Injector pumps

IN-LINE INJECTION PUMPS

In-line injection pumps have one individual pump for each cylinder, but the individual pumps are
grouped together in a common housing. There are two principal types of in-line pumps. Each pump uses
a different metering principle. One type uses pump plungers with a helical scroll; the other uses sleeve
metering.
Scroll-Metering Systems
Details of one individual pump are shown in Figure 10.8. A reservoir of fuel surrounds the pump. The
fuel can flow in through ports A and A’ when the plunger is at the bottom of its stroke. The plunger is
driven by a cam (not shown). When the plunger begins to rise, fuel flows back into the reservoir until the
top of the plunger covers ports A and A’. As the plunger continues to rise, the fuel trapped in the pump
is forced out through the delivery valve at the top and flows through an injection line to the injector
nozzle. Notice that the lower part of the plunger is smaller in diameter and the reduced section is bound
at the top by a helical edge called a scroll. When the scroll reaches spill port A’, fuel above the plunger
can escape through a slot in the plunger, flow into the reduced section, and then flow out of spill port A’
to the reservoir. Thus, the delivery valve closes, and injection ceases when spill port A’ is uncovered by
the scroll. By a slight modification in design, some pumps can work with only one port and port A is
omitted. The amount of fuel delivered per injection can be controlled by rotating the plunger. For
example, rotating the plunger clockwise (as viewed from the top) would cause spill port A’ to be
uncovered later in the stroke and therefore would increase the size of the injection. Moving the rack
forward or backward rotates a gear attached to the plunger and thus controls the size of fuel injections.

A cutaway of an in-line injection pump is shown in Figure 10.9. Three of the individual pumps can be
seen near the center of the picture. A cam is located below each pump, and the cam lobes are arranged
to provide the proper timing between cylinders. The entire pump is timed to the crankshaft through a
set of gears at the front of the engine. Gear teeth on the control rack can be seen in the lower half of
Figure 10.8. The rack is perpendicular to the pumping plungers so that one rack can control the rotation
of all plungers simultaneously. A flyweight governor is located at the left side of Figure 10.9. The
governor works on the principle that was discussed in Section 5.8 and controls the fuel delivery by
moving the rack. Engines with in-line pumps can be stopped by rotating the plungers (Figure 10.8) until
the slot is aligned with inlet port A. Since fuel can then escape to the sump at all times, the delivery
valves never open, and no fuel is delivered to the engine.
Injection Timing with Scroll Metering
The in-line pump has the advantage of starting the injection at a fixed point in the cycle. Fuel delivery
always starts when the top of the plunger covers ports A and A’ in the pump in Figure 10.8. Thus,
injection can be timed to start at the optimum point in the cycle. The rate of fuel delivery is determined
by the shape of the cams in the injection pump. The end of delivery varies with the load on the engine.
Delivery ends later, when the load is heavy and the engine needs more fuel. Some in-line pumps have a
retard notch at the top of each plunger. The notch aligns with the inlet port A (Figure 10.8) and delays
the beginning of injection when the engine is being started. The piston rises further, the air is hotter
when fuel injection begins, and starting is easier. The scroll can be shaped to uncover the spill port a
little later, when the engine is being started. Thus, excess fuel can be injected to help start the engine.
Delivery Valve Action
Diesel fuel will compress to some extent when subjected to high pressure. If the injection line pressure
were permitted to fall back to zero between injections, the compressibility of the fuel would cause the
line pressure to increase too slowly at the start of injection and fall too slowly at the end of injection. As
a result, large fuel droplets would dribble into the combustion chamber at the start and end of injection.
The dribbled fuel would burn poorly and engine performance would suffer. The purpose of the delivery
valve in Figure 10.8 is to prevent fuel dribble. When the scroll uncovers the spill port at the end of
injection, the spring forces the delivery valve downward. Initial downward movement closes the delivery
valve, and continued movement creates a clearance space where the top of the delivery valve was
previously located. Since fuel rushes back from the injection line to fill this clearance space, the line
pressure falls abruptly. However, the total movement of the delivery valve is limited in order to trap
some residual pressure in the injection line. Therefore, the trapped fuel cannot fully expand, pressure
can rise sharply at the beginning of the next injection, and fuel dribble can be avoided. In-line injection
pumps have a delivery valve above each plunger (see Figure 10.8).
Sleeve Metering In-Line Pumps
It is expensive to machine helical scrolls on each pumping plunger. Caterpillar, Incorporated produces in-
line injection pumps in which sleeve metering eliminates the need for the helical scrolls. The sleeve-
metering principle is illustrated in, which shows the movement of one of the plungers in the in-line
pump. A cylindrical passage is drilled from the top through most of the length of each plunger. The
plungers are immersed in a reservoir of fuel inside the pump housing. A charge pump supplies fuel to
the reservoir of fuel at 205 ± 35 kPa (30 ± 5 psi) of pressure. The fill port is below the stationary upper
sleeve, and fuel can flow into the cylindrical passage through the fill port. Upward movement of the
plunger causes the fill port to be covered by the stationary sleeve. Then, the trapped fuel is forced out
though a delivery valve (not shown) at the top of the stationary sleeve, and injection begins. Injection
continues until the spill port is high enough to be uncovered by the metering sleeve. Injection ends as
the fuel pressure in the cylindrical passage immediately drops to the pressure in the reservoir. Thus, the
effective stroke is controlled by moving the metering sleeve up or down. The sleeve is moved upward
for greater delivery per stroke or downward for less delivery. The engine is stopped by moving the
sleeve all the way down so that the spill port is never covered.
The DPA injection pump DISTRIBUTING INJECTION PUMPS
10.6 DISTRIBUTING INJECTION PUMPS
It is expensive to manufacture a separate pump for each cylinder in a diesel engine. Use of distributing
injection pumps reduces costs by providing only one pump for the entire engine. A special distributor
connects the pump to each injection line at the proper time.
10.6.1 Charging Cycle
A cutaway view of a distributing pump is shown in Figure 10.11. Fuel enters through the port at the right
side and flows to a vane-type charge pump. Since the flow rate and pressure from a vane pump
increases with speed, a pressure regulator valve is provided. The regulator valve opens further as
pressure increases and releases part of the flow from the charge pump back to the inlet. Fuel from the
charge pump flows through internal passages to the rotary metering valve, shown near the top of
Figure 10.11. A flyweight governor (near the left side of Figure 10.11) works through a linkage to operate
the metering valve. The metering valve is gradually opened as the engine slows down under increasing
load.
Fuel passing the metering valve flows to an annular passage surrounding the central rotor of the pump.
Holes in the side of the passage align with radial holes in the rotor (Figure 10.11) when the main
injection pump is ready to receive fuel. Fuel flows into the main pump and forces its rollers apart. An
end view of the main pump is shown in Figure 10.12. An internal cam surrounds the pump, but fuel can
force the rollers apart when the rollers are aligned with the low part of the cam. The rollers may or may
not contact the cam when the pump is filling. That is, the metering valve allows only enough fuel into
the pump to satisfy the load on the engine.

