7 - Hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines

Abstract

Use of hydrogen as a fuel for internal combustion engines has been the topic of research for over a century. The earlier efforts were sporadic and mainly confined to the laboratory. At present, there is a renewed spate of interest in hydrogen fuel because of its ability to provide long-term solutions to the energy–environment crises. There have been numerous studies of the hydrogen engine in several parts of the world. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss the efforts and attainments of all these efforts. Technical solutions have already been provided by several researchers, industries, and government organizations to counter the characteristic problems leading to preignition, backfire, rough combustion, and high rate of pressure rise. Modest efforts have been made in this chapter to bring out the technological route of operating both the spark ignition (SI) and compression ignition engines with hydrogen fuel to obtain optimum performance and low exhaust emission characteristics without any undesirable combustion phenomena. As far as the SI engines are concerned, fuel induction techniques form the most critical part of system development. Design features of fuel induction techniques for SI engines are discussed for an optimum engine configuration. The technical features of hydrogen supplementation and the potential of blended fuels with hydrogen are also highlighted. The broad differences between the conventional engine and the hydrogen-fueled engine are discussed.