Laser machining of the holes in fuel injector nozzles guarantees accuracy and high quality
Laser micromachining is being used for the production of Gasoline nozzles and is being studied for production of Diesel nozzles. Oxford Lasers has been working in this field for nearly 20 years and supplies systems for drilling both gasoline and diesel injectors.
Production of gasoline injectors is a straightforward process, requiring accurate holes to be drilled in relatively thin sheet material. Angled holes and variable hole sizes can be produced simply by calling up a different software routine. Using laser drilling it is easy to produce nozzle plates with a number of different hole diameters at a range of different angles.
Laser machining is particularly beneficial for production of small to medium volumes of injectors. It is possible to produce parts within hours of the drawing being produced, a factor of huge importance for reducing development times. With a short drill time per part, zero tooling costs and rapid change over between designs, laser micromachining is ideal for short production runs.
Lasers can microdrill orifices in 1 mm thick hardened steel with diameters down to 60 microns with high accuracy. Large numbers (~25) of holes per injector can be drilled. The flexibility of the laser drilling process is ideal for research and development work, even enabling different diameter orifices to be produced on a single part. We can supply systems for R&D today.
Oxford Lasers has extensive experience in machining diesel injectors and has patents covering back-wall protection. These are available for licence.
In addition to offering systems, Oxford also offers a microdrilling sub-contract and R&D service. This service allows customers to investigate laser processing without having to make the capital investment involved in buying an in-house system. Once the process has been developed it is far easier to justify the capital cost.
In addition to sub-contract production of sample parts, we are happy to undertake funded development programs to investigate particular aspects of the manufacturing process.
