Advanced Rotary Diesel Engine Fuel Injection System for Unmanned and Manned Ground Vehicles

This proposal consists of developing and demonstrating an advanced, high pressure, fuel injection system for the rotary engine for aerospace and/or ground application. The intent is to develop an advanced fuel injection system so that the rotary engine can run on heavy fuel (diesel, DF-2 or JP-8). We will investigate the use of piezo-actuators due to their response time and hence their precision metering capabilities, especially at high pressures. A better understanding of fuel injection and rotary engine combustion physics will be obtained through CFD modeling. We will investigate the type of spray needed to achieve a sufficient fuel distribution along the rotor"s flank. We plan on investigating a stratified charge in which we will investigate the effects of narrow spray cone penetration based on orifice size, number of orifices, spray angles, injector locations and injection velocities (pressures). Tests will be conducted at Wright State University to obtain the injectors spray pattern, droplet size, and distribution based on the applied voltage so that we can tailor the injection(s) to meet CFD guidance and bench test a piezoelectric fuel injector capable of quick response and multiple injections per event.