DE VELO PMENT History

One Hundred Years of

Gasoline Direct Injection
Part 1
AUTHOR

German Museum, Munich

In November 1916 at the test center of Junkers, the very first test
rig run of a gasoline engine with direct injection of the fuel was
successfully carried out. Subsequently, this engine was produced
for application in boats until 1918. Today, one hundred years later,
the concept of gasoline direct injection builds an important pillar,

Dr.-Ing. Uwe Meinig

is Director of Development
for New Engine and Transmission
Components at SHW Automotive
GmbH in Bad Schussenried
(Germany).

especially for gasoline engines of passenger vehicles, in fulfilling the

strict statutory regulations for the reduction of CO2 emissions. The
considerable potential of gasoline direct injection in realising powerful
and energy efficient combustion engines gives cause to illuminate
upon the century of changeful development of this technology which
is still to this day innovative. The second part of this article will be
published in MTZ 12.

60

FIRST APPROACHES

Beginning with the deliberations of

Christian Huygens passed down from
the year 1678 for the realisation of a gunpowder fueled power machine, numerous attempts [1] to realise an internal
combustion engine were made during
the following decades. Nonetheless, first
180 years later in 1860 with the concepts
of Joseph Etienne Lenoir for an illuminating gas engine could the first internal
combustion engine be realised which
overcame the testing stage and reach significance in practical application. It was
through the contemporary reporting in
the newspapers, magazines and brochures about Lenoirs illuminating gas
engine, which was without compression
but with electrical ignition, that the businessmen Nicholas August Otto and his
brother Wilhelm acquired knowledge
about this new machine. Their hereby
aroused interest was initially not in producing this engine. Their ambition was
more centered on improving Lenoirs
machine and making it suitable for operation with fluid fuels. To this end, a patent, which was not granted, was filed by
Nicolaus Otto on the 2nd of January, 1861
with the Prussian state for the advantageous use of grain alcohol as a fuel for
machines which emphasised its use to
enable the locomotion of vehicles on
highways [1], p. 20.
The control of mixture formation of
fluid fuels as far as the practice realisation was disclosed in the Patent from
Nicolaus Otto from 1867, however from

Beau de Rochas/Chrisrian Reithmann

previously described/reportedly built in
the first four-stroke engine marks an
important developmental milestone for
the realisation of the first automobiles
with gasoline engines in theyear 1886
by Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. In
the first vehicle engines from Benz as
well as from Daimler, the formation
ofthe mixture, as developed independently from one another, was
achieved in a float type carburetor
buyguiding the inlet air through a
gasoline shaft in which the gasoline
level was held at a constant level by
afloat device. In both carburetor
concepts, the evaporation ofthe fuels
was promoted by the use of heat.
The invention of Maybachs spray
nozzle carburetor in the year 1893 [1],
p. 193 represents a major step in the
improvement of the mixture formation,
especially during dynamic operation of
the gasoline engine. In this concept for
mixture formation which has predominated over decades, the inlet air passed
through a cross sectional constriction
which accelerated the air flow and
reduced the pressure. At this point the
fuel is dosed and added to the inlet air
flow through a nozzle fitting. The velocity of the inlet air delivers the pressure
drop necessary to suck-in the fuel from
the nozzle fitting, to atomise the fuel and
to mix the fuel vapors and drops with
the combustion air. In addition to the
development of the carburetor, there
were various approaches for the realisation of mixture formation via fuel injec-

tion during the early phases of combustion engine design.

In 1884, a stationary engine with fuel
injection in the inlet manifold was
designed by Johannes Spiel and built for
the first time in the Halleschen Maschinenfabrik [1], pp. 216, [2]. During the
same year, as shown in [1], p. 100, in
conjunction with the development of the
vehicle engines of Wilhelm Maybach, the
design considerations included the use
ofan atomising pump instead of an
evaporation device for the atomisation
of the fuel. Today, this fuel pump remains
as a drawing which shows pump plunger
diameter of 2 mm and a stroke of 7 mm
and a suction line. The suction line as
well as the pressure line are controlled
by a flat valve.
Further milestones in the development of inlet manifold injection systemsare marked, according to [3], by
the serial production of the stationary
engine with inlet manifold fuel injectionfrom 1898 to 1901 by the company
Deutz, the beginning of the successful
application of inlet fuel injection systems
by Grade two-stroke and Antoinette
and Wright four-stroke aircraft engines
in 1906 as well as the test on inlet fuel
injection systems by Bosch in 1912 and
Pallas in 1914.
ORIGINS OF GASOLINE
DIRECT INJECTION

