Patent Publication Number: US-7895986-B2

Title: Diesel engine and fuel injection nozzle therefor

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present description relates to a diesel engine injecting fuel into a combustion chamber formed in a cylinder. More particular, the description pertains to a diesel engine comprising a fuel injection nozzle having a plurality of injection hole groups, each having two injection holes, respectively. 
     BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY 
     Some diesel engines have a so-called group hole nozzle (GHN) configured to include a plurality of injection hole groups having a plurality of injection holes for injecting fuel, such that fuel injected by each of the plurality of injection holes will form a single fuel spray cloud by each group, and thereby reduce a radius of each injection hole and atomize fuel while attaining a sufficient total flow cross sectional area of the injection holes by increasing the number of injection holes. 
     One example of this type of diesel engine is described by U.S. Pat. No. 7,201,334. This reference describes addressing soot (black exhaust) reduction due to enhancement of fuel atomization and strengthening fuel spray penetration by devising an angle between axes of injection holes in each injection hole group. 
     Using GHN technology, such as the technology described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,201,334 and enhancing fuel atomization can be useful for reducing soot emitted from a diesel engine. However, in some cases engine components such as fuel injection nozzles, combustion chambers, etc., are configured such that a fuel is ignited after the fuel collides with a wall surface of a combustion chamber to increase ignition lag of the injected fuel. In such a case, it is also important to facilitate reheating due to mixing combusted gas and surplus air by strengthening a vertical vortex in the combustion chamber, and to enhance fuel atomization to reduce soot even further, and/or to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) sufficiently in addition to reduction of soot. 
     To strengthen a vertical vortex in the combustion chamber, the penetration force of fuel spray after the fuel collides with a wall surface of a combustion chamber can be increased, which can in turn enhance swirl and penetration longitudinally along the wall surface of fuel spray and combusted gas downstream of a combustion zone, in addition to increasing a penetration force of fuel spray before the fuel reaches the wall surface. 
     Fuel spray injected into a combustion chamber of a diesel engine may collide with a wall surface of a cavity provided on the top portion of a piston during an ignition lag period and may spread along a wall surface of the cavity by setting the fuel spray penetration properly. 
     The fuel spray, then, combusts most efficiently near the wall surface, and combustion gas (burned gas) and fuel spray are carried about by a vertical vortex stream induced by a combustion expansion flow, and swirl and penetrate longitudinally along the wall surface. 
     When the mixture of fuel spray and burned gas swirling and penetrating around the wall surface rapidly reach the center of the cavity, high-temperature burned gas is cooled rapidly by mixing with low-temperature surplus air since there is low-temperature surplus air including plenty of oxygen not used for combustion around the center portion of the cavity. This can result in a decrease in NOx production and a reduction in soot by contacting soot included in burned gas with oxygen and reheating it. 
     Therefore, by increasing the penetration force of the fuel spray after the fuel spray collides with the wall surface, and by enhancing swirling and penetrating around the wall surface of fuel spray and combusted gas, burned gas can mix with surplus air rapidly, thereby reducing NOx and reheating soot to reduce soot in emissions. 
     However, the reference described above is designed to maintain spray penetration force by colliding atomized fuel sprays with each other and utilize all air in the combustion chamber space from the injection hole to the combustion chamber wall surface, and thereby complete combustion substantially before the fuel spray reaches the wall surface of the combustion chamber. 
     So, this reference does not consider enhancement of fuel spray penetration after the fuel spray collides with the wall surface, and therefore it can not enhance penetration force of the fuel spray after the fuel spray collides with the wall surface to reduce generation of NOx and soot sufficiently. 
     Therefore, there is a need for providing a diesel engine that can enhance penetration force of fuel spray formed from fuel injected into a combustion chamber of engine cylinder after the fuel spay collides with a wall surface of the combustion chamber, to reduce generation of NOx and soot sufficiently. 
