Acoustic Holography for High Pressure Fuel Injector Noise Measurements

The audible noise characteristics of direct injectors are important to OEM customers when selecting a high pressure gasoline fuel injector. The activation noise is an undesirable aspect that needs to be minimized through injector design, injector mounting, and acoustic treatments. Experimentally identifying the location and frequency of noise sources is beneficial to the improvement of injector designs. Acoustic holography is a useful tool in locating these noise sources by measuring a sound pressure field with multiple microphones and using this field to estimate the source location. For injector testing, the local boundary conditions of the noise source will affect the resultant sound field. Therefore, how the injector is mounted within the test fixture will change the resultant noise field measured.

In this study, the process of qualifying an acoustic holography fixture using measurement system analysis for GDi fuel injector testing will be documented. The noise levels and source locations for different injector mounting conditions will be evaluated. The effect injector pre-load force on injector activation noise will be investigated.