NMX‑H2TB‑40 / Rev 01 / ATEX Zone 1 · H₂ Dual Fuel / Noida · India 2026 · Product Page

NMX-H2TB-40 · UNDER CONTRACT — GERMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Hydrogen piston engine test bench. Diesel in. Hydrogen in. Data out.

A complete hydrogen-combustion laboratory in a twenty-foot container: an industrial diesel engine instrumented from conventional CI baseline to hydrogen dual-fuel operation — H₂ port injection with diesel pilot — inside an ATEX Zone 1 cell with a 300 bar hydrogen train, ventilation-interlocked fail-safe fuel valves, two-out-of-two detector shutdown voting, and an on-board load bank. Engineered to EU ATEX, Machinery, LVD and EMC directives, under contract for a German applied-research institute.

Enquire — hydrogen test systems Capability sheet (PDF)

Representative render — containerised hydrogen engine test bench: grey twenty-foot container with ventilation louvres, roof fan and exhaust silencer stack, external emergency stop, and a separate manifolded rack of 300 bar hydrogen cylinders with vent mast

Fig · 01 The test cell — representative render of the containerised bench under contract

Engine Class

~40kW · 1500–2500 rpm

Hydrogen Storage

300bar → 8–10 bar rail

Ventilation

157air changes/hour

ESD Voting

2oo2detectors · fail-safe

Hazard Zone

Zone 1ATEX · interior

ISO 9001 / 14001 Under contract — German research institute Export — European Union ATEX · Machinery · LVD · EMC Noida · India

Overview

Hydrogen combustion is coming. Test it like you mean it.

Every engine maker, fleet operator and research group asking “how much hydrogen can this engine burn?” needs the same thing first: a safe, instrumented place to find out. That place has to handle 300 bar hydrogen, explosive atmospheres, tens of kilowatts of continuous load — and still produce clean, comparable data.

Representative render — inside the hydrogen engine test cell: grey-blue industrial diesel engine with stainless hydrogen port-injection rail, direct-coupled alternator on anti-vibration mounts, perforated acoustic lining and ceiling-mounted hydrogen detectors

Fig · 02 Inside the cell — engine, H₂ rail, alternator and ceiling detectors (representative render)

The bench packages that laboratory into one container. A ~40 kW industrial diesel engine runs its conventional compression-ignition baseline — NOx, particulate and CO₂ measured and logged — then switches to hydrogen dual fuel: hydrogen injected into each intake port at 8–10 bar while a diesel pilot provides ignition, with mode switching handled by the port injectors and governor rather than a replacement ECU. The same instruments then measure what changed.

Around the engine sits the infrastructure that makes hydrogen testing routine instead of frightening: an ATEX Zone 1 container with ventilation-proven fuel interlocks, a 300 bar storage train that fails closed on any fault, twin ceiling detectors voting two-out-of-two into shutdown, and a direct-coupled alternator absorbing every kilowatt into an on-board load bank — no grid export, no dynamometer cell, no civil works beyond a concrete pad.

The engine is the experiment. Everything else in the container exists so the experiment is boring, repeatable, and safe.

Under Contract · EU Export

A German applied-research institute

Contracted by a German applied-research institute for hydrogen internal-combustion research — engineered in Noida to European directives, with factory and site acceptance procedures, quality plan and functional-test documentation in the delivery scope.

Engineered · ATEX

The safety case is the product

Zone 1 interior, ~157 air changes per hour of interlocked ventilation, fail-safe-closed hydrogen valves, per-cylinder thermal relief vented clear, 2oo2 detector voting, and a hardwired external emergency stop — designed so no single fault can put hydrogen where it shouldn’t be.

Measured · Baseline vs H₂

Comparable numbers, not anecdotes

Diesel baseline emissions and temperatures are logged first — NOx, particulates, CO₂, exhaust gas temperature, lambda — so every hydrogen-share result that follows is a controlled comparison on the same engine, the same instruments, the same day.

Architecture

A power station, a gas plant, and a lab — in one box.

The schematic below is the whole installation — hydrogen train, test cell, load path and safety chain — as the engineering defines it.

FIG · 03TEST CELL SCHEMATIC · H₂ TRAIN · SAFETY CHAIN

Fig · 03 One container — 300 bar hydrogen train with fail-safe letdown, Zone 1 cell, direct-coupled load absorption, hardwired shutdown

Arc · 01

The Engine & Its Modes

A water-cooled industrial diesel of ~40 kW shaft class at 1500–2500 rpm fixed speed. Mode 1 is the untouched CI baseline. Mode 2 adds hydrogen port injection with diesel pilot: injector bosses machined into each intake port 30–60 mm from the valve face — hydrogen’s diffusivity is roughly three times CNG’s, so the CNG-derived distances are deliberately not copied — with FKM/PTFE sealing (never NBR, which hydrogen permeates) and injectors at the top of the port, clear of liquid-fuel pooling. The bench is instrumented for extended hydrogen-share research.