Gasoline direct injection was first realised

in a working form by Junkers in 1916 [4],
[5], [7]. The starting point of this develop-

FIGURE 1 Cross-sectional image of the Junkers F0.2 engine ( [4])

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61

DE VELO PMENT History

FIGURE 2 Cross-sectional image of the injection equipment in the Daimler-Benz aircraft engine: pump element with bleed oil
barrier system Eugen Ludwig Mller (left) (@ Bosch [3]) and injection nozzle (right) (LOrange [3])
(Translation: Vollstndige Dse mit Spaltfilter = complete nozzle with gap filter, Zylinder = cylinder, Entlastungs-Nut und
-Bohrung = relief and notch bore, Sperrnut = block nut, Zulaufbohrung = inlet bore, Quernut = crosswise notch, Kolben = piston)

ment was the efforts of Junkers in 1914,

as a result of the sprouting aviation and
engine industry, to create an economical,
yet powerful diesel engine (two-stroke
opposed-piston engine) with little threat
of fire. Although the developers at Junkers were convinced of the controllabilityof the diesel combustion process in
this engine, the tests beginning in 1915
on a four-cylinder test engine (type M
0.3Vh=7.238 l) remained largely without
success due to the diesel injection system.
For this reason and due to the demands of
the Ministry of War for gasoline or benzol
for the operation for aircraft engines, all
further testing was carried out with gasoline until the end of the war in 1918. The
basis for the tests starting in November
1915 was the newly designed six-cylinder
engine (type: M 0.8; Vh=14.137 l).
Due to the high power/weight ratio,
various mechanical problems and the
fatal re-ignition in the crankcase with
the fuel mixture scavenging principle,
the developers at Junkers decided to
design a new engine with a larger displacement (type: Fo.2; Vh=17.105 l),
COVER FIGURE, and the injection of the
fuel directly into the cylinder. In the
cross-sectional drawing, FIGURE 1, of the
Fo.2 engine, which was successfully
operated for the first time on a test rig on
the 21st of November, 1916, the position
of the injection nozzle and the location
of both spark plugs are visible. It is
through the tangential orientation of the
scavenging port that the mixture forma-

62

tion takes on a swirling flow and thus

supports the formation of the mixture.
After prolonged design and testing work
under the direction of Otto Marder to
optimise the injection and the cooling
of the spark plugs, the first Junkers Fo.2
engines were produced in small series
in 1917 for speed boats of the navy with
serial production including gasoline
direct injection [4].
In addition to the development of the
Fo.2 engine, Junkers modified a 260 PS
Mercedes aviation engine for gasoline
direct injection at the suggestion of
theDirectorate of Aircraft Production
(Flugzeugmeisterei). For the injection
pump, a valve equipped pump was
employed with a maximal displacement
of 0.37 cm 3 per cylinder and pump
stroke. In October 1918, this engine
waspresented to representatives of the
inspection of aviation. From a visitors
report written by Otto Marder [5], p. 81,
it is evident that Junkers had largely
mastered the gasoline direct injection.
Moreover in this report, the good starting behavior, a 15% increase in full
power, the reduced risk of fire, the
improved adjustment of the mixture
tothe flying altitude and the reduced
design space are emphasised.
GASOLINE DIRECT INJECTION
IN PISTON AIRCRAFT ENGINES

The advantages of the gasoline direct

injection, which were proven more than

a decade before by Junkers, clearly built

the basis for the fact that at the beginning
of the 1930s in Germany, the major aircraft engine manufacturers concentrated
their efforts on the development of gasoline direct injection in mutual consent
with the appropriate ministry. Beneficial
to this tendency was the previously
gained developmental experience and
production technology know-how regarding the exact dosing and preparation of
small amounts of fuel in the field of compressor-less diesel fuel injection by Bosch,
Junkers and LOrange. The starting point
for this development was the commissioning the German Laboratory for Aviation (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fr Luftfahrt, DVL) in Adlershof by the ministry
of Transport of a systematic investigation
of gasoline direct injection in gasoline aircraft engines [6]. Kurt Schnauffer led the
investigations using first the single-cylinder engines BMW IV and Siemens Sh 13
and the two-stroke DKW engine. In the
tests, conventional diesel injection pumps
were used with eccentric shafts and pintle type nozzles, but also partially with
hole type nozzles. In a DVL report from
the first of September 1932 [8] written by
Kurt Schnauffer, but also in other DVL
reports [3], the basic suitability of the gasoline injection for four-stroke engines was
evident and the injection during the inlet
stroke already achieved better results
than carburetor operation. In further tests
on a six-cylinder BMW Va aircraft engine
at the DLR, higher power of up to 17 %

