Fuel injection valve

Abstract: A fuel injection valve (10) has a valve member (2) arranged to be controllably movable in an axial direction toward and away from a circular valve seat (4) so as to control fuel flow from a port (5) downstream from the valve seat. An axial fuel passage (7) extends from upstream of the valve seat (4) through a clearance between the seating portion and the seat (4) for producing a substantially non-swirling fuel flow from the port (5). A transverse fuel passage (8) is also provided and the transverse fuel passage extends tranversely to the axial passage and communicates with the axial fuel passage at a location offset to a diameter of the valve seat for producing a swirling fuel flow from the port (5). A combination of swirling and non-swirling fuel flow is thus supplied by the port (5), for producing finer fuel droplets of improved distribution.

Description: 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a fuel injection valve and in particular, although not exclusively, to a fuel injection valve for an internal combustion engine, such valves may be actuated, for example, electro-mechanically, mechanically or hydraulically. 2. Description of the Related Art One known electro-magnetic fuel injection valve has a reciprocal ball valve and fuel is supplied to the ball valve in the axial direction of reciprocation. Such a valve tends to provide a non-uniform distribution of fuel drops. Another known electro-magnetic fuel injection valve has a structure wherein a fuel is swirled at an upstream side of an injection hole and such a valve is known to produce finer fuel drops but they are still unacceptably non-uniform. A known injection valve is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-75955 (1981). In such a conventional injection valve, a swirl plate has a guide hole for receiving a ball and a swirl passage for introducing fuel to the guide hole in a substantially tangential direction. In the above prior art injection valve, the spray from the injection guide hole spreads in a conical shape and produces large size drops and the drop distribution near the valve axial center is reduced. However, previously, no consideration has being given to such a problem with a ball valve. It is however known from EP-A-184049 to provide a fuel injection valve having a valve seat upstream from an injection port with a reciprocal needle valve for contacting the seat to open and close the injection port. An axial fuel passage in the direction of reciprocation and a transverse passage for introducing swirling fuel to the injection fuel is provided so that a conical spray is produced. It has however been found that such a needle valve does not provide a satisfactory uniform distribution of fuel spray. EP-A-0,296,628 discloses an electro-magnetic fuel injection valve having an annular gap formed by a ball valve and a valve seat when the ball valve is lifted from the seat which is smaller than the cross-sectional area of grooves that are provided transversely to the direction of longitudinal motion of the ball valve so that a swirling force is given to the fuel. However such a fuel injection valve having only transverse grooves is unable to provide a uniform distribution of fuel spray. The present invention seeks to provide a fuel injection valve having a uniform distribution of fuel spray and drop size. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a fuel injection valve having a valve seat upstream from an injection port, a reciprocal ball valve member for contacting said seat to open and close said injection port, and a transverse passage for introducing swirling fuel to the injection port, a transverse axis perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of motion of said ball valve which passes through a centre of said ball valve, said transverse passage being offset from said transverse axis, characterised by an annular clearance being provided between the ball valve and a body member upstream from said valve seat for producing substantially non-swirling fuel to the injection port, the cross-sectional area of the transverse fuel passage (Am) being arranged to be greater than the cross-sectional area of the annular clearance (Ag), the ratio (Am/Ag) being in the range to 1.5 to 6.0 and the distance of offset of said transverse fuel passage being in the range of 0.5mm to 1.0mm. In a currently referred embodiment the transverse fuel passage is upstream from the valve seat. In such an embodiment advantageously said transverse fuel passage communicates with said axial fuel passage at a spaced upstream location from said valve seat. Conveniently four equi-peripherally spaced transverse fuel passages are provided. The valve member may be actuable by an electromagnetic coil assembly. By providing a combination of an axial direction flow component of fuel and a radial direction flow component, the injection flow amount is stabilised. Moreover, by a proper allocation of the non-swirling fuel amount which flows through the annular clearance around the valve member, uniformity of spray, and drop size is produced. Thus, generation of large size drops is suppressed, quality of the fuel mixture supplied to the internal combustion engine is improved and operation of the engine is stabilised. