Development of a Fuel Injection System for Very Small Internal Combustion Engines

The U.S. Department of Defense is currently seeking micro fuel injection (FI) systems for very small, heavy-fuel internal combustion engines (ICEs). These small engines are required for lightweight, low volume applications such as unmanned aircraft systems, unmanned ground systems, and unmanned maritime systems. Fuel injection plays a key role in determining the useful work that can be extracted from the combustion process in these engines as well as the exhaust gasses that are emitted from the engine. As power density requirements and emission regulations are increased, new fuel injection technologies need to be developed beyond that of what is currently available. The major limitation with the current technology is that it is not capable of delivering sufficient amounts of fuel while distributing the fuel well throughout very small volumes. In an effort to overcome this limitation, Mainstream proposes to develop an innovative fuel injection concept for small heavy-fuel engines. During the Phase I effort mainstream will experimentally validate the benefits of using the proposed configuration using an actual heavy-fuel military diesel engine manufactured by Mainstream. In Phase II, Mainstream will take what was learned in the Phase I effort and use the information to develop a prototype injection system.