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The progressive trend towards the GDi engine downsizing, the focus on better fuel efficiency and performance, and the regulatory requirements with respect to the combustion emissions have brought the focus of attention on strategies for improvement of in-cylinder mixture preparation and identification and elimination of the sources of combustion emissions, in particular the in-cylinder particulate formation. This paper discusses the fuel system components, injector dynamics, spray characteristics and the single cylinder engine combustion investigation of a 40 [MPa] capable conventional GDi inwardly-opening multi-hole fuel injection system. It provides results of a study of the influence of fuel system pressure increase between 5 [MPa] to 40 [MPa], in conjunction with the injector static flow and spray pattern, on the combustion characteristics, specifically the particulate and gaseous emissions and the fuel economy.

Innovative nozzle hole shapes for inwardly opening multi-hole gasoline direct injectors offer opportunities for improved mixture formation and particulate emissions reduction. Compared to increased fuel pressure, an alternative associated with higher system costs and increased pumping work, nozzle hole shaping simply requires changes to the injector nozzle shape and may have the potential to meet Euro 6 particulate regulations at today's 200 bar operating pressure. Using advanced laser drilling technology, injectors with non-round nozzle holes were built and tested on a single-cylinder engine with a centrally-mounted injector location. Particulate emissions were measured and coking deposits were imaged over time at several operating fuel pressures. This paper presents spray analysis and engine test results showing the potential benefits of alternative non-round nozzle holes in reducing particulate emissions and enhancing robustness to coking with various operating fuel pressures.

Development of in-cylinder spray targeting, plume penetration and atomization of the gasoline direct-injection (GDi) multi-hole injector is a critical component of combustion developments, especially in the context of the engine downsizing and turbo-charging trend that has been adopted in order to achieve the European target CO2, US CAFE, and concomitant stringent emissions standards. Significant R&D efforts are directed towards the optimization of injector nozzle designs in order to improve spray characteristics. Development of accurate predictive models is desired to understand the impact of nozzle design parameters as well as the underlying physical fluid dynamic mechanisms resulting in the injector spray characteristics. This publication reports Large Eddy Simulation (LES) analyses of GDi single-hole skew-angled nozzles, with β=30° skew (bend) angle and different nozzle geometries.

Improvement of spray atomization and penetration characteristics of the gasoline direct-injection (GDi ) multi-hole injector is a critical component of the GDi combustion developments, especially in the context of engine down-sizing and turbo-charging trend that is adopted in order to achieve the European target CO₂, US CAFE, and concomitant stringent emissions standards. Significant R&D efforts are directed towards optimization of the nozzle designs, in order to improve the GDi multi-hole spray characteristics. This publication reports VOF-LES analyses of GDi single-hole skew-angled nozzles, with β=30° skew (bend) angle and different nozzle geometries. The objective is to extend previous works to include the effect of nozzle-hole skew angle on the nozzle flow and spray primary breakup. VOF-LES simulations of a single nozzle-hole of a purpose-designed GDi multi-hole seat geometry, with three identical nozzle-holes per 120° seat segment, are performed.

The spray plume geometry and fuel atomization characteristics of the gasoline direct-injection (GDI) multi-hole injectors are of paramount importance with respect to the GDI engine homogenous-charge combustion and emission characteristics. A major component of the GDI combustion system development is the optimization of the spray-targeting and mixture preparation. Significant R&D efforts are directed towards optimization of the nozzle design and the manufacturing process in order to achieve optimum multi-plume spray characteristics. The Volume-of-Fluid Large-Eddy Simulation (VOF-LES) of the injector internal flow and near-field primary atomization has been receiving attention as a tool to enable analysis of the influence of nozzle design on the key spray parameters and reduce reliance on hardware trial-and-tests for multi-objective spray optimizations.

A parametric study on the effects of critical injector design parameters of inwardly-opening pressure-swirl injectors was carried out using 3-D internal flow simulations. The pressure variation and the integrated momentum flux across the injector, as well as the flow distributions and turbulence structure at the nozzle exit were analyzed. The critical flow effects on the injector design identified are the swirler efficiency, discharge coefficient, and turbulence breakup effects on the spray structure. The study shows that as a unique class of injectors, pressure-swirl injectors is complicated in fluid mechanics and not sufficiently characterized or optimized. The swirler efficiency is characterized in terms of the trade-off relationship between the swirl-to-axial momentum-flux ratio and pressure drop across the swirler. The results show that swirl number is inversely proportional to discharge coefficient, and that hole diameter and swirler height is the most dominant parameters.