Tiny Hydrogen Engine May Replace Traditional Combustion Engine
The company behind the engine claims it overcomes the shortcomings of hydrogen fuel cells.
Israel-based Aquarius Engines unveiled a new hydrogen engine that it says could do away with the global reliance on hydrogen fuel cells and fossil fuels, the company explained in a press statement via PR Newswire.
The machine, which weighs only 22 lb (10 kg), is a single-piston-linear-engine, that runs exclusively on hydrogen. As it has only 20 components and one moving part, the engine is also much cheaper to produce and maintain than traditional engines.
Though Aquarius Engines has so far released little in the way of specifications for their new engine, the company says the Aquarius Hydrogen Engine’s “lightweight design and unique internal-gas-exchange-method would greatly reduce emissions and lower the global carbon footprint.”
The company said its new hydrogen engine has successfully passed a test by Austrian engineering firm AVL-Schrick, showing that the model does indeed operate on hydrogen.
“It was always our dream at Aquarius Engines to breathe oxygen into hydrogen technology as the fuel of the future,” said Gal Fridman, Chairman of Aquarius Engines.
“From initial tests it appears that our hydrogen engine, that doesn’t require costly hydrogen fuel-cells, could be the affordable, green and sustainable answer to the challenges faced by global transport and remote energy production,” Fridman continued. “As the world moves away from fossil fuel, our new hydrogen engine could spark the dawning of the age of Aquarius.”
The electric versus hydrogen debate rages on
Indeed, as with many green initiatives, the financial incentive behind going hydrogen is set to play a big role, and will likely determine whether we eventually drive hydrogen cars or electric at a mass scale.
Really, the main selling point of the new Aquarius Hydrogen Engine, with its one moving part, is the fact that it’s much cheaper than hydrogen fuel cells. The company adds that the machine doesn’t even need lubrication for maintenance.
Still, it might take more for the current trend to veer away from electric vehicles. This week, Volkswagen Auto Group CEO Herbert Diess criticized hydrogen cars on Twitter and stated the group is backing electrification.
Elon Musk was quick to reply, saying “Diess is right. Hydrogen is a staggeringly dumb form of energy storage for cars. Barely worth considering it for a rocket upper stage, which is its most compelling use.”
That’s not to say plenty of companies aren’t exploring hydrogen fuel as a sustainable method for transportation — including Segway with its bonkers Tron-inspired hydrogen-fueled motorbike.
In fact, Aquarius Engines recently announced partnerships with auto-parts manufacturers TPR and Honda-affiliate Musashi Seimitsu. Japan is one of the few countries to have bet big on hydrogen as part of its Green Growth Strategy.
Aquarius Engines unveiled the first iteration of its 22-lb engine in 2014, though that one didn’t run on 100 percent hydrogen. It was designed to be used as an onboard power generator in vehicles or as a stationary electricity generator.
See more here interestingengineering.com
Header image: David Katz
Editor’s note: this article was originally published in May 2021
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S.K.
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What’s the point if producing affordable hydrogen and safe infrastructure is not achievable?
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S.K.
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Talk about putting the cart before the horse.
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RabbleRouser
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Who says “producing affordable hydrogen and safe infrastructure is not achievable”? A 3rd grade child can produce hydrogen in their bathroom at home… Of course, you’re talking about big conglomerate industry having a controlled monopoly over the production, storage and distribution, so that the Wall Street leaches can continue to live off of everyone else’s labor… but I’d rather see them all starve and die.
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Guido FORRIER
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about 60 years ago I produced in the kitchen of my parents some hydrogen and i was not aware the bunsen burner was still on : a very big bang and for 15min deaf ….hydrogen is the lightest gas and sneaks through seals = high risk of explosion.
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Tom O
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Yes, you can produce hydrogen by electrolysis. You use electricity to over power the hydrogen-oxygen bond, and you get energy back when you burn it. It is a net loser of energy, then. How is that going to replace any fuel that produces more energy than it takes to acquire it? You can never get “free hydrogen” without breaking its bond with whatever it is combined with. It is senseless to pursue such crazy projects. It is like trying to get “free energy” from the solar panel that can never deliver the total energy that it took to create it in its lifetime of use.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Tom,
“You can never get “free hydrogen” without breaking its bond with whatever it is combined with.” Absolutely correct. Except, there is a lot of free hydrogen in the stars and gaseous planets because there are no other atoms (molecules) for it to combine.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Mario M
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Hydrogen is not an energy source, it is an energy vector, less efficient than electricity
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Ken Hughes
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This device looks highly suspicious to me. I can see what might be the inlet and the obvious exhaust, but one piston in the middle cannot produce work without some sort of crank, so where is that? Ultimately the output must be a rotating shaft. Where is that? ‘Doesn’t look mechanically viable to me. Is this a scam?
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