ICE Fuel Metering

FUEL SUPPLY SYSTEMS

• The fuel passes through a number of stages
before reaching the combustion chamber.
• It includes the filtration and atomization of fuel
into fine particles.
• It is necessary to atomize the fuel before entering
into the combustion chamber so that complete
combustion of fuel can take place.
• There are different fuel supply systems for spark
ignition (petrol) and compression ignition (diesel)
engine.
Fuel Supply System Of SI Engine
Mixture Requirements of SI Engine
• Under normal conditions it is desirable to run
the engine on the maximum economy
mixture, viz., around 16:1 air-fuel ratio.
• For quick acceleration and for maximum
power, rich mixture viz., 12:1 air-fuel ratio is
required.
 An SI engine works with the Air-fuel mixture ranging from 8:1
to 18.5:1. But the Ideal ratio would be one that provides both
maximum power and best economy, while producing the least
emissions.
 But such a ratio does not exist because fuel requirements of an
engine vary widely depending upon temperature, load, and
speed conditions .
 For complete combustion , thorough mixing of fuel in excess
air is needed.
 Lean mixtures are needed for best economy and rich mixtures
are needed to supress combustion knock.
 A rich mixture is required for High load and high speed and
idling conditions.
 Best economy is expected at part throttle.
 CARBURETOR

• Carburetor is the device that mixes petrol and

air in correct proportions and supplies to the
combustion chamber in right quantity.
• A Carburetor atomises, vaporizes and mixes
the petrol in correct proportions with air as
required by the engine and supplies the right
quantity of the mixture to the engine.
 Simple Carburetor

AIR CLEANER

Float Valve

Float Arm

Float Chamber Float

 Construction and Working of Simple
Carburetor
Simple carburetor consist of a venturi and a fuel
jet.
For maintaining the level of fuel in the jet, a float
chamber is usually required.
 A throttle valve in the form of a flat circular
metal disc mounted on spindle is provided for
controlling the flow of air-fuel mixture to the
induction manifold. A rotary type valve also can
be used instead of disc type.
• The level of fuel is just kept slightly below the top
of the jet to prevent the leakage when not in
operation.
• Usually 1.5 mm difference is kept between the
top of the jet and the surface of the fuel in float
chamber.
• A needle valve controls the passage of fuel from
the fuel pump, when the air begins to flow past
the jet, a low pressure zone is created in the
venturi because of the increased velocity of air.
 Venturi Principle

The pressure at "1" is higher than at "2" because the fluid

speed at "1" is lower than at "2".
 Isentropic Flow Through A Venturi

2 2
1u1 A1   2u2 A2 u1 u2
h1   h2 
2 2
u 22 u 12
  h1  h2  c p T1  T2 
2 2
u 22 s u 12
  h1  h2 s  c p T1  T2 s 
2 2
 u 22 s u 12 R
  h1  h2 s  T1  T2 s 
2 2  1

u 22 s u 12 
 p1 p2 s 
    
2 2   1  1 2 

 u
1  2s
2
u 2
  p1   1u1 A1
p2 s    1
   u 2 
2 
 2 2   1  1    2 A2
   u A 2 
 1 1 1  
1    2 A2 
2
u1   p1 
p2 s      
2  2 2   1  1 
 