FIGURE 4 Cross-section of the twelve-cylinder aircraft engine DB 601E

from Daimler-Benz with a displacement of Vh = 33.8 l ( [3])

FIGURE 3 Injection pump element (Bosch) for the DB 603 and DB 605 engines ( [4])
(Translation: Nocken = cam, Nockenwelle = cam shaft, Rollenstel = roller tappet, Rckfhrfeder =
trace-back spring, Mitnehmerflgel = actuator wing, Regelhlse = control sleeve, Regelstange = control rod,
voll = full, Entlastungsnut = relief nut, Kolben = piston, Zylinder = cylinder, Saugraum = suction chamber,
Druckventil = pressure valve, Drucknippel = pressure fitting, Rckstoraum = rebound chamber,
Lecklsperre = leak oil blocker, Elementeinstellung = unit adjustment, Rckfhrfeder = trace-back spring)

and a reduction of 3 % in fuel consumption could be achieved by 1934. This success prompted the Air Transport Ministry
(RLM) in the same year to motivate the
aircraft engine industry (Argus, BMW,
Daimler-Benz, Junkers, Siemens) to further developments and the serial introduction of gasoline direct injection.
For example in 1934, the developmental work at Daimler-Benz began for gasoline direct injection on a one-cylinder
aggregate of the DB 600 based on a diesel injection pump, initially using a needle valve nozzle. Later came the development of a multi-hole nozzle by LOrange,
FIGURE 2 (right), and Bosch which, compared to the previously employed needle
valve nozzle, injected the fuel during the
intake stroke in the zones of strong air
flow and achieved a major reduction in
fuel consumption a well as an extension
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of the knocking limit. The design of

injection pump used in the Daimler-Benz
engines, FIGURE 3, was similar to com
parable diesel injection pumps. The
flowrate is varied by turning the pumps
piston via a toothed rod (control rod).
The beveled edge of the pumps piston
is designed such that a variable end of
thedisplacement is dependent upon
the load, FIGURE 2 (left).
In 1935 under the direction of Fritz
Nallinger, Hans Scherenber began to
develop in close collaboration with
Bosch the gasoline direct injection for
aircraft engines for series production
atDaimler-Benz. The emphasis of the
development focused on the meticulous
adjustment of the gas exchange process,
the compression rate, the manifold
pressure and the valve timing. FIGURE 4
shows the arrangement of injection

pump, injection nozzles and the spark

plugs using the cross-sectional image
of the Daimler-Benz aircraft engine
DB601 as an example. FIGURE 5 shows
the corresponding image of the mixture
formation requirements.
As the first aircraft engine with gasoline direct injection from Daimler-Benz,
the DB 601 A went into series productionat almost the same time in 1937 as
the aircraft engines from Junkers, the
Jumo210 G, and the BMW engine 132 F,
both equipped with gasoline direct injection. The period thereafter was marked
by various world records for speed: by
Hans Dieterle in a Heinkel He 100 with
746.606 km/h on 30th of March, 1939 and
by Fritz Wendel in a Messerschmitt Me 209
with 755.11 km/h on the 27th of April,
1939. In both cases, the use of the gasoline direct injection was accountable for

63

DE VELO PMENT History

FIGURE 5 Illustration of the air flow

and the fuel jet in the Daimler-Benz
aircraft engine DB 601 ( [3])

FIGURE 6 Valve and injection timing for the Daimler-Benz aircraft engines DB 601A (1937)
and DB 601E (from 1939) ( [3])
(Translation: Frderung = delivery, Einspritzung = injection, Einla = inlet, Ausla = outlet,
OT = TDC, UT = BDC, Spiel = tolerance, Zeiten fr Ventilerhebung, Einspritzung und Zndung =
timing for valve lift, injection and ignition)

the larges potential in increased power

of the aircraft engines. Both record flights
were driven by a DB 601 injection engine
in which the power was increased to
1544 kW (2100 PS) especially through
supercharging and by injecting methanol
before the super charger.

