An investigation of design parameter and atomization mechanism for air shrouded injectors

With increasing requirements for the less harmful exhaust emissions and the better fuel economy, the conventional injectors in gasoline engines can be replaced by the air shrouded injector in order to provide improved combustion in engine operations. To find out the optimal shape of air shrouded atomizer attached to the conventional injector nozzle, the critical design parameters such as droplet size, fuel and air inlet angles, and injection angles were investigated based on experimental analyses. To explain the characteristics of fuel atomization, these experimental approaches were carried out using a Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) system. The droplet sizes of injected air fuel mixture were obtained by using the beam diffraction phenomenon. In order to improve the atomization effect, the various atomizers were investigated. The Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) measured at the predetermined locations outside the atomizer represented the performance of fuel atomization. The experimental results show that the design factors and atomization mechanism needed for developing air shrouded injectors. The suggested design parameters in this paper can be a useful reference in the early design stage.