 
 DEFECTS IN THE SIMPLE CARBURETOR

o The simple carburetor, would work well if the engine is

running at one particular speed and load.
o The nozzle and the venturi sizes then can be set once and the
carburetor will then work satisfactorily at that particular
speed and load.
o But in actual practice, the engine has to run at different
speeds and loads ranging from the lowest to the highest
therefore certain irregularities creep in the functioning of this
simple carburetor.
The two basic reasons for defects are:
1.If the carburetor is designed to work at high speeds at full
throttle, it will not work at low speeds and part throttle,
reason being that in the later case the suction created at the
venturi will not be sufficient to draw fuel from the nozzle.
2. The coefficients of discharge for air and fuel vary in different
amounts with the change of depression. Whereas the
coefficient of discharge for air becomes almost constant at
certain value of depression, the coefficient for fuel increases
gradually. Therefore, if the carburetor is set at one particular
speed, it will give richer mixture at higher speeds and leaner
mixture at lower speeds.
 Complete Carburetor
simple carburetor is capable to supply a correct air-fuel mixture
to the engine only at a particular load and speed. In order to
meet the engine demand at various operating conditions, the
following additional systems are added to the simple
carburetor.
 idling system
 auxiliary port system
 power enrichment by economizer system
 accelerating pump system
 choke
 Starting difficulty
For starting, it is seen that very rich mixture is required,
but actually the mixture provided by the simple
carburettor will be very lean. The different methods to
provide for enrichment of fuel at very low speeds are :
(a) Ticklers: These are devices used to cause flooding
of carburettor at the start.
(b) Choke: This is a simple butterfly valve fitted at the
top of air horn. For starting, choke is closed so that very
small amount of air gets past it and the throttle valve is
open which delivers sufficient fuel to provide a mixture
rich in quality, though small in quantity.
TICKLERS
ECCENTRIC CHOKE
(C)Adjustable Area Jet:
A long tapered needle is used which is screwed into the jet as
shown in the figure. For starting the screw is loosened so that the
jet area providing fuel is increased and thus rich mixture is
provided for the start.
The choke valve must be opened immediately when the engine
starts. This is achieved by any of the following methods:

(i) by mounting the choke eccentrically. With this, when the

engine starts, the forces due to pressure on the two sides of the
choke spindle are unequal, their difference producing a turning
moment to open the choke.

By this time the driver also presses the choke knob to open the
choke valve. An automatic choke employed in modern
automobiles.
 Idling System
• During idling suction at the main nozzle is insufficient to draw
fuel from the chamber since throttle is closed.
• Therefore a separate supply circuit of fuel must be provided on
the engine side of the throttle valve during idling.
• This is done by providing a separate idle jet and an air bleed
hole, so that metered quantities of air and fuel are drawn into
the idle passage where they form an emulsion.
• The volume of the mixture and hence the idle speed are
controlled by the idle adjustment screw.
IDLING CIRCUIT
 Operation at different speeds
• A simple carburetor provides richer mixture at high
speeds and leaner mixture at low speeds.
• The process of adjusting the mixture strength at all the
speeds so that thought the whole range correct
proportions of air fuel mixture are maintained is
compensated.
Various devices used for providing compensation are
 Extra air valve
 Compensating jet
 Air bleed compensation
 Multiple jet compensation
 Suction controlled devices
 Extra Air valve
• This is a spring loaded valve arranged to open by means of
engine suction as shown in the figure. It is thus controlled by
the spring stiffness and engine suction
Multiple Jet Compensation
• As the depression increases throttle is opened more
and more and cap E is lifted progressively and jets
open to air one by one.
• First jet is open more and it supplies more fuel
compared to second nozzle thus compensating the
mixture .

Suction controlled devices:

Here engine suction is used to actuate a needle which
decreases the effective nozzle area as speed is
increased, thus providing compensation
 Difficulty at high speeds

Low speeds High speeds

Weak air-fuel mixtures supplied by the single jet carburetor will

not give enough power at High speeds.
 A metering rod with stepped diameter end in the main jet is
used for this purpose.
 At high speeds metering rod is pulled up so that small dia
meter part is in the well supplying more fuel
 Acceleration Difficulty

When sudden acceleration is required, the throttle is opened

suddenly. This causes the maximum amount of air to come at
once but the fuel supply lags there by causing ‘engine
stumble’ or ‘ hesitation’ which is due to weak mixture To
avoid this a separate pump which provides fuel momentarily
till the rich mixture is delivered is used.

when the accelerator pedal is pressed , the outlet valve is

opened and the fuel is forced out of the acceleration jet.
When the pedal is released, piston moves up there by sucking
the fuel from the float chamber. Thus pump is ready for the
next discharge
Acceleration Pump
 Influence of Weather
As already explained simple carburetor can be set to deliver
correct air fuel mixture only at perticular speed. If a
carburettor is set for a perticular weather for instance
Summer ,during winter it supplies weak mixture because
density of air increases more compared to fuel. Similarly
carburettor set for winter will give rich mixture during
summer.

In modern carburetor climatic control devices are provided.

