Application of H2ICE Technology on Commercial Vehicles

Authors

G. Dober, S. Coster, C. Cardon, N. Wilson, J. Wray, D. Guerrato - BorgWarner

Summary

The Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2ICE) is an attractive option to eliminate CO2 emissions in global automotive markets and is seeing rapidly growing interest. For challenging applications, with high power requirements and/or long ranges the H2ICE offers advantages in vehicle range and refueling time. As the engine and vehicle architecture can largely be reused the speed and the economics of the powertrain conversion to H2 is a viable option for the rapid introduction of zero CO2 solutions. Nevertheless, adaptations are required on the fuel injection system, the air-path and the engine control system in order to reach high efficiency and power as well as low emissions.

This paper discusses the injection system solutions for both medium and high pressure direct injection applications including the injector and the fuel control module. Particularly for commercial vehicle Diesel engine conversions, with swirl and low air-charge motion, the air-fuel mixing is a critical factor influencing the emissions formation, the efficiency and the power. The potential for injection pressure, flow rate and jet design to assist the air-fuel mixing and the overall engine performance is discussed. For efficiency and emissions reasons, it is necessary to operate the H2ICE engine with very lean air-fuel mixtures, requiring an upgrade to the air-path both for maximum power and transient performance. The hardware and software for the H2 engine control is discussed in detail and the new control functions necessary for H2ICE are presented…