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Common Fuel Rail Systems

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2009-07-20 Marine Machinery, Engines & Controls

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PAGE CONTENT
CIVIL ENGINEERING (474)
Introduction
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Components and Operation of a Common Rail (451)
Injection System
MARINE ENGINEERING (810)
System Layout & Operation
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
(1377)
The Timing Valve: Operation

Modern Engines With Common Rail Fuel

Injection Systems

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Introduction

The common rail system of fuel injection was used in

marine diesel engines during the early and mid-19th
century. These systems where well known in a
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particular type of engine famously called the
“Doxford” engines or opposed piston engines. These
engines are hard to find these days as they have
been replaced by more efficient engines. Geotechnical Engineering

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The common rail system of fuel injection is a simple Marine History

and efficient system. The recent trend in the Marine Machinery,
automobile industry is the usage of common rail Engines & Controls
direct fuel injection systems in some modern
Naval Architecture & Ship
vehicles. Some of the engines in the automobile
sector introduce this common rail system of injection
not only in diesel engines, but also in petrol/gasoline
engines. Lets discuss the operation of a marine
diesel engine with a common rail fuel injection
system.

Components and Operation of a

Common Rail Injection System
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The common rail system has one or more common
high pressure, multiple plunger, fuel pump/pumps.
The fuel is discharged into a manifold preferably
called a “rail” which is maintained at a very high
pressure. From this common rail, fuel is supplied to
all the fuel injectors in the various cylinder units.
Between the rail and the injector or injectors for a
particular cylinder is a “timing valve” which
determines the timing and extent of fuel delivery. Spill
valves are connected to the manifold or rail to release
excess pressure and accumulator bottles are
included to dampen out pump pressure pulses. The
injectors in a common rail system are often referred
to as fuel valves.

The timing valve in the common rail system is

operated by a cam and a lever as shown in the figure
below. When the timing valve is lifted by the cam, the
lever also is lifted, thus ensuring that the valve in the
timing valve block allows the high pressure fuel oil to
reach the fuel injectors. Also, the timing valve
operating lever is fixed to a sliding rod. This sliding
rod is in turn fixed with the manoeuvring lever, which
in turn governs the amount (quantity) of the fuel to be
injected into each cylinder unit, meeting the load
demands on the engine.
System Layout & Operation

As mentioned earlier, the system has a two or more

common fuel pumps, which are driven by the main
engine itself. They deliver high pressure fuel oil into
one common line, thus called a “common rail” fuel
injection system. This high pressure oil in the
common rail tends to experience a pressure surge
(shock), when the engine load changes suddenly or
continuously over a period of time. To dampen these
pressure surges, an accumulator bottle is provided on
the high pressure line (common rail). It is specially
marked in dark blue in the diagram below.

Also the volume capacity of the high pressure

common rail is sufficient to suit sudden load changes.
When compared with the individual pump engines,
these common rail engines do not require a great
deal of concentration at the drive shaft. As the fuel
pumps supply fuel oil at a high pressure, it is stored
against an accumulator pressure of around 400 to
550 atmospheres. This pressure is sufficiently
maintained by the compressed air operated “spill
valve.” If the pressure in the common rail increases
suddenly, the spill valve will open up and drain the
fuel oil to the service tank or the fuel oil drain tank as
per the design. Then the timing valve controls the
timing of start/stop of fuel injection.

For the initial start-up of the system, the fuel priming

pump is provided, which can build up a pressure of
about 140 atmospheres. This priming pump is usually
pneumatically driven.

The Timing Valve: Operation

We all are aware of the fuel pump which we have

witnessed in present days. These, which are often
called “jerk type” pumps, can pump the fuel to the
injectors, the start and termination of fuel injection as
well as meter the correct amount of fuel to the fuel
injectors, with respect to the engine load. But with the
“common rail” system of fuel injection, with emphasis
on the “Doxford” engines, the fuel pump, which is
usually a reciprocating pump driven by the main
engine, pumps fuel oil at a very high pressure into the
common rail, but does not decide the start and stop
of fuel injection. This is done by the “timing valves”,
which are located in front of each unit. The timing
valve controls the start/termination of fuel injection
into the particular unit.
Referring to the figure beside, the timing valve and its
cam are seen with the “common rail” high pressure
line, on the discharge side of the reciprocating fuel
pump. The reciprocating fuel pump is usually driven
by the main engine itself and supplies fuel oil at a
very high pressure to the common rail, which has a
non-return valve and spill arrangement.

There is a separate accumulator bottle provided on

the high pressure common rail line in order to avoid
the pressure fluctuations or shock due to the change
in load on the main engine. Then the high pressure
fuel oil awaits for the opening of the timing valve
(arrangement includes cam, lever, and valve block).
When the cam peak lifts the lever up, the lever in turn
opens the valve on the valve block, thus allowing the
high pressure oil to reach the fuel injectors mounted
on the cylinders of each unit. As the engine
crankshaft rotates, thus making the cam to rotate
causing the peak to move, the lever returns back
from its lifted position, thus allowing the valve on the
valve block to close,stopping further fuel oil flow to
the fuel injectors.

The duration of the opening of the valve in the valve

block determines the fuel injection period. The
duration of the opening of the valve in the valve block
can be altered by adjusting the fulcrum point on the
valve lifting lever “L.” At no delivery, the fulcrum
remains at its lowest position. During this stage, the
cam peak just oscillates the lever, but the valve is not
opened in the valve block, thus no fuel is being
injected.

The fuel pumps are capable of metering the correct

amount of fuel to each unit. Based on the engine
load, the governor controls the fuel rack of the fuel
pump as seen in the adjacent figure. This regulated
quantity of fuel is pumped by the fuel pump towards
the timing valve. These fuel pumps have a helical slot
in the plunger, the same as in conventional pumps.
This ensures that the correct quantity of fuel is always
injected with respective variation in engine load.

Modern Engines With Common Rail

Fuel Injection Systems

With the technology developing exponentially, recent

marine propulsion and power generation engines
have started coming back towards the common rail
system of fuel injection. In the recent development of
the camshaft-less MAN B&W ME intelligent series of
engines and the SULZER FLEX engines, the
individual jerk fuel pumps are replaced by a common
single or multiple fuel pumps of reciprocating type
which conveys high pressure oil to a common rail. So
these good old common rail systems are back with
these latest engines.It is to be noted that the
SULZER RT FLEX engines uses common rail system
of fuel injection but the MAN B&W ME intelligent
engines does not.
The common rail system employed in SULZER RT
FLEX engines have an electrical or engine driven
axial piston pumps, which pressurises the servo oil
upto 200 bar. This servo oil pressure is used for fuel
injection and exhaust valve operation. The fuel supply
pump may be one or two, a heavy duty pump driven
by a three lobe cam, which produces a pressure of
about 1000 bar in the common rail line. The fuel
pump is controlled for metering and quantity by
electronic circuits which is connected engine
computers to the pump shaft.
The circuit has

1. Rail Valves.

2. Injection Control Valves.

They all operate under a system called “Volumetric

Injection Control System”. The servo oil at 200 bar
pressure operates the set of rail valves as per the
program which is speed dependent. When a
particular rail valve is energised, it in turn operates
the particular units injection control valve, thus
injecting fuel into the particular unit.

Image Credits

Principles & Practice of Marine Diesel Engines -

D.K.Sanyal

Walsash Maritime Academy Website

MARINE ENGINEERING
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