Evaluation of performance characteristics of a novel hydrogen-fuelled free-piston engine generator

Ngwaka, Ugochukwu; Smallbone, Andrew; Jia, Boru; Lawrence, Christopher; Towell, Ben; Roy, Sumit; Kv, Shivaprasad; Roskilly, Anthony Paul

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.02.072

Evaluation of performance characteristics of a novel hydrogen-fuelled free-piston engine generator

Ngwaka, Ugochukwu; Smallbone, Andrew; Jia, Boru; Lawrence, Christopher; Towell, Ben; Roy, Sumit; Kv, Shivaprasad; Roskilly, Anthony Paul

Authors

Ugochukwu Ngwaka

Professor Andrew Smallbone andrew.smallbone@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Boru Jia

Christopher Lawrence

Ben Towell

Dr Sumit Roy sumit.roy@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

Shivaprasad Kv

Professor Tony Roskilly anthony.p.roskilly@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

In this work, we present the experimental results obtained from hydrogen fuelled spark-ignited dual piston free-piston engine generator (FPEG) prototype operated in two-stroke and four-stroke mode. The FPEG testing was successfully conducted at 3.7 compression ratio, engine speed between 5 Hz and 11 Hz and with different equivalence ratios. The FPEG technical details, experimental set-up and operational control are explained in detail. Performance indicators show that both equivalence ratio and engine speed affect the engine operation characteristics. For every set of specified FPEG parameters, appropriate range of equivalence ratio is recommended to prevent unwanted disturbance to electric generator operation. Both two-stroke and four-stroke cycle mode were tested, and the results showed different combustion characteristics with the two thermodynamic cycles. Four-stroke cycle mode could operate with indicated thermal efficiency gain up to 13.2% compared with the two-stroke cycle.

Citation

Ngwaka, U., Smallbone, A., Jia, B., Lawrence, C., Towell, B., Roy, S., Kv, S., & Roskilly, A. P. (2021). Evaluation of performance characteristics of a novel hydrogen-fuelled free-piston engine generator. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46(66), 33314-33324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.02.072

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 9, 2020
Online Publication Date	Mar 12, 2020
Publication Date	Sep 9, 2021
Deposit Date	Mar 20, 2020
Publicly Available Date	Oct 22, 2021
Journal	International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Print ISSN	0360-3199
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	46
Issue	66
Pages	33314-33324
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.02.072
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1274321

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.