     According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present description, a diesel engine is disclosed, which comprises a cavity provided on a top surface of a piston of said engine, the cavity having a concave cross section along a moving direction of said piston, and forming a combustion chamber. The engine further may include a fuel injection nozzle located such that the fuel nozzle is facing a substantially center portion of said combustion chamber and is configured to inject fuel to a side wall of said combustion chamber. The concave cross section may have a shape in which a center of a bottom portion is raised up toward an opening of said concave cross section, the center being located along a radial direction of said piston. The fuel injection nozzle may have a plurality of injection hole groups, each group having two injection holes respectively. A distance between said two injection holes and an angle between longitudinal axes of said two injection holes of each of said injection hole groups may be each set such that fuel sprays injected from said two injection holes will form a single fuel spray cloud for each of the injection hole groups after the fuel sprays collide with a wall of said combustion chamber, and such that the distance between collision points of the fuel sprays injected from said two injection holes at a time of their collision with said wall of said combustion chamber will be in a predetermined range in which a penetration force of said fuel spray cloud along a longitudinal direction of said combustion chamber received after collision with said wall of said combustion chamber is at or near a predetermined maximum value. 
     This diesel engine overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the approach of the related reference described above. 
     In one example embodiment, the predetermined range is a range in which said penetration force of said fuel spray cloud along the longitudinal direction of said combustion chamber will be 120% or more as large as a penetration force of said fuel spray cloud along a lateral direction of said combustion chamber. 
     According to a second aspect of the embodiment of present description, a diesel engine is provided, which comprises a cavity provided on a top surface of a piston of said engine, the top surface having a concave cross section along a moving direction of said piston, and forming a combustion chamber. The engine may further comprise a fuel injection nozzle located such that the fuel nozzle is facing a substantially center portion of said combustion chamber is configured to inject fuel to a side wall of said combustion chamber. The concave cross section may have a shape in which a center of a bottom portion is raised up toward an opening of said concave cross section, the center being located along a radial direction of said piston. The fuel injection nozzle may have a plurality of injection hole groups, each group having two injection holes respectively. A distance between said two injection holes and an angle between longitudinal axes of two injection holes of each of said injection hole groups maybe each set such that fuel sprays injected from said two injection holes will form single fuel spray cloud for each of the injection hole groups after the fuel sprays collide with a wall of said combustion chamber, and such that a distance between collision points of the fuel sprays injected from said two injection holes at a time of their collision with said wall of said combustion chamber will be in a range from 4.5 to 7.5 millimeters. 
     This diesel engine also overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the approach of the related reference described above. 
     In another example embodiment, the distance between respective centers of an outlet of each of said two injection holes in the plane along the moving direction of said piston is in a range from 0.25 to 0.5 millimeters. 
     In another example embodiment, the distance between respective centers of an outlet of each of said two injection holes in the plane perpendicular to the moving direction of said piston is in a range from 0.25 to 0.5 millimeters. 
     In another example embodiment, the angle between the respective longitudinal axes of the two injection holes in the plane perpendicular to the moving direction of said piston is in a range from 7.5 to 12.5 degrees. 
     In another example embodiment, the angle between the respective longitudinal axes of the two injection holes in the plane perpendicular to the moving direction of said piston is in a range from 7.5 to 12.5 degrees. 
     In this way, at least some of the disadvantages of the related reference described above are overcome. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of a diesel engine in proximity to a combustion chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a view showing a wall-surface colliding point distance X of the fuel sprays in the diesel engine shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIGS. 3A-3C  are views showing parameters of a layout of the fuel-injection nozzle holes shown in  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 3A  shows a distance Y between the injection holes and an angle α between the injection holes in the longitudinal cross-section of the nozzle,  FIG. 3B  shows a distance Z between the injection holes and an angle β between the injection holes in the lateral cross-section of the nozzle, and  FIG. 3C  shows a lip radius r of the combustion chamber. 
         FIG. 4  is a view showing a penetration force after the fuel spray injected from the fuel injection nozzle shown in  FIG. 2  collides with the wall-surface. 
