CA1263351A

CA1263351A - Fueling nozzle vapor collecting system

Info

Publication number: CA1263351A
Application number: CA000513770A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Paul J.E. Fournier; Ernest F. Kulikowski
Original assignee: Aeroquip Corp
Current assignee: Eaton Aeroquip LLC
Priority date: 1985-08-26
Filing date: 1986-07-15
Publication date: 1989-11-28
Also published as: GB2179640A; GB2179640B; US4674546A; JPH0572738U; JPS6253299A; GB8614173D0

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The invention pertains to a fueling nozzle vapor collecting apparatus attachable to a standard fuel dispen-sing nozzle spout. The apparatus includes a rigid plate connected to the spout having an annular resilient cup-shaped hood affixed to the plate periphery having a foam cushion defined on its outer edge for sealingly engaging the surface surrounding a fuel tank inlet. A collecting hose for the vapor is attached to a port defined in the plate for venting the vapor to a location remote from the nozzle, and a sight glass is adjustably positionable within a seal located in the plate providing visual observance of the fuel level.

Description

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1. During the filling of fuel tanks of aircraft and

2. land vehicles vapor is forced from the fuel tank as the

3. tank fills. Fuel vapors produce safety hazards and con-

4. taminate the atmosphere from an environmental stand-

5. point, and in certain instances the control of such fuel

6. vapors is of-utmost importance and various systems have

7. been proposed and developed for collecting fuel tank

8. vapor.

9. To reduce the duration of the refueling time of

10. military aircraft, such as helicopters, it is desirable

11. to develop safe systems for "hot fueling" the aircraft,

12. i.e. filling the fuel tanks while the engine is running,

13. and in over-wing systems using open fuel tank inlets it

14. is desirable to remove the vapor forced from the fuel

15. tank from the proximity of the aircraft for safety pur-

16. poses.

17. While vapor collecting and capturing systems for

18. use during the filling of fuel tanks are known, such

19. apparatus as available often requires special nozzles

20. and expensive custom designed apparatus, and it is a

21. purpose of the invention to provide a vapor collecting

22. apparatus which may be readily mounted upon conventional

23. fuel dispensing nozzles which is of inexpensive construc-

24. tion, and is capable of effectively collecting fuel vapor

25. at the tank inlet and venting the vapor to a location

26. remote from the tank.

27. Another object of the invention is to provide a vapor

28. collecting apparatus for use with a conventional fuel dis-

29. pensing nozzle wherein the apparatus collects all of the

30. vapor being released from a fuel tank inlet, and wherein 1. the apparatus utilizes flexi~le means for sealing the 2. apparatus relative to the fuel tank inlet and its en-3. virons to compensate for mlsalignment of the nozzle and 4. inlet.
5. A further object of the invention is to provide vapor 6. collecting apparatus for a conventional fuel dispensing 7. nozzle which incorporates a sight glass for permitting 8. observance of the fuel level within a tank being filled 9. wherein the sight glass may be readily-adjusted relative 10. to the vapor collecting apparatus, and the seal between 11. the vapor collecting apparatus and the sight glass is 12. maintained even though limited relative movement there-13. between may occur.
14. In the practice of the invention the fuel vapor col-15. lecting apparatus is mounted upon a conventional spout of 16. a fuel dispensing nozzle and no structural modification 17. to the spout or nozzle is required. The apparatus includes 18. a rigid circular primary plate having a central opening 19. defined therein whereby the plate may be slipped upon the 20. nozzle over its outer free end, and a mounting plate af-21. fixed to the primary plate includes an opening coincident 22. with the primary plate opening and a set screw mounted 23. therein attaches the plate structure to the nozzle spout.
24. Ar axially extending annular flexible hood formed of 25. rubber-like material is, at one end, attached to the pri-26. mary plate periphery and the hood open end extends toward 27. the spout free end. At its open annular end the hood is 28. provided with an axially extending closed cell foam which 29. engages and seals against the structure adjacent the fuel 30. tank inlet for capturing vapor being forced from the fuel ~.~6~3~