Arc · 02

The Hydrogen Train

300 bar Type I/II cylinder storage, two-stage regulation down to the 8–10 bar injection rail — staged for regulation accuracy across cylinder depletion and for redundancy. Every cylinder carries a thermal pressure-relief device venting upward, clear of ignition sources; the primary solenoid is ATEX Zone 1 rated and fails closed on loss of power, loss of instrument air, or any shutdown signal.

Arc · 03

The Safety Chain

The container interior is ATEX Zone 1. A 6,000 m³/h fan delivers ~157 air changes per hour — and the hydrogen solenoid cannot open unless that flow is proven. Twin ceiling detectors vote: one alarms, two trip the ESD, which closes every hydrogen valve, keeps the fan alive on UPS, and latches the alarm. The manual stop is a mushroom head outside the container wall, hardwired to the valves — not routed through software.

Arc · 04

The Container as Laboratory

A direct-coupled 400 V three-phase alternator absorbs into an internal load bank of 60 kW class, so the bench needs no grid export and no water brake. Oil-free instrument air, filter-dried to ≤−20 °C dew point, pilots the valves; radiator air is ducted separately from cell ventilation; 50 mm acoustic lining and staged silencers hold German daytime site limits; and the safety systems run 24/365 on UPS regardless of testing hours.

Holding a hydrogen-engine, dual-fuel or test-cell requirement? Send it across — clause-by-clause compliance matrix within two working days · [email protected]

Send tender spec

Specifications

Reference specification, as contracted.

The parameters below reflect the bench under contract for a German applied-research institute. Engine class, hydrogen train and cell configuration are re-scoped against your specification.

Full specification — expand

Product	Containerised hydrogen piston-engine test bench · twenty-foot ISO container test cell · design, build, documentation, factory & site acceptance
Engine	Industrial diesel genset engine, ~40 kW shaft class · 1500–2500 rpm fixed speed · water-cooled with integral radiator · high-pressure common-rail injection preferred for precise diesel pilot control
Mode 1 — Diesel Baseline	Conventional CI operation · reference emissions logged: NOx 4–8 g/kWh · particulates · CO₂ ~650 g/kWh · EGT 350–550 °C · λ 1.3–1.8
Mode 2 — H₂ Dual Fuel	Hydrogen port fuel injection + diesel pilot · injector boss M10/M12 per intake port at 30–60 mm from valve face · FKM/PTFE seat seals (NBR excluded — H₂-permeable) · injectors at top of port · rail 8–10 bar · mode switching via port injectors + governor, no ECU replacement · λ 1.8–2.5 · instrumented for extended hydrogen-share research
Load Absorption	Alternator direct-coupled to engine shaft · 400 V, 3-phase, 50 Hz · rating ≥ engine shaft power · internal load bank of 60 kW class (1.5 × engine), IP54, inside the container
Hydrogen Storage	300 bar Type I / Type II cylinders in an external rack · TPRD per cylinder (~110 °C fusible), vented upward ≥3 m from ignition sources
Hydrogen Letdown	Two-stage regulation 300 bar → injection rail · staged for accuracy across depletion and safety redundancy · primary solenoid ATEX Zone 1, fail-safe closed on power loss / air <5 bar / ESD
Hazard Zoning	Container interior Zone 1 · external load-bank area Zone 2 · engine, alternator and mounts Zone-rated or protected by an assessed concept · ATEX anti-vibration mounts
Ventilation	ATEX Zone 1 fan, 6,000 m³/h, VFD-controlled → ~157 air changes/hour (≈38 m³ container) · hydrogen supply interlocked to proven fan flow · radiator airflow ducted separately, no recirculation
Detection & ESD	≥2 ceiling H₂ detectors per zone · 1oo2 = alarm, 2oo2 = ESD · ESD on H₂ >2% vol (50% LEL), instrument air <5.0 bar, fan failure, >40 °C, or manual · actions: all H₂ valves fail-safe closed, ventilation held on UPS, latched audio-visual alarm · external hardwired mushroom stop · detector calibration 6-monthly per DIN EN 60079-29
Instrument Air	Oil-free reciprocating compressor · 6 Nm³/h at 10 bar · 50 L receiver for ESD solenoid bursts · filter-dryer to ≤−20 °C pressure dew point at point of use · low-air pre-alarm 6.5 bar, auto-ESD 5.0 bar
Electrical & UPS	Container mains 20 kVA, 400 V 3-phase · 2 kVA UPS dedicated to detectors, PLC, alarms and emergency lighting — ≥60 min, safety chain live 24/365
Acoustics	50 mm mineral-wool lining with perforated steel facing, ≥20 dB(A) container insertion loss · exhaust silencer ≥25 dB(A) with provision for a secondary stage · intake silencer · engineered to German TA Lärm daytime limits at the site boundary
Conformity	Engineered to EU directives — ATEX 2014/34/EU · Machinery 2006/42/EC · Low Voltage 2014/35/EU · EMC 2014/30/EU · instrument air per DIN ISO 8573 / EN ISO 4414
Documentation	Factory & site acceptance test procedures · quality assurance plan · manufacturing process plan · functional testing process · major calculations · facilities-required schedule — all revision-controlled
Status	Under contract — a German applied-research institute (EU export) · configurable to customer specification

PDF · 1 page

Hydrogen Engine Test Bench — Capability Sheet

Tender Response

Send your specification — clause-by-clause compliance matrix

Variants

One cell discipline, many fuels and frames.

