Study of the influence laws of the flow and cavitation characteristics in an injector control valve

Fuel cavitation can cause damage to the structure of an injector control valve, which can further affect the service life of the injector. Therefore, it is of great importance to carry out research on the mechanism of cavitation in injector control valves. In this study, the dynamic evolution of the cavitation and fuel flow characteristics during the opening of a ball valve in a high-pressure common rail injector control valve were studied. First, a transient CFD simulation of the cavitation during the opening of the control valve was performed using dynamic mesh technology to analyze the evolution and formation mechanism of the cavitation. The cavitation was influenced by the fuel flow velocity, which was affected by the sealing cone angle and the ball valve movement. Additionally, the fuel reflux could effectively inhibit the development of cavitation. By comparing with the pressure, velocity, and mass flow rate of the fuel under conditions without cavitation, it was found that the cavitation had a remarkable effect on reducing the hydraulic shock to the ball valve and sealing cone as well as stabilizing the fluctuation of the fuel velocity in the control chamber. In addition, the cavitation noticeably decreased the fuel mass flow rate (by up to 32% at 0.015 ms) and increased the average pressure in the chamber (by up to 29.1% at 0.01 ms), ultimately leading to a slower response of the control valve. The analysis of different inlet pressures of the control valve indicated that the increase in the inlet pressure caused the cavitation to extend upward along the sealing cone, and that the cavitation ring area and the cavitation strength increased.