Gasoline direct injection

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GDI engine from a BMW car (fuel injector is located above the red triangle)

Gasoline direct injection (GDI), also known as petrol direct injection (PDI),[1] is a
mixture formation system for internal combustion engines that run on gasoline (petrol),
where fuel is injected into the combustion chamber. This is distinct from manifold fuel
injection systems, which inject fuel into the intake manifold.
The use of GDI can help increase engine efficiency and specific power output as well as
reduce exhaust emissions.[2]
The first GDI engine to reach production was introduced in 1925 for a low-compression
truck engine. Several German cars used a Bosch mechanical GDI system in the 1950s,
however usage of the technology remained rare until an electronic GDI system was
introduced in 1996 by Mitsubishi for mass-produced cars. GDI has seen rapid adoption
by the automotive industry in recent years, increasing in the United States from 2.3% of
production for model year 2008 vehicles to approximately 50% for model year 2016.[3][4]

Contents

• 1Operating principle
o 1.1Charge modes
▪ 1.1.1Homogeneous charge mode
▪ 1.1.2Stratified charge mode
o 1.2Injection modes
▪ 1.2.1Wall-guided direct injection
▪ 1.2.2Air-guided direct injection
▪ 1.2.3Spray-guided direct injection
o 1.3Companion technologies
o 1.4Disadvantages
o 1.5Adverse climate and health impacts
• 2History
 o 2.11911-1912
o 2.21916-1938
o 2.31939-1995
o 2.41996-present
• 3In two-stroke engines
• 4See also
• 5References

Operating principle[edit]
Charge modes[edit]
The 'charge mode' of a direct-injected engine refers to how the fuel is distributed
throughout the combustion chamber:

•'Homogeneous charge mode' has the fuel mixed evenly with the air
throughout the combustion chamber, as per manifold injection.
• Stratified charge mode has a zone with a higher density of fuel around the
spark plug, and a leaner mixture (lower density of fuel) further away from the
spark plug.
Homogeneous charge mode[edit]
In the homogeneous charge mode, the engine operates on a homogeneous air/fuel

mixture ( ), meaning, that there is an (almost perfect) mixture of fuel and air in the
cylinder. The fuel is injected at the very beginning of the intake stroke in order to give
injected fuel the most time to mix with the air, so that a homogeneous air/fuel mixture is
formed.[5] This mode allows using a conventional three-way catalyst for exhaust gas
treatment.[6]
Compared with manifold injection, the fuel efficiency is only very slightly increased, but
the specific power output is better,[7] which is why the homogeneous mode is useful for
so-called engine downsizing.[6] Most direct-injected passenger car petrol engines use the
homogeneous charge mode.[8][9]
Stratified charge mode[edit]
The stratified charge mode creates a small zone of fuel/air mixture around the spark
plug, which is surrounded by air in the rest of the cylinder. This results in less fuel being

injected into the cylinder, leading to very high overall air-fuel ratios of ,[10] with mean

air-fuel ratios of at medium load, and at full load.[11] Ideally, the throttle valve
remains open as much as possible to avoid throttling losses. The torque is then set
solely by means of quality torque controlling, meaning that only the amount of injected
fuel, but not the amount of intake air is manipulated in order to set the engine's torque.
Stratified charge mode also keeps the flame away from the cylinder walls, reducing the
thermal losses.[12]
Since mixtures too lean cannot be ignited with a spark-plug (due to a lack of fuel), the
charge needs to be stratified (e. g. a small zone of fuel/air mixture around the spark plug
needs to be created).[13] To achieve such a charge, a stratified charge engine injects the
fuel during the latter stages of the compression stroke. A "swirl cavity" in the top of the
piston is often used to direct the fuel into the zone surrounding the spark plug. This
technique enables the use of ultra-lean mixtures that would be impossible with
carburetors or conventional manifold fuel injection.[14]
The stratified charge mode (also called "ultra lean-burn" mode) is used at low loads, in
order to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. However, the stratified charge
mode is disabled for higher loads, with the engine switching to the homogeneous mode

