Search Results

A test facility was constructed at University College London to study fuel spray structure within a gasoline direct injection engine. The facility consisted of a single cylinder research engine with extensive optical access and a novel video imaging and analysis system. The engine used an experimental prototype 4-valve cylinder head with direct in-cylinder high pressure fuel injection, provided by a major automotive manufacturer. The fuel spray was illuminated using a pulsed copper-vapour laser. Results are presented that illustrate the spray behaviour within the fired research engine. A laser light sheet provided an insight into the inner spray cone behaviour.

There is a great deal of interest in new technologies to assist in reducing the CO2 output of passenger vehicles, as part of the drive to meet the limits agreed by the EU and the European Automobile Manufacturer's Association ACEA, itself a result of the Kyoto Protocol. For the internal combustion engine, the most promising of these include gasoline direct injection, downsizing and fully variable valve trains. While new types of spray-guided gasoline direct injection (GDI) combustion systems are finally set to yield the level of fuel consumption improvement which was originally promised for the so-called ‘first generation’ wall- and air-guided types of GDI, injectors for spray-guided combustion systems are not yet in production to help justify the added complication and cost of the NOx trap necessary with a stratified combustion concept.