Investigating the Fuel Type Influence on Diesel CR Pump Performance

Abstract The paper presents an experimental investigation on a three-plunger radial pump for diesel common rail injection systems. The effort is aimed at highlighting the influence on the pump torque demand due to the use of an unconventional fluid, focusing the attention on a pump model typically adopted in the field of light duty diesel engines. Pump performances have been measured on a fuel injection system test-bed. A relatively wide operation range of the pump has been considered, in terms of fuel delivery pressure and pump shaft regime, providing torque demand at each operating point. Once the experimental characterization has been completed for the standard fuel (ISO 4113 reference fuel), a Waste Cooking Oil (WCO) biodiesel fuel has been tested, at the same pump operation conditions. In the present study, the influence of such alternative fuel on pump operation has been investigated. After the description of the experimental set-up, results have been presented and discussed, highlighting the influence of the fuel type in terms of torque demand