One attraction was to use the hydrogen in airships to fuel the engines instead of venting it. Hydrogen has a very high flame speed ( 3.24 - 4.40 m/s ), wide flammability limits ( 4.0 - 75 vol% ), low ignition energy ( 0.017 mJ ), high autoignition temperature ( 520C ), and flame temperature of 2050 C. Hydrogen has a very high specific energy ( 120.0 MJ/kg ), making it very desirable as a transportation fuel. The problem has been to develop a storage system that will pass all safety concerns, and yet still be light enough for automotive use. Although hydrogen can be mixed with oxygen and combusted more efficiently, most proposals use air
Unfortunately the flame temperature is sufficiently high to dissociate atmospheric nitrogen and form undesirable NOx emissions. The high flame speeds mean that ignition timing is at TDC, except when running lean, when the ignition timing is advanced 10 degrees. The high flame speed, coupled with a very small quenching distance mean that the flame can sneak past inlet narrow inlet valve openings and cause backflash. This can be mitigated by the induction of fine mist of water, which also has the benefit of increasing thermal efficiency ( although the water lowers the combustion temperature, the phase change creases voluminous gases that increase pressure ) and reducing NOx . An alternative technique is to use direct cylinder induction, which injects hydrogen once the cylinder has filled with an air charge, and because the volume required is so large, modern engines have two inlet valves, one for hydrogen and one for air. The advantage of a wide range of mixture strengths and high thermal efficiencies are matched by the disadvantages of pre-ignition and knock unless weak mixtures, clean engines, and cool operation are used.
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