Federal Mogul is claiming up to 10% fuel savings with its Advanced Corona Ignition System (ACIS), according to Federal-Mogul director, Kristapher Mixell.
Launched at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show the conventional sparkplug is replaced by a four-pointed star that transmits a low current 25,000 volt discharge into the combustion chamber. Running at 1 MHz the high intensity plasma stream excites the fuel-air molecules into combusting, unlike a conventional spark plug which relies on ignition.
Although Corona technology patents date back nearly 50 years its development has been held back, but big “game changers” like NOx and CO2 demands in the next five to six years have driven its development.
“The key is replacing a 1mm spark plug gap with a 30-40mm electronic pulse so, instead of an intense local thermal event we’re using this large area of ionisation to combust the fuel,” says Mixell adding “The voltage can be rapidly varied as fast as the computer can tell it to change and according to the individual needs of the combustion chambers.”
Increased levels of EGR, combined with leaner mixtures and higher compression ratios, makes it increasingly difficult for conventional spark plugs to ignite the mixture, “Some high EGR engines need to run large turbulence and high energy level in the coil to light off 25-40% EGR,” explains Mixell, “The problem is that if you had to run those energy levels into a spark plug for 3-5 milliseconds it wouldn’t last long whilst running high levels of charge motion reduces fuel efficiency.”
ACIS is currently undergoing bench testing which has seen 10% fuel savings on a 1.6-liter turbocharged direct injection engine but, says Mixell, it will be another “three to five years” before it reaches production.
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