DIESEL ENGINE INJECTION TIMING

INJECTION TIMING
-

is the time at which injection of fuel into the combustion

chamber begins.
- also called start of injection (SOI)

INJECTION TIMING for DIESEL ENGINE

-

Injection timing must fall with a narrow angle of crankshaft

rotation.

6-Cylinders

Top Dead Center (TDC)

-

is the point where a piston is exactly at the top of stroke.

POWER STROKE

-Injection Timing is in Top Dead Center.

4-Cylinders

Injection timing is set by accurate positioning of the

fuel injection pump.

Fuel Injection Pump

-

An Injection Pump is the device that pumps fuel into the

cylinders of a diesel engine.
Traditionally, the injection pump is driven indirectly from the
crankshaft by gears,
chains or a toothed belt (often the timing belt) that also
drives the camshaft.

Timin
g
Water pump
Injection pump
gear

Tension pulley

Tension

Crankshaft

Firing Order
-

the sequence of power delivery of each cylinder. This is

achieved by the sequence of fuel injection in a Diesel
engine.

Firing Order: 1-3-4-2

Effect of incorrect injection timing

Heavy smoke during start up

Poor fuel economy

Combustion noise with excessive black smoke

Power loss

GASOLINE INJECTION TIMING

-The fuel injection timing is one of the most important operating parameters that
affect the atomization, mixture formation and combustion which determines the
performance and emissions of a gasoline engine.
-Optimizing the injection timing will improve the performance of the engine to a
large extend.
Two types of fuel injection timing :
1. Intake stroke injection timing
When petrol is injected during the intake stroke (while the air is being drawn into
the cylinder), the fuel will mix with all of the air in the cylinder, resulting in
complete mixing or homogenous mixture formation.

2. Compression stroke injection timing

A relatively small amount of petrol is injected at the end of the compression
stroke, just prior to ignition.
This allows the injected fuel to mix with a small pocket of air, forming a small
pocket or cloud of mixed air and petrol.
The small pocket of mixture is then directed to the spark plug tip, ensuring
ignition of the mixture.

Timing Is Everything
-Designers of early carbureted/distributor ignition and port fuel-injected/distributor
engines only had one tuning variable that could be adjusted dynamically based
on engine rpm and load: ignition timing (with counterweights on the distributor
and a vacuum line from the intake manifold, respectively). Later port fuel-injected
engines were developed with camshafts that could be phased (advanced or
retarded) 20 or so degrees based on rpm and load. Now, DI allows the fuel
application timing to be added to the cam phasing and ignition timing as another
dynamic tuning tool. The DI fuel application is defined by two categories: fuel
apply rate and fuel timing.
Fuel Apply Rate
The fuel apply rate is tuned via the pressure in the common fuel rail that the fuel

injectors are connected to, the number of times the injector is opened to allow
fuel to pass through it (during the intake cycle), and the duration of those
openings.
On a DI engine, the fuel injector usually applies fuel into the combustion chamber
after the exhaust valve has closed (to avoid the fuel just spraying out the exhaust
port) and before the spark plug fires-usually a crank rotation of about 310
degrees. Having less than half the crank rotation to get all the fuel in the chamber
means the pressure pushing the fuel needs to be much higher, thus the 2,200
psi. The fuel injectors on a DI engine often open and close more than once
during the intake stroke to provide enough fuel for combustion while applying it at
the ideal time.
Fuel Timing
Probably the most exciting feature of the modern DI system is the ability to time
(in crank rotation degrees) when the fuel apply is made in the combustion
chamber. On a production vehicle program, this is a dream from heaven for the
engine calibrators, as they are faced with very demanding but specialized
situations such as the need to get the catalytic converter up to temperature in the
first few seconds of start-up to minimize emissions.
REQUIREMENTS OF THE INJECTION SYSTEM TO HAVE GOOD
PERFORMANCE OF AN ENGINE :

Correct injection timing.

Proper control on rate of fuel injection .
Proper atomization of fuel and proper spray pattern.