1. tank during refueling.
2. A resilient annular seal is located within the primary 3. plate having a bore slidably receiving an elongated light 4. transmitting sight glass having an outer end receivable 5. within the tank inlet, and an outer end observable by 6. the nozzle operator. By axially adjusting the sight 7. glass within its seal, the "depth" that the sight glass 8. extends into the fuel tank may be readily adjusted. The 9. sight glass seal includes resilient seal structure of a 10. flexible nature as defined by annular ridges wherein 11. sealing between the sight glass and primary plaie is 12. maintained even though limited lateral deflection of 13. the sight glass with respect to the axis of the sight 14. glass seal occurs.
15. A vapor transmitting port is defined in the primary 16. plate to which a flexible venting hose is attached. The 17. venting hose is provided with a plurality of spaced con-18. nectors thereon wherein the venting hose may be attached 19. side-by-side to the fuel supply hose of the nozzle for 20. maintaining the venting hose in an extended condition to 21. assure release of the collected vapor at a distance remote 22. from the fuel nozzle.
23. The aforementioned objects and advantages of the in-24. vention will be appreciated from the following description 25. and accompanying drawings wherein:
26. Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a fuel dispensing 27. nozzle utilizing the vapor-collecting apparatus of the 28. invention, the vent hose being illustrated in the coiled, 29. nonuse condition, 30. Fig. 2 is an enlarged, plan, sectional view of vapor-1. collecting apparatus for a fuel nozzle in accord with 2. the invention, illustrated as mounted upon a nozzle 3. spout, and 4. Fig. 3 is an enlarged, detail, diametrical, sec-5. tional view of the sight glass seal and sight glass 6. as mounted therein.
7. With reference to Fig. 1, a conventional fuel dis-8. pensing nozzle is represented at lO,including a body 12 9. in which a valve, not shown, is ~ontrolled by the hand-10. operated lever 14. The nozzle is supplied with fuel 11. through fitting 16 which is attached to a flexible fuel 12. supply hose 18, as well known. A cylindrical spout 20 13. e~tends from the nozzle body 12 having a free outer end 14. 22 for insertion into a fuel tank inlet. The fuel nozzle 15. 10 is of conventional structure and in itself forms no 16. part of the present invention.
17. The vapor-collecting apparatus is mounted upon the 18. nozzle spout 20 and includes a rigid support plate 24, 19. preferably formed of aluminum, having a central cylin-20. drical opening 26 of a diameter slightly larger than the 21. spout diameter wherein the plate 24 may be slipped over 22. the spout free end 22 for positioning as shown in Figs. 1 23. and 2.
24. The plate 24 includes an outer side 28 and an inner 25. side 30 and the circular periphery of the plate is pro-26. vided with radial ridges 32 wherein the hood is bonded 27. thereto, as described below. A circular mounting plate 28. 34 is attached to the outer side 28 of the plate 24 by 29. three cap screws 36 spaced at 120 intervals about the 30. mounting plate opening 38 closely receiving the nozzle 1. spout and coaxial with the plate opening 26. A radially 2. disposed set screw 40 located within a radial threaded 3. hole in the mounting plate 34 permits the set screw to be 4. tightened against the spout 20 for positioning the plate 5. 24 thereon. The outer side 28 of the plate 24 is counter-6. sunk adjacent the opening 26 for receiving a nitril sealing 7. ring 42 which is compressed by plate 34 and seals against 8. the nozzle spout to prevent the escape of vapor through 9. the plate opening 26. J
10. The plate 24 includes a threaded vent port 44 ex-11. tending therethrough and the vent fitting 46 is threaded 12. therein. The flexible vent hose 48 attaches to the fit-13. ting 46, and is of such length, approximately 20 feet, 14. as to vent the vapors to the atmosphere a substantial dis-15. tance from the nozzle 10.
16. An annular nitril seal 50 is bonded within an opening 17. 52 defined within the plate 24. The seal 50 includes a 18. bore 54 of generally circular configuration, but the seal 19. bore includes a plurality of axially spaced annular ra-20. dially extending ridges 56, Fig. 3, which provide an ex-21. tended degree of flexibility of sealing with respect to 22. the sight glass 58 received within the seal bore 54 and 23. engaged by the ridges 56.
24. The sight glass 58 is of an elongated form including 25. a shaped inner end 60, and an outer end 62. The cylin-26. drical body of the sight glass is of a light transmitting 27. synthetic plastic material, such as sold under the trade-28. mark Prismalite, and the inner end 60 is of such confi-29. guration that the immersion of the inner end within fuel 30. is visually observable at the outer end 62 by the nozzle 1. operator by a color change at end 62. The sight glass 58 2. is firmly received within the seal 50 but may be axially 3. positioned therein to vary the degree of extension of 4. the inner end 60 into the fuel inlet. As the ridges 56 5. engage -the sight glass and provide a greater degree of 6. flexibility than would be possible without their presence, 7. the ridges permit the sealed relationship between the 8. sight glass 58 and the seal 50 to be maintained even 9. though the sight glass end 60 is laterally deflected 10. from the seal bore axis to a limited degree. Such de-11. flection or tilting of the sight glass inner end may oc-12. cur due to engagement of the end 60 with a fuel tank inlet 13. neck.
14. The annular hood 64 bonded to the plate 24 upon ridges 15. 32 is formed of nitril, and accordingly, is of a flexible 16. resilient nature and defines a chamber S6 adjacent the 17. plate inner side 30. At its free outer end the hood 64 18. supports the annular lip seal 68 which is formed of a 19. closed cell foam material impervious and chemically 20. inert with respect to fuel and fuel vapor. The lip seal 21. 68 is compressible to accommodate rivets and seams adja-22. cent the fuel tank inlet, and as the hood 64 is also flexi-23. ble, the vapor collecting apparatus will readily conform 24. to the configuration required to maintain a sealed rela-25. tionship with the fuel tank inlet even though there may 26. be a slight misalignment of the nozzle with respect to 27. the inlet.
28. A plurality of straps 70 are used with the vent hose 29. 48 which are axially spaced along the vent hose to strap 30. the hose 48 side-by-side to the fuel supply hose 18 in 6.

