This invention relates to an electrical cum vacuum fuel cock for motor vehicles, such as, two wheeler and three wheeler motor vehicles.

Two wheelers usually have either a manual fuel cock or an auto fuel cock. As for the manual version if the rider forgets to shut off the fuel cock (knob at either "ON" position or at "RES" position), carburettor flooding can happen and fuel may leak through over flow tube, which leads to fuel loss. As for auto fuel version, fuel flow in cold start is poor. Also variation in suction pressure created during cranking leads to less fuel flow through auto fuel cock. Starting problem arises when carburettor bowl becomes empty due to the following reasons.

1. Parking the vehicle in the open (exposed to direct sun light for long periods).

2. When the vehicle runs at high speeds for long periods and is parked for long durations, carburettor bowl fuel evaporates and becomes empty due to high heat generated at vicinity of engine.

Users are generally dissatisfied with the above shortcomings.

This invention therefore seeks to achieve the following objectives:

1) Carburettor shall not flood (No fuel loss).

2) To shut-off fuel supply when vehicle is not running (To avoid carburettor flooding).

3) Fuel cock shall facilitate enough fuel flow to carburettor during cold start (To avoid starting troubles due to less fuel flow).

The electrical cum vacuum fuel cock for motor vehicles, according to this invention, comprises a solenoid valve operated by a micro controller, the solenoid valve connecting the fuel tank to the carburettor, the said valve opening for a predetermined period, on the ignition switch being put ON, to fill the carburettor bowl for facilitating cold/warm starting of the engine; an auto fuel cock assembly connecting the fuel tank to the carburettor, whereby once the engine starts, the suction pressure created by the running engine adequately draws fuel into the carburettor for continued running of the engine.

This invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example, and not by way of limitation, one of the possible embodiments of the fuel cock proposed herein The moment vehicle Ignition is switched ON (Fig. 1) the normally closed solenoid valve 4 is opened and fuel flows from fuel tank 1 to carburettor 2, thereby providing enough fuel flow to the carburettor 2 for facilitating vehicle starting in cold / warm condition.

Solenoid valve 4 is used only to facilitate more fuel flow during starting and the
solenoid valve 4 will be "ON" only for a limited duration optimized to
fill the carburettor bowl with minimum amount of fuel required for a particular vehicle design (To save power and also to increase solenoid valve life). An auto fuel cock assembly 3 is connected in parallel between the fuel tank 1 and the carburetor 2. Once the vehicle is started, the suction created at pipe intake 7 is adequate to draw fuel from the assembly 3 and the vehicle continues to run on the fuel supplied by the said assembly 3. The solenoid valve can also be integrated with the auto fuel cock assembly.

The drawbacks discussed above are practically eliminated by this invention.

If need be, the vehicle Throttle Controlled Ignition unit (TCI), instead of Micro controller 5, can be employed (Micro controller programming can be incorporated in Vehicle TCI).

As additional features (Fig.2) it is possible to have a pressure switch 6 for the fuel tank 1 with which the pressure inside the tank, can be sensed. Fuel tank "Mains" volume, "Reserve volume" and "Low volume" can be determined based on customer usage.

A signal from the pressure switch 6 is taken as an input to Micro controller 5.

Micro controller out put is given to Speedo meter 8. Speedo meter 8 has three different colour LED's, e.g. Blue 7, Yellow 8 & Red 9 (Colours can be changed based on vehicle aesthetics requirement).

The following conditions may be stipulated for the microcontroller

• If pressure is ' above P1 - "ON"' -Mains- Blue light glows -Red light ( Low) and Yellow light (Low) goes off.

• If pressure is below P1, -and above P2- "ON" Reserve - Yellow light 8 glows -Blue light 7 (Mains) and Red light 9 (Low) goes off.

• If pressure is below P2 - "ON" Low - Red light 9 glows -Blue light 7 (Mains) and Yellow light 8 (Low) goes off.

It will be appreciated that various other embodiments of the electrical cum vacuum fuel cock for motor vehicles are possible without departing from the scope and ambit of this invention.

We Claim:

1. An electrical cum vacuum fuel cock for motor vehicles, comprising a solenoid valve operated by a micro controller, the solenoid valve connecting, the fuel tank to the carburettor, the said valve opening for a predetermined period, on the ignition switch being put ON, to fill the carburettor bowl for facilitating cold/warm starting of the engine; an auto fuel cock assembly connecting the fuel tank to the carburettor, whereby once the engine starts, the suction pressure created by the running engine adequately draws fuel into the carburettor for continued running of the engine.

2. A fuel cock as claimed in Claim 1 wherein a pressure switch is provided for the fuel tank, a signal from the said switch being taken as an input to the micro controller, the output of said micro controller being taken to the speedometer panel of the vehicle which has three LEDs of different colours, the said LEDs glowing to respectively indicate different pressure values of the fuel in the fuel tank.

3. An electrical cum vacuum fuel cock for motor vehicles substantially as herein
described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.