Brazing Provides Leak-Free Passage For Vehicle Fuel.

Application:

Fuel senders used in vehicles manufactured by Ford Motor Company. Ford Motor Company relies on brazing in several phases of vehicle manufacture. In the assembly of its fuel pump systems, brazing helps provide a leak free route for gasoline to be transported to the engine. Specifically, brazing is used to construct the fuel sender, a part that mounts directly onto a vehicle’s gas tank. With a fuel pump attached to it, the fuel sender pulls gas out of the tank and sends it through tubes to the fuel injection system. In the manufacture of the fuel sender, two stainless steel arched tubes are brazed through a round stainless flange. The tubes fit neatly between the two existing holes in the flange. An operator manually snaps a C-shaped arc of filler metal, (Lucas-Milhaupt’s CDA-521), into the gap between each tube and the flange. The parts are then placed on a belt and sent through an oxygen-free, controlled-atmosphere furnace. The absence of oxygen eliminates the need for flux or cleaning, and the brazed parts emerge shiny and clean. Following this rapid metal joining process, each fuel sender is 100% leak tested.

1. Teams of Ford employees place the stainless tubes in place in the flange.
2. Filler metal arcs are manually positioned to fill the gap between each tube and the flange hole.
3. Assembled parts are placed on a conveyor for brazing
4. Finished fuel senders are leak tested