The first hydrogen engine was developed in China by Yuchai. The YCK05H, designed for city buses, garbage trucks and cargo vehicles, was first launched in December 2021, after which Yuchai began developing the YCK16H, especially for heavy-duty commercial vehicles. At the same time, Yuchai became the first Chinese company to develop hydrogen-powered engines for both light and heavy trucks.
flexible structure
In the case of the YCK16H, hydrogen is introduced into the combustion chamber via direct injection using a common pressure tube. The engine is equipped with dual-channel turbocharging technology, which allows the formation of a homogeneous and stratified mixture inside the cylinder, allowing for higher performance and higher thermal efficiency.
The resource can be adapted to a wide range of fuels of different purities, and can work with gray and green hydrogen, hydrogen from methanol, other fuels and combinations of the former.
To compensate for the relatively low power density of hydrogen, Yuchai engineers decided to build a hydrogen powertrain based on the YC16H engine platform. This chassis is smaller and lighter than similar engines, but at the same time it provides more power than them
The way is open to other alternative fuels
YCK16H is equipped with a self-developed control system that can adjust injection pressure and air volume for many different fuels. This allows the engine type to be adapted to other alternative fuels such as methanol, ammonia, ammonia and hydrogen or a diesel-methanol mixture with fewer hardware changes, thus reducing development cost.
The use of ammonia is also supported by exhaust gas recirculation, which can be used to prevent the combustion difficulties that occur with ammonia engines and the development of uncontrolled spontaneous combustion.
The advantage of methanol and ammonia over hydrogen is lower preparation cost, easier storage, lower environmental impact, and wider application.
The first engine developed based on the hydrogen resource is the YCK15N. The gas-powered engine has already passed static laboratory and road tests, and serial production will begin at the end of 2022.