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a nozzle portion of a ball valve type electro-magnetic fuel injection valve according to this invention; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the double arrow-headed line A-A of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the double arrow-headed line B-B of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the electromagnetic fuel injection valve including the nozzle portion of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating the fuel flow state around the ball valve; Figures 6(a) and 6(b) schematically illustrate an observed result of a spray with the conventional nozzle portion; Figures 7(a) and 7(b) schematically illustrate an observed result of a spray with a nozzle of the present invention; Figure 8 is a graphical diagram showing variation of spray and drops; Figure 9 is a graphical diagram showing drop diameter distribution; and Figures 10(a) and 10(b) are graphical diagrams illustrating the effect of the ratio between the non-swirling fuel and the swirling fuel on amount of static flow. In the Figures like reference numerals denote like parts. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Initially, the construction of the nozzle portion of a ball valve type electromagnetic fuel injection valve will be explained with reference to Figure 1. In Figure 1 a ball valve is formed by a reciprocal rod 1, one end of which is attached to a ball 2, the ball cooperating with a seat 4 in a nozzle body 3. On the downstream side of the seat 4 is a fuel injection nozzle port 5, the port 5 being opened and closed by reciprocation of the ball 2 away from and onto the seat 4, whereby fuel metering is effected. A circularly cross-sectioned fuel element 6 is disposed in a chamber 3 of a body 3aat the upstream side of the seat 4 for applying a swirling force to the fuel supplied to the nozzle, the element 6 including an axial direction channel 7 and an interconnected radial direction channel 8. An annular clearance 9 is formed between an inner wall surface 6a of the fuel swirling element 6 and the ball 2. When the ball 2 is lifted from the seat 4 of the nozzle body 3, the fuel flows from the upper part of the drawing to the fuel injection nozzle port 5. During this time, the amount of fuel is divided into a flow (shown by a solid arrow-headed line) through the axial direction channel 7 and the radial direction channel 8 of the element 6, and another flow (shown by a broken arrow-headed line) through the annular clearance 9 formed between the inner wall surface 6a of the fuel element 6 and the ball 2. Figure 2 shows a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of Figure 1 and illustrates the axial direction channel 7 and the radial direction channel 8 of the fuel element 6. The axial direction channel 7 is formed through a D shaped aperture as shown in Figure 2, and the radial direction channel 8 joins to the axial direction channel 7 and is formed to be eccentric (the amount of eccentricity L is about 0.5mm to 1.0mm) with respect to the valve axial center. Thus, the fuel passing through the axial direction channel 7 is eccentrically introduced with respect to the valve axial center by the radial direction channel 8, thereby a swirling force is applied to the fuel and vaporisation of the fuel is enhanced when the fuel is injected from the fuel injection port 5. Figure 3 shows a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B of Figure 2 and illustrates the channel shape of the radial direction channel 8. The radial direction channel 8 is a channel of a rectangular cross-sectional shape having a channel width w and a channel depth h. A plurality of the radial direction channels 8 are provided, which, as shown in Figure 2 of this exemplary embodiment, are four in number. The construction and operation of the nozzle portion shown in Figure 1 will now be explained with reference to the electro-magnetic fuel injection valve shown in Figure 4. The electro-magnetic fuel injection valve 10 as shown in Figure 4 performs fuel injection through opening and closing the seat in response to ON-OFF duty signals which are calculated by a control unit (not shown). When a current flows through a magnetic coil 11 which constitutes the electro-magnetic assembly, a magnetic circuit is formed through a core 12, a yoke 13 and a plunger 14 which are formed by a magnetisable material such as stainless steel, and the plunger 14 is pulled toward the core 12. When the plunger 14 moves, the ball valve 1A integral therewith lifts and leaves the seat 4 in the valve body 3 to open the fuel injection port 5. The ball valve 1A is formed by the rod 1 connected to one end of a plunger 14, formed of a magnetic material, the ball 2 being welded to the other end of the rod 1, and a guide ring 15 of non-magnetic material fixed at the upper opening portion of the plunger 14. The movement of plunger 14 is guided by the guide ring 15 and the inner wall surface 6a of the fuel element 6 inserted and fixed in the hollow chamber 3a of the valve body 3. Thus the ball valve is guided at its extreme ends and slidably moves in an axial direction, wherein the operating stroke thereof is determined by a gap between a receiving surface at the neck portion of the rod 1 and a horseshoe-shaped stopper 17. The fuel is pressurized and adjusted by a fuel pump and a fuel pressure regulator, both not shown, introduced through a filter 18 to the inside of the injection valve 10 from an inlet passage 19, passes around the outer circumference of the plunger 14 and the gap between the stopper and the rod, through the annular clearance 