Claims:CLAIMS

We Claim

1. A high pressure fuel pump (10), said high pressure fuel pump (10) comprising:
a housing (12);
a fuel galley (14) positioned within said housing (12) and adapted to receive fuel from a fuel supply line that is in flow communication with a fuel tank at one end and with said fuel gallery (14) at its opposite second end; characterized in that
a plurality of fins (16) in flow communication with said fuel gallery (14) at its first end and is adapted to dissipate heat from fuel that flows through a chamber (15) that is defined within said fuel gallery (14).

2. The high pressure fuel pump (10) in accordance with Claim 1, further comprising a heat sink (18) in flow communication with an opposite second end of said plurality of fins (16), said plurality of fins (16) adapted to discharge the heat channeled from the fuel gallery (14) to said heat sink (18).

3. The high pressure fuel pump (10) in accordance with Claim 2, wherein said heat sink (18) and said plurality of fins (16) are each manufactured from a high thermal conductivity material such as but not limited to aluminum and copper.

4. The high pressure fuel pump (10) in accordance with Claim 1, wherein the first end of said plurality of fins (16) extends through an outer wall of said fuel gallery (14) and is positioned within the chamber (15) that is defined within said fuel gallery (14) such that said plurality of fins (16) is in flow communication with pressurized fuel that flows through the chamber (15) that is defined within said fuel gallery (14), the first end of said plurality of fins (16) adapted to channel heat from fuel that flows through the chamber (15) that is defined within said fuel gallery (14) to an opposite second end of said plurality of fins (16).

5. The high pressure fuel pump (10) in accordance with Claim 1, wherein said plurality of fins (16) in flow communication with said fuel gallery (14) at its first end is at least equal to but not limited to two fins.

6. The high pressure fuel pump (10) in accordance with Claim 1, wherein said plurality of fins (16) in flow communication with said fuel gallery (14) at its first end extends angularly from within said fuel gallery (14) at its first end to- culminate at a heat sink (18) at its opposite second end.

, Description:Complete Specification:

The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
Field of the invention
[0001] This invention relates to a high pressure fuel pump, and more specifically to a plurality of fins that are adapted to dissipate heat from a fuel gallery of the high pressure fuel pump to a heat sink.

Background of the invention
[0002] JP 8049616 A2 describes a fuel injection pump. To enable a rotor and a electromagnetic spill valve to be certainly cooled, in a fuel injection pump used as the fuel supply means of a diesel engine. A fuel injection pump encloses a housing, a feed pump for pressurizing and supplying fuel sucked from a fuel tank into a fuel intake gallery and a plunger, and pressurizes the fuel supplied from the fuel intake gallery by transferring the plunger by making own rotation synchronously with the rotation of a diesel engine. It is also provided with a rotor for distributing and supplying the pressurized high pressure fuel to respective cylinders of a diesel engine, and constituted in such a way that a fuel supply piping arranged from the feed pump to the fuel intake gallery is exposed to outside the housing, and cooling fins are arranged on the fuel supply piping.

Brief description of the accompanying drawing
[0003] Figure 1 illustrates a high pressure fuel pump depicting a plurality of fins that each extend between a fuel gallery and a heat sink in one embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description of the embodiments
[0004] A high pressure fuel pump 10 is described. The high pressure fuel pump 10 comprises a housing 12, and a fuel galley 14 positioned within the housing 12. The fuel gallery 14 is adapted to receive fuel from a fuel supply line that is in flow communication with a fuel tank at one end and with the fuel gallery 14 at its opposite second end. A plurality of fins 16 is in flow communication with the fuel gallery 14 at its first end and is adapted to dissipate heat from fuel that flows through a chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14.

[0005] Figure 1 illustrates a high pressure fuel pump 10 depicting a plurality of fins 16 that each extend between a fuel gallery 14 and a heat sink 18 in one embodiment of the invention. The high pressure fuel pump 10 comprises a housing 12, and a fuel galley 14 that is positioned within the housing 12. In the exemplary embodiment, the fuel gallery 14 is adapted to receive a fuel supply line (not shown) therein. More specifically, a first end of the fuel supply line is in flow communication with a fuel tank (not shown). An opposite second end of the fuel supply line is in flow communication with a chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14. Therefore, the fuel supply line is adapted to supply pressurized fuel from the fuel tank to the fuel gallery 14. In an exemplary embodiment, a plurality of fins 16 are in flow communication with the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14 at its first end and is adapted to dissipate heat from fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14. More specifically, at an end of a pumping stroke of the high pressure fuel pump 10, the high temperature pressurized fuel from the pumping chamber 20 of the high pressure fuel pump 10 is channeled to the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14, where it is retained therein. Therefore, the heat from the fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14 is dissipated to the external environment via the plurality of fins 16 that are in flow communication with the fuel gallery 14 at its first end.