s~

1. order to maintain the vent hose in an extended condition 2. to insure that the fumes are not discharged to the atmos-3. phere adjacent the fuel nozzle. The straps 70 are pre-4. ferably of the type sold under the trademark "Velcro"
5. consisting of small hooks releasably engagable with 6. loops, and the straps may be used to hold the vent hose in 7. a coil as shown in Fig. 1, when the nozzle is not in use, 8. and upon disposing the vent hose 48 adjacent the fuel 9. supply hose 18, the straps are use(l to attach the ~ent 10. and supply hoses together.
11. The vapor-collecting apparatus of the invention is 12. mounted upon the nozzle spout 20 in the manner described 13. and illustrated. The seal ring 42 will seal the plate 24 14. to the spout, and tightening of the set screw 40 positions 15. the plate upon the spout adjacent the nozzle body.
16. When fueling, the vent hose 48 is placed alongside 17. the fuel supply hose 18 and strapped thereto by straps 18. 70 which locates the open end 72 of the vent hose at a 19. location remote from the nozzle lQ and the location of 20. fueling.
21. To fuel an aircraft, or the like, the tank inlet, not 22. shown, would be substantially vertically disposed having 23. a substantially horizontal rim located adjacent a wing 24. or fuselage surface, and the nozzle spout 20 would be 25. inserted therein. The sight glass 58 would also extend 26. into the neck of the fuel tank inlet, and the spout is 27. inserted into tlle tank inlet until the lip seal 68 firmly 28. engages the wing or fuselage surface adjacent the fuel 29. inlet. The compressible nature of the lip seal 68 per-30. mits the lip seal to conform to rivets and seams, and 1. the flexible resilien-t nature of the hood 64 permits 2. the lip seal to firmly engage the surface structure 3. adjacent the tank inlet even though the nozzle may not 4. be accurately aligned with the tank inlet.
5. The nozzle lever 14 controls the flow of fuel into 6. the inlet, and as the tank is filled the vapor within 7. the tank is expelled into the chamber 66 and passed 8. through the vent port 44 into the vent hose 48 for re-9. lease into the atmosphere at a location remote from the 10. aircraft being fueled~ The nozzle 10 will normally in-11. clude an automatic shutoff sensing tube 74, Fig. 2, which 12. senses the presence of fuel when the fuel level engages 13. the nozzle end 22, but if the inner end of the sight 14. glass extends inwardly beyond the end 22 of the spout 15. the operator will be able to observe when the fuel level 16. reaches the sight glass inner end 60 by the change of 17. color occurring at sight glass end 62.
18. The sight glass 58 is particularly useful when fueling 19. interior auxillary aircraft tanks in those instances 20. wherein it is desired to know when the fuel level reaches 21. a predetermined location below the tank inlet. sy axially 22. adjusting the position of the sight glass 58 within the 23. plate 24 a predetermined amount of fuel may be located 24. within a tank, and such fuel level readily determined 25. by the nozzle operator.
26. It will be appreciated that the aforedescribed vapor-27. collecting apparatus is readily installable upon a con-28. ventional fuel dispensing nozzle, is of economical con-29. struction, and capable of producing an efficient sealed 30. relationship adjacent a fuel tank inlet for capturing ~;;3135~

