The Bi-Fuel V12 Engine of the New BMW Hydrogen 7
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
You will find the figures mentioned in this article in the German issue of MTZ 06I2007 beginning on page 000. SGS-04-22 Der bivalente V12-Motor des BMW Hydrogen 7 The Bi-fuel V12 Engine of the new BMW Hydrogen 7 The V12 engine of world‘s first hydrogen-powered luxury saloon car, which was created in a series development process, represents a further landmark along the road to the hydrogen age. Thanks to se- quential hydrogen injection, combined with Valvetronic and a com- plex operating strategy, the 6.0 l engine develops 390 Nm of torque and a power output of 260 bhp. At the same time it clearly undercuts the toughest emissions regulation worldwide. 1 Introduction Due to the lack of a supply infrastruc- ture network for mono-fuel hydrogen vehi- Hydrogen generated by renewable means, cles, the BMW Group decided in favour of a as a carbon-free energy carrier, offers great- bi-fuel power train. est potential for securing the individual mobility of future generations. The devel- opment of the BMW Hydrogen 7 represents 2 Design Features an important step towards this goal. This was the first time in the world that a pre- 2.1 Basic Engine mium hydrogen vehicle underwent the en- The engine is based on the 6.0 l V12 petrol tire series development process, where the engine with Valvetronic and petrol direct identical standards as for all other produc- injection from the BMW 760i [3], Table. tion models of the BMW Group applied. To keep irregular combustion phenom- Authors: The BMW Hydrogen 7 will be built on a ena (knocking, self-ignition, backfiring) un- Wolfram Enke, Manfred Gruber, small scale of 100 units, which are destined der control, the compression ratio was low- Ludwig Hecht and Bernhard Staar for use worldwide by decision-makers in ered to ε = 9.5. This involved shortening the the fields of politics, business and research. connecting rod by 1.5 mm as well as adapt- One aim is to gain their support for the es- ing the geometry of the piston head. tablishment of the infrastructures and the Slits were made in the aluminium cylin- pioneering of the technologies needed to der block at the gussets between the cylin- smooth the way for hydrogen mobility. der liners in order to achieve more consist- 2 MTZ 06I2007 Volume 68 Alternative Drives DEVELOPMENT ent heat dissipation around TDC (top dead Engine Data Petrol Bi-Fuel centre) by increasing the coolant flow in Type V-12 / 60° this area. A specially developed four-layer Firing Order 1-7-5-11-3-9-6-12-2-8-4-10 metal gasket establishes the sealing with Displacement 5972 cm3 the cylinder head. The particularities of the stoichiometric Bore / Stroke 89 / 80 mm combustion of hydrogen at full load, such Cylinder Spacing 98 mm as the higher flame propagation speed, the Number of Valves per Cylinder 4 smaller flame quenching distance and the Intake Valve Diameter 35 mm more intensive heat transfer rate than with Exhaust Valve Diameter 29 mm petrol, imply that the piston and the piston Intake Valve Lift 0.3 - 9.85 mm rings are subjected to quite higher thermal and mechanical stress. Exhaust Valve Lift 10.3 mm The new designed piston was therefore Main Bearing Diameter 70 mm configured for higher peak pressures (up to Big-end Bearing Diameter 54 mm 170 bar), Figure 1. Moreover, the thermal Compression Ratio 11.3 : 1 9.5 : 1 stress on the ring groove area has been re- Connecting Rod Length 140 mm 138.5 mm lieved trough the inclusion of a cooling Fuel Frade RON 98 H or RON 98 duct. 2 In configuring the new piston rings, one Table 1: V12 engine’s key data for petrol (basis) and bi-fuel (H2 and petrol) had to keep the blow-by gases as low as pos- sible to avoid the adverse effects arising from a high hydrogen and water content in the crankcase. The 1.2 mm thick compres- needed. The amount of required heat for large cross-sectional areas within a very sion ring represents a compromise between evaporation is drawn from the engine cool- short period. good shape adaptability and mechanical ant and regulated by means of an electric robustness. pump. 2.3 Ignition System The blow-by gases are lead back into Due to its molecular weight, hydrogen The ignition system with solid-state igni- the combustion chamber through the in- handling demands high leak tightness in tion distribution has been adopted from take manifold. In order to exclude the oc- the fuel system. All detachable connec- the petrol engine. A racing surface igni- currence of backfiring in the crankcase, tions, as well as O-ring seals and sealing tion spark plug without protrusive ground an additional shutoff valve has been fitted surfaces on the pressure regulator and on electrode avoids