Patent ID: 7140562

Claim:
A fuel injector for directly injecting fuel into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine, comprising: a nozzle body; an actuator; a valve needle situated in the nozzle body, coupled to a restoring spring, and actuable by the actuator; a valve-closure member operably connected to the valve needle and facing a combustion chamber; and a valve-seat surface; wherein, during opening of the valve needle, the valve needle is configured to move between a first lift state, for providing partial-load operation of the internal combustion engine, and a second lift state, for providing full-load operating of the internal combustion engine, each of the lift states provide for different jet patterns during operation and are selectable in accordance with the operating state of the internal combustion engine, wherein a first jet-opening angle corresponds to the first lift state of the valve needle and a second jet-opening angle corresponds to a second lift state of the valve needle; wherein a mixture cloud injected into the combustion chamber has the first jet-opening angle in the first lift state of the valve needle and the second jet-opening angle in the second lift state of the valve needle, the first jet-opening angle is smaller than the second jet-opening angle.