Annulus nozzle injector with tangential fins

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9840994-B2
Application number	US-201514932780-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2015
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for direct fuel injection, wherein a fuel injector comprises an injector needle coupled to a frustum shaped nozzle. During a fuel injection event, the injector needle may be moved outward to create an annulus nozzle. In this way, the fuel injector may inject fuel with a cone shaped spray pattern, reducing the spray penetration of the injected fuel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel injector coupled to an engine having a cylinder, comprising:
a needle;
a frustum shaped nozzle end coupled to the needle; and
a plurality of curved tangential fins evenly spaced around an outer surface of the frustum shaped nozzle end and positioned at a tangent to a circle created by a plane through the frustum shaped nozzle end, including a plane through a top surface of the frustum shaped nozzle end,
wherein the needle is coupled to an electric actuator, the electric actuator configured to move the needle downward from a first, closed position to a second, open position.

2. The fuel injector of claim 1 , further comprising a spring configured to force the needle in an upward direction in order to move the needle from the second position back to the first position when the actuator is not activated.

3. The fuel injector of claim 1 , further comprising an injector body, the needle housed within the injector body.

4. The fuel injector of claim 1 , wherein the needle is a second needle, and further comprising a first needle, wherein the first needle partly houses the second needle.

5. The fuel injector of claim 4 , wherein the first needle is coupled to the electric actuator, the actuator configured to move the first needle upward from a first, closed position to a second, open position and downward from the second position to the first position.

6. The fuel injector of claim 5 , further comprising a fuel sac intermediate the second needle and the first needle, the fuel sac fluidically coupled to a fuel passage of the fuel injector when the first needle is in the second position.

7. The fuel injector of claim 6 , wherein the second needle is configured to move downward to a third, open position when fuel pressure in the fuel sac is greater than a threshold, and wherein the second needle is coupled to a spring configured to force the second needle in an upward direction from the third position to a fourth, closed position when fuel pressure in the fuel sac is less than the threshold.

8. The fuel injector of claim 7 , further comprising an injector body, the second needle and the first needle housed within the injector body.

9. The fuel injector of claim 8 , wherein the injector body comprises a needle seat having an inner surface sized and shaped such that at least a portion of the inner surface is in face-sharing contact with the first needle when the first needle is in the first position.

10. The fuel injector of claim 8 , wherein at least a portion of the injector body is in face-sharing contact with at least a portion of the nozzle end of the second needle, when the second needle is in the fourth position.

11. A method for operating a fuel injector of an internal combustion engine, comprising:
providing a plurality of curved tangential fins evenly spaced around an outer surface of a nozzle end coupled to a needle of the fuel injector and positioned at a tangent to a circle created by a plane through the nozzle end, including a plane through a top surface of the nozzle end;
actuating the needle housed within a body of the fuel injector to move the needle from a first, closed position to a second, open position; and
responsive to the needle moving to the second position, flowing fuel from a fuel passage through an annulus nozzle of the fuel injector to generate a cone shaped fuel spray pattern with a counter-clockwise rotational motion with respect to a longitudinal axis of the body when viewing the nozzle end of the needle.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein actuating the needle to move the needle comprises activating an electric motor coupled to the needle.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein actuating the needle comprises actuating the needle to move the nozzle end of the needle to the second position to create the annulus nozzle, the nozzle end being frustum-shaped and comprising a plurality of curved fins on a surface of the nozzle end, and wherein flowing fuel through the annulus nozzle to generate the cone shaped fuel spray pattern with the counter-clockwise rotational motion comprises flowing the fuel over the surface and the plurality of curved fins of the nozzle end.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the needle is a second needle, and further comprising a first needle, wherein actuating the first needle opens fluidic communication between the fuel passage and a fuel sac of the fuel injector, and wherein flowing fuel from the fuel passage through the annulus nozzle of the fuel injector comprises flowing fuel from the fuel sac over a frustum-shaped nozzle end of the second needle of the fuel injector.

15. A system, comprising:
an engine having a cylinder;
a fuel supply;
a fuel injector coupled to the cylinder, the fuel injector comprising:
a body having a fuel passage coupled to the fuel supply;
a needle housed within the body, a first, nozzle end of the needle having a frusto-conical shape;
a plurality of curved fins coupled to an outer surface of the nozzle end positioned at a tangent to a circle created by a plane through the nozzle end, including a plane through a top surface of the nozzle end; and
an actuator coupled to a second, opposite end of the needle; and

a controller storing non-transitory instructions in memory that when executed cause the controller to activate the actuator to push the needle in a downward direction responsive to a command to open the fuel passage and inject fuel to the cylinder.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein when the actuator is deactivated, the nozzle end of the needle is in contact with an inner surface of the body to block the fuel passage.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the actuator pushing the needle in the downward direction comprises the actuator pushing the needle away from the body of the fuel injector and into the cylinder.

18. The fuel injector of claim 7 , wherein when the first needle is in the second position and fuel pressure in the fuel sac is greater than the threshold, the second needle is in the third position and the fuel sac is fluidically coupled to both the fuel passage and to an interior of a cylinder.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Xiaogang

Classifications

• F02M51/06 Primary

  Injectors peculiar thereto {with means directly operating the valve needle} · CPC title

• F02M61/08

  the valves opening in direction of fuel flow {(F02M61/047 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F02M61/162

  Means to impart a whirling motion to fuel upstream or near discharging orifices · CPC title

• F02D41/402

  Multiple injections · CPC title

• F02D41/20

  Output circuits, e.g. for controlling currents in command coils · CPC title