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The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects that higher fluid injection pressures and nozzle geometry have on compound fuel injector nozzle performance. Higher pressures are shown to significantly reduce droplet size, increase the discharge coefficient and reduce the overall size of a nozzle spray. It is also shown that the geometry has a significant effect on nozzle performance, and it can be manipulated to give a desired spray shape.

The goal of this research was to determine an empirical method of relating the droplet sizes and the spray patterns to the parameters and the geometries of the compound nozzles. Two different types of compound nozzles were studied, the compound silicon micro machined nozzle and the compound metal disk nozzle. Several different orifice geometries of each nozzle type were examined. The injector components upstream of the compound nozzle of two different types of injectors were also studied. A nondimensional characterization of the droplet sizes and the mass flow rates was proposed. The results of this study show that there exists optimum geometric features that will produce sprays with the minimum steady state and dynamic Sauter mean diameter. The spray of a compound nozzle can be characterized by the atomization efficiency and the discharge coefficient. Nozzle testing results show that many flow characteristics are developed in the compound nozzle.

The spray pattern of a fuel injector is a key factor in the mixing of the fuel with the air. One effective means of determining the fuel distribution in the spray is to collect the fuel in tubes, from various regions of the spray. The amount of fuel in the tubes is measured. These measurements are used to create diagrams and curves which graphically represent the fuel distribution within the spray. The term “Patternator” has come to mean a device which determines the spray distribution, in the sense that the device determines the pattern of the spray. The objective of this paper is to describe the operation, features, and performance of an automated patternator designed and built at Michigan Technological University for Ford Motor Company. The patternator system was constructed for rapid determination of the spray pattern in order to expedite the development of automotive port fuel injectors.

The First Annual Blizzard Baja was hosted by Michigan Technological University's SAE Student Branch on February 7, 1981. This was a competition between student designed vehicles which had previously competed in summer Baja events. The Blizzard Baja consisted of a one hour endurance race run on ice and snow. The purpose was to provide the student engineers an opportunity to test their vehicles in cold weather, snow and icy conditions.