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Two-stroke gasoline engines are known to benefit from using in-cylinder fuel injection which improves their ability to meet the strict fuel economy and exhaust emissions requirements. A conventional method of in-cylinder fuel injection involves application of plunger-type positive displacement pumps. Two-stroke engines are usually smaller and lighter than their 4-stroke counterparts of equal power and need a pump that should also be small and light and, preferably, simple in construction. Because a 2-stroke engine fires every crankshaft revolution, its fuel injection pump must run at crankshaft speed (twice the speed of a 4-stroke engine pump). An electronically controlled fuel injection system has been designed to satisfy the needs of a small automotive 2-stroke engine capable of running at speeds of up to 6000 rpm.

The effect of port injected small fuel droplets was evaluated for several different modes of engine operation. The droplets were generated by an Air Forced Injector (AFI), Figure 1, which uses high velocity air through a nozzle to produce fuel droplets on the order of 10mm Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD). AFI results were compared to those from a standard production pintle injector. Steady state data, “motored cold start” data, and injector cut-out data were collected. All three data sets illustrate functional advantages of AFI over standard Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI). Steady state testing showed that the AFI delivers complete freedom for specifying injection timing with respect to HC emissions. This freedom is highly advantageous for transient conditions because open valve injection with small droplets causes much less port wall wetting. Therefore, less control system compensation is necessary, and more accurate air-fuel ratio control is achievable.

With the advent of electronic controls and development of electromagnetically controlled fuel injection pumps, the cost of fuel systems using plunger-type pumps was substantially reduced. Further reduction in cost can be achieved if fewer solenoid valves are used. A new type of injection pump combining electromagnetic spill control principle with distributor-type operation is described. Only one solenoid valve is required for a multi-cylinder engine. The pump was designed for port injection of gasoline, but with some modifications could be adapted to direct fuel injection. The fuel injection system includes a controller capable of electronic trimming of port-to-port fuel distribution for tight control of air to fuel ratios in all engine cylinders. A review of the basic concept and operating principles is given, and test results as well as cost considerations are discussed.