Indirect injection

Indirect injection in an internal combustion engine is fuel injection where fuel is not directly injected into
the combustion chamber. Gasoline engines equipped with indirect injection systems, wherein a fuel injector
delivers the fuel at some point before the intake valve, have mostly fallen out of favor to direct injection.
However, certain manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford have developed a 'dual injection'
system, combining direct injectors with port (indirect) injectors, combining the benefits of both types of fuel
injection. Direct injection allows the fuel to be precisely metered into the combustion chamber under high
pressure which can lead to greater power, fuel efficiency. The issue with direct injection is that it typically
leads to greater amounts of particulate matter and with the fuel no longer contacting the intake valves,
carbon can accumulate on the intake valves over time. Adding indirect injection keeps fuel spraying on the
intake valves, reducing or eliminating the carbon accumulation on intake valves and in low load conditions,
indirect injection allows for better fuel-air mixing. This system is mainly used in higher cost models due to
the added expense and complexity.

Port injection refers to the spraying of the fuel onto the back of the intake valve, which speeds its
evaporation.[1]

An indirect injection diesel engine delivers fuel into a chamber off the combustion chamber, either a
prechamber or swirl chamber, where combustion begins and then spreads into the main combustion
chamber. The prechamber is carefully designed to ensure adequate mixing of the atomized fuel with the
compression-heated air.

Contents
Gasoline engines
Diesel engines
Overview
Gallery
Classification of indirect combustion chambers
Swirl chamber
Precombustion chamber
Air cell chamber
Advantages of indirect injection combustion chambers
Disadvantages
See also
References

Gasoline engines
An advantage of indirect injection gasoline engines versus direct injection gasoline engines is that deposits
on intake valves from the crankcase ventilation system are washed by the fuel.[2] Indirect injection engines
also tend to produce lower amounts of particulate matter compared to direct injection engines as the fuel
and air are more uniformly mixed.

Diesel engines

Overview

The purpose of the divided combustion chamber is to speed the combustion process, and to increase power
output by increasing engine speed.[3] The addition of a prechamber increases heat loss to the cooling
system and thereby lowers engine efficiency. The engine requires glow plugs for starting. In an indirect
injection system the air moves fast, mixing the fuel and air. This simplifies injector design and allows the
use of smaller engines and less tightly toleranced designs which are simpler to manufacture and more
reliable. Direct injection, by contrast, uses slow-moving air and fast-moving fuel; both the design and
manufacture of the injectors is more difficult. The optimisation of the in-cylinder air flow is much more
difficult than designing a prechamber. There is much more integration between the design of the injector
and the engine.[4] It is for this reason that car diesel engines were almost all indirect injection until the ready
availability of powerful CFD simulation systems made the adoption of direct injection practical.

Gallery

Cylinder head of a small Kubota indirect injection diesel engine.



Top of head Piston Injector holes Cylinder head and

top of the main
combustion
chambers. Note Pre-
combustion
chambers not
displayed.

Injection Pump Head close up Engine Block and Glow plugs

Cylinders with
Pistons..

Classification of indirect combustion chambers

Swirl chamber

Swirl chambers are spherical cavities located in the cylinder head and separated from the engine cylinder by
a tangential throat. About 50% of the air enters the swirl chamber during the compression stroke of the
engine, producing a swirl.[5]
After combustion, the products return through the same throat to the main
cylinder at much higher velocity, so more heat is lost to the walls of the passage. This type of chamber finds
application in engines in which fuel control and engine stability are more important than fuel economy.
These are also called Ricardo chambers, named after the inventor, Sir Harry Ricardo.[6][7]

Precombustion chamber

This chamber is located at the cylinder head and is connected to the engine cylinder by small holes. It
occupies 40% of the total cylinder volume. During the compression stroke, air from the main cylinder
enters the precombustion chamber. At this moment, fuel is injected into the precombustion chamber and
combustion begins. Pressure increases and the fuel droplets are forced through the small holes into the main
cylinder, resulting in a very good mix of the fuel and air. The bulk of the combustion actually takes place in
the main cylinder. This type of combustion chamber has multi-fuel capability because the temperature of the
prechamber vaporizes the fuel before the main combustion event occurs.[8]

Air cell chamber

The air cell is a small cylindrical chamber with a hole in one end. It is mounted more or less coaxially with
the injector, said axis being parallel to the piston crown, with the injector firing across a small cavity which
is open to the cylinder into the hole in the end of the air cell. The air cell is mounted so as to minimise
thermal contact with the mass of the head. A pintle injector with a narrow spray pattern is used. At its top
dead centre (TDC) the majority of the charge mass is contained in the cavity and air cell.

When the injector fires, the jet of fuel enters the air cell and ignites. This results in a jet of flame shooting
back out of the air cell directly into the jet of fuel still issuing from the injector. The heat and turbulence
give excellent fuel vaporisation and mixing properties. Also since the majority of the combustion takes
place outside the air cell in the cavity, which communicates directly with the cylinder, there is less heat loss
involved in transferring the burning charge into the cylinder.

