FUEL SYSTEM

CI Diesel Engine Fuel Injection

System

Dr. Eng. Medhat A. MOHAMMED Elkelawy

medhat_abo@yahoo.com
medhatelkelawy@f-eng.tanta.edu.eg

Combustion in Direct-Injection

Cylinder pressure P.

injector needle lift

(IN) and injectionsystem
pressure

fuel-line

Pi
as
functions of crank

angle for small DI

diesel engine

Combustion in Direct-Injection
This graph shows the fuel injection flow rate, net heat release rate and
cylinder pressure for a direct injection CI engine.

Start of injection
Start of combustion
End of injection

Stages of the overall compression-ignition diesel

combustion process can be identified on the
typical heat release- rate diagram for a DI engine.

Stages of the overall compressionignition diesel combustion process

Stages of the overall compressionignition diesel combustion process

Basic injection, mixing, and burning patterns

of CI DI Diesel engines
A. Fuel injection across the chamber with substantial
momentum.
Mixing proceeds immediately as fuel enters the chamber
and is little affected by combustion.
B. Fuel deposition on the combustion chamber walls.
Negligible mixing during the delay period due to limited
evaporation.
After ignition, evaporation becomes rapid and its rate is
controlled by access of hot gases to the surface, radial
mixing being induced by differential centrifugal forces.
Burning is therefore delayed by the ignition lag.
C. Fuel distributed near the wall.
Mixing proceeds during the delay but at a rate smaller than
in mechanism A.
After ignition, mixing is accelerated by the same mechanism
as in mechanism B.

Application of Model to Other

Combustion Systems

DI Multihole nozzle

DI "M" type engine

fuel injected on wall

Application of Model to Other

Combustion Systems

DI Multihole nozzle

IDI swirl chamber

engine.

Ignition delay is defined as the time

(or crank angle interval) from when
the fuel injection starts to the onset
of combustion.
Both physical and chemical processes must
take place before a significant fraction of the fuel
chemical energy is released.
Physical processes are fuel Spray Atomization,
Evaporation and Mixing of Fuel Vapor with
Cylinder Air.

Good atomization requires high fuel pressure,

small injector hole diameter, optimum fuel
viscosity, high cylinder pressure , large spray
divergence angle.
Rate of vaporization of the fuel droplets
depends on droplet diameter, velocity, fuel
volatility, pressure and temperature of the air.
Chemical processes similar to that described
for autoignition phenomenon in premixed fuel-air,
only more complex since heterogeneous
reactions (reactions occurring on the liquid fuel
drop surface) also occur.

Fuel Quality Vs Ignition Delay

The ignition characteristics of the fuel affect the ignition
delay.
The ignition quality of a fuel is defined by its Cetane
number CN.
For low Cetane number fuels the ignition delay is long
and most of the fuel is injected before autoignition. This
leads to rapid combustion. Under extreme cases, this
produces an audible knocking sound referred to as diesel
knock.
For high Cetane number fuels the ignition delay is short
and very little fuel is injected before autoignition, the heat
release rate is controlled by the rate of fuel injection and
fuel-air mixing smoother engine operation.

Cetane Number

Cetane Number Measurements

ON and CN are Inversely Correlated so Gasoline

Makes a Poor Diesel Fuel and Vice Versa!

Factors Affecting Ignition Delay Time

Factors Affecting
Ignition Delay Time

FUEL SPRAY BEHAVIOR

Sequence of Events in CI Combustion

Fuel Spray and

Entrainment of Surrounding Gas.
Atomization Process.
Vaporization of Fuel.
Ignition
Mixing and Premixed Combustion.
Diffusion Combustion.

Geometrical Features of Fuel Spray

FUEL SPRAY BEHAVIOR

Structure of
Engine Sprays

Cavitation & Spray breakup

Improvement of Spray Atomization

and Penetration Behaviors
Secondary Evaporation OR
Spray Secondary Atomization
Burning Space
Initial Droplet

Spray formation is Known as Breakup

Mechanism, described as:

Stretching of fuel ligament into sheets or streams.

Appearance of ripples and protuberances().
Formation of small ligaments or holes in sheets.
Collapse of ligaments or holes in sheets.
Further breakup due to vibration of droplets.
Agglomeration or shedding from large drops.

The flow parameters of a jet:

Jet Reynolds number
Jet weber number
Ohnesorge number

Characterization of Fuel Spray

The air-fuel mixing process is a key event in diesel
combustion.
A good knowledge of the formation of the spray is essential to
improve mixing efficiency.
The spray penetration length and spray penetration rate from a
fuel injector are the parameters used to judge fuel spray
performance.
The merits of high or low penetration largely depend on engine
design and geometry.
Shorter spray penetration may be of an advantage where it
reduces fuel impingement, but in larger engines may inhibit
maximum air utilization.

Approximate Estimation of the injection

Rate through the Injector Nozzles
If the pressure upstream of the injector nozzle can be
estimated or measured, and assuming the flow through
each nozzle is quasi steady, incompressible, and one
dimensional, the mass flow rate of fuel injected through
the nozzle is given by

Spray Cone Angle

Secondary Atomization and Micro Explosion Phenomenon

Secondary atomization, which is cased by the micro
explosion phenomenon, was further followed and
traced through photos taken by using Particle Sizing
Shadowgraph technique to a zone of 0.5 mm x 0.5
mm inside the spray of the fuel at an axial distance of
120 mm from the tip of the injector nozzle

0.5 mm

0.5 mm

Spray Penetration

t time after the start of injection second

Droplet Size Distribution

Sauter Mean Diameter
The representative diameter is defined as
Sauter mean diameter (SMD).
Introducing the definition of SMD:

An empirical expression for the Sauter mean diameter DSM

(in micrometers) for typical diesel fuel properties

Where
is the liquid surface tension,
L is the liquid viscosity,
A is the air density,
L is the liquid density,
pL, is the injection pressure differential across the nozzle,
is the half spray angle and
t is the film thickness, given by
where do is the discharge orifice diameter
and
FN is the nozzle flow number defined by

Effect of fuel-injection pressure and nozzle geometry and size on Sauter mean drop diameter

Description of the Whole Events

in DICI Spray Combustion

Schematic of a diesel spray, flame

temperatures, and fuel combustion
chemistry profile