G. Hydrogen Combustion
1. Internal Combustion Engines
Description: Spark ignition with carbureted, port, or direct fuel injection.
Goals: Efficiency, Emissions
a) Homogeneous-charge piston engines
b) Rotary engines
c) Hydrogen internal combustion engine transit bus
Description: Collaborative effort with the California South Coast Air Quality Management District and SunLine Transit.
d) Hydrogen / natural gas blended fuel bus
Description: Collaboration with SunLine Transit and UC Davis.
e) Hydrogen internal combustion engine shuttle bus
Description: Develop and evaluate a shuttle bus using a hybrid (with energy storage) hydrogen internal combustion engine with emission controls.
i. NOx emission control system
ii. Engine calibration and testing
iii. Integration with hybrid-electric drive system
2. Turbines
a) Components
i. Lean-burn combustors
Goal: Low NOx
a. Micro element fuel injection
b. Active control
c. Fuel injector cooling
d. Combustion diagnostics
ii. Seals
iii. Liquid hydrogen leak detectors
Goals: Increase operating temperature, Reduce size, system complexity, and electrical system
a. MEMS-based
b. Pd alloy resistors/diodes
c. Nano-Pd resistors
d. Silica carbide
e. Wireless
f. Fiber optic sensors (Bragg cells)
b) Thermal design
i. Regnerativeheat exchanger
Description: for fuel conditioning
a. Materials
b. Coolant channel design
c. Manifold design
ii. Thermal barrier coatings
Goal: Increase operating temperature, Reduce coating loss due to steam environment
a. Silica carbide
b. Superalloys
iii. Blade cooling
a. Heat transfer models
c) Materials
d) Computational fluid dynamics
i. Modeling of flame speeds of hydrogen/hydrocarbon blended fuels
ii. Emissions modeling
iii. Global reaction scheme for hydrogen and blended fuels
e) Engine controls i. Silica carbide sensors
ii. Wireless engine monitoring
iii. Piezoelectric actuators
f) Space-based applications
Description: Test under varying flight conditions, weather. Measure performance, emissions, dynamics,
and safety.
g) FutureGen power plant application
Description: Develop turbines that operate on 12 - 100% hydrogen gas, ready for commercial deployment by 2008. The blended hydrocarbon/hydrogen fuels could reduce NOx emissions. Hydrogen-driven turbines can offer higher power density and greater efficiency than hydrogen-fueled diesels. See I.B.6 for a complete description.
Goals: Increase efficiency (32% today), Lower firing temperature (reduces NOx emissions and enables the use of fuels with higher moisture content)
3. Hydrogen Burning
a) Direct combustion
Description: Hydrogen can be used to fuel a conventional boiler similar to natural gas. The jetting
must be modified to account for the different combustion velocity and increased control requirements
for safe and efficient operation.
b) Catalytic combustion
Description: Hydrogen enters a porous paladium/platinum plate, diffuses in the pores, and reacts
catalytically to produce heat (e.g., for a building). This is more efficient and easier to control than
direct combustion.
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