Gaseous hydrogen addition to the basic fuel as the way for improvement of Wankel rotary engine ecological characteristics

Recently hydrogen is recognized to be an alternative fuel for vehicles. Onboard storage of hydrogen amount that is sufficient for internal combustion engine feeding is a rather complex problem. So the application of relatively small hydrogen addition to the basic hydrocarbon fuel that enhances burning rate and has positive influence on burning completeness is of great interest. Wankel rotary engines are more accommodated to hydrogen feeding then reciprocating ones due to less probability of pre ignition and backfire. Furthermore, for Wankel engines the growth of flame propagation speed due to the gaseous hydrogen addition results in decrease of the unburned fuel amount in the vicinity of rotor rear (counter rotation) apex that is common for engines of this type. In this paper experimental data is presented concerning the influence of gaseous hydrogen addition to the basic hydrocarbon fuel on ecological characteristics of Wankel rotary engine VAZ-311. The data mentioned shows that 5% by mass fraction hydrogen addition make it possible to enhance ecological characteristics of the engine on partial loads and idling mode.