Posted on 02/20/2015 6:59:17 AM PST by ckilmer
PEW pew! For a week last November an internal combustion engine hummed away in a lab near Chicago. Why the excitement? This particular engine sets fire to fuel with lasers instead of spark plugs, burning fuel more efficiently than normal. Laser-fired engines could lead to cleaner, greener cars.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
How does burning fuel more efficiently lead to anything greener or cleaner? Doesn’t this simply change the proportion of different waste products?
The new technology is desirable because you get more energy out of a given amount of fuel. It’s less clear that it is cleaner.
Whether this really will work or not, it sure sounds awesome!
Anything that keeps the internal combustion engine alive is awesome. We can still improve on it.
All emissions reduction is based on creating more complete combustion, fewer waste pruducts.
If the idea works, it means far more complete combustion with much higher level of efficiency in turning fuel into motive power—imagine 200 bhp from an I-4 engine but without the power “peakiness” of current engines of the same displacement that have that much power and way lower fuel consumption.
If nitrates can be reduced, then remediation in the exhaust emission could be scaled back. This would also boost efficiency.
Look Ma, no spark plugs ping!
If nothing else, it will burn less fuel, ergo less waste. Also, the worst pollutants from IC engines are unburned and partially-burned hydrocarbons, so anything that makes the fuel burn more completely will be cleaner.
I remember reading about this a few years ago.
If it ever happens, I wonder if you will be able to retrofit an existing engine?
I agree, and one place to start is on the whole reciprocating design. Converting linear motion to circular motion is not very efficient. A workable rotary engine would waste much less energy.
And I've often wondered about injecting gasoline VAPOR into the combustion chamber instead of particulate (atomized) gasoline. Liquid gasoline doesn't burn; it only ignites at the liquid-gas boundary of the atomized droplets. Wouldn't a proper air/gas mixture of vapor be much more explosive and avoid the loss of energy required for the state change from liquid to gas?
It might work but I don’t know if the mileage advantages will be enough to justify the cost.
Power needs to be high enough to ignite fuel in ms and optics would malfunction with carbon buildup in cylinders.
If I was guessing, I'd say that to produce the same propulsion or "work" you could do it on less fuel. If it creates a certain amount of output based on inefficient burning, then you increase the burning and you would be able to do the same output on less fuel.
Cargo ships employ diesel engines. How would you retrofit a diesel engine with laser ignition?
Great news if true................
I normally don’t trust these ‘next great engine’ stories....but this one has great potential.
I wonder if the EGR system can be eliminated, with the improved combustion.
One thing that I would have concern with changing over to laser ignition is the durability of the laser in the combustion chamber.
Today a set of spark plugs can easily last 100,000 miles.
Will a laser exposed to the punishing environment of a combustion chamber last that long?
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