Title: Linking the performance of a compression ignition engine to physical indications of injector nozzle

Authors: S.D. Rasika Perera

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract: In the current study, the effect of aging of the injector nozzle during operation in an automobile engine was investigated by observing the optical imaging of the fuel spray pattern, engine dynamometer testing, and optical imaging of the nozzle sac. In this study, the spray breaks up length and the spray cone angle of four identical sets were compared. The different injector sets were brand new and from an engine of a vehicle that has done 40,000 km, 81,000 km, and 120,000 km. The investigation revealed that as the injector nozzle gets older, the spray cone angle gets reduced and the breakup length increases. Both the reduction of spray cone angle and increased breakup length can be attributed to poor atomisation quality. When the engine is running on old injectors, the fuel economy decreases and harmful emissions increase.

Keywords: diesel fuel; emissions; soot; fuel injection; spray cone angle; cavitation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPT.2024.138003

International Journal of Powertrains, 2024 Vol.13 No.1, pp.5 - 18

Received: 21 Sep 2022
Accepted: 07 Oct 2023
Published online: 16 Apr 2024 *

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