FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT 1970 (as amended) [39 OF 1970]
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION [See Section 10 and Rule 13]
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
“ADAPTIVE CNG FUEL FILLER”
APPLICANTS
TATA MOTORS LIMITED, an Indian company having its registered office at Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India
INVENTORS
Mr. Noel Harris, Mr. Sanjiv Mantri, Mr. Dattatray Bhargude,
Mr. Manoj Yadav, and Mr. Nisarga Chaudhari
All are Indian Nationals of TATA MOTORS LIMITED,
an Indian company having its registered office at
Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street,
Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in
which it is to be performed.

Field of the Present Invention:
The present invention relates to fuel filling assembly or system in vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adaptive CNG fuel filling assembly or system for vehicles.
Background:
As persons skilled in the art of body design of the vehicle know that meeting the dimensional accuracy of hole provided for adapting fuel filling assembly and appropriate fitment of fuel filling assembly therein is the first step towards high quality product. However, the dimensional requirement changes from vehicle to vehicle and type of orientation of the hole for adapting fuel filling assembly. The construction, structure and configuration of fuel filling assembly also changes according to the type of fuel. When it is a bi-fuel, then the fuel filling assembly has a different configuration all together than single fuel configuration. There is no universal fuel filling assembly as such. In the solutions devised by prior art are normally receptacle is packed in boot space area. The same is provided below the bonnet. In the prior art they use filler material and get it combined with petrol fuel filler area. Providing filler material makes it untidy and unsafe. Moreover such prior art are low in quality and not adoptable to all kinds of vehicles under different regulations worldwide.
For example, in a prior art, the document discloses a motor vehicle fuel filler housing with a main body made up of relatively hard material (polypropylene (PP)) and a seal made up of relatively soft material (ethylene propylene diene polymer (terpolymer) (EPDM)). The harder and soft parts of the fuel filler housing is attached by means of injection molding.
In an another prior art, the document discloses a motor vehicle fuel filler housing with a main body made up of relatively hard material (e.g. hard polyvinyl chloride) and a seal made up of relatively soft material (e.g. softer polyvinyl chloride). The harder and soft parts of the fuel filler housing is attached by means of two-component injection molding.
In still another prior art, the document teaches a fuel filler housing with a filler neck bowl made up of harder material and a seal made up of soft material and is injected on the housing using two component injection molding for sealing the filler housing assembly. In the prior art, a pivot arrangement is implemented.

However, it has been observed from the study of various prior arts that:
- None of the prior art has arrangement to accommodate micro-switch.
- None of the prior art teaches about accommodating the BSO contour.
- None of the prior art facilitates idea about mounting the housing as the present invention facilitates.
- None of the prior art discloses about the changes required to accommodate the housing.
Therefore, there is a need to provide the solution to overcome the at least one of the above shortcomings. The present invention provides a CNG fuel filling assembly which overcomes the above mentioned drawbacks.
Object of the Present Invention:
The main object of the present invention is to overcome at least one of the above mentioned drawbacks.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fuel filling assembly for vehicle.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a CNG fuel filling assembly for vehicle.
Summary:
The present invention provides a CNG fuel filling assembly for a vehicle. The said assembly comprises receptacle housing, base plate, tether, a lid assembly comprising an inner lid and an outer lid. The housing has an open end and a flexible base portion. The open end side of the housing is covered by the lid assembly. The receptacle housing is mounted on body in white (BIW) with the help of a base plate. The base plate is provided with a micro switch (sensor) attachment/mounting area and a base. The bottom of housing has a cavity in the middle. The base plate is also provided with plurality of holes to accommodate fasteners which helps to mount the receptacle housing on BIW. The assembly is fitted on the vehicle at appropriate location. The BIW of vehicle is provided with an aperture to accommodate the housing therein.
The flexible base portion of the housing is made up of a rubber material. The said flexible base portion facilitates the said assembly with tolerances of ± 2.5 mm in all three

directions i.e. X, Y & Z direction. The said housing is designed in such a way that it will accommodate tolerances in all X, Y & Z direction and will also make the assembly or system accessible for the fuel filler nozzle and make it a high quality and safe product.
Brief Description of the Drawings:
The present invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures. One or more embodiments are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures wherein like reference numerals represent like elements and in which:
Figures 1(a) and (b) show assembly drawing of the CNG fuel filling assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 shows exploded view of the CNG fuel filling assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 shows information about parts and fitment of the CNG fuel filling assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description:
The foregoing has broadly outlined the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed description of the disclosure that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the disclosure, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of

illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a system (100) for filling fuel in the vehicle comprising a receptacle housing having an open end and a base portion, a base plate mounted on the bottom end of the housing; and a lid assembly comprising a first lid and a second lid mounted on the open end of the receptacle housing, wherein the base portion of the receptacle housing is provided with a flexible portion so as to form a flexible base portion thereby enabling the receptacle housing and the system to accommodate tolerance in multiple directions.
In one aspect of the present invention, the flexible base portion of the receptacle housing is made up of a flexible material, the flexible material is selected from the group of material rubber material, flexible polymer, EPDM and neoprene or combination thereof.
In one more aspect of the present invention, the flexible base portion rests between the base portion of the receptacle housing and a mounting plate provided on the vehicle for mounting of the said system (100).
In another aspect of the present invention, the flexible base portion enables the receptacle housing and the system to accommodate tolerance in multiple directions such as X, Y and Z coordinate direction.
In still another one aspect of the present invention, the base plate is provided with an mounting attachment, a base comprising cavity in middle thereof and plurality of hole around the base so as to accommodate fasteners.
In yet another one aspect of the present invention, the lid assembly mounted on the receptacle housing with the help of a tether.
In another one aspect of the present invention, the receptacle housing is provided with plurality of locking protrusion at predetermined locations so as to lock the assembly by way of snap fit with locking element provided with body of the vehicle.
In still another one aspect of the present invention, the system is adaptable for vehicles driven by CNG fuel.

The present invention provides a CNG fuel filling assembly (100). The CNG fuel filling assembly (100) comprises a receptacle housing (60) having one open end and a flexible base portion and a lid assembly placed on the open end of the housing (60). The lid assembly comprises a first lid or inner lid (20) and a second lid or outer lid (10). The said assembly (100) also comprises a base plate (50), tether (30) and an outer seal (70). The said assembly (100) will be described in detail here below, referring to the drawings accompanied herein. It may be contemplated that the term / phrase “CNG fuel filling assembly”, “CNG filling assembly”, “CNG fuel assembly”, “assembly ”or the “system” are interchangeable and all the terms / phrases refer to the CNG fuel filling assembly (100) in the disclosure of the present invention. Similarly, the term “housing” or “receptacle housing” are interchangeable and refers to housing (60) of the present invention.
The disclosure of present invention suits the CNG assembly as per figure 1, taking into considerations the body variations. The fig. 1 shows the assembled assembly of the CNG fuel filling assembly where the lid assembly mounted on the housing is depicted.
Referring to fig. 2, the said CNG assembly (100) comprises the housing (60), the base plate (50), a metal (brass) insert (40), a tether (30), the inner lid (20), the outer lid (10). The housing (60) is provided with a flexible base portion (601) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flexible base portion may be made up of a rubber material. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the flexible material may be EPDM or it may also be any other suitable rubber like material such as Neoprene. The housing (60) is provided with 2k/over-moulding seal (606) at one or more place. The 2K/overmoulding refers to 'two-times’ injection moulding process consists of processing two different polymers. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the two different polymers may be plastic and EPDM. In an exemplary embodiment, the housing may be made of a plastic and the flexible portion may be made of EPDM. The housing (60) is made up of a predetermine shape having the open end (602). The open end (602) is provided with an outwardly circular portion (603) or collar portion along the periphery of housing walls (604), and normal to the housing walls (604). The open end (602) accommodates the lid assembly. One or more locator (607) is provided near the open end of receptacle housing so as to position the lid assembly correctly on the receptacle housing. The housing is provided with one or more locking protrusions snaps (605) below the collar portion as shown in figs. 2 and 3. The said

locking protrusions snaps (605) get locked or snapped with locking element or panel (not shown in the figures) provided on body of the vehicle e.g. body side outer (BSO) to get the required gap and flushness in between BSO and receptacle housing. The inner lid (20) is a structural part which may be able to bear force exerted on it. The outer lid (10) is aesthetic part. Each lid has a hole to accommodate lock barrel and the inner lid (20) has snap and fit arrangement for lock barrel. The inner lid (20) get assembled with outer lid (10) in such a way that the outer lid can slide over the inner lid. In this lid assembly lock barrel is inserted through the provided hole. The lock barrel get snap fitted in the lid assembly. The said lock is known in art which is provided to prevent from unauthorized access to the system or assembly (100). The lid assembly is mounted on the housing (60). The tether (30) is provided to hold the lid assembly as shown in fig. 3.
The base plate (50) may be made up of a hard plastic material or any suitable material. The base plate is provided with an attachment portion (501) on which the micro switch (not shown in the figure) may be mounted for safety cut-off. The micro switch may be a sensor. The base plate (50) comprises a base (502) having one or more holes (504) to accommodate fasteners and a cavity or cutout profile (503) in middle of the base (502) of the base plate. The cavity or cutout (503) is made in such a way that when the base plate is assembled with the receptacle housing appropriately, the said cavity (503) is aligned to the cavity provided in the base of the receptacle housing (not shown in the figure). Such arrangement is provided to guide the fuel filling nozzle for filling of the fuel in the vehicle. When the lid assembly is unlocked, the complete lid assembly comes out and hangs with the tether. After that the user may fill the fuel by fixing the CNG nozzle/gun in to receptacle. The base plate (50) plate is inserted in the receptacle housing (60), holes for fastening are aligned and the assembly is fasten on the BIW using suitable fasteners.
The outer seal (70) may be provided with the periphery of the collar portion (603) so as to offer a sealed and leak-proof solution between the assembly and the vehicle body. The seal (70) may be made of EPDM or Nitrile rubber or any other suitable material. As the vehicle is provided with an aperture to accommodate the assembly, and the assembly is separately fitted to the vehicle body, therefore the seal (70) in between the receptacle housing's collar and body side outer (BSO) panel gives the water tight sealing which take care of water and dust ingress and panel surface variation. As it is a water proof joint, there are no chances

