Effects of injector leakage on liquid propane injection engine performance

Abstract This study aims to provide basic technical information for research regarding starting performance improvement by using a 2.656 cm3 V6 liquid propane injection engine to study the effects of varying the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) leakage on starting performance and to analyse the effects of such leakage on emission characteristics. To determine the LPG injection amount that corresponds to the desired LPG leakage, 1–30 l was injected to find the critical point and, since the injected fuel was detected at the intake starting from 5.5 l, starting performance comparisons of engine speed and exhaust gases were made at 0 l, 1 l, 2 l, 3 l, 4 l, 5 l, and 6 l by measuring the desired value five times and taking the average. Also, to study the effects of a small leak, the starting performance was tested while injecting 0 l, 0.2 l, 0.4 l, 0.6 l, 0.8 l, and 1 l. The major conclusions of this work are as follows: The results of determining the critical point of starting delay for LPG leakages of 1–30 l show that the critical point is 21 l and 14 cycles. For LPG leakages of 1–6 l, the starting time and unburned hydrocarbon (HC) increases with increasing LPG leakage. At LPG leakage of 0.2 l, the starting time is much faster at 1 cycle, but unburned HC increases with increasing LPG leakage.