An Injection Pump is the device that pumps diesel (as the fuel) into the cylinders of a diesel engine.
Traditionally, the injection pump is driven indirectly from the crankshaft by gears, chains or a toothed
belt (often the timing belt) that also drives the camshaft. It rotates at half crankshaft speed in a
conventional four-stroke diesel engine. Its timing is such that the fuel is injected only very slightly
before top dead centre of that cylinder's compression stroke. It is also common for the pump belt on
gasoline engines to be driven directly from the camshaft. In some systems injection pressures can
be as high as 620 bar (8992 psi) [1] .
Contents
• 1Safety
• 2Construction
• 3New types
• 4See also
• 5References
Safety[edit]
Because of the need for positive injection into a very high-pressure environment, the pump develops
great pressure—typically 15,000 psi (100 MPa) or more on newer systems. This is a good reason to
take great care when working on diesel systems; escaping fuel at this sort of pressure can easily
penetrate skin and clothes, and be injected into body tissues with medical consequences serious
enough to warrant amputation.[1]
Construction[edit]
Inline diesel injection pump
Earlier diesel pumps used an in-line layout with a series of cam-operated injection cylinders in a line,
rather like a miniature inline engine. The pistons have a constant stroke volume, and injection
volume (i.e., throttling) is controlled by rotating the cylinders against a cut-off port that aligns with
a helical slot in the cylinder. When all the cylinders are rotated at once, they simultaneously vary
their injection volume to produce more or less power from the engine. Inline pumps still find favour
on large multi-cylinder engines such as those on trucks, construction plant, static engines and
agricultural vehicles.
Distributor diesel injection pump
For use on cars and light trucks, the rotary pump or distributor pump was developed. It uses a single
injection cylinder driven from an axial cam plate, which injects into the individual fuel lines via a
rotary distribution valve. Later incarnations such as the Bosch VE pump vary the injection timing with
crankshaft speed to allow greater power at high crank speeds, and smoother, more economical
running at slower revolution of crankshaft. Some VE variants have a pressure-based system that
allows the injection volume to increase over normal to allow
a turbocharger or supercharger equipped engine to develop more power under boost conditions.
Inline diesel metering pump
All injection pumps incorporate a governor to cut fuel supply if the crankshaft rpm endangers the
engine - the heavy moving parts of diesel engines do not tolerate overspeeding well, and
catastrophic damage can occur if they are over-revved. Poorly maintained and worn engines can
consume their lubrication oil through worn out crankcase ventilation systems and 'run away', causing
increasing engine speed until the engine destroys itself. This is because most diesel engines only
regulate their speed by fuel supply control and don't have a throttle valve to control air intake.
New types[edit]
Mechanical pumps are gradually being phased out in order to comply with international emissions
directives, and to increase performance and economy. From the 1990s an intermediate stage
between full electronic control were pumps that used electronic control units to control some of the
functions of the rotary pump but were still mechanically timed and powered by the engine. The first
generation four and five cylinder VW/Audi TDI engines pioneered these pumps before switching
to Unit Injectors. These pumps were used to provide better injection control and refinement for car
diesel engines as they changed from indirect injection to much more efficient but inherently less
refined direct injection engines in the 1990s. The ECUs could even vary the damping of hydraulic
engine mounts to aid refinement. BOSCH VP30 VP37 VP44 are example pumps. Since then there
has been a widespread change to common rail diesel systems and electronic unit direct
injection systems. These allow for higher pressures to be developed, and for much finer control of
injection volumes, and multiple injection stages compared to mechanical systems.
