Investigation of Icing Phenomenon in Liquid Phase LPG Injection System

액상분사식 LPG 연료공급방식의 아이싱현상에 관한 연구

The liquid phase LPG injection (LPLI) system is considered as one of the next generation fuel supply systems for LPG, vehicles, since it can accomplish the higher power, higher efficiency, and lower emission characteristics than the existing mixer type fuel supply system. However, during the injection of liquid LPG fuel into the inlet duct of an engine, a large quantity of heat is extracted due to evaporation of fuel. A problem is that the moisture in the air freezes around the outlet of a nozzle, which is called icing Phenomenon. It may cause damage to the outlet nozzle of an injector. The frozen ice deposit detached from the nozzle also may cause a considerable damage to the inlet valve or valve seat. In this work, the experimental investigation of the icing phenomenon was carried out. The results showed that the icing phenomenon and process were mainly affected by humidity of inlet air instead of the air temperature in the inlet duct. Also, it was observed that the icing occurs first in the inlet of a nozzle, and grows considerably at the upper part of the nozzle inlet and the opposite side of the nozzle entrance. An LPG fuel, mainly consisting of butane, has lower latent heat of vaporization than that of propane, which is an advantage in controlling the icing phenomenon.