Air cell injection can be considered as a compromise between indirect and direct injection, gaining some of
the efficiency advantages of direct injection while retaining the simplicity and ease of development of
indirect injection.

Air cell chambers are commonly named Lanova air chambers.[9] The Lanova combustion system was
developed by the Lanova company, which was founded in 1929 by Franz Lang, Gotthard Wielich and
Albert Wielich.[10]

In the US, the Lanova system was used by Mack Trucks. An example is the Mack-Lanova ED diesel
engine fitted to the Mack NR truck.

Advantages of indirect injection combustion chambers

Smaller diesels can be produced.
The injection pressure required is low, so the injector is cheaper to produce.
The injection direction is of less importance.
Indirect injection is much simpler to design and manufacture, especially for gasoline
engines. Less injector development is required and the injection pressures are low
(1500 psi/100 bar versus 5000 psi/345 bar and higher for direct injection)
The lower stresses that indirect injection imposes on internal components mean that it is
possible to produce petrol and indirect injection diesel versions of the same basic engine. At
best such types differed only in the cylinder head and the need to fit a distributor and spark
plugs in the petrol version whilst fitting an injection pump and injectors to the diesel.
Examples include the BMC A-Series and B-Series engines and the Land Rover 2.25/2.5-
litre 4-cylinder types. Such designs allow petrol and diesel versions of the same vehicle to
be built with minimal design changes between them.
Higher engine speeds can be reached, since burning continues in the prechamber.
Alternative fuels like bio-diesel and waste vegetable oil are less likely to damage the fuel
system in an indirect-injection diesel engine, as high injection pressures are not needed. In
direct-injection engines (especially modern engines using high-pressure common rail fuel
systems), keeping fuel filters in good condition is more critical as debris can damage the
pumps and injectors when waste vegetable oil or waste engine oil are used.
Disadvantages
Fuel efficiency with diesel engines is lower than with direct injection as the larger exposed
areas tend to dissipate more heat and the air moving through the ports tending to increase
pressure drops. However, using higher compression ratios will somewhat negate this
inefficiency.
Glow plugs are needed for a cold engine start on diesel engines; many indirect injection
diesel engines cannot start at all in cold weather without glow plugs.
Because the heat and pressure of combustion is applied to a very small area on the piston
as it exits the precombustion chamber or swirl chamber, such engines are less suited to high
specific power outputs (such as turbocharging, supercharging, or tuning) than direct injection
diesels. The increased temperature and pressure on one part of the piston crown causes
uneven expansion which can lead to cracking, distortion, or other damage, although
advancements in manufacturing techniques have allowed manufacturers to largely mitigate
the effects of uneven expansion, allowing for indirect injection diesels to use turbocharging.
Indirect engines are often much noisier than direct injection common-rail engines.
Starting fluid ("ether") often cannot be used in an indirect injection diesel engine as the glow
plugs greatly increase the risk of preignition compared to direct injection diesels.

See also
Harry Ricardo
Prosper L'Orange
Premixed flame

References
1. Kerr, Jim. "Direct vs. port injection" (http://thechronicleherald.ca/wheelsnews/26226-direct-v
s.-port-injection). The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
2. Smith, Scott; Guinther, Gregory (2016-10-17). "Formation of Intake Valve Deposits in
Gasoline Direct Injection Engines" (https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/conte
nt/2016-01-2252/). SAE International Journal of Fuels and Lubricants. 9 (3): 558–566.
doi:10.4271/2016-01-2252 (https://doi.org/10.4271%2F2016-01-2252). ISSN 1946-3960 (htt
ps://www.worldcat.org/issn/1946-3960).
3. Stone, Richard. "An introduction to ICE", Palgrace Macmillan, 1999, p. 224
4. Two-stroke engine
5. Electromechanical Prime Movers: Electric Motors (https://books.google.com/books?id=9lNd
DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21). Macmillan International Higher Education. 18 June 1971. pp. 21–.
ISBN 978-1-349-01182-7.
6. "Sir Harry Ricardo" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101017023809/http://www.oldengine.org/
members/diesel/misc/ricardo.htm). oldengine.org. Archived from the original (http://www.olde
ngine.org/members/diesel/misc/ricardo.htm) on 17 October 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
7. Dempsey, P. (1995). Troubleshooting and Repairing Diesel Engines (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=5nHW-USbN6wC&pg=PA127). TAB Books. p. 127. ISBN 9780070163485.
Retrieved 8 January 2017.
8. Dempsey, Paul (2007). Troubleshooting and Repair of Diesel Engines (https://books.google.
com/books?id=xJs7aMuyEygC&q=Troubleshooting+and+Repairing+Diesel+Engines+By+P
aul+Dempsey). McGraw Hill Professional. ISBN 9780071595186. Retrieved 2 December
2017.
 9. Dempsey, P. (1995). Troubleshooting and Repairing Diesel Engines (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=5nHW-USbN6wC&pg=PA128). TAB Books. p. 128. ISBN 9780070163485.
Retrieved 8 January 2017.
10. "The Lanova Combustion System" (http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/6th-january-1
933/38/the-lanova-combustion-system). The Commercial Motor. 6 January 1933. Retrieved
11 November 2017.

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