MPI valves for use in large engine applications – challenges in the development and derived benefits for operation

Different factors have to be considered during the development of ported fuel injection valves. Customer specifications as well as legal requirements and economical goals pose a challenge during the development process. In this paper the authors presents aspects of an integrated approach for the optimization of ported fuel injection valves for large bore engines in order to meet those requirements with special focus given on current challenges from the market and the achieved benefits for engine operation.Engine concepts like dual-fuel engines help to combine the advantages of die-sel and pure natural gas engines, but also increase the demands in regards of robustness and durability of the used fuel injection equipment especially in terms of MPI valves. High EGR rates in combination with a dynamic engine operation lead to an increased need of robust valve design.In order to cope with this market demands and to derive the best possible benefit for the engine operator an integrated approach of component optimization and later validation with component as well as engine tests was chosen to verify the expected benefits of the chosen development approach.Benefits like long term operation of the developed MPI valves and thereby reduced TCO for the engine operator, minimized valve leakage in combination with high valve dynamics and robust behavior under all kind of operation conditions were achieved. Those benefits are described in the paper and linked to the integrated development process.