Patent ID: 8919677

Claim:
An injection nozzle for an internal combustion engine, the injection nozzle comprising: a nozzle body provided with a bore within which a valve needle is moveable along an axis, the valve needle being engageable with a valve seating to control fuel delivery through a set of nozzle outlets, wherein the valve seating transitions into a sac volume of the nozzle body defined by a steeply walled portion located at the very bottom of the bore, said nozzle outlets including respective entry openings defined in a wall of the sac volume, wherein the valve needle includes a first valve region, a second valve region and a seat region defined by a transition between the first and second valve regions and which seats against the valve seating when the nozzle is in a non-injecting state, the valve needle comprising a third valve region, adjacent the second valve region, the third valve region having an outer surface defining a curved profile, the end of the outer surface terminating in alignment with a plane passing through the centers of the entry openings, said plane being perpendicular to the axis, when the valve needle is engaged with the valve seating, wherein the outer surface ( 65 ) of the third valve region is spaced a distance (L) from the entry openings of the nozzle outlets of between 10% and 30% of the entry diameter (D) of the sac volume.