Piezo injection technology has been used successfully for emissions reduction in diesel and four-stroke gasoline engines for years. Now Siemens VDO is implementing this fast, precise, clean injection technology into light commercial vehicles.

Thanks to piezo common rail direct diesel injection, small delivery vans and light trucks will consume less fuel and cause fewer emissions as well. The system for commercial vehicles was shown for the first time Tuesday at the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2006 show in Hanover, Germany.
There are an estimated 4 million diesel passenger cars in Europe equipped with piezo injection. Siemens VDO is now offering piezo common rail diesel injection systems for light commercial vehicles such as small vans and American pick-ups weighing up to 6 tons and engines with up to 6.5 liters of cylinder capacity. In doing so, the company is drawing on its experience with piezo direct diesel injection for passenger cars.
Alongside injectors, these components include high-pressure pumps and control units. In addition, Siemens VDO offers numerous sensors and actuators that carry out operation and measurement tasks along the air and exhaust gas conduits.
High injection pressures, currently at more than 1,750 bars, finely atomize the fuel, and the equally precise measurement of tiny and large amounts of fuel.
Using flexible multiple injection, for example, the stages of combustion can be shaped in the cylinder, optimizing the entire combustion process. Diesel engines with piezo common rail injection save up to 25 percent of the fuel used by four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, gasoline engines. Piezo common rail technology as part of the overall vehicle tuning can save up to 15 percent fuel consumption in comparison with conventional diesel engines, and makes it easier to meet emission standards.
High-performance piezo actuation in the transmission control unit will use the full technical potential of the technology. Pros of this technology include the durable high quality of injection over the life of a light commercial vehicle. To this end, the control unit balances out production tolerances and environmental influences. The piezo driver can use the actuator’s characteristics for injector-selective actuation, as well as to compensate for mechanical and hydraulic deviations. Overall, piezo technology makes precise, economical and reliable injection systems possible.
Future piezo injection systems from Siemens VDO will be designed for injection pressures of 2,000 bars and more. Additional technical progress and functions that have been expanded are aimed at achieving a higher level of thermodynamic efficiency and thus a higher torque per liter of cylinder capacity. Future generations of pumps will almost certainly achieve an even greater output pressure, according to Siemens.