34.13.
Hydrogen Operated Engine
Present hydrogen engines are both spark and compression ignition IC engines operating on two-cycles. The hydrogen is injected into the cylinders in liquid form. Air, oxygen or argon is used with hydrogen in the engine combustion chamber. The power output of hydrogen-air engine is lower than petrol engine because of lower volumetric efficiency and backfires near theoretical mixture ratio. These disadvantages are overcome by injecting hydrogen liquid at around 123 K into the cylinder. These engines can run with lean combustion mixture of hydrogen and air. Indicated power of these engines varies widely with fuel injection and ignition timing. It is because hydrogen is a low-molecular weight fuel having large volume proportion in air-fuel mixture. Heat transfer losses are more in hydrogen engine than in petrol engine under same running conditions. A liquid-hydrogen powered light duty car “Musashi III” has already been demonstrated in Japan at a maximum operating speed of 118 km/hr.
