Pressure control valve for controlling operation of fuel injector

A pressure control valve, driven by an actuator, for controlling pressure in a control chamber, the pressure control valve comprising:

• a housing having a cylinder bore and a valve chamber that includes a high pressure port having a high pressure seat and a drain port having a drain seat;
• and
• a valve needle having a valve body disposed in the valve chamber and a piston portion connected to the valve body and slidably disposed in the cylinder bore, the valve body having a first surface adapted to contact the drain seat and a second surface adapted to contact the high pressure seat, wherein:
• the pressure in the control chamber is controlled by selectively closing the high pressure port or the drain port, the high pressure port being closed by sitting the second surface of the valve body on the high pressure seat, the drain port being closed by sitting the first surface of the valve body on the drain seat;
• and
• the pressure control valve is structured to satisfy the following formula:
• D1>D2>D3, where D1 is a diameter of the drain seat, D2 is a diameter of the high pressure seat and D3 is a diameter of the piston portion.