Fuel system having fixed geometry flow regulating valve for limiting injector cross talk
AssigneeCaterpillar Inc.
InventorsSiddharth Nair, Manjunath Bannur Nagaraja
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel system includes a plurality of fuel injectors each having an injection control valve assembly, a direct operated nozzle check, a high pressure nozzle supply passage, and a check control chamber. A common drain conduit fluidly connects to each of the plurality of fuel injectors to receive drained actuating fluid. A plurality of pressure regulating valves each having a static geometry are positioned fluidly between the common drain conduit and the check control chamber in one of the plurality of fuel injectors. Operating a fuel system according to the present disclosure includes limiting cross-talk between injectors in the fuel system.
Claims18
A fuel system comprising:
- a plurality of fuel injectors, each of the plurality of fuel injectors including an injection control valve assembly and a direct operated nozzle check, and having a high pressure nozzle supply passage and a check control chamber formed therein;
- a common drain conduit fluidly connected to each of the plurality of fuel injectors to receive drained actuating fluid for each of the direct operated nozzle checks;
- and
- a plurality of pressure regulating valves each having a static geometry and positioned fluidly between the common drain conduit and the check control chamber in one of the plurality of fuel injectors, each pressure regulating valve defining an asymmetrical flow-biasing direction.
A fuel injector comprising:
- an injector body having a high pressure nozzle supply passage, a check control chamber, and a low pressure outlet formed therein;
- a direct operated nozzle check;
- an injection control valve assembly;
- and
- a pressure regulating valve having a static geometry and positioned fluidly between the check control chamber and the low pressure outlet, the pressure regulating valve includes a valve body having a flow race formed therein and extending between an inlet internal to the injector body and an outlet coincident with the low pressure outlet of the injector body, and the valve body includes a first valve body piece having the flow race formed therein, and a second valve body piece having a second flow race formed therein.
A method of operating a fuel system comprising:
- moving an injection control valve in a first fuel injector in the fuel system from a closed position to an open position;
- fluidly connecting a check control chamber in the first fuel injector to a low pressure outlet of the first fuel injector in response to the moving of the injection control valve;
- producing a pulse of fluid pressure in response to the fluidly connecting of the check control chamber to the low pressure outlet;
- feeding the pulse of fluid pressure to a pressure regulating valve having a static geometry and positioned fluidly between the check control chamber in the first fuel injector and a second fuel injector in the fuel system, the pressure-regulating valve including a flow race between an inlet of the pressure-regulating valve and an outlet of the pressure-regulating valve, the pressure-regulating valve further including a plurality of pillars disposed within the race, and the pulse of fluid pressure being attenuated by the race and pillars of the pressure-regulating valve;
- and
- limiting cross-talk between the first fuel injector and the second fuel injector based on the attenuation of the pulse of fluid pressure by the pressure regulating valve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.