CRDI Engines
Compared with petrol, diesel is the lower quality product of petroleum family. Diesel particles are larger and heavier than petrol, thus more difficult to pulverize. Imperfect pulverization leads to more unburnt particles, hence more pollutant, lower fuel efficiency and less power.
Common-rail technology is intended to improve the pulverization process. Conventional direct injection diesel engines must repeatedly generate fuel pressure for each injection. But in the CRDI engines the pressure is built up independently of the injection sequence and remains permanently available in the fuel line. CRDI system that uses an ion sensor to provide real-time combustion data for each cylinder. The common rail upstream of the cylinders acts as an accumulator, distributing the fuel to the injectors at a constant pressure of up to 1600 bar. Here high-speed solenoid valves, regulated by the electronic engine management, separately control the injection timing and the amount of fuel injected for each cylinder as a function of the cylinder’s actual need.
In other words, pressure generation and fuel injection are independent of each other. This is an important advantage of common-rail injection over conventional fuel injection systems as CRDI increases the controllability of the individual injection processes and further refines fuel atomization, saving fuel and reducing emissions. Fuel economy of 25 to 35 % is obtained over a standard diesel engine and a substantial noise reduction is achieved due to a more synchronized timing operation. The principle of CRDi is also used in petrol engines as dealt with the GDI (Gasoline Direct Injection) , which removes to a great extent the draw backs of the conventional carburetors and the MPFI systems.
CRDi stands for Common Rail Direct Injection.