9 and the axial direction channel 7 and the radial direction channel 8 of the fuel element 6 and is metered by the ball 2 and seat 4 combination to be injected from the fuel injection port 5 toward the intake pipe (not shown) of the internal combustion engine. When the current to the magnetic coil 11 is removed, the ball valve 1A moves downwardly (as shown in Figure 4) to the valve seat through bias by a spring 20 and ball 2 closes onto the seat 4. During the above fuel injection, the amount of the fuel is divided into a flow through the axial direction channel 7 and the radial direction channel 8 of the fuel element 6 and another flow through the annular clearance 9. Such fuel division is adjusted and determined by the ratio of the total cross-sectional area of the radial direction channel 8 and the cross-sectional area of the annular clearance 9 between the ball 2 and the inner wall surface 6a of the fuel element 6. The swirling fuel eccentrically introduced from the radial direction channel of the fuel swirling element 6 increases its swirling speed at the seat 4 of the valve guide and travels to the fuel injection port, such is illustrated by the solid arrow shown in Figure 1. On the other hand, toward such swirling fuel, non-swirling fuel from the annular clearance between the ball and the inner wall surface 6a of the fuel swirling element 6 is supplied and mixed therewith in the region between the seat 4 and the fuel injection port 5. In Figure 5, such fuel flow is illustrated, the radial direction flow component (a) flowing in from the radial direction channel of the fuel element 6, producing swirling fuel and the axial direction flow component (b) from the circumference of the ball 2 producing non-swirling fuel. The cross-sectional area of the annular clearance 9 permitting passage of the non-swirling fuel is made to be smaller than that of the radial direction channel 8 permitting passage of the swirling fuel, the mixture ratio of both is effected under the condition explained herein below. The cross-sectional area Am of the radial direction channel 8 having width w and depth h is determined by using the hydrodynamic equivalent diameter and is given as follows, wherein n is the number of channels. It is preferable to select the ratio (Am/Ag) between this cross-sectional area (Am) and the cross-sectional area (Ag) of the annular gap 9 as follows, 1.5<Am/Ag<6.0. The advantage thereof will be explained below with reference to experimental results. Figures 6(a) and 6(b) illustrate an observed result of a spray with the conventional nozzle portion, Figure 6(a) schematically showing a side view of the nozzle and spray distribution and Figure 6(b) showing in graphical form the mixture at right angles to the spray axial direction. Figures 7(a) and 7(b) are similar to Figures 6(a) and 6(b) but show the observed spray resulting from the nozzle used in this invention. In Figures 6(b) and 7(b) the ordinate is mixture and the abscissa is the ratio R/H where R is the mean diameter of the spray and H is the axial distance from the injector port outlet into the spray at which R is measured. Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating effects of the ratio between the non-swirling fuel and the swirling fuel at a maximum flow rate for valve at a constant pressure, known as the static flow because the flow quantity cannot thereafter be increased without increasing pressure. In the conventional type injection valve shown in Figures 6(a) and 6(b), the fuel is lean near the center of the spray and is rich with large drops around the periphery. When the fuel injection path to a cylinder is short such large droplets are difficult to vaporise in the short time available for combustion and thus cause inefficiency in the internal combustion engine. On the other hand, with the injection valve of the present invention as shown in Figure 7, there is a fuel rich portion near the center as well as the periphery so that a uniform spray is formed. Figure 8 illustrates variation of spray and drops collected in a plurality of coaxial cylindrical vessels. The ordinate indicates the ratio between the total injection amount Q (total flow Q equals axial flow Qd plus radial flow Qr) and the collected amount Qd in a unit time. The abscissa is the ratio R/H. As apparent from Figure 8, in the conventional type, the spray is non-dense near the center i.e. toward R/H=0 and the drops concentrate at the peripheral portion; however, with the injection valve of the present invention the drop variation concentrated at the peripheral portion of the spray decreases, and contrary to the prior art increases near the central portion and becomes substantially constant over a large area. The curves A1, A2 and A3 indicate increasing injection areas from A1 up to A3. Figure 9 shows an example of measurement results with respect to the drop diameter distribution. The abscissa is the same scale as the abscissa of Figure 8 and the ordinate indicates drop diameter (mm). As apparent from Figure 9, in the case of the conventional type of injector, near the center, i.e. where R/H is 0 there are many comparatively small drops so that the average drop size is small and the drops of large diameter occur near to the periphery of the spray. On the other hand, with the injection valve of the present invention the difference between the drop diameters is more nearly constant over a large area extending from near the center to the periphery