Spray Formation and Fuel Flow Rate at the Multi-Stage Injections Injected From the Swirl Nozzle

The structure, droplet characteristics and instantaneous fuel injection rate of two stage injection spray designed for direct injection gasoline engine were analyzed experimentally. A particle image velocimetry (PIV) to evaluate the instantaneous two-dimensional velocity field, a phase Doppler anemometer (PDA) and an instantaneous fuel flow rate meter based on a laser Doppler anemometer (LDA flow rate meter) were applied for the measurements. A swirl nozzle injector was used and injection conditions were 25 Hz of spray frequency, 2 ms and 1ms of the first and the second injection durations and 2.4, 3.3 and 9.1 ms of valve opening intervals. The initial jet of the second stage injection can overtook the main spray body of the first stage injection under the valve opening interval of 2.4 and 3.3 ms. The LDA flow rate meter made the injection rate measurement with sufficient accuracy in the two stage injection and showed the unstable second injection due to remaining pressure oscillation in the injection pipe. Both time averaged and time resolved PDA results were compared in the intermittent spray. The interaction between the first and the second sprays was also demonstrated in vector map obtained by the PIV measurement.