These control the mixture strength by varying either fuel jet
area or air intake.
Influence of Altitude
At higher altitudes , the air density decreases due to fall in
pressure even though temperature decreases. This makes the
carburetor to deliver rich mixtures at higher altitudes.

To overcome this an arrangement is shown in the figure. Two

pipes AB and CD connect the top of the float chamber to the
air horn. S is a valve in the pipe CD. For ordinary low altitudes
S is closed and thus the fuel in the float chamber is under
atmospheric pressure because of pipe AB. As the altitude is
increases valve S is opened gradually and by doing so engine
suction is applied to the float chamber, thus decreasing the
pressure here which decreases the fuel supply making the
mixture weak.
 Icing Trouble

As the fuel is atomised and evaporated in the carburetor, it

causes cooling of sorrounding areas . In localities which
are cold , there is thus always the danger of ice formation
and choking of venturi tube. Some methods used to
prevent ice formation are:

i) By heating the carburetor idle ports and throttle valve

area by means of the engine exhaust.

ii) By providing engine hot water passes around the

carburetor.
Solex Carburettor
 Fuel Injection System

 The fuel-injection systems for conventional spark-ignition

engines inject the fuel.
 There are both mechanical and electronically controlled
injection systems.
 Better volumetric efficiency
 More uniform fuel distribution
 More rapid response to changes in loading conditions
 More precise control of the equivalence ratio.

Fuel injection system can be divided into two basis types:

 1 manifold: (a) throttle body & (b) port
 2 gasoline direct injection (GDI)
Types of fuel injection systems
– Electronic
– Mechanical
– Throttle-body injection (TBI)
– Central fuel injection (CFI)
– Port injection
– Sequential fuel injection
– Multiport fuel injection (MFI)
– Central multiport fuel injection (CMFI)
• Port fuel injection systems
– Fire injectors in different ways
– Older MFI systems fire injectors in pairs or groups
• Sequential fuel injection (SFI)
– Opens each injector just before its intake valve
opens
– Each injector has its own computer connection
– Computer completes the ground for each injector
in sequence
Multi-point fuel injection
These systems are of two types
 Port Injection
 Throttle body Injection
 In port injection the Injector is placed on the side of
the intake manifold and sprays petrol into the air inside
the intake manifold. The petrol mixes with air
completely. This mixture of petrol and air then passes
through the intake valve and enters into the cylinder.
 Throttle body injection is nothing but Single point fuel
injection system. In this an Injector is placed slightly
above throat of the throttle body. The Injector sprays
petrol into the air in the intake manifold where petrol
mixes with air. This mixture then passes through the
throttle valve and enters the intake manifold.
Port Injection System
Throttle body Injection
Standard Gasoline Injectors
Anatomy of EFI
Overview of Electronic Fuel Injection System
 Merits of Fuel Injection in the SI Engine
• Absence of Venturi – No Restriction in Air Flow/Higher Vol.
Eff./Torque/Power
• Hot Spots for Preheating cold air eliminated/Denser air enters
• Manifold Branch Pipes Not concerned with Mixture
Preparation (MPI)
• Better Acceleration Response (MPI)
• Fuel Atomization Generally Improved.
• Use of Greater Valve Overlap
• Use of Sensors to Monitor Operating Parameters/Gives
Accurate Matching of Air/fuel Requirements: Improves Power,
Reduces fuel consumption and Emissions
• Precise in Metering Fuel in Ports
• Precise Fuel Distribution Between Cylinders (MPI
 Merits (Continued)

• Fuel Transportation in Manifold not required (MPI) so no Wall

Wetting
• Fuel Surge During Fast Cornering or Heavy Braking Eliminated
• Adaptable and Suitable For Supercharging (SPI and MPI)
• Increased power and torque.
Port Fuel Injection System
 Electronic Fuel System Operation
• Fuel injectors
– Electromagnetic solenoid controlled nozzles
– Each is supplied with power when ignition is on
– Computer controls the ground or power to
complete the circuit
• Injector plunger is pulled against spring tension by
magnetic field
– Thermal time switch limits the maximum time the
injector can operate
Fuel Supply System Of CI Engine
• In diesel engine only air is injected during the suction stroke
and it is compressed during compression stroke.
• Fuel is injected into the combustion chamber in the form of
fine spray at the end of compression stroke.
• A fuel injection system in a diesel engine has to satisfy the
following requirements:
1. To inject the fuel at the right time in the cycle.
2. The fuel should be properly atomized.
3. The correct quantity of fuel should be injected depending
upon the load.
• Fuel pump takes the fuel from fuel tank and delivers
it to the fuel filter.
• When the pressure is developed in the injection
pump the fuel flows from injection pump to the fuel
injector under pressure.
• The fuel injector is either a single hole nozzle or
multi-hole nozzle.
 Diesel Engine Fuel Injection Systems
Functions of a Fuel injection system:
 Filter the fuel
 Measure the correct quantity of fuel to be
injected
 Time the fuel injection
 Control the rate of fuel injection
 Atomize the fuel
 Distribute the fuel in the combustion chamber
Types of modern fuel injection system:
1. Common Rail Injection System
2. Individual Pump Injection System
3. Distributor System

Atomisation of the fuel is done by either ‘airblast’ or

pressure spray’. Solid injection at about 100 and 200
bars pressure has reduced the need of having
compressor .
Common Rail Injection System
A single pump supplies high pressure fuel to header, a
relief valve holds the pressure constant. The control
wedge adjusts the lift of mechanically operated valve
to set amount and time of injection.
Adv:
1. System is simple and less maintance cost
2. Only one pump is sufficient for multi cylinder engine
3. It fulfills requirements of either constant load with
variable speeds or variable loads with constant speed
4. Variation in pump supply pressure effects all the
cylinders equally
Dis adv:
1. Leaks in the injection valve
2. Accurate design and work manship is required
Individual pump injection system
In this system an individual pump or pump
cylinder connects directly to each fuel nozzle.
Pump meters charge and control injection
timing. Nozzles contain a delivery valve
actuated by the fuel oil pressure.
Dis adv:
This system has to be designed accurately to
pump small quantity of fuel
Distributor System
In this system the fuel metered at a central
point; a pump pressurises, meters the fuel and
times the injection. From here fuel is
distributed to cylinders in correct firing order
by cam operated poppet valves which open to
admit fuel to nozzles.
 L is the plunger driven by a cam and tappet
Fuel Pump mechanism at the bottom .
B is the barrel in which plunger reciprocates. There
is a rectangular vertical groove in the plunger
which extends from top to another helical
groove.
V is the delivery valve which lifts off its seat under
the liquid fuel pressure and spring force. The
fuel pump is connected to the fuel atomiser
through passage P.
SP and Y are the spill and the supply port
respectively. When the plunger is at he bottom
both ports SP and Y are uncovered by the
plunger and fuel enters from the port SP into
the barrel.

On further upward movement of the pluger both the ports are closed and fuel is compressed and
delivered through passage P to the atomiser as delivery valve lifts off from its seat. With further rise of the
Plunger at certain moment, the port SP is connected to the fuel in the upper part of the plunger through
rectangular vertical groove through helical groove , as a result of which sudden fall in pressure occurs and
delivery valve occupies seat against the spring force. The plunger is rotated by the Rack R which is moved
in or out by the governor. By changing the Angular position of the helical groove according to the load and
speed of the vehicle amount of fuel delivered can be varied
Fuel Injector
Fuel Injector
 It consist of a nozzle valve(NV) fitted in the nozzle body
(NB). The nozzle valve is held on its seat by a spring ‘S’
which exerts pressure through spindle E. ‘AS’ is the
adjusting screw by which nozzle valve lift can be adjusted.
Usually the nozzle valve is set to lift at 135 to 175 bars
pressure. FP is the feeling pin which indicates whether
valve is working properly or not

 The fuel under pressure from the fuel pump enters the
injector through the passages B and C and lifts the nozzle
valve. The fuel travels down nozzle N and injected into the
engine cylinder in the form of fine spray. Then the pressure
of the oil falls, the nozzle valve occupies its seat under the
spring force and fuel supply is cut off. Any leakage of fuel
accumulated above the valve is led to the fuel tank throgh
passage A. The leakage occurs when the nozzlec valve is
worn out
Nozzles