DEARBORN, Jan. 26, 2006 (FCN) -- Ford Motor Company's research into the major alternative fuel technologies has paid off with the development of the world's first tri-flex fuel engine. By utilizing the company's experience in hydrogen and ethanol-fueled vehicles as well as conventional gasoline engines, Ford engineers produced an engine capable of running on all three fuels.
The engine made its debut at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in the F-250 Super Chief concept truck. While the engine and concept truck may be brand new, the innovation was made possible by the company's ability to leverage existing powertrain technologies.

"We know how to make flex-fuel vehicles quite well and we know how to do hydrogen engines quite well," said David Wagner, technical leader, Research and Advanced Engineering. "Ford's long history with these technologies allowed us to combine these two ideas into one powertrain."

For example, since 1996, Ford has led the industry in production and sales of flex-fuel E85 ethanol/gasoline vehicles. Ford has built more than 1.6 million flex-fuel vehicles that operate on any mix of E85 and gasoline, a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol. At the same time, Ford has been actively developing hydrogen-powered vehicles, with both fuel cells and hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engines.

The resulting Tri-Flex system utilizes a supercharged V-10 engine. Running on hydrogen, the supercharged V-10 engine provides up to 12 percent fuel economy improvement on an energy equivalent basis versus a non-supercharged gasoline V-10.

In addition, when operating on hydrogen, the Tri-Flex V-10 generates 99 percent less CO2 emissions than when running on gasoline.

"In developing the system, we had to make very few modifications to our existing V-10," Wagner said. "We upgraded some components like the valves, seats, pistons and rings and came up with new engine calibrations, but in most ways the engine is very close to our production model."

Wagner explained that in a flex-fuel vehicle, ethanol and gasoline share the same fuel system. A sensor in the fuel line measures the fuel mix and changes the engine calibrations to match the fuel mix.

As for the hydrogen system, Ford introduced a hydrogen V-10 concept at the 2004 auto show. That engine is now near production and will be available in a fleet of dedicated hydrogen-fueled E-450 shuttle buses to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2006.

"To develop the Tri-Flex we combined the engine and fuel systems from the E-450 with the fuel systems of the flex-fuel ethanol/gasoline vehicles," Wagner said.

The result is a truck with two fuel systems (filler pipes, tanks, fuel lines, fuel rails, injectors, etc.) feeding the engine. At the top of each cylinder are two valves, two fuel injectors (one for each fuel system), and one spark plug.

The transition from hydrogen fuel power to either E85 or gasoline is handled through a shifter-mounted switch and can occur while the vehicle is in operation. Transition from either E85 or gasoline to hydrogen requires that the vehicle be at idle to allow for proper engagement of the supercharger, which only operates when the vehicle is powered by hydrogen.

At the moment, the Tri-Flex system is one proposal coming out of Ford's Research and Innovation Center to meet the challenges of fuel efficiency and sustainability. Whether it becomes a production model as happened to its flex-fuel and E-450 dedicated hydrogen V-10 forebears remains to be seen. What is certain, according to the company, is that the engine's existence stems directly from Ford's legacy of technical innovation.

 

Way to go Ford. I think this technology will help in transitioning from mostly gas dependant engines to alternative-fueled engines because infrastructures don't happen overnight or for cheap. Looks like Ford is on their way to saving themselves...doesn't look so good for GM at all. I mean, they had the EVs in the 90s and their making a mild hybrid for their trucks, but they don't have a hybrid system for their cars. The Sequel concept last year was very promising for them, but I think unwise/slow top management is strangling that opportunity. Ever wondered: where is Chrysler Corp. in this alternative fule issue? Anyways, thanks for the article.

 

I think this is a waste. Where can I buy E85 ethanol? Nowhere. Where can I buy diesel? everywhere.