INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES-II

Fuel Injection System

 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Introduction
Fuel-Injection System is vital to the working and
performance of CI engine
This system serves the purpose of initiating and
controlling the combustion to meet the demand
requirements
Fuel is injected into combustion chamber towards
the end of compression. It is atomized as it enters
under high velocity and the droplets get vaporized
to form a fuel-air mixture. Due to continued heat
transfer from hot air to fuel, the fuel reaches to its
self ignition temperature to ignite spontaneously
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Introduction
initiating combustion. Depending upon the demand
requirements the fuel injection system continues to
deliver the fuel during initial part of combustion.

Functional Requirements of an Injection System

For proper engine operation and satisfactory performance,
the following requirements must be met by the Fuel
Injection (FI) System
Accurate metering of fuel injected per cycle to meet
changing demand of speed & load
Precise timing of fuel injection in the cycle to ensure
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
performance; power, fuel economy, emissions
Proper control of rate of injection to achieve desired
heat release during combustion without knocking.
Proper atomization of fuel into fine droplets
Proper spray pattern to ensure rapid mixing of fuel & air
Uniform distribution of fuel droplets throughout the
combustion chamber.
To supply equal quantities of metered fuel to all
cylinders in case of multi cylinder engines.
No lag during beginning and end of injection to eliminate
dribbling of fuel droplets into the cylinder
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Classification of Injection System :
Air Injection system and Solid Injection system
Air Injection system : Fuel is forced by means of
compressed air. Good mixing with higher mep. It
requires compressor. Ability to use high viscosity fuel.
Not much in use
Solid Injection system : Liquid fuel is injected directly
into combustion chamber. Solid injection systems can
be classified into ;
i) Individual pump and nozzle system
ii) Unit Injector system
iii) Common rail system
iv) Distributor system
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
All the FI systems comprise of following components:
Fuel tank
Fuel feed pump to supply fuel from fuel tank to FI system
Injection pump to meter and pressurize the fuel for
injection
Governor to ensure that the amount of fuel injected is in
accordance with variation of load
Injector to take the fuel from the pump and distribute it in
the combustion chamber by atomizing it into fine
droplets
Fuel filters to prevent dust and abrasive particles from
entering the pump & injectors to reduce wear & tear of
components
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
A typical arrangement of various components for
solid injection system used in CI engine is shown
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Types of solid injection systems used in CI engines
Individual Pump and Nozzle System
- Each cylinder is provided with a pump& injector providing
separate metering and fuel compression pump
- The pump may be placed;
a)close to cylinder b) in culster
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Types of solid injection systems used in CI engines
Unit Injector System
- In this, pump and injector nozzle are combined in one unit
- Each cylinder is provided with a unit injector
- Fuel is brought up by a low pressure pump and injected
by rocker arm actuating the plunger at a given instant
- Amount of fuel injected is regulated by the effective stroke
of plunger
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Types of solid injection systems used in CI engines
Common Rail System
- In this, a high pressure pump supplies fuel to a header
- High pressure in the header forces fuel to each of the nozzle
- At given instant, the fuel is injected in a specific cylinder by
a mechanically operated valve, by means of a push rod and
rocker arm. The amount of fuel is regulated by varying the
length of the push rod stroke.
- The pressure in header is as
per injector design for pene-
tration & dispersion of fuel in
combustion chamber
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Types of solid injection systems used in CI engines
Distributor System
- In this system, the pump pressurizes, meters and times the
fuel by supplying it to a rotating distributor for injection to
each cylinder. A uniform distribution of fuel is automatically
ensured because of one metering element.
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Fuel Feed Pump
- It is of spring loaded plunger type. The plunger is actuated
through a push rod from the cam shaft.
- At the minimum lift position of cam the spring force on the
the plunger creates suction causes fuel flow from the main
tank into pump. When cam turn to maximum lift position the
plunger lifts upwards. At the same time inlet valve is closed
and fuel is forced through the outlet valve.
When the operating pressure gets released, the plunger
return spring ceases to function resulting in varying of the
pumping stroke under varying engine load according to the
quantity of fuel required by the injection pump.
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Fuel Feed Pump
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Injection Pump
The main objective of the fuel- injection pump is to deliver
accurately metered quantity of fuel under high pressure at
the correct instant to the injector fitted on cylinder.
Injection pumps are of two types;
- Jerk Type Pumps
- Distributor Type Pumps
Jerks Type Pumps
- It consists of a reciprocating plunger inside a barrel.
- The plunger is driven by a cam
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Jerks Type Pumps
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Distributor Type Pumps
- This pump has only a single pumping element and the
fuel is distributed to each cylinder by means of a rotor.
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Distributor Type Pumps
- There is a central longitudinal passage in the rotor and
two sets of radial holes located at different heights. One
set is connected to pump inlet via central passage
whereas the second set is connected to delivery lines
leading to injectors of various cylinders.
- The fuel is drawn into the central rotor passage from
the inlet port when the pump plunger move away from
each other.
- Wherever, the radial delivery passage in the rotor
coincides with the delivery port for any cylinder the fuel
is delivered to it..
- Main advantage lies in its small size and light weight
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Injection Pump Governor
- Mechanical governor
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Injection Pump Governor
- Pneumatic governor
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Fuel Injector
- Injector assembly consists of ;
I) nozzle/needle valve
ii) compression spring
iii) nozzle
iv) injector body
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Fuel Injector
- Nozzle should fulfill the following functions
i) Atomization
ii) Distribution of fuel :
Factors affecting fuel distribution
# Injection pressure : dispersion, penetration
# Density of air in the cylinder: resistance to movement
# Physical properties of fuel: self ignition temp., vapour
press., viscosity, etc.
iii) Prevention of impingement on walls: decomposition
iv) Mixing : in case of non-turbulent type of combustion
chamber
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Fuel Injector
- Types of Nozzles
I) Pintle Nozzle ii) Single hole nozzle
iii) multi- hole nozzle iv) Pintaux nozzle
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Spray Formation
- At the start of injection the pressure difference across orifice is
low and single droplets are formed
As pressure difference increases following occurs :