and the average drop diameter is more uniform. Figure 10(a) illustrates the effect of the ratio between the non-swirling fuel flowing through the annular clearance 9 around the ball 2 and the swirling fuel flowing through the radial direction channel of the fuel element on the static flow rate. Static flow rate is the maximum flow rate from the valve for a given pressure and is given by Qs=CA√P where Qs is static flow rate, C is a flow coefficient, A is the injection port area, and P is the injection pressure. In Figures 10(a) and 10(b) the abscissa is the ratio (Am/Ag) between the cross-sectional area Am of the radial direction channel 8 and the cross-sectional area Ag of the annular clearance 9. In Figure 10(a) the ordinate is the static flow rate (cc/min). In Figure 10(a), when the ratio Am/Ag is more than 1.5, the static flow rate stabilizes and the target accuracy is satisfied; in other words, when values above 1.5 for the ratio Am/Ag are selected then the flow coefficient C becomes substantially constant because C=Qs/A√P. In Figure 10(b) the ordinate is an average diameter of the spray and is seen to be a substantially constant value. A large number in the ratio of Am/Ag means that the annular clearance 9 becomes small. For example, when Am/Ag is selected to be about 8, the clearance is a few microns, an extremely severe working accuracy to achieve and assembly of the injection valve is rendered difficult. Therefore the present invention preferably provides an injection valve having Am/Ag below 6, in this case, the annular clearance is about 20 microns so that a required working accuracy is several times more than the conventional type. It is therefore possible to construct a lower price injection valve. In the present invention, a uniform distribution of fuel spray and drop size is obtained. Further, the fuel flow around the ball valve and at the downstream side thereof is stabilised and control of the injection flow amount is accurately effected. Additionally, since the generation of large fuel drops is suppressed, the quality of the fuel mixture supplied to the internal combustion engine is improved because small drops are vaporised faster, a stable and more efficient engine operation is achieved. Having described the present invention it will be understood that as well as providing a uniform variation in distribution of fuel spray and drop size through averaging a local drop diameter distribution and mean drop diameter, further an electro-magnetic fuel injection valve capable of a stable flow rate control is provided. Although the invention has been described in relation to an electro-magnetic fuel injection vlve it is to be understood that the invention can be applied to other types of injector such as mechanical and hydraulic types.

Claims: A fuel injection valve having a valve seat upstream from an injection port (5), a reciprocal ball valve member (2) for contacting said seat (4) to open and close said injection port (5), and a transverse passage (8) for introducing swirling fuel to the injection port, a transverse axis perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of motion of said ball valve which passes through a centre of said ball valve, said transverse passage (8) being offset from said transverse axis, characterised by an annular clearance (9) being provided between the ball valve and a body member (6) upstream from said valve seat (4) for producing substantially non-swirling fuel to the injection port (5), the cross-sectional area of the transverse fuel passage (Am) being arranged to be greater than the cross-sectional area of the annular clearance (Ag), the ratio (Am/Ag) being in the range to 1.5 to 6.0 and the distance of offset of said transverse fuel passage (8) being in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm. A fuel injection valve as claimed in claim 1 wherein the transverse fuel passage (8) is upstream from the valve seat (4). A fuel injection valve as claimed in claims 1 or 2 wherein said transverse fuel passage (8) communicate with an axial fuel passage (7) at a spaced upstream location from said valve seat (4). A fuel injection valve as claimed in claims 1 or 2 wherein the transverse passage (8) communicates with an axial fuel passage (7) at the location of the annular 5 clearance (9). A fuel injection valve as claimed in any preceding claim wherein four equi-peripherally spaced transverse fuel passages are provided. A fuel injection valve as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the valve member (2, 120) is actuable by an electro-magnetic coil assembly (11).

Inventors: ANDO HIROYUKI C O SAWA WORKS O, HAMASHIMA EIJI C O HITACHI AUT, KASHIWAYA MINEO C O SAWA WORKS, NAKAMURA YOUZOU C O SAWA WORKS, OKAMOTO YOSHIO C O MECH RESEAR, WATANABE HARUO C O MECH RESEAR, ANDO, HIROYUKI, HAMASHIMA, EIJI, KASHIWAYA, MINEO, NAKAMURA, YOUZOU, OKAMOTO, YOSHIO, WATANABE, HARUO, ANDO, HIROYUKI, C/O SAWA WORKS OF HITACHI LTD., HAMASHIMA, EIJI, C/O HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE, KASHIWAYA, MINEO, C/O SAWA WORKS OF HITACHI LTD., Nakamura, Youzou, c/o Sawa Works of Hitachi Ltd., OKAMOTO, YOSHIO, C/O MECH. RESEARCH LAB., WATANABE, HARUO, C/O MECH. RESEARCH LAB.
Applicants: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE ENG, HITACHI LTD, HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING CO., LTD., HITACHI, LTD.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: F02M61
IPC codes: F02M61, F02M51