with a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio of for moderate loads and a richer air-fuel ratio at
higher loads.[15]
In theory, a stratified charge mode can further improve fuel efficiency and reduce
exhaust emissions,[16] however, in practice, the stratified charge concept has not proved
to have significant efficiency advantages over a conventional homogeneous charge
concept, but due to its inherent lean burn, more nitrogen oxides are formed,[17] which
sometimes require a NOx adsorber in the exhaust system to meet emissions
regulations.[18] The use of NOx adsorbers can require low sulphur fuels, since sulphur
prevents NOx adsorbers from functioning properly.[19] GDI engines with stratified fuel
injection can also produce higher quantities of particulate matter than manifold injected
engines,[20] sometimes requiring particulate filters in the exhaust (similar to a diesel
particulate filter) in order to meet vehicle emissions regulations.[21] Therefore several
European car manufacturers have abandoned the stratified charge concept or never
used it in the first place, such as the 2000 Renault 2.0 IDE petrol engine (F5R), which
never came with a stratified charge mode,[22] or the 2009 BMW N55 and 2017 Mercedes-
Benz M256 engines dropping the stratified charge mode used by their predecessors.
The Volkswagen Group had used fuel stratified injection in naturally aspirated engines
labelled FSI, however, these engines have received an engine control unit update to
disable the stratified charge mode.[23] Turbocharged Volkswagen engines
labelled TFSI and TSI have always used the homogeneous mode.[24] Like the latter VW
engines, newer direct injected petrol engines (from 2017 onwards) usually also use the
more conventional homogeneous charge mode, in conjunction with variable valve
timing, to obtain good efficiency. Stratified charge concepts have mostly been
abandoned.[25]
Injection modes[edit]
Common techniques for creating the desired distribution of fuel throughout the
combustion chamber are either spray-guided, air-guided, or wall-guided injection. The
trend in recent years is towards spray-guided injection, since it currently results in a
higher fuel efficiency.
Wall-guided direct injection[edit]
Swirl cavity on the top of a piston in the 2010-2017 Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L engine

