Virtual Test of Manufacturing Process Effect on Injector Design

Diesel exhaust after treatment solutions using injection, such as urea-based SCR and lean NOx trap systems, effectively reduce the emission NOx level in various light vehicles, commercial vehicles, and industrial applications. The performance of the injector is crucial for successfully utilizing this type of technology, and a simulation tool plays an important role in the virtual design, that the performance of the injector is evaluated to reach the optimized design. The virtual test methodology using CFD to capture the fluid dynamics of the injector internal flow has been previously developed and validated for quantifying the dosing rate of the test injector. In this study, the capability of the virtual test methodology was extended to determine the spray angle of the test injector, and the effect of the manufacturing process on the injector internal nozzle flow characteristics was investigated using the enhanced virtual test methodology. Several variations of injector key geometric features caused by the manufacturing process were tested, and the impacts on the dosing rate and the spray angle of test injectors were realized. The virtual test results indicated that the manufacturing process effect must be taken into account in the early product development stage for the optimization of injector design, and tolerances in the manufacturing process should be properly defined.