Air valve for a fuel injection system

Claim 1

An air valve for a fuel injection system of a mixture-compressing externally ignited internal combustion engine, the system comprising: a suction tube into which fuel is injected and within which an air metering member and an arbitrarily displaceable throttle valve are mounted in succession in the direction of air flow; and a bypass line connecting together the sections of the suction tube upstream and downstream of the throttle valve, wherein the cross section of the bypass line is varied by means of an air valve, the air valve comprising: a. a housing; b. a membrane within the housing and dividing the space within the housing into a first and second chamber; c. a movable valve component mounted to control the cross-sectional area of the bypass; d. a guide plate; e. a connecting member guided by the guide plate and connecting the membrane to the movable valve component; f. a guide spring mounted to bias the movable valve component in an open direction; g. a first line; and h. pressure spring situated in the second chamber, wherein: i. the first chamber communicates with atmosphere; ii. the second chamber communicates with the suction tube section upstream of the throttle valve via the first line; iii. the first line is closable by the movable valve component; and iv. the membrane is concurrently acted upon by the guide spring via the movable valve component and by the pressure spring.