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The current is an investigation of the effects of charge motion, namely tumble, on the burn characteristics of the new Chrysler Hemi SI engine. In order to reduce prototyping, several combustion system designs were evaluated; some of which were eliminated prior to design inception solely based on CFD simulations. The effects of piston top and number of spark plugs were studied throughout the conceptual stage with the AVL-FIRE CFD code. It has been concluded that large-scale, persistent and coherent tumbling flow structures are essential to charge motion augmentation at ignition only if such structures are decimated right before ignition. Piston top had a detrimental effect on tumbling charge motion as the piston approaches the TDC. When compared to single spark plug operation, dual spark plug reflected considerable improvement on burn characteristics and engine performance as a consequence. The CFD simulations demonstrated good correlation with early dynamometer data.

An experimental study was carried out to characterize the spray atomization process of automotive port fuel injectors retrofitted to a novel pressure modulation piezoelectric driver, which generates a pressure perturbation inside the fuel line. Unlike many other piezoelectric atomizers, this unit does not drive the nozzle directly. It has a small size and can be installed easily between regular port injector and fuel lines. There is no extra control difficulty with this system since the fuel injection rate and injection timing are controlled by the original fuel-metering valve. The global spray structures were characterized using the planar laser Mie scattering (PLMS) technique and the spray atomization processes were quantified using phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) technique.

A global characterization of the spray distribution of various current and development types of automotive fuel injectors was obtained. Axial and radial measurement of droplet sizes, velocities and volume fluxes were made with a phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA) for a transient port injector spray in quiescent atmospheric conditions. Time-resolved measurements involving the time-of-arrival of each droplet associated with its size and velocity components were also acquired. Additionally, the liquid sprays emanating from various types of port fuel injectors were visualized, through planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique, at different time instants. Such detailed study provides an improved understanding of the temporal or unsteady behavior of port injector spray.

Port fuel injection system in gasoline engines is receiving an increasing attention for its potential advantages in meeting the constrains of simultaneous reduction in fuel consumption and exhaust emission, and maintaining a good engine performance. The structure of port injector spray dominates the mixture preparation process and strongly affect the subsequent engine combustion characteristics over a wide range of operating conditions in port-injection gasoline engines. In this paper, an experimental and analytical study is made to characterize the breakup mechanism and atomization process of the non-air-assisted port injector sprays in gasoline engines. The liquid sprays resulted from various types of current and development-type automotive fuel injectors were visualized using planar laser-induced fluorescence imaging technique. A comparison was made on the spray structure of the single hole and multi-hole injectors.