         FIG. 5  shows graphs illustrating relationships between the wall-surface colliding point distance X of the fuel sprays injected from the fuel injection nozzle shown in  FIG. 2 , and the penetration force after the wall-surface collision and an average particle diameter of the fuel sprays and a smoke performance. 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  show measured spray shapes after the wall-surface collision at the time of injecting the fuel onto the wall surface where a single injection hole and two injection holes are equipped, in connection with the penetration force after the fuel sprays collided with the wall-surface, where  FIG. 6A  shows a fuel spray shape of the single injection hole, and  FIG. 6B  shows a fuel spray shape of the two injection holes. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Hereafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained based on the appended drawings. 
       FIGS. 1-5  show an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of a diesel engine in proximity to a combustion chamber according to this embodiment.  FIG. 2  shows a wall-surface colliding point distance X of fuel sprays  2  (described later).  FIGS. 3A-3C  show layout parameters of fuel-injection nozzle holes. Specifically,  FIG. 3A  shows a distance Y between the injection holes and an angle α between the injection holes in the longitudinal cross-section of the nozzles.  FIG. 3B  shows a distance Z between the injection holes and an angle β between the injection holes in the lateral cross-section of the nozzles.  FIG. 3C  shows a lip radius “r” of the combustion chamber.  FIG. 4  shows a penetration force after fuel spray clouds collide a wall surface of the combustion chamber.  FIG. 5  is a graph showing a relationship between the wall-surface colliding point distance X of the fuel sprays, and the penetration force after the wall-surface collision and an average particle diameter of the fuel spray and smoke performance. 
     In this embodiment, the diesel engine is an in-line multi-cylinder engine. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a cylinder head  2  typically is arranged above the cylinder block  1 . Each piston  4  is arranged so as to move in the up-and-down direction inside a cylinder bore  3  of each of the engine cylinders formed in the cylinder block  1 . Each combustion chamber  5  typically is defined by the cylinder head  2 , the cylinder bore  3 , and the piston  4 . An air-intake port (e.g., helical port)  6  of a swirl production type, and an exhaust port  7  are formed in the cylinder head  2  for each cylinder. An air-intake valve  8  and an exhaust valve  9  are also disposed in the cylinder head  2  to open and close the air-intake port  6  and the exhaust port  7 , respectively. 
     A fuel-injection valve  10  is attached to the cylinder head  2  so that it is facing a substantially center portion of the combustion chamber  5  of each cylinder. In this embodiment, the cylinder head  2  is a flat type, and the air-intake valves  8  and the exhaust valves  9  are vertical types. A reentrant-type cavity  11  is formed in a top surface of the piston  4  so that it is recessed in the moving direction of the piston (i.e., in the up-and-down direction in  FIG. 1 ), and its diameter is smaller at its opening than that of a deeper or lower side. 
     In this embodiment, the cavity  11  forms the combustion chamber  5 . An opening portion of the cavity  11  in proximity to the top surface of the piston  4  protrudes inwardly in the radial direction of the piston to form an annular lip portion  12 . Another portion of the cavity  11  located below the lip portion  12  is recessed outwardly in the radial direction of the piston to form an annular recessed portion  13 . A portion of the cavity  11  located at the bottom of the cavity  11  and in the center in the radial direction of the piston forms a convex portion  14  that protrudes toward the opening of the cavity  11 . 
     A tip-end portion of the fuel-injection valve  10  constitutes a fuel injection nozzle  15 . In this embodiment, the fuel injection nozzle  15  slightly protrudes into the combustion chamber  5  to carry out direct injection of fuel into the cavity  11  on the top surface of the piston  4 . 
     A plurality of injection hole groups  20  (see  FIG. 2 ) are arranged in the fuel injection nozzle  15  so as to be approximately equally spaced in the circumferential direction (in  FIG. 2 , only one group is shown). Each injection hole group  20  includes two injection holes  21  and  22 . The injection hole groups  20  may be 5 to 12 groups, for example. 
