Development of Wobble-Plate-Type Fuel Pump in Compression Ignition Engine Fueled With Dimethyl Ether

This experimental work describes the operation of a wobble-plate-type fuel pump for the stable supply of dimethyl ether (DME) fuel and evaluates its application possibility in a compression ignition engine. To achieve this, different types of flow control valves (normally open and normally closed types) were installed on the wobble-plate-type fuel pump. At the same time, the variations in fuel flow rate, torque, and temperature variation in the main parts of the pump were investigated under various operating conditions using a pump performance test system. In addition, a dummy-rail, which has half the volume of a common-rail, was installed to analyze pump stability under high flow rate/high load conditions. The wobble-plate-type fuel pump has showed satisfactory performance for DME fuel supply. The maximum flow rate (∼60 kg/h) is two times higher and the maximum torque value (∼32 N m) is three times higher than the required fuel flow and torque for stable driving of the DME engine (∼30 kg/h and ∼10 N m), respectively. Application of dummy-rail in wobble-plate-type fuel pump system would be a good solution to control the instability of pump operation in high flow rate/high load conditions.