Energy and Exergy Analysis of Internal Combustion Engine with Injection of Hydrogen into the Intake Manifold

Abstract

In this article, first and second law analyses of a spark ignition engine was performed. The experimental data were obtained from a study of the effects of injection of bottled hydrogen gas on spark ignition engine performance that was conducted at the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1977. The tests were performed with two modes of fueling: gasoline mode and gasoline with hydrogen injection mode. The second law analysis determined the main exergy losses and destructions in the system. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the effect of hydrogen gas injection on the exergy destruction and exergy loss to the environment and apply performance assessment parameters. Engine energy and exergy rate balances were determined. For each mode of operation, energy and exergy efficiencies were calculated and compared to one another. Results indicate that the addition of hydrogen improved the thermal efficiency of very lean mixtures only (=0.69). The results of tested gasoline with hydrogen mode demonstrated different energetic performance than the gasoline mode. Results indicate that with the hydrogen injection, the engine demonstrated lower exergetic efficiency and higher exergy destruction as compared to engines operating with gasoline only. Thus, more attention should be paid to the use of hydrogen from the exergy perspective. From the obtained results and the detailed study of previous works, it can be concluded that the addition of hydrogen can improve the performance of spark ignition engines with lean mixtures, in which case hydrogen injection improves the performance of the compression ignition engines at low loads.