Analysis of working characteristics of giant magnetostrictive actuator for direct-drive fuel injector

Based on the structure of direct-drive injectors, the giant magnetostrictive actuator (GMA) for direct-drive injectors designed with giant magnetostrictive materials (GMMs) shows great application prospects in the field of fuel injection. This paper establishes the mathematical model of GMA for direct-drive fuel injector. The numerical model of the GMA is built by means of the Advanced Modeling Environment for performing Simulation of engineering systems (AMEsim) simulation platform combined with the working process of the actuator. A prototype was fabricated, and the correctness of the numerical model was verified by experiments. Through AMEsim, the magnetic potential distribution law, unit step response, and frequency characteristics were analyzed, it is found that the relationship between the magnetic potential and the current on the GMM is approximately linear, and the ratio of the magnetic potential to the total magnetic potential of the magnetic circuit is about 0.9; the unit step response shows that the actuator has a fast response speed, the rise time is about 240 µs, and when the output displacement enters the 5% and 2% error bands, the adjustment time is 540 and 810 µs, respectively; by inputting the sweep signal, it is obtained that the natural frequency of the actuator is about 700 Hz, and the output amplitude is relatively “smooth” with a bandwidth of 0–250 Hz. This research enriches the research methods of GMAs and provides a novel idea for the development of high-performance fuel injectors.