Yanmar develops maritime hydrogen fuel cell system.
Yanmar participated in projects funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the Ministry of the Environment to develop technology for maritime fuel-cell systems, conduct demonstration tests of a fuel cell-powered boat, and study shore-to-ship hydrogen refuelling procedures.
From 2015 to 2017, Yanmar joined a project to research the development of Safety Guidelines for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Ships. Then, it joined a project to develop a Roadmap for Deployment of Hydrogen Fuels Cell for Maritime Applications, funded by the Ministry of the Environment.
Ultimately, the company started a project to develop and test a maritime hydrogen fuel-cell system on a test boat in 2019, using components from a Toyota MIRAI fuel-cell vehicle.
Takuya Hiraiwa, Yanmar engineer, who handled safety design and compliance with government standards on the project.
Traditionally, Yanmar’s business models have been based on internal combustion engines, but we are embarking on a challenge to transform ourselves to a powertrain solution supplier that does not only depend on engines.
Yanmar’s project manager on the fuel cell project, Takehiro Maruyama, said to create the prototype test boat, the team essentially had to start from scratch.
Mr Maruyama said, noting that collaboration with internal and external partners was a key element of the success of the project.
Mr Maruyama:
We had to develop an electric powertrain that included not only the fuel-cell system but also other components such as lithium-ion batteries and a motor as well as the power management software.
“We also had to design a new hull and the boat required a special hydrogen refuelling facility,”
According to Mr Maruyama, the team made test runs with the prototype vessel in Oita, the capital city of Oita Prefecture in southwest Japan. They made necessary adjustments to the electric powertrain control software, then verified the performance of the hydrogen fuel-cell system under actual navigation conditions.
In September 2021, the test boat was moved to Osaka Bay and refuelled with a 70-MP high-pressure hydrogen refuelling station in the world’s first demonstration of its kind for maritime applications. The boat ran a route connecting the planned site of the Osaka-Kansai Expo set for 2025 with tourist spots along the city’s coast.
The results of these tests will be utilised in the future development of maritime hydrogen fuel-cell system products and the investigation of hydrogen-refuelling infrastructure for ships, according to Yanmar.
Yukihiko Kimura, the designer of the boat’s hull said:
It was amazing that a 12-m boat could run at over 20 knots with an electric motor.
“Of course, there is no smell of diesel oil, or smoke, and it’s very quiet. Also, the acceleration is quite good compared to diesel engine-powered boats due to the features of the electric motor.”
“The demonstration boat is so quiet we can hear the natural sounds of the ocean. It’s something you can’t experience when you’re on a diesel engine-powered boat.” Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.
“From a boat building, navigation and service perspective, since the boat contains many components that are not installed in diesel engine-powered boats, and the actual weight of the boat is heavier, we need to start thinking about how we can make the fuel-cell systems and components lighter and more compact,” he said.
Hihglight:
- A series of Japanese government-funded projects led to the engine manufacturer developing a prototype hydrogen vessel
Yanmar develops maritime hydrogen fuel-cell system, January 12, 2022