Discharge Cycle
Discharge from the main pump begins when the rollers reach a point where the cam begins to force
them inward. At this time, since the radial inlet passages in the rotor are no longer aligned with
openings in the annual passage, fuel cannot flow back to the metering valve. Instead, fuel is forced to
flow through the center of the rotor and through a delivery valve. After passing through the delivery
valve, fuel flows into a radial outlet passage in the distributor rotor. The rotor is timed to have the outlet
passage aligned with a passage to one of the injection lines when fuel is being discharged. The delivery
valve in the rotor serves the same purpose as those valves in in-line pumps. That is, it prevents fuel
dribble. In some pumps, a delivery valve is placed in each line connector.
10.6.3 Injection Advance
If the cam in Figure 10.12 was fixed in position, injections would always end at the same point in the
cycle. The end of injections would occur at the point shown in Figure 10.12 -- that is, when the rollers
are on the high point of the cam. The start of injection would then vary according to the load on the
engine. With light load, the metering valve would not allow the plungers to move very far apart;
therefore, the rollers would contact the cam later, and injection would be retarded. An automatic
advance mechanism is sometimes provided to offset the inherent light-load retard. In Figure 10.12,
notice that the entire cam is free to rotate to any position dictated by the advance pin. Fuel is pumped
into a small piston on the left and can rotate the cam to a more advanced position when fuel pressure is
high. The metering valve in Figure 10.11 is a two-sided valve. When engine load is light and the front
side of the valve is closing to reduce fuel delivery to the main pump, the back side of the valve is
opening to increase fuel pressure in the advance piston. When fuel pressure declines, the spring in the
piston expands and rotates the cam to retard the injection timing. The mechanism in Figure 10.12 also
advances the timing when engine speed is high. Recall that pressure from the charge pump increases
with pump speed. Therefore, when the engine and pump speeds increase, the increased fuel pressure
compresses the spring in the advance piston and rotates the cam to advance the timing.
The advance mechanism also influences engine torque reserve. As the cam rotates toward the retard
position with heavily increased engine load, pump fill time increases and torque reserve increases. The
delivery of a vane pump increases with fuel viscosity. Therefore, distributing pumps usually have a
special valve that, when fuel viscosity is high, opens and passes part of the charge pump delivery back to
the inlet.