     From the injection holes  21  and  22  of each injection hole group  20 , fuel is injected slightly downward to a wall surface of the lip portion  12  of the cavity  11 . When the fuel sprays injected from the two injection holes  21  and  22  of each injection hole group  20  collide with the wall surface of the combustion chamber (i.e., wall surface of the cavity  11 ), the fuel sprays  31  forms or are integrated into a single fuel spray cloud for each injection hole group  20 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the two injection holes  21  and  22  are configured so that a distance between two colliding positions (colliding points A and B, respectively) of the fuel sprays injected from the two injection holes  21  and  22  (i.e., wall-surface colliding point distance X) may be within a range of 4.5 to 7.5 mm. 
     Fundamentally, the wall-surface colliding point distance X may be set according to a distance between longitudinal centers of the two injection holes  21  and  22  and an angle between the longitudinal canters of the injection holes, and a distance from the injection holes to the colliding positions on the wall surface of the combustion chamber. Here, the distance between the injection holes may be defined three-dimensionally by a distance Y between exits of the injection holes in the longitudinal cross-section of the nozzles as shown in  FIG. 3A , and a distance Z between exits of the injection holes in the lateral cross-section of the nozzles as shown in  FIG. 3B . Further, the angle between the injection holes may be defined by an angle α between the injection holes in the longitudinal cross-section of the nozzles as shown in  FIG. 3A  and an angle β between the injection holes in the lateral cross-section of the nozzles as shown in  FIG. 3B . Further, the distance from the nozzle holes to the colliding positions on the wall surface of the combustion chamber may be defined by the combustion chamber lip radius “r” as shown in  FIG. 3C . 
     Thus, an equation to find the wall-surface colliding point distance X may be as follows.
 
 X= 2 *r *tan(tan −1 ((√{square root over (tan 2 α+tan 2 β)})/2+√{square root over ( Y   2   +Z   2 )}))
 
     Here, the setting ranges of the nozzle parameters described above may be 0.25&lt;Y&lt;0.5 mm; 0.25&lt;Z&lt;0.5 mm; 0&lt;α&lt;5 deg; 7.5&lt;β&lt;12.5 deg; 145&lt;θ&lt;160 deg; and 24/43&lt;(r/bore radius)&lt;35/43, for example. Here, θ is an injection hole corn angle. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the fuel sprays  31  injected into the combustion chamber  5  collide with the wall surface of the cavity  11  during an ignition delay period, and then spread along the wall surface while mixed with an air  32 . Then, the fuel spray  31  combusts in proximity to the collided wall surface. Then, the fuel spray  31 A after the wall-surface collision and burned gas  33  ride a longitudinal vortex stream caused by an expanding flow due to the combustion, and flow in the longitudinal direction of the piston (i.e., the moving direction of the piston) along the wall surface and then the lower bottom of the cavity  11  (see an arrow T). If this turning flow of the fuel spray is strong in the longitudinal direction, the fuel spray  31 A and the burned gas  33  quickly reach to the center portion of the cavity  11 . 
     In proximity to the center portion of the cavity  11 , surplus air  34  of low temperature that contains a great amount of oxygen that has not been used for the combustion typically exists. If a penetration force of the fuel spray  31 A after the wall-surface collision and the burned gas  33  in the longitudinal direction is large, the turning flow of the fuel spray  31 A and the burned gas  33  downstream of a combustion area  35  turns upwardly to the longitudinal direction. This allows the surplus air  34  to quickly mix with the burned gas  33  to rapidly cool the burned gas  33  to reduce production of NOx. In addition, soot in the burned gas  33  is stimulated to re-combust, thereby reducing NOx and smoke that will be discharged. 
     As described above, for the fuel injection nozzle  15  of this embodiment, the two injection holes  21  and  22  of each injection hole group  20  is configured so that the wall-surface colliding point distance X may be set to 4.5 to 7.5 mm. In this setting, the penetration force in the longitudinal direction after the fuel sprays collide with the wall surface is powerful and, thus, atomization of the fuel can also be stimulated. 
