Claims
- 1. A fuel injector comprising:
a housing having an inlet, an outlet, and a longitudinal axis extending therethrough; a seat disposed proximate the outlet, the seat having a sealing surface surrounding a seat orifice, the seat orifice being disposed along the longitudinal axis between the sealing surface and a first channel surface extending generally oblique along the longitudinal axis; a closure member reciprocally located within the housing along the longitudinal axis between a first position displaced from the sealing surface to permit fuel flow through the seat orifice, and a second position contiguous to the sealing surface to occlude fuel flow; a metering disc having a plurality of metering orifices extending through the metering disc along the longitudinal axis, the metering orifices being located about the longitudinal axis on a first virtual circle greater than a second virtual circle defined by a projection of the sealing surface converging at a virtual apex disposed on the metering disc, the metering disc including a second channel surface confronting the first channel surface, the second channel surface having at least a first surface generally oblique to the longitudinal axis and at least a second surface curved with respect to the longitudinal axis; and a controlled velocity channel formed between the first and second channel surfaces, the controlled velocity channel having a first portion changing in cross-sectional area as the channel extends outwardly along the longitudinal axis to a location cincturing the plurality of metering orifices such that fuel flow exiting through each of the plurality of metering orifices forms a flow path oblique to the longitudinal axis.
- 2. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the controlled velocity channel extends between a first end and a second end, the first end disposed at a first radius from the longitudinal axis with the first and second channel surfaces spaced apart along the longitudinal axis at a first distance, the second end disposed at a second radius proximate the plurality of metering orifices with respect to the longitudinal axis with the first and second channel surfaces spaced apart along the longitudinal axis at a second distance such that a product of two times the trigonometric constant pi (π) times the first radius and the first distance is equal to a product of two times the trigonometric constant pi (π) of the second radius and the second distance.
- 3. The fuel injector of claim 2, wherein the plurality of metering orifices includes at least two metering orifices diametrically disposed on the first virtual circle.
- 4. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the plurality of metering orifices includes at least two metering orifices, each metering orifice having a through-length and an orifice diameter and being configured such that an increase in a ratio of the through-length relative to the orifice diameter results in a decrease in the spray angle relative to the longitudinal axis.
- 5. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the plurality of metering orifices includes at least two metering orifices, each metering orifice having a through-length and an orifice diameter and being configured such that an increase in a ratio of the through-length relative to the orifice diameter results in a decrease in an included angle of a spray cone produced by each metering orifice.
- 6. The fuel injector of claim 5, wherein second channel surface comprises a first generally planar surface portion cincturing second and third surface portions, the second and third surface portions projecting from the plane contiguous to the first generally planar surface portion.
- 7. The fuel injector of claim 6, wherein the second surface portion comprises at least one planar surface.
- 8. The fuel injector of claim 7, wherein the third surface portion intersects the longitudinal axis.
- 9. The fuel injector of claim 8, wherein the third surface portion projects towards the seat orifice to reduce a volume formed between the closure member and the metering disc when the closure member is contiguous to the sealing surface of the seat.
- 10. The fuel injector of claim 9, wherein the third surface portion intersects the second surface portion to define a generally circular perimeter defining an area equal to the area of the seat orifice orthogonally with respect to the longitudinal axis.
- 11. The fuel injector of claim 10, wherein the area of the generally circular perimeter is less than the area of the seat orifice.
- 12. The fuel injector of claim 8, wherein the plurality of metering orifices is disposed on the at least one planar surface of the second surface portion.
- 13. The fuel injector of claim 9, wherein the first channel surface includes at least a portion extending at a taper angle with respect to the longitudinal axis.
- 14. The fuel injector of claim 10, wherein the taper angle comprises a taper angle of approximately ten degrees with respect to a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis.
- 15. The fuel injector of claim 11, wherein the first channel surface comprises a portion curved with respect to the at least a portion of the first channel surface.
- 16. A method of controlling a spray angle of fuel flow through at least one metering orifice of a fuel injector having an inlet, outlet, and passage extending along a longitudinal axis therethrough, the outlet having a seat and a metering disc, the seat having a seat orifice and a first channel surface, the metering disc having a second channel surface confronting the first channel surface so as to provide a flow channel, the metering disc having a plurality of metering orifices extending through the metering disc along the longitudinal axis, the method comprising:
imparting the fuel flow with a radial velocity so that the fuel flow radially outward along the longitudinal axis between the first and second channel surfaces, the first channel surface extending oblique to the longitudinal axis; flowing fuel through each of the plurality of metering orifices located on the second channel surface oriented at a dimpling angle with respect to the longitudinal axis such that a flow path of fuel is oblique to the longitudinal axis at least as a function of the radial velocity and the dimpling angle.
- 17. The method of claim 15, wherein imparting further comprises adjusting the flow path of fuel away from the outlet at a greater included angle with respect to the longitudinal axis by reducing the orifice length of each metering orifice with the dimpling angle, radial velocity, and orifice diameter unchanged.
- 18. The method of claim 15, wherein imparting further comprises adjusting the flow path of fuel away from the outlet at a smaller included angle with respect to the longitudinal axis by increasing the orifice length of each metering orifice with the dimpling angle, radial velocity, and orifice diameter unchanged.
- 19. The method of claim 15, wherein the imparting further comprises adjusting the dimpling angle with the radial velocity, orifice length, orifice diameter unchanged such that an increased dimpling angle results in a greater included angle between the flow path of fuel from the outlet with respect to the longitudinal axis.
- 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the dimpling comprises deforming the metering disc from opposite directions along the longitudinal axis.
PRIORITY
[0001] This application claims the benefits of the following United States provisional patent applications:
[0002] Ser. No. 60/439,059 filed on Jan. 9, 2003, entitled “Spray Pattern Control With Non-Angled Orifices Formed On A Generally Planar Metering Disc And Reoriented On Subsequently Dimpled Fuel Injection Metering Disc,” (Attorney Docket No. 20023P00228);
[0003] Ser. No. 60/438,952, filed on Jan. 9, 2003 entitled “Spray Pattern Control With Non-Angled Orifices Formed On A Dimpled Fuel Injection Metering Disc Having A Sac Volume Reducer,” (Attorney Docket No. 2003P00229US);
[0004] Ser. No. 60/439,094 filed on Jan. 9, 2003, entitled, “Spray Pattern Control With Non-Angled Orifices Formed On Dimpled Fuel Injection Metering Disc Having A Sac Volume Reducer,” (Attorney Docket No. 2003P00213US), which provisional patent applications are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety in this application.
Provisional Applications (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60438952 |
Jan 2003 |
US |
|
60439059 |
Jan 2003 |
US |
|
60439094 |
Jan 2003 |
US |