Apparatus for automatic refuelling of vehicles

Claim 1

Apparatus for the automatic refuelling of vehicles comprising: a robot which includes a robot head that is movable in relation to the robot so as to bring the robot head to a predetermined position in relation to a vehicle fuel tank pipe, a positioning system for positioning the robot head during a positioning operation, the positioning system including a first part located on the robot head and a second part placed in a predetermined position on the vehicle, wherein the robot head includes an outer tube and an inner tube which can be moved within said outer tube and out of said outer tube, which outer tube is resilient and wherein a free, front end of the outer tube has a part in the shape of a truncated cone, said outer tube part being intended to be docked in a docking operation with a correspondingly truncated conical part of an adapter during said positioning operation, said adapter being adapted to be attached to an upper orifice of the fuel-tank pipe, and wherein subsequent to said docking operation, a free forward end of the inner tube is adapted to project out from the outer tube to a position down in the fuel-tank pipe, whereafter fuel is delivered to the fuel tank through the inner tube, wherein the forward end of the inner tube has an essentially conical shape and wherein in said positioning operation the inner tube has an axially displaced position relative to the outer tube such that the forward end of said inner tube will coact with an outer surface of the truncated cone of the outer tube to form a generally conical front part; and wherein the outer tube is resilient to such an extent that said docking operation can take place when the tip of the inner tube is positioned radially inwards of a base of the conical part of the adapter.