Comprehensive Spray Characteristics of Water in Port Fuel Injection Injector

The objective of this study was to compare the injection and spray characteristics of water with n-heptane using a port fuel injection (PFI) system. In this study, the injection pressure was changed to 0.3–0.9 Mpa and the energizing duration was changed to 0.5–4 ms. To investigate spray characteristics, the injection quantities of n-heptane and water were measured. Macroscopic spray characteristics were determined through spray visualization. The Sauter mean diameter (SMD) and velocity of spray droplets were measured with a phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) experiment. Spray tip penetration, spray angle, SMD of droplets, and spray droplet velocity were compared. As the injection pressure increased, the injection quantity and the droplets velocity increased. However, the spray tip penetration, SMD of the droplet, and the spray angle decreased. The increase in energizing duration led to an increase in the injection quantity without affecting other spray characteristics. The higher density of water also increased injection quantity, resulting in a decrease in spray tip penetration and increases of SMD and velocity of spray droplets due to high viscosity and surface tension of water.

Impact of counter-bore nozzle on the combustion process and exhaust emissions for light-duty diesel engine application

This article describes the main results of an investigation about counter-bore injector nozzle impact on the combustion process in a modern Euro 6 diesel engine. First, hydraulic and spray visualization tests have been performed, showing a potential advantage of such nozzle design in fuel–air mixing efficiency. Then, combustion performance has been assessed on a GM-designed 1.6-L four-cylinder engine. The engine has been installed on a dynamometric test bench and instrumented with an AVL cylinder pressure transducer for heat release rate analysis, as well as HORIBA MEXA gas analyzer for exhaust emissions and AVL 415 Smoke Meter. Engine efficiency and emissions have been analyzed on four different part-load steady-state points, representative of New European Driving Cycle and Worldwide harmonized Light duty Test Cycle certification cycles, and covering engine speeds from 1250 to 2000 r/min and brake mean effective pressure between 0.2 and 1.4 MPa. Results of indicated analysis show that counter-bore nozzles have significant differences in terms of pilot injection combustion at low load points, which in turn lead to a better ignition and shorter combustion of the main injection. In addition, an improvement of diffusive combustion is observed as load increases. Because of both, fuel consumption is reduced by approximately 1% with respect to a standard nozzle. Finally, an appreciable decrease in engine exhaust emissions has been recorded, especially in terms of particulate matter and hydrocarbon emissions. This reduction has been linked to the improvement of fuel–air mixing promoted by the counter-bore nozzle previously observed.

Development of a High-Pressure, High-Temperature, Optically Accessible Continuous-Flow Vessel for Fuel-Injection Experiments

A vessel has been designed for nonreacting fuel-injection experiments with continuous flow of sweep gas at pressures up to 1380 kPa and temperatures up to 200 °C. Four orthogonal windows provide optical access for high-speed spray-visualization using a fast-pulsed light emitting diode (LED) and a high-speed camera. Initial experiments have been conducted to determine spray characteristics of n-heptane. At room conditions, liquid length and cone angle were 170 mm and 14.5 deg, respectively. With air flow in the chamber at 690 kPa and 100 °C, liquid length was considerably shorter at 92 mm and cone angle was wider at 16.5 deg.

Development of a High-Pressure, High-Temperature, Optically Accessible Continuous-Flow Vessel for Fuel-Injection Experiments

The focus of this work was to develop a continuous-flow vessel with extensive optical access for characterization of engine-relevant fuel-injection and spray processes. The spray chamber was designed for non-reacting experiments at pressures up to 1380 kPa (200 psi) and temperatures up to 200°C. Continuous flow of inert “sweep gas” enables acquisition of large statistical data samples and thus potentially enables characterization of stochastic spray processes. A custom flange was designed to hold a common-rail diesel injector, with significant flexibility to accommodate other injectors and injector types in the future. This flexibility, combined with the continuous flow through the chamber, may enable studies of gas-turbine direct-injection spray processes in the future. Overall, the user can control and vary: injection duration, injection pressure, sweep-gas temperature, sweep-gas pressure, and sweep-gas flow rate. The user also can control frequency of replicate injections. There are four flat windows installed orthogonally on the vessel for optical access. Optical data, at present, include global spray properties such as liquid-phase fuel penetration and cone angle. These measurements are made using a high-speed spray-visualization system (up to 100 kHz) consisting of a fast-pulsed LED (light emitting diode) source and a high-speed camera. Experimental control and data acquisition have been set up and synchronized using custom LabVIEW programs. The culmination of this development effort was an initial demonstration experiment to capture high-speed spray-visualization movies of n-heptane injections to determine liquid-phase fuel penetration length (i.e., liquid length) and spray cone angle. In this initial experiment, fuel-injection pressure was ∼120 MPa (1200 bar) and the injection command-pulse duration was 800 μs. At room conditions, liquid length and nominal spray cone angle were ∼170 mm and ∼14.5°, respectively. In contrast, with air flow in the chamber at 100 psi and 100°C, liquid length was considerably shorter at ∼92 mm and spray cone angle was wider at ∼16.5°. Future experiments will include the continuation of these measurements for a wider range of conditions and fuels, extension of high-speed imaging to vapor-phase fuel penetration using schlieren imaging techniques, and detailed characterization of spray properties near the injector nozzle and near the liquid length.