of receptacle housing getting corroded due to direct contact with environmental moisture and water.
Further, the greatest challenge in the design of the CNG assembly of the present invention is to work within larger body variations due to body in white (BIW) tolerances of the vehicle. As the body and build constraint variations of the existing system cannot be controlled below ±2.5mm in X, Y and Z direction. Hence a flexible element as shown in fig. 1(b) has been introduced with the base of the housing. The flexible base portion (601) will take care of the dimensional variations in all 3 directions according to an embodiment of the present invention. The housing provided with flexible base portion can be used on the vehicle body with variations up to ±2.5mm in X, Y and Z directions.
The said assembly (100) will get fitted to the BIW with the help of plurality of screws fastening on mounting bracket provided therefor. Also the housing is provided with plurality of snaps which facilitates uniform butting condition with the body panel of the vehicle. In assembled condition, receptacle housing's flexible base portion comes in between BIW mounting bracket and the base portion of the housing. The flexible portion may be able to sustain the load and will not exert any force on the housing according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flexible base portion incorporated with receptacle housing is designed in such a way that load will not transfer to receptacle housing at any condition. The plurality of locking protrusions provided on the housing snap fits with body side outer panel to give perfect tight joint.
The said receptacle housing is 2k/overmoulded with base portion in such a way that the receptacle housing's base portion which is made up of flexible material (EPDM rubber) can accommodate the body in white tolerances. The receptacle housing may be moulded from material PP + 30% GF as shown in figure 3. The outer seal as shown in figure 2 of the receptacle housing is also 2k/overmoulded on the PP + 30% GF receptacle housing.
Advantages of the Present Invention:
• In one advantage of the present invention, the tolerance of the system or CNG fuel filling assembly can be accommodated in all directions.
• In another advantage of the present invention, the flexible portion can sustain certain amount of load and does not now have limitation as that of prior arts.

• In still another advantage of the present invention, a micro-switch is provided as a safety device for CNG/PNG vehicles.
• In yet another advantage of the present invention, the receptacle housing, accommodate the BSO (Body Side Outer) contour is critical feature. Considering this feature present invention provides plurality of snaps which get inter-lock with BSO.
• In another advantage of the present invention, with instant mounting scheme the perfect flushness on BSO is achieved.
• In still another advantage of the present invention, the present invention developed lid arrangement does not call for major die modifications of the panel, thereby decreases the manufacturing cost.
With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.
It will be understood by those skilled within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and/or "an" should typically be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim

recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B."
While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting the true scope of the present invention.
Referral Numerals:

Reference Number Description
100 System or CNG fuel filling assembly
10 Outer lid
20 Inner lid
30 Tether

40
Thread insert
50 Base plate
60 Receptacle housing
70 Outer seal
501 Micro switch mounting area
502 Base of base plate
503 Cavity or Cutout profile in base
504 Holes in base plate for screw mounting
601 Flexible base portion of housing
602 Open end of housing
603 Collar of the housing
604 Housing walls
605 Locking protrusions / snaps
606 EPDM housing seal
607 Locator for Lid
608 Rib (which is used by lock barrel to lock the complete receptacle housing).
201 Locator of inner lid (which will guide the lid assembly in to the receptacle housing).
203 Hole for lock barrel (which has snap and fit arrangement to hold the lock barrel in position).
101 Aperture in outer lid

We claim:
1. A system (100) for filling fuel in the vehicle comprises
a receptacle housing having an open end and a base portion, a base plate mounted on the bottom end of the housing; and
a lid assembly comprising a first lid and a second lid mounted on the open end of the receptacle housing, wherein the base portion of the receptacle housing is provided with a flexible portion so as to form a flexible base portion thereby enabling the receptacle housing and the system to accommodate tolerance in multiple directions.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible base portion of the receptacle housing is made up of a flexible material, the flexible material is selected from the group of material rubber material, flexible polymer, ethylene propylene diene polymer (EPDM) and neoprene or combination thereof.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible base portion rests between the base portion of the receptacle housing and a mounting plate provided on the vehicle for mounting of the said system (100).
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible base portion enables the receptacle housing and the system to accommodate tolerance in multiple directions such as X, Y and Z coordinate direction.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base plate is provided with an mounting attachment, a base comprising cavity in middle thereof and plurality of hole around the base so as to accommodate fasteners.
6. The system as claimed in claims 1, wherein the lid assembly mounted on the receptacle housing with the help of a tether.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receptacle housing is provided with plurality of locking protrusion at predetermined locations so as to lock the assembly by way of snap fit with locking element provided with body of the vehicle.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system is adaptable for vehicles driven by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel.