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The fuel economy of recent small size DI diesel engines has become more and more efficient. However, heat loss is still one of the major factors contributing to a substantial amount of energy loss in engines. In order to a full understanding of the heat loss mechanism from combustion gas to cylinder wall, the effect of hole size and rail pressure at similar injection rate condition on transient heat flux to the wall were investigated. Using a constant volume vessel with a fixed impingement wall, the study measured the surface heat flux of the wall at the locations of spray flame impingement using three thin-film thermocouple heat-flux sensors. The results showed that the transferred heat was similar under similar injection rate profiles. However, in case of flame luminosity, temperature distribution, characteristic of local heat flux and soot distribution was also similar except the smaller nozzle hole size with higher injection pressure.

To get a better understanding of the characteristics of the high pressure gasoline sprays impinging on a wall, a fundamental study was conducted in a high-temperature high-pressure constant volume vessel under the simulated engine conditions of in-cylinder pressures, temperatures, and wall temperatures. The injection pressure was varied from 20 to 120 MPa. The spray tip penetration, vapor mass distribution, and vaporization rate were quantitatively measured with the laser absorption-scattering (LAS) technique. The velocity fields of the wall-impinging sprays under vaporizing conditions were measured with the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique using silicone oil droplets as tracers. The effects of injection pressure and spray/wall interactions on spray characteristics were investigated. The results showed that the increased injection pressure improved penetration, vaporization, and turbulence of the sprays.

The injection amount per stage in a multiple injection strategy is smaller than a conventional single-stage injection. In this paper, the effect of the injection amount (0.27mg, 0.89mg, 2.97mg) under 100MPa injection pressure and the effect of injection pressure (100MPa, 150MPa, 170MPa) under different injection amounts (0.27mg, 2.97mg) on the spray and mixture formation characteristics were studied by analyzing the vapor/liquid phase concentration distributions obtained under various conditions via using the tracer LAS technique. The spray was injected into a high-pressure and high-temperature constant volume vessel by using a single-hole nozzle with a diameter 0.133mm. The higher the injection pressure with a smaller injection amount is, the shorter the spray tip penetration and leaner air-fuel mixture occur. The combustion processes had been examined by a high-speed video camera with the two-color pyrometry method.

Different ethanol-gasoline blended fuels, namely the E0 (100% gasoline), E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline mixed in volume basis) and E100 (100% ethanol) were injected by a valve-covered-orifice (VCO) hole-type nozzle in a condition simulating the near top dead center (TDC). Two typical injection pressures of 10 and 20MPa were adopted to clarify the spray and flame behaviors. The correlation of the upstream unburned fuel and the flame propagation was analyzed by the high-speed imaging of shadowgraph. Moreover, the effects of ignition timing and location on the flame propagation were discussed based on the imaging of OH* chemiluminescence.

Reduction of orifice diameter of nozzle is advantageous to the fuel atomization in a D.I. diesel engine. However, the diameter reduction is usually accompanied with decrease of spray tip penetration, thus worsening fuel spatial-distribution and fuel-air mixing. In this paper, a group-hole nozzle concept was proposed to solve the problem resulting from minimization of orifice diameter. Compared to the conventional multi-hole nozzle, group-hole nozzle has a series group of orifices, and each group consists of two micro-orifices with a small spatial interval and small angle. For examining the characteristics of the spray injected by the group-hole nozzle, the ultraviolet-visible laser absorption-scattering (LAS) imaging technique was adopted to determine vapor concentration and droplets density as well as other spray characteristics such as spray angle and penetration of both vapor and liquid phases.

In order to investigate effects of the multi-hole nozzle with micro orifices on mixture formation processes in Direct-Injection Diesel engines, mixture characteristics were examined via an ultraviolet-visible laser absorption scattering (LAS) technique under various injectors. The injection quantity per orifice per cycle was reduced by nozzle hole sizes. The LAS technique can provide the quantitative and simultaneous measurements of liquid and vapor phases concentration distributions inside of the fuel spray. Mass of ambient gas entrained into the spray, liquid/ vapor mass and mean equivalence ratio of total fuel were obtained based on Lambert Beer's law. As a result, the leaner and more homogeneous fuel-gas mixture can be achieved by reducing the nozzle hole diameter, in the meanwhile more ambient gas were entrained into the spray. Moreover, relationships between mixture formation and D.I.

A comparison of spray characteristics was conducted between single- and multi-hole injectors. A commercial software (AVL FIRE) was used to investigate the internal flow inside the sac volume, as well as the initial spray behavior at 1 mm downstream of the nozzle exit. Microscopic imaging was applied to observe the spray dispersion angle (spray cone angle) at the vicinity of the nozzle. Laser absorption scattering (LAS) technique was implemented for measuring the mixture concentration. Three injection quantities, namely 0.5, 2.5, and 5.0 mg/hole, were selected to observe the differences between transient and quasi-steady spray. The vapor penetration at the initial stage of the injection was greater for single-hole than that of multi-hole injector due to faster fuel pressure build-up process inside the sac volume.

An early formation process of the spray, which was injected by a high-pressure swirl-type injector that is widely used in direct injection spark ignition (DISI) gasoline engines, was investigated through image analyzing techniques. The sprays were illuminated both by an Nd:YAG laser light sheet for getting the spray tomograms and by a tungsten lamp for getting the scattered back light shadow images of the sprays. The sprays were imaged by using a high-resolution CCD camera and a high-speed digital imaging system. The early development aspects of the spray were investigated in detail through the measurement of the tip penetration, cone angle and width of the early spray. At the start of injection, the liquid column emerges first, and it forms the “pre-swirl spray” without the swirl component. Following the liquid column, the liquid sheet emerges, however its radial velocity component is weak to form the complete hollow-cone spray. This spray changes into the “weak-swirl spray”.

Increasing the injection pressure and splitting the injection stage are the major approaches for a diesel engine to facilitate the fuel-air mixture formation process, which determines the subsequent combustion and emission formation. In this study, the free spray was injected by a single-hole nozzle with a hole-diameter of 0.111 mm. The impinging spray, formed by a two-dimensional (2D) piston cavity having the same shape as a small-bore diesel engine, was also investigated. The injection process was performed by both with and without pre-injection. The main injection was carried out either as a single main injection with injection pressure of 100 MPa (Pre + S100) or a split main injection with 160 MPa defined by the mass fraction ratio of 3:1 (Pre + D160_3-1). The tracer Laser Absorption Scattering (LAS) technique was adopted to observe the spray mixture formation process. The ignition delay/location and the soot formation in the spray flame were analyzed by the two-color method.

The concept of two closely spaced micro-orifices (group hole nozzle) has been studied as a promising technology for the reduction of soot emission from direct injection (DI) diesel engines by improving the fuel atomization and evaporation. One of the main issues on group hole nozzle is the arrangement of orifices with various distances and angles. In this study, the ignition and combustion characteristics of wall-impinging diesel sprays from group-hole nozzles were investigated with various angles between two micro-orifices (included angles). A laser absorption scattering (LAS) technique for non-axisymmetric sprays, developed based on a LAS technique for axisymmetric spray, was applied to investigate the liquid/vapor mass distribution of wall-impinging sprays. The direct flame images and OH radical images inside a high pressure constant volume vessel were captured to analyze the effect of included angle on spray ignition and combustion characteristics.

With the aim of improving engine performance, recent trend of fuel injection nozzle design followed by engineers and researchers is focusing on more efficient fuel break up, atomization, and fuel evaporation. Therefore, it is crucial to characterize the effect of nozzle geometric design on fuel internal flow dynamics and the consequent fuel-air mixture properties. In this study, the internal flow and spray characteristics generated by the practical multi-hole (10 holes) nozzles with different nozzle hole length and hole diameter were investigated in conjunction with a series of computational and experimental methods. Specifically, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) commercial code was used to predict the internal flow variation inside different nozzle configurations, and the high-speed video observation method was applied to visualize the spray evolution processes under non-evaporating conditions.

The group-hole (GH) nozzle concept that uses two closely spaced micro-orifices to substitute the conventional single orifice has the potential to facilitate better fuel atomization and evaporation, consequently attenuate the soot emission formed in direct-injection (D.I.) diesel engines. Studies of quantitative mixture properties of the transient fuel spray injected by the group-hole nozzles were conducted in a constant volume chamber via the laser absorption-scattering (LAS) technique, in comparison with conventional single-hole nozzles. Specific areas investigated involved: the non-evaporating and the evaporating ambient conditions, the free spray and the spray impinging on a flat wall conditions. The particular emphasis was on the effect of one of key parameters, the interval between orifices, of the group-hole (SH) nozzle structure.

In this study, air entrainment, fuel evaporation and mixing process of diesel sprays injected by micro-orifices for direct-injection diesel engines were investigated at the end of injection transient and after the end of injection. The mixture formation process was analyzed using a laser absorption scattering (LAS) technique, providing the information of quantified liquid and vapor mass concentration, entrained air concentration and equivalence ratio. The data was obtained at the timings of quasi-steady state, sudden velocity decrease, the end of injection and after the end of injection. Two micro-orifices, which have different orifice diameters, were selected as test nozzles to investigate the end-of-injection characteristics at different nozzle geometries. In case of smaller orifice diameter, the liquid phase regression was observed around the end of injection, while it was not observed at larger orifice diameter due to denser liquid concentration near the nozzle tip.

The effects of split injections of a diesel spray was evaluated in a constant volume chamber under evaporating, non-reacting condition. Laser absorption scattering (LAS) technique was utilized for the mixture concentration measurement, using a diesel surrogate fuel consists of n-tridecane and 2.5% of 1-methylnaphthalene in volume basis. While fixing the total injected fuel mass of 5.0 mg/hole, the effects of split ratio in mass basis and the dwell time (or injection interval) were investigated. Among the split ratios conducted in the current study (3,7, 5:5 and 7:3), the split ratio of 7:3 was the optimum for lean mixture formation regarding the overall distribution of the equivalence ratio at end-of-injection (EOI) timing. The air entrainment wave at the EOI timing of the first injection allowed the fuel at the vicinity of the nozzle to become leaner at a faster rate.

An investigation on the effect of dwell time of split injection on a diesel spray evolution and mixture formation process was carried out. A commercial 7-hole injector were used in the experiment to eliminate the possible discrepancies on the spray with single-hole research injector. Laser absorption scattering (LAS) technique was implemented for the measurement of the temporal evolution of fuel evaporation and mixture concentration. The diesel surrogate fuel consists of n-tridecane and 2.5% of 1-methylnaphthalene in volume basis was used. The total amount of fuel injected was initially fixed to 5.0 mg/hole. A split ratio of 9: 1 in mass basis was selected according to the results obtained from a previous study. The dwell time was varied from 120 µs to a negative value of −50 µs. The effects of negative dwell time was not ideal for lean mixture formation when compared to zero or positive dwell time conditions.

In direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engine, it is difficult to avoid the spray impingement of fuel on the cylinder wall and piston head, which is a possible source of hydrocarbons and soot emission. The injector nozzle geometry and injection pressure are essential components for the spray atomization and mixture formation. For better understanding the effects of injector hole diameters and injection pressure, the fuel spray and adhesion on a flat wall by different mini-sac injectors with a single hole was examined in this study. A flat-wall made of quartz glass was used as the impingement plate. Refractive Index Matching (RIM) method was applied to measure the thickness of fuel adhesion on the wall. All the cases performed in constant high-pressure chamber were under high temperature condition considering the real gasoline engine condition. Time-resolved behaviors of the fuel adhesion as well as adhesion mass, area and thickness were discussed.

Previous research has shown that the reduced nozzle hole diameter and elevated injection pressure are effective for preparing a uniform fuel-air mixture in a direct injection (D.I.) Diesel engine. A micro-hole nozzle with a hole diameter of 0.08 mm and an ultra-high injection pressure of 300 MPa have been employed to investigate the mixture formation process under various conditions. The aim of the current work is to clarify the effect of nozzle hole diameter and injection pressure on flame lift-off and soot formation processes. The free sprays from the micro-hole and conventional nozzles were investigated at a high-temperature, high-pressure constant volume vessel. A high-speed video camera system was employed to record the non-vaporizing sprays and combustion. The direct photography of OH chemiluminescence was used to provide information about the high temperature combustion process and to measure the flame lift-off length.

Experimental study has been carried out on the effects of the micro-hole nozzle injector and ultra-high injection pressure on the mixture properties of D.I. Diesel engine. A manually operated piston screw pump, High Pressure Generator, was used to obtain ultra-high injection pressures. Three kinds of injection pressures, 100MPa, 200MPa, and 300MPa, were applied to a specially designed injector. Four kinds of nozzle hole diameters, 0.16mm, 0.14mm, 0.10mm, and 0.08mm, were adopted in this study. The laser absorption-scattering (LAS) technique was used to analyze the equivalence ratio distributions, Sauter mean diameter, spray tip penetration length, and other spray characteristics. The analyses of the experimental results show that the micro-hole nozzle and ultra-high injection pressure are effective to increase the turbulent mixing rate and to form the uniform and lean fuel-air mixture.

The fuel-ambient gas interaction process of the free diesel spray injected from the micro-hole nozzle (0.08 mm) into the quiescent and engine-like ambient gas condition was investigated by means of the laser-induced fluorescence - particle image velocimetry (LIF-PIV) technique in non-evaporating condition. Direct photography with high speed video camera and two color pyrometry were applied to analyze the evaporation spray and flame characteristics. Three injection pressures from 100, 200 to 300 MPa and two ambient gas densities of 11 and 15 kg/m₃ were selected as testing conditions. The entrained mass flow rate of the ambient gas through the whole spray boundary, the ratio of the total ambient gas entrainment rate to the fuel injection rate, etc., were calculated by using the ambient gas velocity data obtained by the LIF-PIV technique and used to correlate the combustion behavior.

The performance of a diesel engine largely depends on the spray behavior and mixture formation. Nozzle configurations and operating conditions are important factors that influence spray development. Using numerical and experimental methods, this study focused on the spray development of multi-hole nozzles under non-evaporating and evaporating conditions to compare the influence of nozzle hole diameter and injection pressure on spray characteristics. High-speed video observation was employed to study the properties of spray development under the non-evaporating condition, while the Laser Absorption Scattering technique was used in the observation and quantitative analysis of evaporating spray characteristics in the evaporating condition. In addition, computational fluid dynamics study results published previously [1] were correlated with the current experimental results to provide more detailed explanations about the mechanism of the characteristics of spray behavior.