Requirements call this a hydrogen engine test bench, an H₂ dual-fuel test cell, a containerised engine laboratory, or a hydrogen ICE research rig. The architecture flexes to all of them.

Var · 01

The Contracted Cell

~40 kW diesel-to-dual-fuel bench in a Zone 1 twenty-foot container with 300 bar hydrogen train and internal load bank — as engineered for a German applied-research institute.

Var · 02

Other Engine Classes

Larger gensets, marine auxiliaries and multi-cylinder research engines — the load-bank, ventilation and hydrogen-train sizing scale with the shaft power; the safety architecture does not change.

Var · 03

Other Fuels & Blends

CNG and biogas dual-fuel cells, hydrogen-blend test programmes, and instrumentation for spark-ignited hydrogen conversions — each with its own zoning, detection and materials case engineered to the fuel.

Var · 04

Beyond the Container

Fixed test-cell installations, hydrogen supply and boosting infrastructure, emissions instrumentation packages, and operator training — alongside our wider hydrogen line: power-to-power systems, boosting stations and leak-test rigs.

Applications

Where it serves.

Wherever combustion is being taught to burn cleaner.

A · 01Applied-research institutes & universities — hydrogen ICE combustion programmes

A · 02Engine OEMs & converters — dual-fuel development for gensets and off-road engines

A · 03Marine & rail decarbonisation — auxiliary and traction engine fuel-share trials

A · 04Injector & fuel-system developers — port-injection hardware validation under load

A · 05Conformity & certification labs — emissions comparison on a controlled platform

A · 06National hydrogen missions — turnkey cells for new H₂ research capacity

FAQ

Common questions.

Plain-language answers from the engineering team.

Q · 01 What is hydrogen dual-fuel operation, exactly?

Hydrogen replaces part of the diesel energy, not the ignition. H₂ is injected into the intake ports at 8–10 bar and drawn into the cylinder with the air; a small diesel pilot injection then ignites the mixture by compression, as diesel always has. The attraction is that the base engine keeps its architecture — on this bench even the control philosophy stays conventional, with mode switching handled by the port injectors and governor rather than a replacement ECU — while a substantial share of the carbon simply leaves the fuel.

Q · 02 Why does the container need 157 air changes per hour?

Because hydrogen’s flammable range is wide and its molecules escape through joints other gases respect. The defence is dilution: a 6,000 m³/h ATEX fan turns the container’s air over roughly every 23 seconds — several times the rate needed to hold any credible leak far below the lower explosive limit. And the interlock enforces humility: the hydrogen solenoid physically cannot open until that airflow is proven by a pressure sensor on the duct, not assumed by software.

Q · 03 How is the emergency shutdown architected?

In layers, with the pessimistic assumption at every layer. Two ceiling detectors vote — one in alarm warns, both in alarm trip — so a single faulty sensor neither hides a leak nor causes spurious shutdowns. The trip closes every hydrogen valve to its fail-safe state, keeps the ventilation fan alive on UPS, and latches the alarms. Loss of instrument air, fan failure, or over-temperature trip the same chain. And the red mushroom outside the container is hardwired straight to the valves — if every controller dies, the button still works.

Q · 04 Does adding hydrogen automatically reduce NOx?

No — and honest test data is exactly why benches like this exist. At intermediate hydrogen shares, NOx typically rises above the diesel baseline: hydrogen’s faster flame raises combustion temperatures. Push further into lean operation and NOx falls away again. The relationship is non-monotonic, engine-specific, and load-dependent — which is why the bench logs a complete diesel baseline first, then walks the hydrogen share up under identical instrumentation, so the curve you publish is measured, not assumed.

Q · 05 Why two-stage hydrogen letdown from 300 bar?

Three engineering reasons: a manageable pressure ratio per stage, regulation accuracy that survives the storage falling from 300 bar toward empty, and redundancy — two regulators between storage and engine instead of one. One myth worth retiring: it is not about Joule-Thomson cooling. Hydrogen actually warms slightly on expansion at ambient temperature — its inversion temperature is around −71 °C — a detail that separates teams who have engineered hydrogen systems from teams who have read about them.

Q · 06 Can you build to our specification — and export it?

That is the standard engagement, and this bench is the proof: specified clause-by-clause with a European research customer, engineered to EU ATEX, Machinery, Low Voltage and EMC directives, with factory and site acceptance procedures in the documentation set. Send your requirement — engine class, fuels, site, conformity regime — and a compliance matrix returns within two working days. Export engagements are managed end-to-end, subject to Government of India authorisation.

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Send your hydrogen test-cell
specification.

The Projects desk replies within two working days with a clause-by-clause compliance matrix and a budgetary quotation. Write to [email protected] or use the form.

Enquire — hydrogen systems Capability sheet (PDF) +91 7777 876 876

ISO 9001 / 14001 UNDER CONTRACT — GERMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE ATEX ZONE 1 · H₂ DUAL FUEL MADE IN NOIDA · INDIA