Hydrogen – the fuel of the future Hydrogen – the oldest, lightest and most frequently found element in the universe is also the simplest chemical element. This small molecule could be the solution to a major problem - the dependence on fossil fuel and the global warming caused by emissions of carbon dioxide. The substance with the mole- cular formula H 2 can be produced from water by means of renewable resources, has hardly any impact on the environment and in principle is available in infinite quantities. With these attributes hydrogen certainly fulfils the requirements of a fuel to ensure mobility in the future. MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and Neoplan Bus GmbH, with their great commitment to the development of buses with hydrogen drives, demonstrate that the H 2 future has already begun.
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Hydrogen – the fuel of the future
Hydrogen – the oldest, lightest and most frequently found
element in the universe is also the simplest chemical element.
This small molecule could be the solution to a major problem -
the dependence on fossil fuel and the global warming caused
by emissions of carbon dioxide. The substance with the mole-
cular formula H2 can be produced from water by means of
renewable resources, has hardly any impact on the environment
and in principle is available in infinite quantities. With these
attributes hydrogen certainly fulfils the requirements of a fuel
to ensure mobility in the future. MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and
Neoplan Bus GmbH, with their great commitment to the
development of buses with hydrogen drives, demonstrate
that the H2 future has already begun.
Boundless energy.
As a part of the biological cycle, hydrogen can be found in
numerous organic compounds and it is a constituent of water.
The fact that about 71 % of the surface of the earth consists of
water just goes to show what an inexhaustible energy source
hydrogen is. A promising method of producing it is electrolysis,
the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen with the aid
of electricity. It makes good ecological sense to generate the
energy necessary to achieve this from renewable sources such
as the sun, wind or hydroelectric or geothermal power.
NEOMAN Bus gases up.
As a pioneer of gas drives the NEOMAN Bus Group is putting
its great expertise in this field to good effect in the systematic
ongoing development of environmentally acceptable drive
concepts. Back in 1996 MAN presented the first hydrogen
bus with an internal combustion engine worldwide to the public
and then carried out two years of trials of the hydrogen engine
in customer service. Spurred on by this success, the second
generation of low-floor buses with hydrogen-fuelled internal
combustion engines came onto the road in 1999 in Munich in
the course of the H2-Argemuc project. In summer 2006 a
further milestone in the development of the new, environmen-
tally friendly technology was reached when the first four buses
with combustion engines were put into service in Berlin within
the framework of the European HyFLEET:CUTE project spon-
sored by the EU commission. 14 hydrogen buses will be going
into service in Berlin by 2009.
Foto: TOTALWerner Weisflog
The hydrogen bus with an internal combustion engine: full speed ahead towards series production.
Experience leads the way.
In the meantime MAN can look back on over 550,000 kilo-
metres of practical service with hydrogen buses. This success
is inseparably linked with the H2-Argemuc project in Munich.
From mid 1999 until the end of 2006 three low-floor articulated
buses powered by hydrogen will have been in service as
passenger-shuttle buses at Munich airport – two MAN Lion's
City and one NEOPLAN Centroliner (until 2005). To date they
have covered over 450,000 km together and have proved to
have convincingly high availability rates. In April 2004 a further
MAN hydrogen bus was put into operation as a demonstration
at the Berlin public transport authority, BVG. All of these buses
are equipped with hydrogen combustion engines. Parallel to
this MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG is also developing and assessing
the use of hydrogen with a forward-looking fuel- cell drive. Both
the state-of-the-art fuel-cell bus with a hybrid fuel-cell drive and
a further bus with a combustion engine will be deployed in
service for the public transport company operating around
Munich airport. The first H2 fleet trials in Berlin are putting the
experience gained to widespread use and this will serve as a
basis for future service.
Exhaust gas emissions of the hydrogen engine
H2866UH01
The environmental engine of progress.
The distinctive features of hydrogen combustion engines are
their robustness and the use of perfected technology. This
makes them particularly reliable and relatively cost-effective
in production and predestines them for series service in the
city bus segment in the near future. The hydrogen combustion
engine which is already available is a naturally aspirated
6-cylinder in-line engine installed horizontally which operates
according to the four-stroke Otto principle. The monovalent
engine, i.e. designed exclusively for operation with hydrogen,
with a capacity of 12.8 litres develops an output of 150 kW
(204 hp) and a maximum torque of 760 Nm. A considerably
more powerful engine with exhaust-gas supercharging and
an output of 200 kW (272 hp) is currently being developed
and will be put into service in Berlin in 2007.
The typical features of the H 2876 UH01 hydrogen engine
are the external fuel preparation and the ignition by means of
spark plugs. Since hydrogen ignites more easily and combusts
more rapidly than petrol, measures must be taken to prevent
spontaneous ignition, backfiring in the intake duct and
knocking. MAN’s hydrogen engine therefore has a lower com-
pression ratio of 8.5 : 1, sequential multi-point hydrogen
injection by means of electromagnetic valves
and a map-controlled injection system with
special spark plugs with platinum electrodes.
By means of a slight oversaturation of the fuel/air
mixture with hydrogen the nitrogen oxide
emissions are minimised in a secondary catalyst.
MAN’s hydrogen engine thus displays values over ten times
better than all the fixed future EU exhaust-gas limits through to
Euro 5 and even achieves considerably better emission values
than those laid down in today’s most demanding exhaust-gas