- A stream of fuel emerges

- Stream encounter aerodynamic resistance from dense

air( 12 to 14 times ambient pressure ) and breaks into a
spray at the break-up distance

- With further increase in pressure the break- up distance decreases

and the cone angle increases until apex of the cone practically
coincides with the orifice
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Spray Formation
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Typical Comments/ Observation on Quantity of Fuel
Injected

Fuel Injector should develop a pressure higher than the

highest desired pressure in the engine
Also make additional pressure available to impart high
velocity head & adequate atomization
Fuel particle size & Velocity has an Optimum value such
that the momentum is adequate for the depth of
penetration of spray in the compressed air in cylinder
Excessive atomization is not always conducive to proper
mixture formation
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Typical Comments/ Observation on Quantity of Fuel
Injected

Spray has compact & denser core, surrounded by a cone of fuel

droplets of various sizes & vaporized liquid

Larger droplets provide higher penetration

Smaller droplets required for quick mixing & evaporation of fuel

Droplet size ( 5 micron ) depends upon :

- decrease with increase in Inj. Press & Air density
- increase with increase in fuel viscosity & size of orifice
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Typical Comments/ Observation on Quantity of Fuel
Injected
Rate of Fuel Injected / degree is a function of ;
Injector camshaft velocity, Plunger dia, flow area of tip orifice
Increasing Rate of Injection decreases duration of Injection &
subsequently Injection timing ( Instant & duration )
Higher rate retards Injection timing improve fuel economy w/o
smoke
Increase in Injection rate increases load on injector push rod &
cam and affect durability

Computation for Fuel Injection in CI Engines

Quantity of Fuel and Size of Nozzle orifice
I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Computation for Fuel Injection in CI Engines
Applying the Bernoulli equation upstream (Injector ) &
downstream (cylinder) of Fuel Injector :
2 2
Pinj / f + V inj / 2 = Pcyl / f + V cyl /2
Pinj ; Injection Pressure
f ; density of fuel ( same being incompressible)
Vinj ; Velocity at section inside injector to be very small
compared to inside cylinder hence negligible
Pcyl ; Cylinder pressure at the time of injection
Vcyl ; Velocity at section inside cylinder at injector tip

Vcyl = 2 ( Pinj - Pcyl ) / f

 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Calculations for Quantity of Fuel and the Size of Nozzle
Orifice
Actual Fuel jet velocity at exit of orifice, Vf = Cd x Vcyl ,
where Cd is flow discharge coefficient of nozzle orifice

Vf = Cd 2 ( Pinj - Pcyl ) / f
Velocity of Fuel through nozzle orifice in terms of fuel
column; Vf = Cd 2gh
The volume of fuel injected per second ( rate of inj.), Q
Q = [ area of all orifice] x [ fuel jet velocity] x [time for one
injection] x [ number of injections per sec.for one orifice]
Q = [(/4 .d2 x n)] x[Vf] x [( / 360) x( 60/ N )] x [(Ni / 60)]
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System
Q = [(/4 .d2 x n)] x[Vf] x [( / 360) x( 60/ N )] x [(Ni / 60)]
where ;

Vf = fuel jet velocity, m / s n = number of orifices

d = diameter of one orifice, m =duration of injection, CA
N = rpm Ni = no. of injections/ minutes
Ni = N/2, for four stroke engine, Ni= N, for two stroke engine
Ni no. of cycles

Alternatively;
Fuel consumption / hr = bsfc x Power
Fuel consumption/cycle = Fuel consumption per minutes/ Ni
Nozzle orifice area, A = [vol.of fuel inj /cycle] / [Inj Vel x inj time]
= /4 .d2
 I C ENGINES II : Fuel Injection System

Functional Requirements of an Injection System

- Accurate metering /Precise timing / Proper control of rate
/atomization/spray pattern /Uniform distribution /
equal quantities /No lag

Fuel Injection system : Pump, Nozzle System and other

components

Spray Formation