Imaging diagnostics of ethanol port fuel injection sprays for automobile engine applications

This paper presents characteristics of ethanol sprays at port fuel injection (PFI) conditions with variations in injection and ambient parameters. Details of temporal and spatial development of ethanol PFI sprays are studied using Mie-scattering and high-speed shadowgraph imaging techniques. Momentum flux-based injection rate measurement is also performed. The influences of fuel flow-rate, injection duration, and ambient air cross-flow are of particular interest in an effort to understand ethanol PFI spray characteristics that are relevant to automobile engines. For comparison purposes, the results from gasoline fuel are also presented. Ethanol flow-rate effects are studied using two injectors with different nozzle-hole sizes at a fixed injection pressure. From the experiments, it was found that the actual injection duration was longer for the higher flow-rate injector although an electronic pulse width was fixed. This was due to an extended delay in the injector needle closing as the flow resistance against the needle was increased for the high flow-rate injector. For liquid droplets, the larger hole size of the higher flow-rate injector caused a higher mean droplet diameter and higher number of droplets. Injection duration was also varied to study transient spray behaviour: short-injection sprays with the end-of-injection transient dominating the overall spray development were compared to long, steady-injection sprays. From Mie-scattering images, the number of droplets and mean droplet diameter were found to be less for the short injection sprays. Detailed analysis using an axial profile of the number of droplets and mean droplet diameter suggested that the observed trends were a result of increased evaporation rate near the nozzle after the end of injection. This was consistent with shadowgraph images showing no liquid regions but only the vapour-phase fuel near the nozzle. Under the influence of ambient air cross-flow, both mean droplet diameter and number of droplets were less than quiescent ambient conditions once again due to increased evaporation rate. This cross-flow effect was measurable only after the end of injection when no injection momentum presented.

► A high flow-rate port-fuel injector shows extended injection duration. ► After the end of injection, the evaporation of near nozzle droplets increases. ► The cross-flow effect on droplets is dominant only after the end of injection.