It would be pretty amazing if the engines in our vehicles released nothing but water vapor, wouldn't it? Well, a recent innovation by Diamond & Zebra Electric Mfg. Co. may bring us one step closer to seeing that vision realized.
Diamond & Zebra is a Japanese company that creates advanced ignition systems. It's mostly known for its work on environmentally friendly technology that utilizes ammonia as fuel. However, thanks to a new innovation, its legacy may ultimately revolve around the hydrogen engine.
The company recently developed a potential answer to one of the hydrogen engine's most common problems: false ignition. A new ignition coil it has designed has the power to prevent this issue.
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The renewable hydrogen fuel used in these engines can ignite extremely easily. A small amount of residual voltage or slight heat is all it can take. This has made unintended ignition difficult to prevent. But with its new false ignition prevention function, Diamond & Zebra believes it may have solved this riddle.
Prototypes of the new ignition coil were made available to engine manufacturers beginning in October 2024. If they work as intended, it represents the clearing of a significant hurdle in the quest for an engine that runs on renewable fuel.
The hydrogen engine is not a brand-new concept. It was first invented in 1806 by a Swiss engineer named François Isaac de Rivaz. The de Rivaz engine ran on a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, and may well have been the first internal combustion engine ever.
However, due to the inefficiency of the early design, the hydrogen engine was not the first engine to really take off, literally or figuratively.
Now, with the search for environmentally friendly propulsion growing every day, the hydrogen engine is being explored once again. This is because a hydrogen engine's fuel is renewable, it only releases water vapor, and it can have the same lifespan as a diesel engine. Further development may even allow hydrogen engines to create the same power as diesel engines.
While the Diamond & Zebra ignition coil is still in its early stages, the fact that it's been made available to manufacturers is promising. The company has confidence in its new product, and it believes that it's applicable to a variety of hydrogen engines. This may be one big environmentally-friendly domino that sends hydrogen engine manufacturers off to the races.
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