Experimental study of multiple pilot injection strategy in an automotive direct injection diesel engine

The pilot injection strategy is a widely used approach for reducing the noise of the combustion process in direct injection diesel engines. In the last generation of automotive diesel engines up to several pilot injections could occur to better control the rate of heat release (ROHR) in the cylinder as well as the pollutant formation. However, determination of the timing and duration for each pilot injection needs to be precisely optimised. In this paper an experimental study of the pilot injection strategy was conducted on a direct injection diesel engine. Single and double pilot injection strategy was studied. The engine rated power is 100 kW at 4000 rpm while the rated torque is 320 Nm at 2000 rpm. An engine operating point determined by the rotation speed of 1400 rpm and torque of 100 Nm was chosen. The pilot and pre-injection timing was widely varied in order to study the influence on the combustion process as well as on the fuel consumption.