed within the opening 20 and such that the fuel rail cup 18 and the fuel injector 14 are axially aligned along a vertical axis or a longitudinal axis 24. In an embodiment that includes several fuel injectors 14, the fuel rail 16 may include several fuel rail cups 18 that each define an opening 20 that is configured to receive an upper end 22 of one of the fuel injectors 14. The fuel injector 14 may include an electrical receptacle 26 that protrudes outward from the fuel injector 14. More specifically, the electrical receptacle 26 may protrude radially outward from the fuel injector 14. The electrical receptacle 26 of the fuel injector 14 may connect the fuel injector 14 to an external power source and an external controller that is configured to operate an electrical solenoid within the fuel injector 14 in order to open and close the fuel injector 14 for the purposes of delivering fuel to the respective cylinder of the internal combustion engine that the fuel injector 14 is configured to deliver fuel to.
The clip 12 is secured to the fuel injector 14. The clip 12 is configured to engage the fuel rail cup 18 to orient the fuel injector 14 radially relative to the fuel rail cup 18 and to prevent relative rotation between the fuel injector 14 and the fuel rail cup 18 about the longitudinal axis 24. More specifically, an exterior surface of the fuel rail cup 18 defines a notch 28 and the clip 12 engages the notch 28 to orient the fuel injector 14 radially relative to the fuel rail cup 18 and to prevent relative rotation between the fuel injector 14 and the fuel rail cup 18 about the longitudinal axis 24. Specifically, the clip 12 may have a first prong 30 that extends upward and/or axially (i.e., along the longitudinal axis 24 or substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis 24) from the fuel injector 14 to the fuel rail cup 18 that engages the notch 28 to orient the fuel injector 14 radially relative to the fuel rail cup 18 and to prevent relative rotation between the fuel injector 14 and the fuel rail cup 18 about the longitudinal axis 24. Substantially parallel may include any incremental value that ranges between exactly parallel and 15° from exactly parallel.
The clip 12 may also be configured to secure a wire harness 32 to the fuel injector 14. The clip 12 has a tab 34 that extends outward relative to the fuel injector 14. More specifically, the tab 34 may extend radially outward relative to the fuel injector 14. The tab 34 defines a central orifice 36 that is configured to receive a fastening device or fastener 38. The fastener 38 in turn is configured to mount the wire harness 32 to the fuel injector 14 via the clip 12. The fastener 38 may be a bolt, bolt/nut combination, rivet, screw, clip, etc. In some instances, the central orifice 36 may be a tapped hole that engages the fastener 38 if the fastener 38 is a bolt or screw. More specifically, the fastener 38 may be a Christmas tree rivet that engages the central orifice 32 defined by the tab 34 to secure the wire harness 32 to the clip 12. The rivet 38 may be secured to the wire harness 32 via a cable tie or zip tie connection. The cable tie or zip tie connection may include a flexible tape section having teeth that extends from the wire harness 32 and engages a pawl that is on the head of the rivet 38 to form a ratcheting connection between the wire harness 32 and the rivet 38. It should be noted that only a fragmented portion of the wire harness 32 is illustrated in
The wire harness 32 may include the electrical wires and electrical plug that connect the fuel injector 14 via the electrical receptacle 26 to the external power source and the external controller that is configured to operate an electrical solenoid within the fuel injector 14. More specifically, the wire harness 32 may include several electrical wires and electrical plugs that connect several fuel injectors, which have the same configuration as the illustrated fuel injector 14, to the external power source and the external controller, which is configured to operate electrical solenoids within the several fuel injectors. In such an embodiment that includes several fuel injectors, a clip 12 may be secured to each fuel injector 14 such that the wire harness 32 is anchored at several locations where each anchoring location is relatively close to each fuel injector 14 via a fastener 38 and tab 34 connection. Anchoring the wire harness 32 at locations that are close to each fuel injector 14 will assist in preventing the plugs of the wire harness 32 from disconnecting from their respective electrical receptacles 26 when an external force is applied to the wire harness 32 during manufacturing or during servicing of the engine or vehicle or during regular vehicle operation.
The tab 34 and the electrical receptacle 26 may be oriented at a substantially perpendicular angle relative to each other along a plane that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 24. Substantially perpendicular may include any incremental value that ranges between exactly perpendicular and 15° from exactly perpendicular. The tab 34 may also be disposed below and spaced apart from the fuel rail 16 and the fuel rail cup 18. Specifically, such an arrangement decouples the tab 34 and hence the wire harness 32 from the fuel rail 16 itself, which in turn decreases the number of components of the fuel rail 16 and simplifies the manufacturing process of the fuel rail 16.
The clip 12 includes a central body 40. The tab 34 may protrude outward from a lower portion of the central body 40 as shown in
The clip 12 may have a second prong 46 and a third prong 48 that straddle the first prong 30. The second prong 46 and the third prong 48 may engage a lower surface 50 of the fuel rail cup 18. The second prong 46 and the third prong 48 may be configured to generate a biasing force on the fuel rail cup 18 to absorb combustion energy that is translated to the fuel injector 14 during combustion within the engine.
The words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. As previously described, the features of various embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments that may not be explicitly described or illustrated. While various embodiments could have been described as providing advantages or being preferred over other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more desired characteristics, those of ordinary skill in the art recognize that one or more features or characteristics may be compromised to achieve desired overall system attributes, which depend on the specific application and implementation. As such, embodiments described as less desirable than other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more characteristics are not outside the scope of the disclosure and may be desirable for particular applications.
