Laser Ignition System in I C Engines for Cleaner Environment

For more than 150 years, spark plugs have powered internal combustion engines. Automakers are now one step closer to being able to replace this long-standing technology with laser igniters, which will enable cleaner, more efficient, and more economical vehicles. The technique of laser ignition has reached a high degree of maturity. It allows the improvement of performance of large MW gas engines: higher ignition pressures, capability for ignition of leanest mixtures, lower NOx content in the exhaust, higher efficiency. Conventional spark plugs pose a barrier to improving fuel economy and reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), a key component of smog. Engines make NOx as a byproduct of combustion. If engines ran leaner -- burnt more air and less fuel -- they would produce significantly smaller NOx emissions. Laser igniters could one day replace spark plugs in automobile engines, Not only would these lasers allow for better performance and fuel economy, but cars using them would also create less harmful emissions.