Las new regulations on emissions limits of cars in different regions of the world accelerated the advance of electromobility. And this paradigm shift affects all types of manufacturers, from the largest and most massive to the smallest and most exclusive.
There are several cities that already have low-emission zones and others that have announced a total ban on vehicles that generate polluting gases through their streets and avenues.
But electricity is not the only option. Although everything indicates that it will be the dominant one, at least in the near future, many companies were exploring alternatives, especially those in which the combustion engine has a transcendental role in the vehicle, such as sports car manufacturers, for example. This is how the use of synthetic fuels appeared.
That’s why it shouldn’t be surprising that a company like Ferrari, with everything it means within the automotive industry, is developing a new propulsion system that prepares it for the coming years. But the Maranello house project appears as novel as it is revolutionary.
Ferrari just patented it an engine with 6 inverted inline cylinders (yes, upside down), double supercharged and powered by hydrogen. Who knows if Don Enzo I would call this genius or sacrilege.
Low weight and engine noise
The main difference between using hydrogen as a fuel compared to an engine that uses gasoline is that, instead of toxic NOx gases, hydrogen engines produce water as the main product of their combustion cycleAlthough it is true that due to the heat produced by the engine there are still some harmful NOx emissions, these are much lower than those of a gasoline engine.
At the moment, Ferrari’s patents were filed in the European Union and the US, with the particularity that they all credit a single inventor, Fabrizio Favaretto, who has worked at Ferrari for 24 years and currently holds the title of “Manager of Vehicle and Powertrain Architecture Innovation”.
The discovery was made AutoGuide y It sounds like a desecration coming from a brand that is proud of the history of its naturally aspirated V12 engines. However, applications don’t lie, and Ferrari SPA has filed patents for exactly that.
The first thing to say is that unlike many other manufacturers, which see hydrogen as an option to generate electricity through a fuel cell, the Italian brand proposes the use of this gas to be used inside a combustion chamber, just like Toyota.
But Ferrari’s patents show something much more complex. If the presentations are to be believed, the engine looks tremendously intricate. For starters, the diagrams show that Ferrari’s traditional 6, 8 or 12 V-cylinder options have been left by the wayside for an inline 6-cylinder.
The choice of This configuration is what gives you space to locate hydrogen tanks on each side. Both the engine and the transmission would retain the central location that most Ferrari models have today.
But the great particularity of these patents is the position in which the engine block is located, since it is exactly the opposite of what is seen today: the crankshaft points towards the sky and the cylinder head towards the floor.
The system is powered by a series of assists. First, there’s the supercharger, which is mated to two intercoolers. Then, there are two turbos. In turn, there is an electric generator, which could be a kind of 48-volt hybrid system.
Although for now it is only a patent, this design from the Italian brand solves two drawbacks that the transition to electricity poses for many. The first and most important has to do with this solution large and heavy batteries would be dispensed with that add kilos to a vehicle and that in the case of a sports car is a key piece of information.
And the second is more sensorial and passionate but no less important in a model of this type and has to do with noise: when using hydrogen as a gas to combust, the sound of the engine would still be.