Patent ID: 7448560

Claim:
A fuel injector comprising: an inlet and an outlet and a passage extending along a longitudinal axis from the inlet to the outlet, the inlet communicable with a flow of fuel; a seat disposed in the passage proximate the outlet, the seat including a sealing surface that faces the inlet and a seat orifice extending through the seat from the sealing surface along the longitudinal axis; a closure member being reciprocally located between a first position displaced from the seat, and a second position contiguous the sealing seat surface of the seat to form a seal that precludes fuel flow past the closure member; a metering orifice disc disposed between the seat and the outlet, the metering orifice disc including: a generally planar surface; a plurality of metering orifices that extends through the generally planar surface, the metering orifices being located radially outward of the seat orifice, each of the metering orifices having a center defined by the interior surface of the metering orifice through the disc; a first wall having a first inner wall portion closest to the longitudinal axis and a first outer wall portion closest to the center of the metering orifice; a second wall having a perimeter disposed about the longitudinal axis, the second wall including a plurality of projections that extend from the perimeter, each projection having a base and a free end, the base contiguous to the perimeter to define a second inner wall portion, the base confronting the first wall to define two channels that converge towards each metering orifice, each channel including a first distance between the first inner wall portion and second inner wall portion being greater than a second distance between the first outer wall portion and second outer wall portion.