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This study measures transient torque, smoke opacity and pumping-losses derived from in-cylinder pressure, as a function of Variable Geometry Turbocharger (VGT) vane position (derived through Engine Control Unit, ECU). Tests were conducted using a typical passenger car/light duty truck application turbo-charged common-rail diesel engine, of 14 configuration. The aim was to seek potential improvements in engine pumping-losses (and thus fuel economy) during full-load transients and at low engine speeds, due to opening of VGT vanes. The objective was to record engine performance (e.g. engine transient-torque, smoke opacity, fuel-demand, engine pressure-ratio etc.), under full-load operation, and at engine speeds of 900-1600 rpm. The effects of “slow” and “fast” transient manoeuvres were established (in a transient test facility) by performing four different acceleration rates (i.e. 2s, 5s, 10s and 20s).

Controlling the spray characteristics of a Diesel injector means understanding the internal flow field and the way that cavitation is initiated. Measurements of the internal flow field of an injector are rare, although they provide the appropriate information both on the flow pattern and the initiation of cavitation in order to assist the evaluation of computer predictions of flow and cavitation. The purpose of the current work is to report measurements of the internal flow of a Diesel injector and assess the ability of computational fluid dynamics to predict the flow behaviour. Two-Dimensional Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) technique was employed to measure the internal flow field of a Diesel injector. The experiments were conducted by using 20:1 scale transparent models of different sections upstream of the injection nozzle of a commercial Diesel Injector.

The spray characteristics of a gasoline injector depend not only on the physics of atomization of the liquid jet on exit from the nozzle plate but also on the level of turbulence generated by the internal flow, upstream of the nozzle plate, as well as on whether cavitation arises. Measurement of the internal flow field of an injector can thus provide useful information and can assist the evaluation of the accuracy of computer predictions of the flow and associated cavitation. Information about the flow field upstream of nozzle exits is, however, rare and this forms the background to this work. Two-Dimensional Micro Particle Imaging Velocimetry (μPIV) was employed to measure the internal flow field in planes parallel to a plane of symmetry of the injector, downstream of the needle valve centring boss of a 10:1 super-scale transparent model of an 8-nozzle gasoline injector, with exit model-nozzle diameters of 2mm and a fixed model-needle lift of 0.8mm.

Experiments have been performed in one cylinder of a production two-valve engine under firing conditions and quantify the velocity, size and number density of droplets as a function of position, crank angle, injection timing, rotational speed, load and cooling water temperature. They were obtained with a phase-Doppler velocimeter with measurements ensembled in relation to an optical shaft encoder. The engine was also instrumented to provide pressure traces, air and fuel flow rates and temperatures. The injection timings included those with open and closed inlet valve. The results show that most of the droplets emerge in a comparatively small region of the inlet valve and that the characteristics of the spray are important mainly when injection takes place with the inlet valve open.