MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERISTY OF MAINE

Fuel Injector Flow Bench

Addition to Existing Dynamometer Cart

Michael Galli, Kalee Gurschick, Andrew Gwarjanski, Lucas Farrar, David Raymond, Jakob Low

2012
Contents

Concept ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Fabrication .................................................................................................................................................... 2
Wiring ............................................................................................................................................................ 3
Theory ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
Testing Procedure ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Sample Data .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Parts List and Drawings ................................................................................................................................. 8
Concept

As the Mech Lab portion of the senior design class, the CSC 2012 Team designed and fabricated

a fuel injector flow bench. The flow bench will provide a rate of fuel sent to the engine by the injectors.

This value is critical in properly setting the engine controls. The rate is dependent on the pressure set by

the fuel pump and the injector pulse width. To convert the engine to run with higher contents of

ethanol, the pressure must be increased due to higher fuel density and lower energy produced per unit

volume. The injectors may not be able to perform correctly under pressures higher than stock. The

injector pulses open and close to send small amounts of fuel at a time to the engine. The pulse width

defines the time the injector is open and is a key input in the engine control unit.

The schematic of the experimental set up is depicted in Figure 1. The fuel tank, filter, pump, and

regulator are all mounted on the existing dynamometer cart. The line is then connected to a pressure

gage that can connect to the apparatus containing the fuel injectors. These injectors will sit directly

above the graduated cylinders used for measuring.

Figure 1: Concept Sketch of Fuel Injector Flow Bench

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Fabrication

The graduated cylinders will be housed on a stainless steel base, shown in Figure 2 below. This

base will also hold the injectors during testing. Each piece is fabricated out of 16 gauge stainless steel. It

was cut using the sheer in AMC building. Pieces needing to be bent were also done using equipment in

the AMC building. A dimensional drawing for each piece can be found in Appendix C. There was an

existing bracket holding a fuel pump, and regulator on the cart. A similar piece was fabricated out 1”

square steel tubing, with our fuel pump and fuel regulator mounted to it. This piece is removable and is

attached with the existing hardware on the cart. This piece is shown in Figure 3. A new tank for mineral

spirits, the injector test fluid, was also attached to the cart. The tank is mounted with a bracket made of

1” square steel tubing shown in Figure 4.

Figure 2: Fuel Injector Housing Figure 3: Fuel Pump and Regulator Mount Figure 4: Mineral Spirits Fuel Cell

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Wiring

There was already a switch providing power to the bench included on the control panel. We

needed to distribute this power to Microsquirt, the fuel injectors, and the fuel pump. Since an existing

fuel pump was removed and replaced, as described above, the existing wiring on the cart was used. The

fourth switch on the control panel powers the fuel pump. The fifth switch sends power to the

Microsquirt controller and to the injectors on the fuel rail. From Microsquirt, pins 9 and 10 each connect

to an individual fuel injector. These wires send a pulse signal to the injectors based on the test mode in

the Microsquirt program. To protect the circuit, fuses were added, as shown in the wiring diagram in

Figure 5 below. Ground wires were connected from the Microsquirt unit and the fuel pump to the frame

of the cart.

Figure 5: Wiring Diagram

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Theory

The maximum volume of fuel sent to a properly working engine is based on the engine output, the

specific fuel consumption, and the duty cycle. The relationship is shown in the equation below.

𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = max 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 ∙ 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ∙ max 𝑑𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 Equation 1

The flow rate is in pounds per hour. The maximum engine output is 80 horsepower for the 2007 Yamaha

Phazer. The specific fuel consumption for this type of engine is 0.55 lb/hp/hr. The duty cycle is a percentage of how

long the injector is open. The injectors should not operate above 80%. Combining these values gives the maximum

flow rate shown below in Equation 2.

.55𝑙𝑏
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 80 ℎ𝑝 ( ) 0.80 = 35.2 𝑙𝑏/ℎ𝑟 Equation 2
ℎ𝑝ℎ𝑟

The optimal flow rate for gasoline at stock conditions for the Yamaha Phazer is 35.2 lb/hr. Equation 1 can

be applied to any engine.

For high impedance injectors, the period is a constant 66ms. The open time is the set pulse width and the

close time varies to achieve the specified period. There for the trial time only a function the number of squirts as

shown below.

(𝑷)𝑵
𝒕= 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎𝒎𝒔 Equation 3
𝒔
Where:
𝑡 is trial time in seconds
𝑃 is the period (open time + close time), here 66ms
𝑁 is the set number is squirts
Using the time of the trial and density of the test fluid, the volume can be converted to a flow rate.

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Testing Procedure

The injectors are pressed into the adaptors and the connectors are attached to the injectors. A graduated

cylinder is placed under each injector to catch the mineral spirits test fluid after it exits the injector. Mineral spirits

is added to the 1 gallon fuel cell. The empty graduated cylinders are placed on the scale and a weight is recorded.

The main power disconnect is switched to the “on” position and the ignition key is turned on. The fuel

pump is turned on by simply flipping the switch on the control panel labeled “fuel pump”. The red light above the

switch is on indicating there is power at the switch. The lines leading from the fuel cell to the injectors are now

pressurized. A computer with TunerStudio software is attached to the auxiliary hook-up on the Microsquirt wiring

harness. The program is opened using the computer. The Microsquirt switch on the control panel is flipped to the

on position. This sends power to the Microsquirt engine controller and also to the injectors themselves. The

gauges on TunerStudio are now interactive. The Tools menu is clicked and Injector Test Mode is selected. A new

window is opened. On the drop-down menu, “Test Mode” is selected and the desired values for pulse width, close

time, and number of squirts are set. On the bottom of the window the button labeled “Burn” is selected to save

these parameters. On the drop down menu, “Repeat Test” is selected in order to begin the test.

