A hydrogen injection system with solenoid valves for a four-cylinder hydrogen-fuelled engine

Abstract

A four-cylinder four-stroke water-cooled gasoline engine with spark ignition is refitted to an in-cylinder injection spark-ignition hydrogen-fuelled engine, and the concept of its test apparatus is set up. The study to be reported in this paper focuses mainly on modification for its hydrogen supply system and combustion system to solve such problems as small power output and abnormal combustion in a hydrogen-fuelled engine. A fast response solenoid valve, which possesses good switch characteristics and very fast response, and its electronic control system are described. A high pressure hydrogen injector is designed to improve hydrogen jet penetration and mixture formation in the combustion chamber, and to prevent backfire occurring in the hydrogen supply pipe between the fast response valve and the combustion chamber. Ignition by spark plug is adopted and an Intel 8098 chip microprocessor is developed to control ignition and injection timing optimally. This study shows that abnormal combustion, such as backfire, pre-ignition, high pressure rise rate and knock, can be controlled and performance of the engine can be improved by means of this system.