From the beginning of series production in 1937 and up until the end of
development in the year 1945, the starting power and the power at high altitudes of the injection aircraft engine
were gravely increased step-by-step.
Thefundamental precondition for this

FIGURE 7 Development of high altitude performance of the Daimler-Benz aircraft engines DB 600
to 603N between 1935 and 1945 ( [3])
(Translation: Start- und Not-Leistung = start and emergency power, Methanol-Wasser-Einspritzung =
methanol/water injection, Steig- und Kampf-Leistung = rise and fight power, Hhe = height, Hub = stroke)

64

increase was the possibility to achieve

valve overlapping of more than 100 CA
without having to accept large loses of
fresh gas, as is inevitably the case with
external mixture formation, and injecting
the fuel directly into the cylinder. Inconjunction with the incrementally developed super charger for higher and higher
flight altitudes, thorough residual-gas
scavenging and a short injection with
50bar injection pressure shortly after the
closing of the inlet valve, a good inner
cooling of the cylinder could be realised.
Along with this and because of the short
pre-reaction time of the fuel in the fresh
gas due to the direct injection as well as
the exact metering of fuel in each individual cylinder of the engine, was it possible to achieve a comparably high compression ratio and an overall reduction
of the fuel sensitivity of the engine. In
FIGURE 6, the valve and injection timing
for the Daimler-Benz aircraft engines
DB 601A (1937) and DB 601E (from 1939)
are shown. FIGURE 7 shows an overview
of the development of high altitude performance for various Daimler-Benz aircraft
engines in the period from 1935 to 1945.
The development of aircraft engines
with direct injection was likewise very
successful for other manufacturers of aircraft engines [4]. The twelve-cylinder
aircraft engines Jumo 210, 211 and 213
from Junkers, FIGURE 8, were equipped

with self-produced injection pumps from

Junkers which corresponds in general
to the designs of the pumps delivered by
Bosch for Daimler-Benz aircraft engines.
The injection pump for the double-row
14-cylinder radial aircraft engine BMW
801, FIGURE 9, was delivered by the company Deckel. In this pump, the 14 pump
plungers had a drum-shaped arrangement. The timing edge of the pumps
piston was tapered on both sides so that
a rotation of the pumps piston (variation
of the injection quantity) the beginning
and at the end of delivery would change
at the same time.
The aircraft engine along with the
variable-pitch propeller comprises a
complex system which is influenced by
a large number of factors in real flight
operation such as the state of the flight
(e. g. altitude, climbing or descending).
Depending on the flying state, the resulting demands on the controller parameters
for the operation of the engine include
the pressure in the super charger, the
air/fuel ratio, the throttle positon, the
ignition angle, the switching position of
the super charger and the pitch position
of the propeller. Since the control of
these parameters demand high attention
from the pilot which inherently involves
a higher risk of erroneous operation,

FIGURE 8 Twelve-cylinder high power aircraft engine Jumo 213A from Junkers ( German Museum, Munich)
(Translation: Anschlu fr Khlstoff-Entlftung = fitting for coolant vent, Vorratsbehlter-Entlftung = supply
chamber vent, Hilfspunkte fr Verkleidungsbefestigung = helping points for cover panel mount, SchmierstoffAblaschraube = oil drain bolt, Khlstoff-Eintritt = coolant inlet, Schmierstoff-Wrmeaustauscher = oil heat
exchanger, Schmierstoffablass am Wrmeaustauscher = oil drain at heat exchanger, Feinfiltereinsatz = fine filter)

the German injection aircraft engines

were equipped with mechanical mixture
regulators or command units which were
in part quite complex. FIGURE 10 shows
the functional schematic of the com-

mand unit of the double-row 14-cylinder

radial aircraft engine BMW 801. In this
equipment, the functions for pressure in
the super charger, speed and mixture regulation, self-adjusting throttle valve actua-

FIGURE 9 Cross-section ofthe

forced aircooled double-row
radial aircraft engine BMW 801
(German Museum, Munich)

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DE VELO PMENT History

FIGURE 10 Functional diagram of the command unit from the double-row 14-cylinder radial aircraft engine BMW 801 (1939) ( [9])
(Translation = Zndmagnet = magneto, Laderrad = turbine wheel, Drehzahlregler = governor, Verstellmutter = adjustment nut, Leistungs-Drossel = power throttle,
Leistungswhlhebel = power lever, Normal = normal, Sturz = dive, Sturzflughebel = dive lever, Steuerkolben = steering piston, Anla-Drossel = start throttle, Kraft
verstrker = force multiplier, Leerlauf = idle, Schnellschluss = fast lock; Arbeitskolben = working piston, Anla- u. Leerlauf-Regler = start and idle controller, Arm-
Reich-Schalter = lean/rich switch, Gemisch-Regler = mixture controller, Anlaregel-Kolben = start-control piston, ldruck-Absperrkolben fr Leerlauf = idle oil-pressure
blocking piston, Ladedruckregler = charge pressure controller, lablaventil aus Anlazylinder = oil drain valve from starting cylinder, Umschalter = reverser, Leerlauf
regelkolben = idle control piston, Einspritzpumpe = injection pump, Arm = lean, Reich = rich, Lader-Schaltung = charging controller, Bodengang = bottom gearing,
Hhengang = height gearing, Federkupplung = spring clutch, zur Hhenlader-Kupplung = to height-charger clutch, Zndzeitpunktverstellung = ignition point adjustment)

