Patent ID: 7083114

Claim:
A fuel injector for direct injection of fuel into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine, comprising: a first sleeve; an actuator encapsulated in the first sleeve and sealed from an inner chamber of the fuel injector; a valve needle actuable by the actuator, the valve needle including a valve-closure member cooperating with a valve-seat surface to form a sealing seat; a locking spring by which the valve needle is acted upon in such a manner that the valve-closure member, in a non-energized state of the actuator, is held in sealing contact at the valve-seat surface; and an activating piston, wherein after a gap between the activating piston and the valve needle is closed, the actuator actuates the valve needle via the activating piston; wherein a stiffness of the first sleeve and a stiffness of the activating piston is dimensioned such that a linear deformation of the first sleeve, caused by a fuel pressure applied on an inflow-side end face of the first sleeve, is compensated by a linear deformation of the actuator and of the activating piston, in such a way that an axial breadth of the gap does not change in response to a change in the fuel pressure.