IGNITION TIMING
-Ignition timing, in a spark ignition internal combustion engine (ICE), is the
process of setting the angle relative to piston position and crankshaft angular
velocity that a spark will occur in the combustion chamber near the end of
the compression stroke.
IF THE IGNITION TIMING IS RETARDED
Lost Power
Overheating

 High Emissions
Unburned fuel

IF THE IGNITION TIMING IS ADVANCED

Knocking
Engine Damage
Overheating Cylinder Head

Fuel Injection Strategies for Gasoline Engine

Based on Number of Injection

Single injection
o

Split injection
o
o

It is the traditional way of injecting fuel to the combustion

chamber. Where the fuel is injected in the intake stroke.

It is the strategy where in fuel is injected more than once per

cycle in different strokes.
It can be in intake and compression, or in intake and expansion.

Multiple injection
o
o

It is also the same with the split injection, which is more

injections per cycle but in the same stroke.
It can be in intake or compression prior to ignition.

Based on Engine Load

Ultra lean burn or stratified charge mode

o
o

The air and fuel ratio can be as high as 65:1 for a very limited
time.
This is used for light-load running conditions, at constant or
reducing road speeds, where no acceleration is required.

Stoichiometric mode
o
o

The fuel is not injected at the intake stroke but rather at the
latter stages of the compression stroke.

This is used for moderate load conditions.

Fuel is injected during the intake stroke, creating a
homogeneous fuel-air mixture in the cylinder.

Full power mode

o
o

This is used for rapid acceleration and heavy loads like when
climbing a hill.
The air-fuel mixture is homogeneous and the ratio is slightly
richer than stoichiometric, which helps
prevent detonation (pinging). The fuel is injected during the
intake stroke.

Based on Injector location

Indirect Injection
o

The fuel is injected outside the combustion chamber, where it

allows the fuel to mix with the air to produce a homogenous
mixture.

The disadvantage of this one is that carbon builds up in the

intake and intake valve.

Direct injection
o

In this strategy, fuel is injected right into the combustion

chamber.

This allow the fuel to be fully burn. The negative effect of this
one is that dirt builds up in the intake and intake valve for fuel in
not flowing in it anymore.

Advantages of good Injection Strategy

Better fuel consumption.

Better fuel efficiency

Better combustion

Lesser carbon monoxide emission

Better fuel economy

FUEL INJECTION CONTROL STRATEGIES OF DIESEL ENGINES

The modern electronic fuel injection system is known to keep the emission
levels within limits without compromising the performance of the engine and
will continue to play a vital role in the development of improved diesel
engines for the foreseeable future.
The principles and strategies:
- Injection pressure level controls spray penetration and improve atomization.
- Fuel should be distributed mainly within the air inside the combustion
chamber with minimum possible wall wetting.
- Nozzle configuration, such as, number of spray holes, diameter, orientation,
nozzle tip protrusion inside the combustion chamber, all affect fuel
distribution and atomization within the combustion chamber.
- Use of variable injection timing and variable injection rate technology.
INJECTION PRESSURE

-This strategy controls the spray penetration and improves fuel atomization
by higher injection pressure.
-Fuel injection pressures range from 200 - 2500 bar based on the fuel
injection systems used.
INJECTION RATE SHAPING
-Fuel injection rate shaping is a phenomenon to vary the injection rate over
the course of a single fuel injection.
-To control the injection rate, the parameters like injection pressure, spray
hole diameter, number of spray holes and injection duration must be
optimized.
SPLIT OR MULTIPLE INJECTIONS
-

In split or multiple injections there are one or two pilot injections at low
pressure help in reducing engine noise as well as NOx emissions.

But nowadays , high pressure common rail fuel injection systems

allows a very high degree of flexibility in the timing and quantity
control of multiple injections, which can be used to obtain significant
reductions in engine noise and emissions without compromising its
performance and fuel consumption.

2 Modes of Split/Multiple Injection

First mode uses a pilot + main injection strategy

Second mode uses a main + post injection strategy

Pilot + Main injection strategy

This split injection strategy can be implemented by injecting a small

amount of fuel prior to main injection.

According to research, this strategy made the start of combustion

(SOC) occur more quickly because the first injected fuel prepares the
air-fuel mixture condition to ignite earlier. It is found that as the pilot
injection timing advanced, the ignition delay shortened. This is to
advance the SOC.

Main + Post injection Strategy

This injection strategy means that a small amount of fuel is injected

separately at the end of combustion.

This increased the activation of the late combustion cycle, showing

that the PM emissions can be oxidized by post injection. However, PM

emission may increase if some of the post-injected fuel is included in

the diffusion of flame.