In engines with wall-guided injection, the distance between spark plug and injection
nozzle is relatively high. In order to get the fuel close to the spark plug, it is sprayed
against a swirl cavity on top of the piston (as seen in the picture of the Ford EcoBoost
engine on the right), which guides the fuel towards the spark plug. Special swirl or
tumble air intake ports aid this process. The injection timing depends upon the piston
speed, therefore, at higher piston speeds, the injection timing, and ignition timing need
to be advanced very precisely. At low engine temperatures, some parts of the fuel on
the relatively cold piston cool down so much, that they cannot combust properly. When
switching from low engine load to medium engine load (and thus advancing the injection
timing), some parts of the fuel can end up getting injected behind the swirl cavity, also
resulting in incomplete combustion.[26] Engines with wall-guided direct injection can
therefore suffer from high hydrocarbon emissions.[27]
Air-guided direct injection[edit]
Like in engines with wall-guided injection, in engines with air-guided injection, the
distance between spark plug and injection nozzle is relatively high. However, unlike in
wall-guided injection engines, the fuel does not get in contact with (relatively) cold
engine parts such as cylinder wall and piston. Instead of spraying the fuel against a
swirl cavity, in air-guided injection engines the fuel is guided towards the spark plug
solely by the intake air. The intake air must therefore have a special swirl or tumble
movement in order to direct the fuel towards the spark plug. This swirl or tumble
movement must be retained for a relatively long period of time, so that all of the fuel is
getting pushed towards the spark plug. This however reduces the engine's charging
efficiency and thus power output. In practice, a combination of air-guided and wall-
guided injection is used.[28] There exists only one engine that only relies on air-guided
injection.[29]
Spray-guided direct injection[edit]
In engines with spray-guided direct injection, the distance between spark plug and
injection nozzle is relatively low. Both the injection nozzle and spark plug are located in
between the cylinder's valves. The fuel is injected during the latter stages of the
compression stroke, causing very quick (and inhomogeneous) mixture formation. This
results in large fuel stratification gradients, meaning that there is a cloud of fuel with a
very low air ratio in its centre, and a very high air ratio at its edges. The fuel can only be
ignited in between these two "zones". Ignition takes place almost immediately after
injection to increase engine efficiency. The spark plug must be placed in such a way,
that it is exactly in the zone where the mixture is ignitable. This means that the
production tolerances need to be very low, because only very little misalignment can
result in drastic combustion decline. Also, the fuel cools down the spark plug,
immediately before it is exposed to combustion heat. Thus, the spark plug needs to be
able to withstand thermal shocks very well.[30] At low piston (and engine) speeds, the
relative air/fuel velocity is low, which can cause fuel to not vaporise properly, resulting in
a very rich mixture. Rich mixtures do not combust properly, and cause carbon build-
up.[31] At high piston speeds, fuel gets spread further within the cylinder, which can force
the ignitable parts of the mixture so far away from the spark plug, that it cannot ignite
the air/fuel mixture anymore.[32]
Companion technologies[edit]
Other devices which are used to complement GDI in creating a stratified charge
include variable valve timing, variable valve lift, and variable length intake
manifold.[33] Also, exhaust gas recirculation can be used to reduce the high nitrogen
oxide (NOx) emissions that can result from the ultra lean combustion. [34]
Disadvantages[edit]
Gasoline direct injection does not have the valve cleaning action that is provided when
fuel is introduced to the engine upstream of the cylinder.[35] In non-GDI engines, the
gasoline traveling through the intake port acts as a cleaning agent for contamination,
such as atomized oil. The lack of a cleaning action can cause increased carbon
deposits in GDI engines. Third party manufacturers sell oil catch tanks which are
supposed to prevent or reduce those carbon deposits.
The ability to produce peak power at high engine speeds (RPM) is more limited for GDI,
since there is a shorter period of time available to inject the required quantity of fuel. In
manifold injection (as well as carburetors and throttle-body fuel injection), fuel can be
added to the intake air mixture at any time. However a GDI engine is limited to injecting
fuel during the intake and compression phases. This becomes a restriction at high
engine speeds (RPM), when the duration of each combustion cycle is shorter. To
overcome this limitation, some GDI engines (such as the Toyota 2GR-
FSE V6 and Volkswagen EA888 I4 engines) also have a set of manifold fuel injectors to
provide additional fuel at high RPM. These manifold fuel injectors also assist in cleaning
carbon deposits from the intake system.
Gasoline does not provide the same level of lubrication for the injector components as
diesel, which sometimes becomes a limiting factor in the injection pressures used by
GDI engines. The injection pressure of a GDI engine is typically limited to approximately
20 MPa (2.9 ksi), to prevent excessive wear on the injectors.[36]
Adverse climate and health impacts[edit]
While this technology is credited with boosting fuel efficiency and reducing
CO2 emissions, GDI engines produce more black carbon aerosols than traditional port
fuel injection engines. A strong absorber of solar radiation, black carbon possesses
significant climate-warming properties.[37]
In a study published in January 2020 in the journal Environmental Science and
Technology, a team of researchers at the University of Georgia (USA) predicted that the
increase in black carbon emissions from GDI-powered vehicles will increase climate
warming in urban areas of the U.S. by an amount that significantly exceeds the cooling
associated with a reduction in CO2. The researchers also believe the shift from
traditional port fuel injection (PFI) engines to the use of GDI technology will nearly
double the premature mortality rate associated with vehicle emissions, from 855 deaths
annually in the United States to 1,599. They estimate the annual social cost of these
premature deaths at $5.95 billion.[38]