Research on the hydrogen injection strategy of a direct injection natural gas/hydrogen rotary engine considering apex seal leakage

The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the hydrogen injection strategy on the combustion performance of a natural gas/hydrogen rotary engine. Considering that apex seal leakage (ASL) is an inevitable problem in the actual working process of a rotary engine, the action of ASL cannot be ignored for an in-depth study of its combustion performance. Therefore, in this paper, a 3D dynamic simulation model that put the effect of ASL into consideration was established. Furthermore, based on the established 3D model, the combustion process of a natural gas/hydrogen rotary engine under various hydrogen injection angle (HIA) and hydrogen injection timing (HIT) was investigated. The results indicated that the hydrogen jet flow first impacted on the rotor wall after entering the cylinder, and then diffused under the action of the vortexes in the cylinder. Therefore, the HIA and HIT could change the hydrogen distribution by changing the hydrogen impact location and the intensities of the vortexes in the cylinder. In addition, the ideal hydrogen distribution at the ignition timing which could improve the combustion efficiency was given. That is, under the premise of ensuring minimized hydrogen leakage, the hydrogen should mainly distribute in the middle and the front of the cylinder, and a high hydrogen concentration is maintained near the spark plug. (C) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.