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An investigation of several diesel injector nozzles that produced different engine emissions performance was performed. The nozzle styles used were two VCO type nozzles that were manufactured using two different techniques, and two mini-sac nozzles that provided comparison. Fired experiments were conducted on a Detroit Diesel Series 50 engine. Optical access was obtained by substituting a sapphire window for one exhaust valve. Under high speed, high load, retarded injection timing conditions, it was discovered that each nozzle produced different specific soot and NOx emissions. High-speed film images were obtained. It was discovered that the temperature and KL factor results from the 2-color optical pyrometry showed significant differences between the nozzles. The authors propose the possibility that differences in air entrainment, caused by potential differences in CD due to surface finish, may contribute to the variance in emissions performance.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of injector nozzle hole size, shape, and finish on performance and emissions in a light-duty diesel engine. Two sets of six-hole valve covered orifice (VCO) nozzles were tested with nearly identical volumetric flow rates but varying geometry and finish. The 17% hydro-erosion (HE) nozzles had a 22% larger discharge coefficient (CD), compared to the 7% HE nozzles. In order to maintain similar volumetric flow rates, the orifice diameter of the 17% HE nozzles were reduced by almost 10%.The nozzles were tested in a 1.7L, four-cylinder, common rail diesel engine, operating on conventional D2 diesel fuel. The 17% HE, conical-shaped nozzles reduced fuel specific particulate matter (PM) and increased fuel specific oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions, over the 7% HE, straight-shaped nozzle.

A time-resolved x-radiographic technique has been employed for measuring the fuel distribution close to a single-hole nozzle fitted in a high-pressure diesel injector. Using a monochromatic synchrotron x-ray beam, it is possible to perform quantitative x-ray absorption measurements and obtain two-dimensional projections of the mass of the fuel spray. We have completed a series of spray measurements in the optically dense, near-nozzle region (< 15 mm from the nozzle orifice) under ambient pressures of 1, 2, and 5.2 bar N2 and 1 bar SF6 at room temperature with injection pressures of 500 and 1000 bar. The focus of the measurements is on the dynamical behaviors of the fuel jets with an emphasis on their penetration in the near-nozzle region. Careful analysis of the time-resolved x-radiographic data revealed that the spray penetration in this near nozzle region was not significantly affected by the limited change of the ambient pressure.

The process of spray atomization has typically been understood in terms of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability theory. However, this mechanism has failed to fully explain much of the measured data. For this reason a number of new atomization mechanisms have been proposed. The present study intends to gain an understanding of the spray dynamics and breakup processes in the near-nozzle region of heavy-duty diesel injector sprays. As this region is optically dense, synchrotron x-rays were used to gain new insights. This spray study was performed using a prototype common-rail injection system, by injecting a blend of diesel fuel and cerium-containing organometalic compound into a chamber filled with nitrogen at 1 atm. The x-rays were able to probe the dense region of the spray as close as 0.2 mm from the nozzle. These x-ray images showed two interesting features. The first was a breakup of the high density region about 22 μs After the Start Of Injection (ASOI).

Propagation-based and phase-enhanced x-ray imaging was developed as a unique metrology technique to visualize the internal structure of high-pressure fuel injection nozzles. We have visualized the microstructures inside 200-μm fuel injection nozzles in a 3-mm-thick steel housing using this novel technique. Furthermore, this new x-ray-based metrology technique has been used to directly study the highly transient needle motion in the nozzles in situ and in real-time, which is virtually impossible by any other means. The needle motion has been shown to have the most direct effect on the fuel jet structure and spray formation immediately outside of the nozzle. In addition, the spray cone-angle has been perfectly correlated with the numerically simulated fuel flow inside the nozzle due to the transient nature of the needle during the injection.

In order to analyze the effects of nozzle geometry on the structure of fuel sprays, quantitative x-ray measurements have been performed on sprays from nozzles with different degrees of hydro-grinding. The two nozzles were measured at injection pressures of 500 and 1000 bar in an ambient environment of 1 bar nitrogen gas. Time-resolved x-radiography was used to measure the two-dimensional mass distributions of the spray as a function of time for the entire spray event. The initial mass flow through the nozzles was determined from the x-ray data, the nozzles showed no appreciable differences in the early part of the injection event. The transverse mass distributions were fit with Gaussian curves, and the assumption of axisymmetry was used to calculate the volume fraction of each spray. It was observed that the nozzle which had undergone extensive hydro-grinding generated a more dense spray than the sharp-edged nozzle at an injection pressure of 1000 bar.