Fuel injection technology revolutionized the automotive industry, which helped make cars much faster. Additionally, fuel injection makes combustion engines more efficient and cleaner.
But not many know how these very precise, micro-machined systems function – or how Engineers examine them.
In this article, the modern fuel injection systems and some testing equipment choices will be examined.
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What is Fuel Injection?
Carburetors were used by traditional petrol engines to supply fuel to the pistons. The carburetor’s other crucial job was to mix the fuel with air at the precise ratio for combustion.
However, the first carburetor was invented in 1826. A newer, better system was definitely going to come along. That new system was fuel injection technology. It began to replace carburetors in cars in the 1980s.
An atomizer nozzle is used by the fuel injection systems to inject fuel into the engine at high pressure. The fuel is combusted a lot more effectively this way, offering much higher engine efficiency.
Emissions are also minimized, as the concentration of unsafe particles is lower.
From Mechanical to Electronic Fuel Injection
The early fuel injection systems were mechanical. But, as with a number of technologies, electronics have been incorporated to provide better control.
The microprocessors in present day fuel injection systems control the pressure of the injected fuel, according to the amount of pressure applied to the accelerator pedal.
The control system works like this:
- A pressure transducer in the engine transmits constant feedback data to the microprocessor regarding the pressure of injected fuel
- The microprocessor uses this pressure data (and other data such as load, speed and other internal calibrations) in a programmed algorithm to calculate pressure requirements for injected fuel
- Fuel is injected at the precise pressure based on how hard the pedal is pressed, and the control data explained above
The pressure transducer’s continuous feedback loop allows the microprocessor to regulate the fuel injection almost promptly.
Testing Engine Pressure Transducers
Modern engines thus require precise pressure control systems, which have to be carefully tested. Furthermore, the devices used to test engines are themselves pressure transducers – albeit ones built for testing, rather than fuel injection system feedback.
OMEGA Engineering’s high-accuracy piezoresistive pressure transducers have been employed in commercial and aerospace applications for more than 25 years. OMEGA’s present PXM409 range is composed of micro-machined stainless steel and offers a broad range of specialized versions for compound gage, sealed gage, absolute, vacuum and barometric pressure ranges.
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by OMEGA Engineering Ltd.
For more information on this source, please visit OMEGA Engineering Ltd.