     As a result, in this embodiment, the fuel atomization can be stimulated, and the penetration force after the fuel sprays collide with the wall surface can be enhanced. Further, the turning flow of the fuel sprays and the burned gas downstream of the combustion area in the longitudinal direction can be enhanced. Further, the burned gas  33  can be quickly mixed with the surplus air  34 . Further, the burned gas  33  can be rapidly cooled to reduce the production of NOx, and the re-combustion of soot in the burned gas  33  can be stimulated, thereby sufficiently reducing the production of NOx and soot. 
       FIG. 5  shows a numerical analysis of performance of the fuel injection nozzle  15 . In  FIG. 5 , the horizontal axis of each graph represents the wall-surface colliding point distance X, and the vertical axis represents the penetration force after the wall-surface collision in the upper graph, an average particle diameter in the middle graph, and a smoke performance by the experimental data with an actual system in the lower graph. 
     In the upper graph of  FIG. 5 , a thick solid line shows the penetration force after the wall-surface collision in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber (a unit for “length” such as “millimeter(s)” may be used), and a thicker dashed line shows the penetration force after the wall-surface collision in the lateral direction of the combustion chamber. A two-dot chain line in this graph shows a curve of 1.2 times (+20%) of the thick dashed line, and a dot chain line shows 1.25 times (+25%). 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the spray particle size after the fuel sprays injected from the two injection holes collide with the wall surface becomes smaller as the wall-surface colliding point distance X becomes greater. On the other hand, the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber after the wall-surface collision may have a range of wall-surface colliding point distances where the penetration force becomes larger, although the penetration force typically decreases in for distances outside of this range. Thus, a predetermined range of the wall-surface colliding point distance X where the penetration force after the wall-surface collision in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber is maintained at substantially a predetermined maximum value is set to be the optimum range. By maintaining the penetration force within the range, the penetration force after the wall-surface collision can be maintained within a range where the fuel atomization can be stimulated, as well as the penetration force after the wall-surface collision is enhanced. The middle graph of  FIG. 5  shows a degree of the atomization of the fuel sprays in an average particle diameter after 1 millisecond of the injection. 
     The predetermined range (optimum range) may be a range where the wall-surface colliding point distance X is 4.5 to 7.5 mm, as shown in  FIG. 5 . Within the optimum range, the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber is at least 20% larger than that in the lateral direction of the combustion chamber. At the lower limit of 4.5 mm, the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber is 25% larger than that in the lateral direction of the combustion chamber that is perpendicular to the moving direction of the piston and is in the circumferential direction of the combustion chamber. On the other hand, at the higher limit of 7.5 mm, the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber is 20% larger than that in the lateral direction of the combustion chamber. 
     Because the average particle diameter is smaller on the upper limit side than on the lower limit side, the upper limit side is more advantageous for emission control. Therefore, the wall-surface colliding point distance X where the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber is 20% larger than the penetration force in the lateral direction of the combustion chamber may be set to be a threshold. Also in the illustrated test data of the actual system (i.e., smoke performance of the system), a discharge amount of soot (smoke) is low enough within the limit where the distance X between the colliding points is 4.5 to 7.5 mm. As shown in the lower graph of  FIG. 5 , a filter smoke number (FSN) may be used as a unit for the vertical axis of the system smoke performance, for example. 
     For the penetration force after the fuel spray collided the wall surface in the diesel engine of this embodiment,  FIGS. 6A and 6B  schematically show measurements of spray shapes after the injected fuel collides the wall surface.  FIG. 6A  shows a spray shape from a single injection hole,  FIG. 6B  shows a spray shape from two injection holes. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6A , when the fuel spray  31  is injected from a single injection hole  23  to collide with the wall surface, the spray after  31 A the collision spreads in the shape of a concentric circle. However, as described in this embodiment, when two injection holes  21  and  22  are arranged adjacent to each other with a moderate distance therebetween, and the fuel sprays  31  injected from the two injection holes  21  and  22  collide with the wall surface of the cavity  11 . A spread of the spray  31 A after the collision is amplified in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the injection holes  21  and  22  to be in the shape of an ellipse as shown in  FIG. 6B . Using this characteristic, the penetration force after the wall-surface collision can be enhanced and, thereby, enhancing the turning flow of the fuel spray  31 A after the wall-surface collision and the burned gas  33  in the longitudinal direction. 
     As described above, the diesel engine of this embodiment includes a cavity that is provided in the top of the piston so as to be located in the center portion of the piston, has a concave cross-section in the moving direction of the piston, and forms a combustion chamber. The diesel engine further includes a fuel injection nozzle that is provided at a position facing the substantially center portion of the combustion chamber, and injects fuel towards the wall surface of the combustion chamber. The concave cross-section has a shape where a bottom center portion of the piston located in the center in the radial direction of the piston protrudes toward an opening of the cavity. The fuel injection nozzle has a plurality of injection hole groups, each of which have two injection holes. A distance and an angle between the two injection holes of each injection hole group are set so that the fuel sprays injected from the two injection holes form a single fuel spray cloud when they collide with the wall surface of the combustion chamber, and a distance between colliding points when the fuel sprays injected from the two injection holes collide with the wall surface of the combustion chamber falls in a predetermined range where a penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber obtained after the collision with the wall surface of the combustion chamber maintains substantially a predetermined maximum value (for example, a range of 4.5 to 7.5 mm). 
     When injecting fuel towards the wall surface of the combustion chamber from an upper portion of the center portion of the combustion chamber, combustion of the fuel spray in a combustion area downstream tends not to be stimulated in the proximity of the center portion of the combustion chamber located below the fuel injection nozzle comparing with an area in proximity to the wall surface of the combustion chamber, with surplus air being easily remained. 
     Therefore, the fuel injection nozzle is configured as described above so as to stimulate the fuel atomization, while enhancing the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber after the wall-surface collision. Thus, the turning flow of the fuel spray downstream of the combustion area and the burned gas in the longitudinal direction can be enhanced, and the fuel spray and the burned gas reach in proximity to the canter of the combustion chamber below the fuel injection nozzle along the wall surface of the combustion chamber. As a result, the burned gas can be quickly mixed with the surplus air, and the production of NOx can be reduced by rapidly cooling the burned gas. Further, re-combustion of the soot in the burned gas can be stimulated, and production of NOx and soot can be reduced. 
     For the fuel sprays injected from two injection holes, the spray particle size after the wall-surface collision becomes simply smaller as the distance between colliding points when the injected fuel sprays collide with the wall surface of the combustion chamber (i.e., wall-surface colliding point distance) becomes larger. On the other hand, the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber after the wall-surface collision has a range of the wall-surface colliding point distance within which the penetration force is larger, and the penetration force simply decreases outside the range. The characteristics of the atomization of the fuel sprays and the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber after the wall-surface collision, do not depend on the size of the combustion chamber, but are uniquely defined based on the wall-surface colliding point distance. Therefore, if the wall-surface colliding point distance is maintained within the range where the penetration force after the wall-surface collision in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber maintains at approximately the predetermined maximum value, the penetration force can be enhanced, while atomization can be stimulated. The wall-surface colliding point distance may fundamentally be defined based on the settings of the distance between the two injection holes, the angle between the injection holes, and the shape of the combustion chamber (that is, the distance from the injection nozzles to the colliding points on the wall surface of the combustion chamber). 
     The predetermined range where the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber is maintained approximately at a predetermined maximum value may be a range where the penetration force in the longitudinal direction of the combustion chamber is at least 20% larger than the penetration force in the lateral direction of the combustion chamber, for example. 
     It will be understood that the embodiments herein are illustrative and not restrictive, since the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the description preceding them, and all changes that fall within metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds thereof are therefore intended to be embraced by the claims.