Spray Characteristics of Diesel and Biodiesel Fuels for Various Injection Timings under Non Evaporating Conditions

Abstract

Fuel spray and atomization characteristics play a vital role in the performance of internal combustion engines. Petroleum fuels are expected to be depleted within a few decades, finding alternative fuels that are economically viable to replace the petroleum fuel has attracted much research attention. In this work spray characteristics such as spray tip penetration, spray cone angle and spray area were investigated for Karanja oil methyl ester (KOME), Jatropha oil methyl ester (JOME) and diesel fuel. The KOME and JOME sprays were characterized and compared with diesel sprays at different injection timings. The macroscopic spray properties were acquired from the images captured by a high speed video camera employing shadowgraphic and image processing techniques in a spray chamber. The experimental results showed that biodiesel fuels had different features compared with diesel fuel after start of injection (ASOI). Longer spray tip penetration, larger spray area and smaller spray cone angle were observed for biodiesel (JOME, KOME) due to its higher density and viscosity than that of diesel fuel.