GM's Direct Injection Engine Technology

[jamz]

I was intrigued to post this after I watched the video and someone e-mailed me and urged to share with GMPT members.



By Chris Meagher
Ecotec Engines Global Chief Engineer and Program Manager

We talk quite a bit about future technology on Fastlane, but today I want to take a little time to discuss a fuel-saving engine technology that’s available now and offered on many of our 2009 models - direct fuel injection. It’s the technology that helps a 260 hp vehicle like the Chevy Cobalt SS go from 0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds and still get 30 mpg on the highway. Basically, direct injection allows us to make gasoline engines that are more powerful and more efficient with fewer emissions.

With direct injection, highly pressurized fuel is sprayed directly into the combustion chamber, instead of through the cylinder ports, to create a more complete burn of the fuel-air mixture. Less fuel is required to produce the equivalent horsepower of a conventional port-injection combustion system and the mixture is more precise, which also helps the engine save fuel and start quicker with fewer hydrocarbon emissions. All of this makes for a more complete combustion of the gasoline, providing more power with less fuel.

That’s a pretty technical description, but let me see if I can make it a little easier to understand. Basically, direct injection is one of the advanced internal combustion engine technologies that allows us to downsize from a V8 to a V6, or a V6 to a four-cylinder without sacrificing power, but still improve fuel efficiency with fewer emissions. You can see in the video below how it works.

For 2009, we have several vehicles with direct injection, including the all-new Chevy Traverse, which features a 3.6-liter V6 with DI and variable valve timing - the same 3.6-liter engine that was voted one of the “Ten Best Engines” in North America by Ward’s AutoWorld the last two consecutive years.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking; why not offer direct injection on all GM engines? Well, the short answer is direct injection is going to play a huge role in our fuel-savings and emissions-reducing efforts as we go forward, but there are also a host of other engine technologies available today like turbocharging, variable valve timing and active fuel management that help improve fuel economy and emissions without sacrificing power.

In the 2010 model year, we’ll offer 18 models in North America with direct injection including the Chevy Equinox and Camaro, the Buick LaCrosse, the Cadillac SRX and Sport Wagon and many more. In fact, 10 percent of our engines worldwide will feature DI.

With publications like Automobile magazine calling direct fuel injection the technology of the year, I predict you’ll be hearing a lot more about it from us and other automakers. So stay tuned, and as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions.

[bluetwo]

I'm really glad you did. The first thing that came to mind for me was these guys are wrong... (they still were to a degree) ...but the first thing that came to mind for me was I remember reading about direct injection before, when the recent MazdaSpeed models came out, which all use basically the same direct injected turbo 4 cylinder.

I only say they were wrong because they called it a new technology when it turns out the Swedes were the first to use it in a diesel-gasoline hybrid back in 1925, then the Germans used gasoline DI in airplanes and cars later, in the WW2 period.

So I was wrong too... here's the link!

Gasoline direct injection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia