All kinds of signs show that the domestic exploration in the field of hydrogen internal combustion engine is quietly rising.
Recently, Xu Yanni, deputy to the National People's Congress, master of internal combustion engine work skills of Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd., and head of new product trial production section, and Liu Hanru, deputy to the National People's Congress, put forward suggestions to encourage the development of hydrogen internal combustion engine, encourage enterprises and research institutions to invest in the development of hydrogen internal combustion engine, and jointly promote the complete autonomy of hydrogen internal combustion engine.
In terms of enterprises, Yuchai group has officially released yck05, China's first commercial vehicle hydrogen combustion engine, and successfully ignited and operated; Cummins will start the operation verification of 15L hydrogen internal combustion engine. In addition, GAC group and FAW Group have received relevant news on hydrogen internal combustion engines.
With the development of fuel cells in full swing, why is hydrogen internal combustion engine emerging?
Research and development of domestic hydrogen internal combustion engine
Hydrogen internal combustion engine, also known as hydrogen fuel engine, is based on the traditional internal combustion engine. It burns hydrogen to generate power by changing the fuel supply system, injection system and fuel, so as to drive the vehicle.
The diversified development of technology can ensure that the development direction of hydrogen energy industry will not deviate seriously to the greatest extent. Therefore, while actively promoting the development of fuel cell technology, China has also not given up its attention to hydrogen internal combustion engine.
In August last year, the Ministry of industry and information technology said in its reply to the recommendation No. 5736 of the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress that in the next step, it would study and promote the inclusion of hydrogen internal combustion engines and give support; On December 3, the Ministry of industry and information technology issued the 14th five year plan for green industrial development, which once again proposed the development of hydrogen fueled gas turbines.
In the field of hydrogen internal combustion engine technology research and development, enterprises represented by Yuchai group, Cummins, GAC group and FAW Group have made achievements.
Among them, yck05 hydrogen combustion engine of Yuchai group adopts the technical route of ultra lean and clean combustion, special SCR post-treatment for hydrogen, high-pressure multi-point injection at the inlet and small inertia high-efficiency turbocharger, with a thermal efficiency of 42%, which can be widely used in public transportation, municipal administration, sanitation, logistics distribution and other scenes.
"In 2020, Yuchai group has completed the technical research and development of 50% thermal efficiency internal combustion engine. It is expected that the 50% thermal efficiency engine will be mass produced before and after the implementation of the fourth phase fuel consumption standard of commercial vehicles in July 2024." Yuchai group said.
It is worth noting that most of the above-mentioned enterprises in the field of hydrogen internal combustion engines are dominated by auto parts giants and auto enterprises. The reason is that as the "major" of China's carbon emission and the main driving force of transportation, automotive internal combustion engines are facing the "big test" of the conversion of old and new kinetic energy under the dual carbon target. Most auto parts giants and auto enterprises have accelerated the pace of technological exploration, The hydrogen internal combustion engine, which integrates the "engine + hydrogen energy" gene, has become an important breakthrough point for these enterprises.
The structure of hydrogen fuel engine is similar to the existing internal combustion engine. Vehicle enterprises and internal combustion engine enterprises can give full play to their technical advantages in internal combustion engine, and even retain the whole internal combustion engine industry chain. Hydrogen internal combustion engine can be easily assembled into the existing vehicle system, and most parts and software can remain unchanged. Therefore, the research and development of hydrogen internal combustion engine has great attraction to the main engine plant.
"As a supplement to the hydrogen fuel cell, power cell and renewable natural gas power chain, the hydrogen engine project will provide more potential technical options for the sustainable development of the transportation industry." Jonathan white, vice president of Cummins and chief engineer of Engine Division, believes that.
Challenges and opportunities coexist
In fact, the development history of hydrogen internal combustion engine can be traced back to 1997. Ford started the development of hydrogen internal combustion engine in 1997, and the car model equipped with its 2.0L hydrogen engine was released in 2001; Mazda released Mazda RX-8 hydrogen re with dual fuel in 2003; BMW mass produced a 12 cylinder 6L hydrogen / Gasoline Dual Fuel Engine Based on BMW 7 Series (E65) in 2005
However, the hydrogen internal combustion engine revolution initiated by car companies at that time seemed to have experienced a long "snow hiding period" after 2005, and did not return to the vision of major car manufacturers until recent years: Mann's first hydrogen internal combustion engine prototype has been tested on the bench in the laboratory, and DEUTZ's hydrogen internal combustion engine products are available for reservation; After launching the world's first hydrogen internal combustion engine racing car in June last year, Toyota announced the development of hydrogen fuel engine in February this year, with an estimated power of 450 horsepower (about 330kw).
Why did this wave of hydrogen internal combustion engine exploration launched by car companies subside and return? What gives hydrogen internal combustion engine the hope of "comeback"?
Firstly, from the working principle of hydrogen internal combustion engine, the parts of hydrogen internal combustion engine and natural gas engine are basically similar, including cylinder block, crank, cylinder head, ignition system, installation parts, etc.
Due to the physical and chemical characteristics of hydrogen, the air-fuel ratio control and fuel injection mode of hydrogen fuel engine are different from natural gas and gasoline engine. Hydrogen is more flammable. Compared with gasoline engine, hydrogen fuel engine is more prone to problems such as early combustion, tempering and detonation, as well as NOx air pollution emission caused by oil burning, which was an insurmountable technical threshold at that time.
In addition, in that year, only car companies "fought alone" in the research and development of hydrogen internal combustion engines. There were a series of problems, such as short life time caused by hydrogen storage, difficult hydrogenation caused by imperfect hydrogen energy technical facilities, and less supply chain support.
If the research and development of hydrogen internal combustion engine at that time was the attempt of major car manufacturers for hydrogen, a high calorific value fuel, then under the background of today's global green change, the research and development of various route power solutions based on hydrogen energy has become an urgent demand of car enterprises and internal combustion engine enterprises.
In the past 20 years, the utilization of hydrogen energy in the field of vehicles has derived two technical routes: hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen internal combustion engine, which have their own advantages and disadvantages.
The combustion efficiency of hydrogen internal combustion engine is lower, and the problems such as endurance, early combustion, tempering, detonation and pollutant emission still need to be improved, but the cost is 1 / 10 or even 1 / 20 of the current fuel cell price. Compared with hydrogen internal combustion engine, hydrogen fuel cell has higher energy conversion efficiency from chemical energy to mechanical energy, and eliminates the oil lubrication system and heat dissipation system in the internal combustion engine, but the cost reduction of each link is still a long way.
In terms of mass-produced vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell technology has developed more rapidly. China has entered the demonstration and promotion stage of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which has promoted the construction of hydrogen energy infrastructure and the improvement of hydrogen energy industry chain. These are also conducive to the development of hydrogen internal combustion engine.
Especially for high load and high power density applications such as medium and heavy trucks, marine engines and construction machinery, electric solutions can not meet their operation requirements. Hydrogen internal combustion engines may provide new zero carbon solutions for these applications.
From the perspective of users, because the appearance, sound and working mode are similar to the familiar internal combustion engine, and the reliability and durability can be comparable to that of diesel engine. It is also a good choice to choose a vehicle equipped with hydrogen fuel engine, which can avoid the concern of potential risks caused by investing in a new technology.
Objectively speaking, in the context of global energy greening, different power lines are good at different fields and scenes, gradually showing a market pattern of letting a hundred flowers bloom.
As a feasible technical route to realize the substitution of traditional fossil energy, hydrogen internal combustion engine has attracted the attention of decision-makers, enterprises and applications. However, at present, the industry is still in the preliminary exploration stage, and the future prospect remains to be seen.