tion, ignition timing, idle speed control,

switching of the super charger, and the
forced oil feed of the controller with a
booster are combined into an easily
replaceable unit. The BMW 801 TJ engine,
which was built in series like conditions
up to the end of the war in 1945, realised
for the first time the used of the gasoline
direct injection together with the exhaustgas turbocharger. For this engine, the
command unit was also applied for pressure control of the turbine.
Already in the 1920s, the good results
achieved with gasoline injection in aircraft engines acted as a stimulus for the
investigation of direct injection in vehicle
engines. The first example of gasoline
direct injection in vehicle engines at
least for the engine start and charge stratification (Ladungsschichtung) was realised by the Swedish engineer Knut J. E.
Hesselman around 1930 [10], [11]. The
granting of licenses to various companies
(Scania-Vabis, Volvo, Tidaholms bruk)
ensured the expansion of this engine in
various series applications [12]. The combustion principle that was realised in Hesslemans engine followed the goal of combining the advantages of the diesel engine

66

with those of the gasoline engine. To this

end an air compression combustion principle was used which included an inhomogeneous mixture formation, spark ignition, quality regulation at full load, at partial load and while idling. The combustion
principle was marked by the late injection
during the compression stroke, whereby
the fuel was introduced in a swirling flow
generated by a shield valve. The mixture
preparation occurs during the transport of
the fuel droplets from the injector to the
opposing spark plug, where the end of the
passing mixture cloud is ignited. Varying
the injection time can be used to regulate
the load. The point in time of the end of
delivery remains constant. For smaller
loads, the inlet air is throttled to prevent
an instable combustion. The engine is
characterised by comparably good power
and fuel consumption data as well as the
ability for multi-fuel operation. The principle of combustion can also be categorised
as a hybrid or multi-fuel combustion principle and is mentioned here because of its
technical similarity to the gasoline
engines with direct injection.
The second part of this article will be
published in MTZ 12.

REFERENCES
[1] Sass, F.: Geschichte des deutschen
Verbrennungsmotorenbaus von 1860 bis 1918.
Berlin, Gttingen Heidelberg: Springer, 1962
[2] van Basshuysen, R. (publisher): Ottomotor
mit Direkteinspritzung. 3 rd edition, Wiesbaden:
Springer Vieweg, 2013
[3] Scherenberg, H.: Rckblick ber
25 Jahre Benzineinspritzung in Deutschland.
In: MTZ 16 (1955), No. 9, pp. 245-254
[4] von Gersdorff, K.; Grasmann, K.: Flugmotoren
und Strahltriebwerke. 3 rd edition, Koblenz: Bernhard
& Graefe, 1995
[5] Ittner, S.: Dieselmotoren fr die Luftfahrt.
1st edition, Oberhachingen: Aviatic, 1996
[6] Dll, R.: bersicht ber den heutigen Stand
niedrig verdichtender Einspritzmotoren mit
Fremdzndung. In: ATZ 38 (1935), No. 6, 7, 8
[7] Wagner, W.: Hugo Junkers Pionier
der Luftfahrt seine Flugzeuge. Koblenz:
Bernhard & Graefe, 1996
[8] Schnaufer, K.: Bericht ber Versuche
mit Brennstoffeinspritzung in Zndermotoren.
DVL report as of 1st September 1932
[9] Teku, K.: Technische Kurzberichte, Triebwerke:
Doppelsternmotor BMW 801. Deutsche Luftwacht,
issue air knowledge 10, 1943, pp. 156-157
[10] N.N.: Der neue Hesselman-Motor.
In: ATZ 33 (1930), pp. 21, 22
[11] N.N.: Motoren mit geschichteter Ladung,
erster Teilabschlussbericht: Einteilungsschema
und Auswertung des verffentlichten Materials
zu Schichtladeverfahren. In: Research report
combustion engines No. 179 (1975)
[12] Schweitzer, P.: Hybrid-Motoren.
In: MTZ 24 (1963), No. 2, p. 5