Engine having prechamber ignition and method of controlling such an engine

An engine (1) comprising prechamber ignition, in particular a gas engine, comprising:

• a main combustion space (2) in a cylinder of the engine (1) for combusting an air-fuel mixture;
• and
• a prechamber (3) having an ignition device (4) projecting into it and a fuel injector (5) projecting into it,
• wherein the prechamber (3) has at least one transfer point (6) that fluidically connects the prechamber (3) to the main combustion space (2),
• the fuel injector (5) projecting into the prechamber (3) is the only fuel injector (5) via which fuel can be introduced into the associated main combustion space (2), and
• the fuel is hydrogen or contains more than 70% molecular hydrogen as the main component or as an admixture,
• further comprising a multistage charging of the air to be introduced into the main combustion space (2), with at least one charge air cooler (14) preferably respectively being arranged in a charge air path (13) between the individual stages of the charging or with at least one associated charge air cooler (14, 15) being respectively arranged downstream in the charge air path (13) for each of the stages.

A method of operating an engine (1) comprising prechamber ignition, in particular a gas engine, comprising the combination of:

• a main combustion space (2) in a cylinder of the engine (1) for combusting an air-fuel mixture;
• a prechamber (3);
• an ignition device (4) projecting into the prechamber;
• and
• consisting of a fuel injector (5) projecting into the prechamber (3),
• wherein the prechamber (3) has at least one transfer point (6) that fluidically connects the prechamber (3) to the main combustion space (2), wherein the engine is operated with a fuel which is hydrogen or contains more than 70% molecular hydrogen as the main component or as an admixture, said fuel always having an ignition capability for lambda at or above 2.5 and particularly preferably an ignition capability for lambda equal to or above 3 and very particularly preferably an ignition capability for lambda equal to or above 5.