HoLeGaMo High Performance Natural Gas Engine for Industrial Applications

When used as a fuel, natural gas exhibits considerable potential for reducing CO2 emissions. Further significant reductions can be achieved by using bio-methane produced either from electricity generated from renewable sources or from biomass. In order to demonstrate the potential of an engine designed from scratch to run on natural gas, DEUTZ AG initiated and carried out the 'HoLeGaMo' (high-performance natural gas engine) project. The target of this project, supported by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy through Project Management Jülich (PTJ), is to develop a test stand demonstrator of a monovalent industrial engine, powered by natural gas, that is capable of delivering a level of performance comparable to that of a corresponding diesel engine with, at the same time, the lowest possible fuel consumption. With four cylinders and a displacement of 5.0 litres, it easily fits into the range of medium-sized industrial engines. In order to achieve the project's aims, a new cylinder head was designed for an existing rugged basic diesel drive unit; the engine was equipped with a VGT turbocharger and, in addition, for each cylinder, a charge dosing valve, operating synchronously to the engine speed, was installed. These dosing valves represent the core feature of the research project: they are intended to de-throttle the stoichiometrically operated and spark ignited engine at partial load and, at high loads, to facilitate internal cooling of the mixture by applying the 'Miller' process. This presentation will illustrate the engine's stationary and dynamic performance compared with a corresponding diesel engine. The benefits and the downsides, in particular of the rapid-acting charge dosing valves employed, and how the necessary modelbased engine management system was implemented will be explained in detail.