Feasibility assessment of hydrogen-rich syngas spark-ignition engine for heavy-duty long-distance vehicle application

Abstract The feasibility of syngas-fueled engine was assessed in numerical simulation using the single-cylinder engine experiment and on-road driving data. A 6-cylinder, 1841-cm3, spark-ignition engine was designed for a highway express bus in South Korea. Firstly, a one-dimensional engine model was constructed on a basis of the single-cylinder engine experimental data. The valve timings were optimized for maximizing the intake air flow at each engine speed. Then, the vehicle simulation model was built for the highway express bus equipped with the syngas engine and 10-speed automatic transmission. A parametric investigation was performed to optimize the gear shift schedule for the best fuel economy under on-road driving condition. The driving data was acquired from an actual highway express bus traveled from Daejeon to Seoul in South Korea. The syngas engine bus exhibited the trip fuel economy of 412 g/km in the driving simulation. The estimated travel distance was 194 km using the stock fuel tank employed for 20-MPa compressed natural gas.