1. vapor, and it is appreciated that various modifications 2. to t'ne inventive concepts may be apparent to those 3. skilled in the art without departing from the spirit 4. and scope o~ the invention.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. Vapor collecting apparatus for fuel nozzles having an elongated spout and connected to a fuel supply hose com-prising, in combination, a support plate having a periphery, an inner side, an outer side and a spout receiving opening intersecting said sides, spout attachment means defined on said plate outer side having a spout receiving opening in alignment with said plate opening, an annular elastomeric flexible hood having an axis and inner and outer ends, said hood inner end being affixed to said plate periphery and said hood axially extending from said plate outer side, an axially extending annular seal cushion mounted upon said hood outer end, a vapor port defined in said plate inter-secting said plate sides and a flexible venting hose com-municating with said port.

2. In vapor collecting apparatus as in claim 1, said spout attachment means comprising a mounting plate attached to said support plate outer side, and a set screw defined in said mounting plate intersecting said spout attachment means opening, said set screw adapted to engage a nozzle spout received within said spout attachment means opening to fix said support plate thereon.

3. In vapor collecting apparatus as in claim 2, a plurality of screws attaching said mounting plate to said support plate outer side, an annular elastic seal ring located intermediate said support plate outer side and said mounting plate adjacent said support plate opening, said mounting plate compressing said seal ring to seal said ring and support plate relative to the noz-zle spout.

4. In vapor collecting apparatus as in claim 1, said support plate being formed of metal and said annular seal cushion being formed of a synthetic closed cell foam.

5. In vapor collecting apparatus as in claim 1, a plurality of spaced fuel supply hose connectors associated with said venting hose for attaching said venting hose to the fuel supply hose to maintain said venting hose in an extended condition venting vapor remote from the nozzle.

6. In vapor collecting apparatus as in claim 1, sight glass mounting means defined in said support plate, and a light transmitted elongated sight glass sealingly received within said sight glass mounting means having an inner end defined on said plate inner side and extending through said hood and an outer end located exteriorly of said plate outer side observable by the nozzle operator whereby contact of said sight glass inner end with a fuel level is observable by the nozzle operator.

7. In vapor collecting apparatus as in claim 6, said sight glass mounting means comprising an annular resilient seal having a bore having an axis, said sight glass being sealingly received within said seal bore and axially displaceable adjustable therein.

8. In vapor collecting apparatus as in claim 7, a plurality of flexible annular ridges coaxially de-fined in said sight glass mounting seal bore engaging said sight glass maintaining the seal between said sight glass mounting seal and sight glass during limited lateral deflection of an end of said sight glass with respect to the axis of said seal bore.