The people at the Ford Motor Company are developing an ignition system that uses a laser beam to start vehicles as opposed to spark plugs. These new laser ignitions should be in a variety of Ford vehicles in the next few years.
Ford received $320,000 in grants to test technology from a government funded entity charged with helping businesses with their transition to low carbon vehicles.
How does it work!?
The laser is quickly directed toward the combustion chamber where the fuel is most concentrated, allowing the engine to run on a more efficient mix of fuel and air. Bigger diameter valves that improve engine gas flow could be used in such a system because the thin fiber optic cable delivering the laser beam is smaller than a spark plug. The laser is also more reliable than a traditional spark plug.
The Director of Innovations from the Carbon Trust, Mark Williamson believes
“Laser ignition is a really exciting technology because it improves the efficiency of petrol cars and could, in the future, speed the uptake of cars run on bio fuels derived from sustainable organic materials such as algae.”
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