Diesel Engine Fuel Injection

System

Group-6
Rajesh Surapureddy

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 Introduction

• The performance of diesel engine is greatly influenced by

the fuel injection system as it has significant effect on the
combustion process, exhaust-gas emission standards of
diesel engine.
• The main purpose of the diesel fuel injection system is to
deliver the fuel at proper time and correct amount in to
the cylinder of diesel engine at extremely high injection
pressure.
• Spray pattern, droplet size and quantity of injected fuel
quantity are to be optimum in all operation conditions.
• The other important aspects to ensure proper fuel Figure 1: Fuel injection system (source: wikipedia)

injection system are Atomization, Vaporization, and

Mixing.

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 Major Components of Diesel Engine Fuel System:
Low-Pressure Side Components
• Fuel tank
• Fuel supply pump
• Fuel filters and sedimenter
• Fuel heaters and coolers

High Pressure Side Components:

• High pressure pump
• Accumulator
• Fuel Injector Figure 2: Diesel engine fuel injection system (source: Diesel.net)
• Fuel injection nozzle

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 Operation of diesel engine fuel injection
• A valve spring holds the needle on the seat in the nozzle
body.
• When Injection pump delivers fuel to the injector, fuel
passes through drilling in the nozzle body through a
chamber where the needle seats in the nozzle assembly.
• Pressure difference results in lifting the tip of the needle
gives way to fuel spray into the combustion chamber at
high pressure.
• When fuel pump stops the supply, due to the pressure Figure 3: Fuel injector (source: wikipedia)
difference the needle will cut off the fuel injection.
• Some of the fuel is allowed to leak between the nozzle
needle and nozzle body to cool and lubricate the injector.
The fuel which is left in the nozzle will be returned back
through the leak of line and returned to the fuel tank.

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 Different types of Fuel Injection Systems
• Mechanical injection system:

This system uses a mechanical process to give an engine the amount of fuel needed. Here,
the plunger in the injector is moved by action of cam shaft. This system uses a combination
of springs and weights to control the fuel delivery relative to both load and speed.

• Electrical fuel injection system (EFI):

This system uses electronic control unit (ECU). ECU receives engine speed signal as well as
other operating parameters such as fuel temperatures, intake manifold pressure from a
sensor and controls the amount of fuel and start of injection timings through actuators to
maximize power and efficiency and to minimize emissions. Here the plunger is being
excited by electric solenoid.

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 Methods of fuel input to CI engines:
• Direct Injection (DI):
DI engines inject fuel directly into the combustion chamber, right into the top
of the piston so the timing of injection and distribution of the mixture in the
cylinder can be easily controlled. The pistons on a DI engine with this type of
injection system have a crown shape in the top to create the needed swirl. DI
engines operate at higher injection pressures and therefore more complete
atomization occurs. . The basic characteristics such as knock tolerance and
response, lean burn, and EGR (exhaust gas recirculation), can be greatly
improved.
• Indirect Injection (IDI):
In IDI diesel engines fuel is not directly injected into the combustion chamber.
IDI delivers the fuel into a chamber off the combustion chamber generally
referred to as a pre-chamber. Fuel is injected into the pre-chamber, where it Figure 4: Direct
rapidly mixes with oxygen and ignition occurs. As the flame front expands in the and Indirect Injection
pre-chamber, it forces fuel to enter the combustion chamber rapidly, effectively system (source:
mixing the fuel with air in the cylinder and atomization is achieved. In IDI, glow howcarswork.com)
plugs are required for pre heating the chamber. In IDI specific fuel consumption
is high because of heat loss to large exposed areas and pressure loss.
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Diesel engine fuel injection system and its developments

Air Blast Injection:

In this method fuel is injected into the cylinder through a nozzle with help of
compressed air which atomizes the fuel. The nozzle opening was closed by a pin
valve lifted by the camshaft to initiate the fuel injection before TDC.

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Diesel engine fuel injection system and its developments
Common Rail Injection system: The common rail system has one common high pressure rail pump , multiple
plungers, and fuel pumps. The fuel is discharged into a manifold also called as a common 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. The extent of fuel delivery and its timing is determined by a timing valve which is
connected in between rail and the injector. Spill valves are connected to the rail to release excess pressure and
accumulator bottles are included to dampen out pump pressure pulses.
Advantages:
• Injection pressure is independent of engine
speed and load.
• Fuel pressure available on demand (even at
lower speed), higher injection pressure and finer
atomization of fuel
• Multiple injections per cylinder combustion are
possible
• Reduction of overall exhaust emissions, noise
emissions, particulate emissions Figure 5: Common Rail System
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• High performance and improved fuel efficiency
 Diesel engine fuel injection system and its developments
• Intelligent Accuracy Refinement Technology (i-ART):
In conventional injection systems the injection quantity is detected by indirect methods such a as combustion or
engine rotation fluctuation, whereas i-ART can directly detect the injection quantity. In i-ART technology each injector
is equipped with a built in fuel sensor to directly measure the injection pressure insider the injector. Sensor sends the
information to Engine Control Unit which reads the fuel pressure values foe each injection and calculates an actual
injection quantity and timings by a rapid wave from processing. The learning value for the injection quantity and
timing calculated with the i-ART is applied to subsequent injections through its life time.

