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We developed a numerical method for PFI engine, which would take complex intake-port phenomena into consideration. Numerical study for PFI engine has additional difficulty compared with that for GDI engine, because in-cylinder distribution of mixture is strongly affected by remaining fuel in intake-port. The new simulation method proposed in this paper has adopted split calculation of two steps. Fuel distribution in intake-port is calculated in the first step, and then this result of adhered and floating fuel distribution in intake-port is used as boundary and initial conditions in the next step. Together these two steps realize accurate in-cylinder mixture distribution prediction. According to experimental verification, the new method showed a capability to predict accurate liquid film distribution with less calculation cost. And then we applied the method into the investigation for optimum injection strategy to improve engine performance and to reduce emission.

We have achieved injection quantity range enhancement by using the current waveform control technique for direct injection (DI) gasoline injectors. In this study, we developed an injection quantity simulator to find out the mechanism of non-linear characteristics. We clarified the non-linear production mechanism by using the simulator. This simulator is a one-dimensional simulator that incorporates calculation results from both unsteady electromagnetic field analysis and hydraulic flow analysis into the motion equation of this simulation code. We investigated the relation between armature and the injection quantity by using the simulator. As a result, we clarified that the non-linearity was produced by the bounce of the armature in the opening action. Thus, we found that it is effective to reduce the armature bounce to improve the linearity of the injection quantity characteristics.

We investigated the size of fuel spray droplets from nozzles for direct injection gasoline (DIG) engines. Our findings showed that the droplet size can be predicted by referencing the geometry of the nozzle. In a DIG engine, which is used as part of a system to reduce fuel consumption, the injector nozzle causes the fuel to spray directly into the combustion chamber. It is important that this fuel spray avoid adhesion to the chamber wall, so multi-hole injection nozzles are used to obtain spray shape adaptability. It is also important that spray droplets be finely atomized to achieve fast vaporization. We have developed a method to predict the atomization level of nozzles for fine atomization nozzle design. The multi-hole nozzle used in a typical DIG injector has a thin fuel passage upstream of the orifice hole. This thin passage affects the droplet size, and predicting the droplet size is quite difficult if using only the orifice diameter.

We propose a spray pattern control method for swirl-type injectors in direct injection (DI) gasoline engines. An L-cut orifice nozzle (L-Step nozzle) that produces a horseshoe spray pattern is used to create a rich and lean concentration region. To further control the distribution of fuel, the relationship between the nozzle geometry and the spray pattern is investigated. The mechanism for a horseshoe spray formation is hypothesized and verified through experiment. The spray shape and fuel distribution is found to be controllable by configuring the L-cut step-walls. Furthermore, it is discovered that independent control of rich and lean region distribution is possible by arranging the step-wall position and height.

The conventional fuel injector for direct-injection gasoline engines is driven by voltage step-up circuitry and current control circuitry. The voltage step-up circuitry boosts the battery voltage to near 100 volts. This conventional system is fairly large and a more compact system is preferable. We have developed a mass producible battery-voltage-driven fuel injector for direct-injection gasoline engines. The injector has a dual-coil structure that enables the injector to operate at the battery voltage, thus eliminating the need for either voltage step-up circuitry or current control circuitry. Deviation in battery voltage and changes in harness resistance are fully compensated through opening-coil energization-time control. In addition, with this control method, the injector can be used with a wide range of fuel pressures.