Study on the leakage of plunger pair under static condition in high-pressure common rail injector considering deformation effect

Plunger pair is the key component of high pressure common rail injector and its sealing performance is very important. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the leakage mechanism of plunger pair. Under static condition, the high-pressure fuel flow in the gap of the plunger pair caused the deformation of the plunger pair structure and the temperature rise of fuel. For a more comprehensive and accurate study, the effect of deformation, including elastic deformation and thermal expansion, the physical properties of fuel, including density, viscosity and specific heat capacity, as well as the influence of plunger posture in the plunger sleeve, including concentric, eccentric, and inclination condition, are considered in this paper. Firstly, the mathematical models including Reynolds equation, film thickness equation, non-isothermal flow equation, parametric equation of fuel physical property, and section velocity equation are established. The numerical analysis based on finite difference method for the solution of these models is given, which can simultaneously solve for the fuel film pressure distribution, temperature distribution, thickness distribution, distribution of fuel physical properties, and leakage rate. The models are validated by comparing the calculated leakage rates with the measurements. The effects under different posture of plunger are discussed too. Some of the conclusions provided good guidance for the design of high-pressure common rail injector.