RET127 Temp Digital

62 INSIGHT : PMWE 2020 create a hydrogen infrastructure across parts of western Europe. The infrastructure is applicable to fuel cell electric vehicles such as the new category of Prototype that the ACO is encouraging for Le Mans from 2024 (see Grid in this issue). At the same time, there is scope in certain spheres for motorsport to embrace hydrogen as an alternative to gasoline or as an adjunct to it for existing engines. Aston Martin raced a hydrogen-gasoline hybrid in the 2013 Nurburgring 24 Hour race ( RET 70, May 2013). Its V12 Rapide S used a hybrid hydrogen system developed by Austrian company Alset Global, enabling it to run on gasoline, hydrogen or a mixture of both. In essence, the system consisted of carbon fibre composite hydrogen storage tanks, a fuel rail providing an individual solenoid-type hydrogen injector for each cylinder and a dedicated system controller that interfaced with the regular engine control unit. The system exploited gaseous hydrogen stored at 350 bar, and the Rapide S had a 100 litre gasoline tank plus 200 litres of hydrogen storage volume in four tanks. That volume held sufficient hydrogen at 350 bar to run a full lap of the 25 km Nurburgring circuit at racing speed without gasoline assistance. To overcome the loss of 17% of engine output attributable to the use of hydrogen rather than gasoline, the engine was fitted with turbo-superchargers, (it is worth noting that the use of hydrogen results in relatively low exhaust temperatures). FEV notes that it has nearly 40 years of experience in hydrogen engine development. Prof Stefan Pischinger of FEV Group, remarked, “The one advantage that fuel cells have is their high efficiency at low loads. But at higher specific loads, their efficiency level deteriorates in comparison with the hydrogen internal combustion engine, whose degree of efficiency may be poorer at low loads but increases with load. In other words, the efficiency benefits vary depending on the load. “Despite the known advantages, fuel cell development is still in its early stages, and very few development and testing methods have taken root so far. The hydrogen internal combustion engine, on the other hand, is a robust, cost-efficient option for zero-CO 2 transport that can be implemented quickly under the current production infrastructure, and also offers potential for existing vehicles. “Our customers appreciate the fact that FEV is a one-stop shop that can deliver all development services from end to end. That includes development and design, construction, vehicle integration, commissioning, calibration, and testing of components and complete hydrogen engines.” FEV operates dedicated test benches in Aachen, Germany, which have testing capacity for hydrogen internal combustion engines with an output of up to 640 kW. Food for thought in a changing environment. use Inconel 625. This is a material of which Lentus Composites’ sister company SST Technology has now had three-and-a-half years’ experience with in-house additive manufacturing, primarily for exhaust system applications. Dewhirst reported that production of additively manufactured components is now at the rate of 3500 units a year. The use of the technology can provide scope to save on weight and improve the reliability of exhausts, including turbocharged systems. In other news, Dewhirst remarked that the carbon fibre driveshafts produced by Lentus Composites, as mentioned in our 2018 Autosport Engineering report ( RET 109, March/April 2018), are now used by more than half of the Formula E field. He added that the weight-saving and torsional stiffness-improving technology is particularly relevant to hybrid and electrical vehicles with front-wheel driveshafts. In addition, Lentus Composites is developing advanced composite gears, which again will be very applicable to electric vehicles, especially for those having large final drives. They will offer weight, inertia and even NHV benefits. New products from AEM include its EV Controls Division’s VCU200 and 300 vehicle control units, an eight-button CAN keypad, and a PDU-8 power distribution unit, all of which were previewed in RET 125 (Spring/Summer 2020). Lawson Mollica told us that the PDU-8 has now been validated for use with AEM’s Infinity ECU, so it is relevant for both EV and internal combustion engine applications, using an AEM ECU/VCU or a third-party ECU with an Open CAN architecture. Also new from AEM are updated gas and turbodiesel water/ methanol Injection (WMI) systems, thanks to what it describes as “a breakthrough injector design that improves atomisation to deliver faster inlet temperature cooling and uses less fluid to maintain cooling”. This improvement in injector technology is coupled with a new WMI pump design that is 100% waterproof, making it is safe for engine bay or frame rail mounting. AEM reports that in its testing of the new ‘V3’ 250 cc WMI nozzle against the previous V2 250 cc nozzle both achieved a 90-degree inlet temperature reduction but the V3 design achieved that nearly 6.5 seconds faster. Testing it against a V2 500 cc nozzle revealed that the latter achieved nearly identical cooling but required almost 44% more fluid to achieve the same cooling. The V3 injector can be bought as an upgrade to existing AEM WMI systems. Powertrain developer FEV has reminded us that hydrogen is an attractive means of attaining zero CO 2 emissions from a conventional IC engine, in tune with the direction that society is going. A renewable energy source, hydrogen can be transported over long distances and used to store large amounts of energy, and there is currently a push to n Exploded view of AEM’s V3 WMI nozzle