Advantages:
 Learns injection quantity and timing constantly while the
engine is operating
 Maintains enough preheating effect so that a deterioration
of fuel ignition ability with lower compression ration due to
cylinder lower cylinder temperature can be avoided
 Reduced NOx and PM
 Cetane number detection

Figure 6: i-ART (Takeshi, 2013)

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Diesel engine fuel injection system and its developments
• Piezo electric fuel injection system:
In most of the common rail injection systems, due to the pressure difference the plunger in the injector body rises the
injection needle and allows the fuel to pass the injector nozzle. Here, the solenoids are not directly connected to the
needle but controls the hydraulic circuit which creates the pressured difference across the portion of needle. This
technique does not allow tight spacing between the pulses and therefore limits the number of injection per cycle. To
overcome this challenge, Piezoelectric stack actuators are used in an injector to create sufficient force to move the
needle which allows tightly spaced pulses, fasten the needle opening which generates greater spray penetration,
enhancing mixing at later stages of combustion resulting in 50% of reduction in soot emissions.
Advantages:
 Speed of operation
 Reduction of soot

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Future requirements due to control of exhaust emissions

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Future requirements due to control of exhaust emissions
• Development of Injection pressure:
• Increase in the injection pressure is another key strategy in controlling exhaust emissions. The
development of the maximum injection pressure of heavy duty engines over the last 30 years is
presented in figure 4. In average the pressure was increased from 800 (inline pump) to 2000 bar
(high pressure fuel injection systems)

Figure 8: Development of Injection pressure – Projahn (2002)

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Future requirements due to control of exhaust emissions
• Development of Nozzle design
• The spray pattern from the nozzle has huge impact on the burn rate of the charge and the usefulness of the
expanding flame-front. The precision geometry of the spray hole defines the charactersitics and thus the
emissions of the engine. The spray pattern at the nozzle is determined by the hole shape, size, fuel pressure,
and the amount of ambient pressure air mixed at the nozzle. A good spray pattern will provide maximum
atomization and smooth, more constant pressure , complete combustion process with less smoke and lower
emissions. The more the smaller number holes better the atomization of fuel and hence the reduction in
emissions

Figure 10: spray pattern (Source: Mak parts)

The influence of conic spray holes in comparison to cylindrical spray holes on engine emission 13
 Future requirements due to control of exhaust emissions
Rate Shaping:
The injection rate shape refers to the variation of fuel injection rate in the time or crank angle. The rate shaping of
main injection strategy has shown some positive results in reduction of NOx emissions without any trade off with
fuel consumption.

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Future requirements due to control of exhaust emissions
• Injection Timing:
Injection timing plays important role in achieving reduction in emissions. Due to retardation of
injection timing there could be reduction in NOx emission but at the same time there is significant
tradeoff in terms of fuel consumption and PM (particulate matter) emissions. So there is a need of
research in optimum injection timing where we can reduce the NOx with better control on fuel
consumption and PM emissions.
• Multiple Injections:
The strategies such as injection timing usually reduce one pollutant at the price of increasing the
other pollutant. Multiple injection strategies can reduce NOx and particulate emission
simultaneously. Work done by Uludogan is shown in below figure where soot-NOx trade-off curves
can be shifted closer to the origin. When combined with EGR, multiple injections have shown great
potential to reduce both NOx and particulate without negative effects on fuel consumption.
(Uludogan)

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 Bibliography
1. Bosch. (1971). Fuel Injection Equipment for Diesel Engines - Fuel Injection Pumps PE and PF-Robert Bosch GmbH.
2. Bosch. (n.d.). http://www.bosch-automotivetechnology.com/en/de/component/PT_CV_DS_Common-Rail-
System_PT_CV_Diesel_2048.html?compId=1039.
3. CAT. (n.d.). Diesel Fuels and Diesel Fuel Systems.
4. DAHL, S. (n.d.). http://www.baldwinfilter.com/Literature/english/6%20dahl/form4005.pdf.
5. diesel. (n.d.).
6. Hannu Jääskeläinen, M. K. (n.d.). http://www.dieselnet.com/tech/diesel_fi_comp.php.
7. HYDAC. (n.d.). Metal Bellows Accumulators.
8. INTERNATIONAL, S. (n.d.). Development of Diesel Engine using New Fuel Injection System - Direct Monitoring of Fuel
Injection Pressure using Injector with Built-in Sensor, and its Applications.
9. Projahn. (2002). Projahn U (2002) Requirements on diesel fuel injection equipment and fuel cleanliness under
consideration of global market.
10. Satkoski, N. S. (2012). Piezoelectric fuel injection: Cycle-to-cycle control of tightly spaced injections.
11. Takeshi Miyaura, A. M. (n.d.). Development of Diesel Engine using New Fuel Injection System--Direct Monitoring of
Fuel Injection Pressure using Injector with Built-in Sensor, and its Applications.
12. Takeshi, M. (2013). Development of Diesel Engine using New Fuel Injection System - Direct Monitoring of Fuel
Injection Pressure using Injector with Built-in Sensor, and its Applications.
13. Uludogan, A. (n.d.). Exploring the Use of Multiple Injectors and Split Injection to Reduce DI Diesel Engine Emissions.
14. www.howcarswork.com. (n.d.). howcarswork.com.

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Questions

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