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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

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Authors

Ugochukwu Ngwaka

Boru Jia

Christopher Lawrence

Ben Towell

Shivaprasad Kv



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., …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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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
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.





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