[0006] In an exemplary embodiment, an opposite second end of each of the plurality of fins 16 are in flow communication with a heat sink 18. Therefore, the heat that flows out of the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14 is channeled through the first end of the plurality of fins 16, and flows through a longitudinal length of each of the plurality of fins 16. Therein, the heat that is channeled through the longitudinal length of each of the plurality of fins 16 is discharged to the heat sink 18 that is in flow communication with the opposite second end of the plurality of fins 16. In an exemplary embodiment, the heat sink 18 and the plurality of fins 16 constitute a unitary assembly. In an alternate exemplary embodiment, the heat sink 18 and the plurality of fins 16 are modular components that may be independently fabricated and assembled together via any fastening means that is knows in the art. In an exemplary embodiment, the plurality of fins 16 may be secured to the heat sink 18 by welding the opposite second end of each of the plurality of fins 16 to the heat sink 18. In an alternate exemplary embodiment, the opposite second end of each of the plurality of fins 16 is secured to the heat sink 18 by means of a mechanical fastener. The continuous dissipation of heat that is channeled from the fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14 to the heat sink 18 causes a reduction in the temperature of fuel. Consequently, the temperature of the wall of the fuel galley 14 of the high pressure fuel pump 10 is correspondingly decreased, thereby leading to an increase in the longevity of the useful life of the fuel gallery 14.

[0007] In the exemplary embodiment, the heat sink 18 and each of the plurality of fins 16 are manufactured from a high thermal conductivity material such as but not limited to aluminum and copper. Therefore, heat is quickly dissipated from the fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14 from the first end of the high thermal conductivity fins 16, through the longitudinal length of the plurality of high thermal conductivity fins 16, and is finally dissipated from the opposite second end of each of the plurality of high thermal conductivity fins 16 to the high thermal conductivity heat sink 18. In an alternate exemplary embodiment, the plurality of fins 16 and the heat sink 18 may each be manufactured from any high thermal conductivity material that permits the flow of heat away from the pressurized fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14.

[0008] The first end of each of the plurality of fins 16 extends through an outer wall of the fuel gallery 14, and is positioned within the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14. As the first end of the plurality of fins 16 extends through the outer wall of the fuel gallery 14 and is positioned within the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14, the plurality of fins 16 are in flow communication with high temperature pressurized fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14. The first end of the plurality of fins 16 are adapted to channel heat from pressurized fuel that flows through the fuel gallery to an opposite second end of the plurality of fins 16 via the longitudinal length of each of the plurality of fins 16, and is finally discharged to the heat sink 18 that is in flow communication with the opposite second end of the plurality of fins 16. In an exemplary embodiment, the number of fins that are in flow communication between the fuel gallery 14 and the heat sink 18 is equal to but not limited to two fins. In an alternate exemplary embodiment, the number of fins that are in flow communication between the fuel gallery 14 and the heat sink 18 is optimally devised to channel the majority of heat away from the pressurized high temperature fuel that flows through the chamber that is defined within the fuel gallery 14 and into the heat sink 18 that is in flow communication with the opposite second end of each of the plurality of fins 16.

[0009] In an exemplary embodiment, each of the plurality of fins 16 that are in flow communication with the fuel gallery 14 at its first end extends angularly from within the fuel gallery 14 at its first end to culminate at the heat sink 18 at its opposite second end. In an alternate exemplary embodiment, the plurality of fins 16 may extend linearly from within the fuel gallery 14 at its first end to culminate at the heat sink 18 at its opposite second end.

[0010] A working of the high pressure fuel pump 10 is described as an example. A plunger 17 of the high pressure fuel pump 10 compresses fuel and delivers the pressurized fuel to the fuel injector. At the end of the working stroke of the plunger 17, the pressurized fuel from within the pumping chamber 20 of the high pressure fuel pump 10 is channeled into the fuel gallery 14 via a helix groove (not shown), and via a fuel inlet port 22. The pressurized fuel that is channeled from the pumping chamber 20 into the fuel gallery 14 of the high pressure fuel pump 10 is at a high temperature. Due to the high temperature of the fuel that exists in the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14, the walls of the fuel gallery 14 get heated up. The plurality of fins 16, the first end of which extend within the fuel galley 14 are in flow communication with the high temperature pressurized fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14. This causes the heat to flow through the process of convection from the high temperature fuel that flows through the chamber 15 that is defined within the fuel gallery 14 to the first end of each of the plurality of fins 16. From the first end of each of the plurality of fins 16, the heat flows to the opposite second end of each of the plurality of fins 16 through the process of conduction. Therein, from the opposite second end of each of the plurality of fins 16, the heat gets dissipated to the high thermal conductivity heat sink 18 through the process of conduction. From the high thermal conductivity heat sink 18, the heat is dissipated to the ambient atmosphere by the process of convection, thereby causing a reduction in the temperature of the heat sink 18.

[0011] It must be understood that the embodiments explained above are only illustrative and do not limit the scope of the disclosure. Many modifications in the embodiments with regard to dimensions of various components are envisaged and form a part of this invention. The scope of the invention is only limited by the scope of the claims.