FUEL INJECTOR NOZZLE

1 . A fuel injector comprising:

a needle moveable along a central axis to initiate and terminate an injection event; and,

a nozzle body that receives the needle, the nozzle body including a needle seat, a nozzle sac, and a passageway between the needle seat and the nozzle sac, the passageway defining a passageway inner surface, and the nozzle sac having a curved, non-spherical profile and defining a sac inner surface that extends away from a distal end of the passageway inner surface.

2 . The fuel injector of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle body includes a nozzle having an outer surface and defining a plurality of spray orifices extending through the nozzle body from the outer surface to the sac inner surface.

3 . The fuel injector of claim 4 , wherein each spray orifice defines an orifice axis, and each orifice axis intersects the central axis at a respective apex point, and wherein for an axial shift of the apex point of one of the orifice axes away from a nominal apex point location by an amount equal to about 65% of a spray orifice diameter (D), a variability of a length (L) of the respective spray orifice is less than about 4%.

4 . The fuel injector of claim 2 , wherein each spray orifice has a substantially circular cross section.

5 . The fuel injector of claim 1 , wherein the non-spherical profile is substantially elliptical when viewed in a cross section taken along the central axis.

6 . The fuel injector of claim 5 , wherein the substantially elliptical non-spherical profile includes a major radius length R1 and a minor radius length R2, and wherein a value of R1/R2 is between about 1.05 and 1.75.

7 . The fuel injector of claim 1 , wherein the passageway inner surface is substantially cylindrical, and wherein the sac inner surface extends substantially tangentially away from the distal end of the passageway inner surface.

8 . A fuel injection system comprising:

a source of fuel;

a pump operable to pump fuel from the source of fuel;

a fuel rail receiving fuel from the pump; and

a fuel injector receiving fuel from the fuel rail, the fuel injector including

a needle moveable along a central axis to initiate and terminate an injection event; and,

a nozzle body that receives the needle, the nozzle body including a needle seat, a nozzle sac, and a plurality of spray orifices, each spray orifice having a first end that opens into the nozzle sac, and a second end that opens through an outer surface of the nozzle body, the nozzle sac having a curved, non-spherical profile when viewed in a cross section taken along the central axis.

9 . The fuel injection system of claim 8 , wherein the nozzle body includes a passageway between the needle seat and the nozzle sac, the passageway defining a passageway inner surface, and the nozzle sac defining a sac inner surface that extends away from a distal end of the passageway inner surface.

10 . The fuel injection system of claim 9 , wherein the passageway inner surface is substantially cylindrical, and wherein the sac inner surface extends substantially tangentially away from the distal end of the passageway inner surface.

11 . The fuel injection system of claim 8 , wherein each spray orifice defines an orifice axis that intersects the central axis at an apex point, and wherein for an axial shift of the apex point away from a nominal apex point location by an amount equal to about 65% of a spray orifice diameter (D), a variability of a length (L) of the spray orifice is less than about 4%.

12 . The fuel injection system of claim 8 , wherein each spray orifice has a substantially circular cross section.

13 . The fuel injection system of claim 8 , wherein the non-spherical profile is substantially elliptical and includes a major radius length R1 and a minor radius length R2, and wherein a value of R1/R2 is between about 1.05 and 1.75.

14 . A method of injecting fuel from a fuel injector, the method comprising:

raising a needle away from a needle seat and thereby allowing high pressure fuel to flow between the needle and the needle seat and into a substantially cylindrical passageway;

filling a nozzle sac having a curved, non-spherical profile with high pressure fuel;

guiding high pressure fuel from the nozzle sac through a plurality of spray orifices; and

injecting fuel from the spray orifices into one of an intake manifold and a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the needle moves along a central axis, and wherein filling the nozzle sac includes filling a nozzle sack having a substantially elliptical profile when viewed in a cross section taken along the central axis.