Patent ID: 7243637

Claim:
A fuel injector configured and arranged to inject fuel into a combustion chamber of an engine comprising: a casing member including a hydraulic chamber configured to contain pressurized fuel at a prescribed pressure and a flow rate regulating hole arranged to discharge the fuel from inside the hydraulic chamber; a fuel discharge valve configured and arranged to open and close the flow rate regulating hole of the casing member; a micro nozzle disposed in a downstream part with respect to the fuel discharge valve, the micro nozzle having at least one through hole arranged to inject the fuel discharged from the flow rate regulating hole into the combustion chamber, the micro nozzle further including a heating structure configured and arranged to selectively emit heat to raise temperature of the fuel that passes through the at least one through hole of the micro nozzle upon activation of the heating structure; and an energy supply unit operatively coupled to the micro nozzle to selectively supply energy to the micro nozzle, the energy supply unit being further operatively coupled to a drive unit of the fuel discharge valve such that the energy is supplied to the micro nozzle at a timing substantially corresponding to when the fuel passes through the at least one through hole.