Spark plugs of the future...
11-09-2009, 05:36 PM
#1
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Spark plugs of the future...
This is really, really cool.
http://www.jimonlight.com/2009/08/06/laser-spark-plugs/
http://www.jimonlight.com/2009/08/06/laser-spark-plugs/
11-10-2009, 12:28 AM
#3
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Jeez! a high powered lazer and tiny fragile fiber optic cables? sounds stupidly expensive! Plus the lens that focuses the beam will quickly get dirty and lose focus in the enviroment of a combustion chamber. Youll be pulling out the lens assembly and cleaning it off at every fill up!
11-11-2009, 12:45 PM
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Jeez! a high powered lazer and tiny fragile fiber optic cables? sounds stupidly expensive! Plus the lens that focuses the beam will quickly get dirty and lose focus in the enviroment of a combustion chamber. Youll be pulling out the lens assembly and cleaning it off at every fill up!
Every time you split a laser beam it looses energy through absorbtion and reflection. Also it is difficult and expensive to split a beam so the wattage is dead even on each beam. having an uneven split could cause uneven fuel burning.
Fiber optic cables are horribly suceptable to movement or vibrations and you'd have to change them on a regular basis. Or more likely a laser tech would have to thermally bond new fiber units to the laser head (using molten glass)
Lasers are very suceptible to temperature changes. Most don't like to be used at anything other than room temp.
In order to effectively focus the beam to a pinpoint in the center of the combustion chamber you'd have to start with a raw beam about as large as the cylinder bore. Also VERY expensive
Lasers are HORRIBLY ineficient at making a beam. it takes 50-100 times the electrical energy to make a beam than the wattage you get out of the beam.
I could go on for pages but I can imagine that most have you have stopped reading already. It's a cool concept but it would NEVER be practical. PS check out the website it's got a cool vid of a laser system I designed.
11-11-2009, 01:22 PM
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You sound like somebody who is familiar with lasers. I work for a company called LasX Industries (www.lasx.com) so I can recognize many many ways why this is boooooogus.
Every time you split a laser beam it looses energy through absorbtion and reflection. Also it is difficult and expensive to split a beam so the wattage is dead even on each beam. having an uneven split could cause uneven fuel burning.
Fiber optic cables are horribly suceptable to movement or vibrations and you'd have to change them on a regular basis. Or more likely a laser tech would have to thermally bond new fiber units to the laser head (using molten glass)
Lasers are very suceptible to temperature changes. Most don't like to be used at anything other than room temp.
In order to effectively focus the beam to a pinpoint in the center of the combustion chamber you'd have to start with a raw beam about as large as the cylinder bore. Also VERY expensive
Lasers are HORRIBLY ineficient at making a beam. it takes 50-100 times the electrical energy to make a beam than the wattage you get out of the beam.
I could go on for pages but I can imagine that most have you have stopped reading already. It's a cool concept but it would NEVER be practical. PS check out the website it's got a cool vid of a laser system I designed.
Every time you split a laser beam it looses energy through absorbtion and reflection. Also it is difficult and expensive to split a beam so the wattage is dead even on each beam. having an uneven split could cause uneven fuel burning.
Fiber optic cables are horribly suceptable to movement or vibrations and you'd have to change them on a regular basis. Or more likely a laser tech would have to thermally bond new fiber units to the laser head (using molten glass)
Lasers are very suceptible to temperature changes. Most don't like to be used at anything other than room temp.
In order to effectively focus the beam to a pinpoint in the center of the combustion chamber you'd have to start with a raw beam about as large as the cylinder bore. Also VERY expensive
Lasers are HORRIBLY ineficient at making a beam. it takes 50-100 times the electrical energy to make a beam than the wattage you get out of the beam.
I could go on for pages but I can imagine that most have you have stopped reading already. It's a cool concept but it would NEVER be practical. PS check out the website it's got a cool vid of a laser system I designed.
11-12-2009, 12:01 PM
#6
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Alright, so maybe its a long way down the road, but if they do pull it off and meet the claims that similar articles include, it would be incredible. Yeah, maybe its bogus now, it isn't even 2020. But this sort of exploration into making a cleaner vehicle doesn't deserve ridicule. The active medium inside a laser can be insulated, and in a device capable of creating a focused beam capable of ignition, it probably would be anyway. Every cylinder could use its own device, rather than the use of fiber optics which are very delicate and prone to temperature damage. The aperture could clean itself or be part of a routine maintenance similar to conventional spark plug replacement. Burns would be complete, timing laser-accurate, and the amperes required to create a spark from the spark plug is probably much greater than the lazing threshold to create an adequate ignition source from a laser. Right?
11-12-2009, 01:21 PM
#7
CF Veteran
You sound like somebody who is familiar with lasers. I work for a company called LasX Industries (www.lasx.com) so I can recognize many many ways why this is boooooogus.
Every time you split a laser beam it looses energy through absorbtion and reflection. Also it is difficult and expensive to split a beam so the wattage is dead even on each beam. having an uneven split could cause uneven fuel burning.
Fiber optic cables are horribly suceptable to movement or vibrations and you'd have to change them on a regular basis. Or more likely a laser tech would have to thermally bond new fiber units to the laser head (using molten glass)
Lasers are very suceptible to temperature changes. Most don't like to be used at anything other than room temp.
In order to effectively focus the beam to a pinpoint in the center of the combustion chamber you'd have to start with a raw beam about as large as the cylinder bore. Also VERY expensive
Lasers are HORRIBLY ineficient at making a beam. it takes 50-100 times the electrical energy to make a beam than the wattage you get out of the beam.
I could go on for pages but I can imagine that most have you have stopped reading already. It's a cool concept but it would NEVER be practical. PS check out the website it's got a cool vid of a laser system I designed.
Every time you split a laser beam it looses energy through absorbtion and reflection. Also it is difficult and expensive to split a beam so the wattage is dead even on each beam. having an uneven split could cause uneven fuel burning.
Fiber optic cables are horribly suceptable to movement or vibrations and you'd have to change them on a regular basis. Or more likely a laser tech would have to thermally bond new fiber units to the laser head (using molten glass)
Lasers are very suceptible to temperature changes. Most don't like to be used at anything other than room temp.
In order to effectively focus the beam to a pinpoint in the center of the combustion chamber you'd have to start with a raw beam about as large as the cylinder bore. Also VERY expensive
Lasers are HORRIBLY ineficient at making a beam. it takes 50-100 times the electrical energy to make a beam than the wattage you get out of the beam.
I could go on for pages but I can imagine that most have you have stopped reading already. It's a cool concept but it would NEVER be practical. PS check out the website it's got a cool vid of a laser system I designed.
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11-13-2009, 08:17 AM
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11-13-2009, 08:27 AM
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Alright, so maybe its a long way down the road, but if they do pull it off and meet the claims that similar articles include, it would be incredible. Yeah, maybe its bogus now, it isn't even 2020. But this sort of exploration into making a cleaner vehicle doesn't deserve ridicule. The active medium inside a laser can be insulated, and in a device capable of creating a focused beam capable of ignition, it probably would be anyway. Every cylinder could use its own device, rather than the use of fiber optics which are very delicate and prone to temperature damage. The aperture could clean itself or be part of a routine maintenance similar to conventional spark plug replacement. Burns would be complete, timing laser-accurate, and the amperes required to create a spark from the spark plug is probably much greater than the lazing threshold to create an adequate ignition source from a laser. Right?
11-13-2009, 08:28 AM
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