Replacing spark plugs with laser ignition in combustion engines
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028657
New Scientist : Conventional combustion engines use spark plugs to ignite a fuel–air mix, which drives a series of pistons. Because spark plugs ignite the fuel at just one end of the combustion chamber and each combustion cycle happens very quickly, not all of the fuel mixture gets burned. To improve combustion efficiency, Princeton Optronics has replaced the spark plugs with lasers, which can ignite the fuel in the middle of the chamber, can be tuned more precisely than spark plugs, and can fire multiple times during a single cycle. Those properties allow more of the fuel to burn off. Although laser ignition is not a new idea, only now have lasers become small enough and efficient enough to be practical for this application. Princeton Optronics presented its prototype at the ARPA–E energy innovation summit .