After the injectors have gone through the desired cycle and the Test Mode has stopped, the graduated

cylinders are removed and set on a level surface in order to get a volume reading. The graduated cylinders

containing the test fluid placed are placed on a scale to get a mass reading. This value is subtracted from the empty

cylinder weight and multiplied by the density of the test fluid to calculate a volume. The second volume reading is

compared to the initial reading directly from the cylinder. The cylinders are emptied into the fuel cell and placed

back under the injectors. A new pulse width is entered into the Injector Test Mode window and “Repeat Test” is

selected on the drop down menu to run a new test. The remaining trials are repeated in the same manner

described above until all desired pulse widths have been tested.

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Sample Data

A test was done for the 2007 Yamaha Phazer fuel injectors. The value for pulse width ranged

from 5 ms to 50 ms in steps of 5 ms. The number squirts was set to 250. These are high impedance

injectors so the close time was calculated to ensure a constant period of 66 ms. The data from this trial

is shown below in Table 2. The values used for unit conversion are found in Table 1.

Table 1: Unit Conversion Values

Density of Mineral Spirits [10] 6.531 lb/gal
Weight Conversion 2.2046 lb/kg
Volume Conversion 0.0002642 gal/mL

Table 2: Trial Data

Pulse Close Trial Trial Measured Measured Average Flow
Width Time Time Time A B Sum Volume Weight Mass Weight Weight rate
(ms) (ms) (s) (hr) (mL) (mL) (mL) (gal) (lb) (kg) (kg) (lb) (lb/hr)
5 61 16.5 0.00458 6 6 12 0.0032 0.0207 0.009 0.0198 0.0203 4.423
10 56 16.5 0.00458 13 13 26 0.0069 0.0449 0.019 0.0419 0.0434 9.464
15 51 16.5 0.00458 19.5 20 39.5 0.0104 0.0682 0.029 0.0639 0.0660 14.410
20 46 16.5 0.00458 26 26 52 0.0137 0.0897 0.039 0.0860 0.0879 19.168
25 41 16.5 0.00458 32 32 64 0.0169 0.1104 0.048 0.1058 0.1081 23.591
30 36 16.5 0.00458 39 39.5 78.5 0.0207 0.1355 0.06 0.1323 0.1339 29.207
35 31 16.5 0.00458 46 46 92 0.0243 0.1587 0.071 0.1565 0.1576 34.393
40 26 16.5 0.00458 52 52 104 0.0275 0.1795 0.081 0.1786 0.1790 39.057

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 2007 Yamaha Phazer Injector Flow Rate
45.0000
Flow Rate = 0.9703(Pulse Width)
40.0000

35.0000

30.0000
Flow Rate (lb/hr)

25.0000
Measured Data
20.0000
Target Pulse Width
15.0000 Linear (Measured Data)

10.0000

5.0000

0.0000
0 10 20 30 40 50
Pulse Width (ms)

Figure 6: Fuel Injector Flow Rate as a function of Pulse Width

The data was plotted and fitted with a linear curve. The equation of this line is used to determine the

maximum pulse width. This is shown below in Equation 5.

𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 0.9703 ∙ 𝑃𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ Equation 5

35.2 𝑙𝑏/ℎ𝑟
𝑃𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ = → 𝑷𝒖𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒕𝒉 = 𝟑𝟔. 𝟐𝟕𝒎𝒔
𝑙𝑏/ℎ𝑟
0.9703 𝑚𝑠

The resulting maximum pulse width for the 2007 Yamaha Phazer fuel injectors is 36.27 milliseconds.

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Parts List and Drawings

Part Number Description Supplier Quantity

555-100911 Braided Steel Hose 6 AN Jegs 12 ft
555-100021 90o Female 6 AN to Hose Fitting Jegs/Summit Racing 10
361-804606 45o Female 6 AN to Hose Fitting Jegs 1
180° Female 6 AN to Hose Fitting Jegs 1
361-925106 T-Fitting 6 AN Female Swivel on Branch Jegs 1
555-100242 Flare Bulkhead Fitting 6 AN Straight Jegs 2
555-100333 6 AN Female to 3/8” Male NPT Jegs 2
555-100222 8 AN Female to 6 AN Male Reducer Jegs 2
361-992908 8 AN Fitting Cap Jegs 1
361-300106 Female 6 AN to Hose Fitting Straight Jegs 2
361-840106 Male 6 AN to Hose Straight Adapter Jegs 3
023- 90° Female 6 AN to Female Swivel Coupler Jegs 2
FBM2978
555-100322 Female 6 AN to Female 6 AN Adapter Jegs 1
JIF-31506 Jiffy Tite 3000 Series 6 AN Quick Connect Summit Racing 1
Female
128-3039 Male 6 AN to 10 mm Adapter Auto Performance 2
Engineering
400-920 Fuel Pump Mounting Hardware Auto Performance 1
Engineering
GSL414 Walbro Fuel Pump Auto Performance 1
Engineering
555-15032 Fuel Filter Jegs 1
1728 Edelbrock Fuel Pressure Regulator Performance Parts 1
1069-6AN Fuel Pressure Gauge 1/8” NPT Pegasus 1
821-2010A RCI Aluminum Fuel Cell Jegs 1
N/A 8 mm Rivet Nuts Fastenal 25
N/A Mineral Spirits Central Storage 1 Gal
N/A 6061 Aluminum 1 in. hex stock Lane Supply 1 ft
N/A 1 in. square stock Lane Supply 2 ft
N/A 16 gauge stainless steel (3ft x 4ft) Lane Supply 1

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