Laser Powered Spark Plugs?
A research team is due to announce at the Lasers and Electro-Optics conference next week that they have designed a new laser-based replacement for spark plugs in combustion engines. It is claimed to be more efficient at igniting engine combustion than the current spark plug system that has largely remained unchanged for the last 150 years!
It will be interesting to see how they propose to keep the new laser-based ‘spark plug’ clean enough to function properly through the inevitable build up of dirt and grime that engines are prone to collecting.
The idea of replacing spark plugs – a technology that has changed little since their invention 150 years ago – with lasers is not a new one.
Spark plugs only ignite the fuel mixture near the spark gap, reducing the combustion efficiency, and the metal that makes them up is slowly eroded as they age.
But only with the advent of smaller lasers has the idea of laser-based combustion become a practical one.
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