Search Results

Future light, medium and heavy duty diesel engines will need to satisfy the more stringent emission levels (US 2014, Euro 6, etc.) without compromising their current performance and fuel economy, while still maintaining a competitive cost. In order to achieve this, the Fuel Injection Equipment (FIE) together with the pressure charging, cooling system, exhaust after treatment and other engine sub-systems will each play a key role. The FIE has to offer a range of flexible injection characteristics, e.g. a multiple injection train with or without separation, modulated injection pressures and rates for every injection, higher specific power output from the same injector envelope, and close control of very small fuel injection quantities. The aim of this paper is to present Delphi's developments in fuel injection strategies for light and medium duty diesel engines that will comply with future emission legislation, whilst providing higher power density and uncompromised fuel economy.

Biodiesel offers a potentially viable alternative fuel source for diesel automotive applications. However, biodiesel may present problems at colder temperatures due to the crystallization of fatty acid methyl esters and precipitation of other components, such as unreacted triglycerides and sterol glycosides in biodiesel. At lower temperatures, the fuel gels until it solidifies in the fuel lines, clogging the fuel filter, and shutting down the engine. A laboratory-based continuous loop fuel system was utilized to determine the flow properties at low temperatures of biodiesel in B100, B20, and B10 blends for soybean and choice white grease (pig fat) biodiesel fuel. The continuous loop fuel delivery system was designed to be similar to those that can be found in engines and vehicles currently in use, and provided a mechanical pump or an electric pump as a means to simulate systems found in the different types of vehicles.

The measurement of the rate of fuel injection using a constant volume, fluid filled chamber and measuring the pressure change as a function of time due to the injected fluid (the so called “Zeuch” method) is an industry standard due to its simple theoretical underpinnings. Such a measurement device is useful to determine key timing and quantity parameters for injection system improvements to meet the evolving requirements of emissions, power and economy. This study aims to further the understanding of the nature of cavitation which could occur in the near nozzle region under these specific conditions of liquid into liquid injection using high pressure diesel injectors for heavy duty engines. The motivation for this work is to better understand the temporal signature of the pressure signals that arise in a typical injection cycle.

For many years, compression ignition combustion has been studied by a combination of generic studies on fuel spray formation and analysis of results from single and multicylinder engines. The results and insight have been applied to design and develop advanced fuel injection equipment for high-speed direct injection engines. Experimental fuel injection equipments, including early common rail designs, have been matched to combustion chambers in single cylinder research engines to tackle the conflicting requirements of efficiency and minimum nitric oxide formation, combustion noise and soot. A clear strategy evolved from the work with experimental equipment that is being applied to multicylinder engines. If sufficient oxygen is available in the gas charge trapped in each cylinder, the LDCR common rail injection system will provide the fuel required to develop high torque at low engine speeds.

The need for improved emissions and fuel economy are placing increasingly severe performance requirements on compression ignition engines. These are satisfied in part by advanced fuel injection equipment that provide multiple injections and increased injection pressures along with higher operating temperature. Fuel composition is also changing, with increased use of non-traditional feedstocks combined with a range of additive chemistries to restore or enhance fuel quality. Within this environment, a number of worldwide automotive companies have noted a trend towards increased Internal Injector Deposits (IID). Little quantitative information to understand the root cause is available, largely due to difficulty in reproducing the issue under controlled conditions. The present study details the results of an accelerated test methodology, which is used to evaluate the interrelated effects of fuel composition and operating environment.

Increasing fuel injection pressure has enabled reduction of diesel emissions while retaining the advantage of the high thermal efficiency of diesel engines. With production diesel injectors operating in the range from 300 to 2400 bar, there is interest in injection pressures of 3000 bar and higher for further emissions reduction and fuel efficiency improvements. Fundamental understanding of diesel spray characteristics including very early injection and non-vaporizing spray penetration is essential to improve model development and facilitate the integration of advanced injection systems with elevated injection pressure into future diesel engines. Studies were conducted in an optically accessible constant volume combustion vessel under non-vaporizing conditions. Two advanced high pressure multi-hole injectors were used with different hole diameters, number of holes, and flow rates, with only one plume of each injector being imaged to enable high frame rate imaging.

A very flexible choice of fuel injection characteristics can be obtained with an advanced electronic unit injector that has been developed with two electronically controlled valves. Single-cylinder engine tests have demonstrated the potential of this advanced EUI system for a heavy-duty diesel engine. Substantial increases in injection pressure can be programmed electronically at individual engine speed/load conditions, compared with a baseline EUI system, to provide much faster rates of air/fuel mixing. Simulated US and European emissions cycle results, with the optimised two-actuator EUI and EGR, show substantially improved soot particulate versus NOx results and lower BSFC compared with a baseline EUI result. A high-pressure post injection has the potential to give further soot reduction.