Effect of High Injection Pressure and Ambient Pressure on the DME Spray Characteristics Injected Through a Common-rail Diesel Injector

The aim of this investigation is to study the effect of the high injection pressure on the dimethyl ether (DME) spray characteristics injected through a common-rail diesel injector under various ambient pressures. In order to investigate the effect of the injection pressure and ambient condition, the common-rail injection system with two high pressure pumps and high pressure chamber pressurized up to 40 bar were used, respectively. Spray images of DME fuel obtained from a visualization system composed of high speed camera and two metal halide lamps as the light source. From the obtained images, the spray behaviors such as a spray development process, spray tip penetration, spray width, and spray cone angle were measured for analyzing the DME spray characteristics under various experimental conditions. It was found that the spray development slowed as the ambient pressure increased and spray tip penetration at injection pressure of 90 MPa is longer than that at 50 MPa. In addition, the spray width at the end stage of injection decreased under the atmospheric conditions due to the evaporation property of DME fuel, and DME spray shows narrow spray cone angle according to the injection pressure increased.