Lasers!

[pimento]

Make your car more efficient.. with LASERS!

If you're contemplating your next car add-on, consider replacing your boring, old spark plugs with lasers. Yeah, lasers. Lasers that cut down on noxious emissions and provide better fuel efficiency! If Japan's National Institutes of Natural Sciences has its way, a replacement of that sort may not be so far off (or strange).

The traditional spark plug we're all used to works by sending electrical, well, sparks, between two, uh, electrodes. This causes an explosion in the engine and forces the piston to move down, creating the all-important horsepower that gets you going. Here's the problem: More burnt fuel equals more noxious emissions... and no one likes those.

And while the spark plug is powerful enough to burn leaner fuel (thereby reducing emissions), it can't do so without burning the electrodes. Cue tiny car lasers: Because their architecture involves no electrodes whatsoever, they're able to burn leaner fuel without causing any damage.

The laser system also does its job much faster than traditional spark plugs. A process that currently takes milliseconds will be reduced to nanoseconds with this system. And while you won't be able to shoot missiles out of the sky with your Nissan laser beams (yet), your engine will undergo a quicker combustion, which means better fuel efficiency. Ford's been working on this too—and I think I can settle for laser cars instead of flying cars.

[Source]

Proof - Lasers make everything better.

[aiasib]

Fact: lasers make everything awesome.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Further evidence: LAZERTITS

[Ferrer]

Fact: lasers make everything awesome.

Almost.

But yes Laser engines seems pretty awesome.

[Dino Scuderia]

Article says, 'they're able to burn leaner fuel without causing any damage', but burning leaner fuel creates more heat.

This would vary from engine to engine but I wonder what the effect would be.

[LeonOfTheDead]

More NOx, generally.

Removing the spark plug would be quite a good solution, especially for HCCI engines, if they will ever become a reality.

[Clivey]

Ford's been working on this too

You're doing it WRONG!!!

- Joking aside though: Awesome.

[W.R.]

This is one of the best technological ideas I've heard in a long time. How has nobody thought of laser plugs before?

[csl177]

This is one of the best technological ideas I've heard in a long time. How has nobody thought of laser plugs before?

Because the type of laser that generates enough heat requires considerable power itself, and there's the problem of introducing such a device into a combustion chamber. It's not simple by any means.

[coolieman1220]

More NOx, generally.

Removing the spark plug would be quite a good solution, especially for HCCI engines, if they will ever become a reality.

this has been done, It's called a diesel!

sounds smart and not a bad idea. no more induction. this coupled with direct injection makes sense.

[VOGUE_MAN]

I don't know enough (barely anything) about the internal workings of an engine to appreciate this as much as I'm sure someone with knowledge might, but you can't complain about the prospect of better fuel economy.

[092326001]

this has been done, It's called a diesel!

Diesels use glow plugs though.

[clutch-monkey]

I don't know enough (barely anything) about the internal workings of an engine to appreciate this as much as I'm sure someone with knowledge might, but you can't complain about the prospect of better fuel economy.

this is how i read it:
pew pew lasers to make fuel go boom instead of zap zap electricity

[LeonOfTheDead]

this has been done, It's called a diesel!

sounds smart and not a bad idea. no more induction. this coupled with direct injection makes sense.

o rlly?!
I think they mentioned something about it during one of classes about ICEs...

The thing about HCCI engines is that when you're running the engine like a diesel the spark plug suffers higher temperatures and pressures damaging it quite more than what is implied in the first post's quote, therefore having the possibility to run the engine like a petrol one but without the spark plug would provide benefits also during the diesel mode.

Anyway, combined with a good DI system this could make quite an improvement. Concentrating the whole mixture in front of the "laser" would allow an even more precise combustion, with the rest of the air present in the combustion chamber being less affected than now.
This could quite help reducing the temperatures, or more specifically, the involvement of air and therefore limiting the production of NOx despite of the temperature.

No wonder it wasn't considered/developed before, without DI I can see little pros to this as opposed to many disadvantages, as mentioned by CSL.

[coolieman1220]

Diesels use glow plugs though.

Only till it gets warm enough to sustain itself. Cold starts

o rlly?!
I think they mentioned something about it during one of classes about ICEs...

The thing about HCCI engines is that when you're running the engine like a diesel the spark plug suffers higher temperatures and pressures damaging it quite more than what is implied in the first post's quote, therefore having the possibility to run the engine like a petrol one but without the spark plug would provide benefits also during the diesel mode.

Anyway, combined with a good DI system this could make quite an improvement. Concentrating the whole mixture in front of the "laser" would allow an even more precise combustion, with the rest of the air present in the combustion chamber being less affected than now.
This could quite help reducing the temperatures, or more specifically, the involvement of air and therefore limiting the production of NOx despite of the temperature.

No wonder it wasn't considered/developed before, without DI I can see little pros to this as opposed to many disadvantages, as mentioned by CSL.

I wonder if this would also reduce the carbon build up in the cylinders that direct injection causes...