Parametric Investigation of Performance Emission and Combustion Characteristics of Hydrogen Fuelled SI Engine

Abstract

Hydrogen fuel has been considered a clean fuel for not only automotive use but also newlinefor industrial and household applications. The main purpose of this research work is to newlineprovide solutions to these issues, i.e., alternate fuels and engine emissions. There are newlinevarious technologies available to supply hydrogen to the engine for combustion. The newlinevarious methods of hydrogen supply to the engine are: fuel manifold induction, manifold newlineinjection, port fuel injection, and direct injection. This research work adopted a newlineport fuel injection strategy to study the performance, emission, and combustion characteristics newlineof an SI engine using hydrogen fuel. The engine used for research is a brand newlinenew engine with a higher compression ratio and high speed. The engine modifications newlinewere carried out to convert the engine from gasoline to hydrogen fuel, by modifying the newlinespark plug, injectors, and ignition system. This engine set up is made as a flexible fuel newlineengine to run on gasoline, CNG, and hydrogen for a full range of speeds. The highest newlinepower generation is obtained for gasoline fuel, and a 20% drop in power is observed newlinewhen running with CNG fuel and 62% for hydrogen fuel. The greater reduction in newlinepower output for hydrogen fuel is due to the low density of hydrogen. As hydrogen newlinefuel is free from carbon, the only emission is NOx, and other emissions such as THC, newlineCO, and CO2 are not found in the exhaust. The second investigation on the engine is newlineto evaluate the effects of lean and rich conditions on these fuels at a constant speed of newline6000 rpm. The experiment was also conducted to test the lean limit of hydrogen fuel newlinefrom a relative air-fuel ratio (and#955;) =1.5 to and#955;=4 and compared with gasoline and CNG fuel. newlineIt is observed that as the relative air-fuel ratio is increased, the brake power decreases, newlinebut brake thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption increase with lower newlineNOx emissions. A Third experiment was performed on the effect of spark plug location newlineon engine performance, combustion, and emissions for gasoline and hydrogen