self-ignition in the hydro- in the supply line of the crankcase ventila- the feed line are therefore of a double-wall gen mode. To reduce the hotspot effect, tion system. design. Eventual leakage occurring is iden- the spark plug calorific value has been se- The engine oil quality selection had to tified by a central hydrogen gas sensor. lected to be lower than for a petrol-only be optimised for the hydrogen operating The gaseous hydrogen reaches the rail engine. mode. of the intake manifold (3), Figure 2, trough Like for all gaseous-fuel engines, it was an electromagnetic pressure regulating 2.4 Thermal Management necessary to thoroughly tune the valves valve (1) and the partly flexible stainless One particular feature of the hydrogen op- with their seat rings due to the absence of steel feed line (2). The injection valves (4) erating mode is the broad variation in heat additives. A specially developed wear-opti- supply then the hydrogen sequentially to input between stoichiometric combustion mised alloy was adopted for the seat rings. the intake air. at full load and lean combustion at part At operating conditions close to the The rail pressure regulation is per- load. That fact, together with the high wa- knock limit, knock control requires retard- formed by means of pressure and tempera- ter content in the blow-by gas, implies that ed ignition timing. This implies higher ex- ture sensors (5). This simplifies map-con- the engine thermal management has to be haust gas temperatures, which consequent- trolled gas metering. of a high standard. It must ensure trough ly leads to higher thermal stress on the ex- The aluminium intake manifold with the oil conditioning optimum tribological haust valves. For that reason, these valves the integrated hydrogen collector is manu- conditions at all times. are made of a high thermal resistance Ni- factured by precision sand casting. The The hydrogen heat exchanger of the LH2 monic alloy. Both, the intake and the ex- high standard of gas-tightness required (liquid hydrogen) tank is connected to the haust valves have also an additional rein- means that the casting has to be of a su- engine coolant circuit, Figure 4. This addi- forcement in order to minimise wear. premely high quality. tional circuit is a self-regulating system The entire hydrogen supply system is de- that uses engine‘s heat to increase the hy- 2.2 Hydrogen Supply and signed to remain intact in the event of a drogen pressure inside the tank. A control Mixture Formation crash. thermostat maintains the temperature in In contrast to the petrol mode, hydrogen- The metering precision of the hydrogen the circuit at about 50 °C. The hydrogen mixture formation is based on a cylinder- injection valves, Figure 3, directly influenc- tank and safety control unit (see chapter selective intake manifold injection with a es the idling quality, the load control, the 4.3), which also manages the system diag- relatively low overpressure of 1 bar. This emissions performance and engine‘s ten- nosis (freeze-protection), activates the aux- pressure is generated exclusively by evapo- dency to backfire. The valve design with iliary water pump in the small circuit de- ration of cryogenic hydrogen in the tank, radial gas admission and axial discharge pending on the heat requirements of the and therefore no hydrogen feed pump is provides an optimum basis for handling hydrogen heat exchanger. MTZ 06I2007 Volume 68 3 DEVELOPMENT Alternative Drives 3 Functional Features In the range of maximum power output, compensate the torque leap, the ignition with a mixture slightly richer than stoichi- timing has also to be simultaneously ad- 3.1 Full Load ometric, the NOX can be reduced in the justed to the λ value. The throttle valve, The maximum torque and power output three-way catalytic converter using the which responds more slowly to adjust- level will be achieved at stoichiometric hy- slight hydrogen surplus (approximately ments than the mixture and the ignition drogen operation with very low emissions 1%). The high reactivity of hydrogen allows timing, must be tracked. While the throttle and high efficiency. conversion rates of more than 99.9 % and valve is moving to the target position, the One characteristic effect of intake mani- therefore very low tailpipe NOX concentra- torque is adjusted by the ignition timing. fold injection of gaseous hydrogen is, how- tions. A modified catalytic coating im- Once the throttle valve reaches the posi- ever, a charge loss, since at stoichiometric proved the rate of conversion even further. tion, the ignition timing returns back to operation the hydrogen displaces approxi- At λ values of approximately 0.97, the re- the optimum combustion range. mately 30 % of the aspirated air.