Nihau Sharma 2K9/EL/131

The job of an ignition system is to generate the spark energy needed to ignite the air/fuel mixture in an engine's cylinder. The main components of this system consist of an ignition coil, coil driver, distributor, spark plug wires, and spark plugs. Types of Ignition Systems:
Kettering Ignition Electronic Ignition i. Capacitive Discharge Ignition (CDI) ii. Transistor Controlled Ignition (TCI) iii. Engine Control Unit (ECU)

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II.

The ignition system has two tasks to perform. it must create a voltage high enough (20,000+) to arc across the gap of a spark plug, thus creating a spark strong enough to ignite the air/fuel mixture for combustion. Second, it must control the timing of that the spark so it occurs at the exact right time and send it to the correct cylinder.

This is an alternative solution to standard spark plug by using the energy of a pulsed laser beam, (using Q switching), to ignite the air fuel mixture. Especially the thermodynamic requirements of a high compression ratio and a high power density are fulfilled well by laser ignition.

The use of laser ignition to improve gas engine performance was initially demonstrated by J. D. Dale in 1978 Recently, researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,Toyota,National Energy Technology Lab and Argonne National Lab have obtained smaller high peak power laser spark plugs. Laser ignition tests were performed with gasoline in a spray-guided internal combustion engine. An Nd: YAG laser with 6 ns pulse duration, 1064 nm wavelength and 1-50 mJ pulse energy was used to ignite the fuel/air mixtures at initial pressures of 1-3 MPa.

 Arbitrary

positioning of the ignition plasma Absence of misfires and knocking Self cleaning or ablation Absence of erosion effects Precise ignition timing Simpler regulation of the ignition energy Easy possibility of multipoint ignition

Graph for conventional spark ignition systems

Life of a spark ignition system

pinit = 5 bar pinit = 10 bar pinit = 20 bar

MPE (mJ)

0 2 4 A/Frel ( ) 6 8

Dependence of the required ignition energy on the relative pressure (density) in the combustion chamber

Influence of Lambda on laminar flame speed and pressure build-up

Laser Arrangement in engines

Another setup for laser arrangement

Propagation of laser pulse through fiber optics Develope of a compact, robust and economic laser source

The quality of the ignition beam profile is also very important, because with the right profile it is possible to minimize the energy necessary to generate the ignition spark.

Single point ignition with comparisons to correct phasing. Timing optimization (Phasing) vs. Thermal Efficiency Look at NOx Trade off Knock Margin Multipoint laser ignition studies Higher apparent flame speed may provide additional knock margin as well as higher burn rate Multipulse Ignition May provide improved ignition, leaner combustion and emissions May provide a way to circumvent beam delivery issue Distributed ignition May provide a way to circumvent beam delivery (energy

According to the latest international reports, Mazdas upcoming rotary sports car could feature laser ignition technology. This would replace the spark plug ignition system which is currently applied to every petrol car on the market.
According to the latest international reports, Mazdas upcoming rotary sports car could feature laser ignition technology. This would replace the spark plug ignition system which is currently applied to every petrol car on the market.

Mazda RX-9 16X

The Japanese boffins have come up with a way of making small, high-power lasers out of ceramics. Their prototype unit is made from two yttriumaluminum-gallium (YAG) segments, one doped with neodymium, the other with chromium. It is just 9mm in diameter and 11mm long, and by using bursts of pulses less than a nanosecond in duration it can ignite a volume of lean fuel-air mix at two points simultaneously - this develops power more quickly and efficiently than lighting at just one point.

http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/02/na turalgas/3-1.pdf http://www.seminarprojects.com/Thread-laser-ignitionsystem http://www.processeng.biz/docs/laser_Konferenzbeitrag_I FRF_proceedings.pdf http://www.iitk.ac.in/erl/laserignition.html Mr. Utkarsh Bagal, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University The University of Liverpool reported encouraging results, following a collaboration with Ford Motor Company and a laser manufacturer.