Parametric Characterization of High-Pressure Diesel Fuel Injection Systems

The focus of the study described herein is the characterization of the high-pressure hydraulic electronic unit injector (HEUI) and of the electronic unit injector (EUI) diesel injection systems. The characterization items include injection pressure, injection rate, injector response time, needle lift, start up injection transient, and dynamic discharge coefficient of the nozzles. Macroscopic and microscopic spray visualizations were also performed. The effects of injection conditions and nozzle configurations on injection characteristics were reviewed. Nozzle sac pressure was measured to correlate with the upstream injection pressure. A LabVIEW data acquisition and controls system was implemented to operate the injection systems and to acquire and analyze data. For an HEUI system, based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that common-rail pressure and length of the injection rate-shaping pipe determine the injection pressure, while the pressure rising rate and injection duration determine the peak injection pressure; it was also found that the nozzle flow area, common-rail pressure, and the length of the rate-shaping pipe are the dominating parameters that control the injection rate, and the rate shape is affected mainly by common-rail pressure, especially the pressure rising rate and length of the rate-shaping pipe. Both injection pressure and ambient pressure affected the spray tip penetration significantly. The penetration increased corresponding to the increase of injection pressure or decrease of ambient pressure. The variation of spray penetration depends on the type of injection system, nozzle configuration, and ambient pressure. The large penetration variation observed on the HEUI sprays could be caused by eccentricity of the VCO (valve-covered-orifices) nozzle. The variation of the mini-sac nozzle was 50% less than that of the VCO nozzle. The near-field spray behavior was shown to be highly transient and strongly depended on injector design, nozzle configuration, needle lift and oscillation, and injection pressure.