The study of an electric spark for igniting a fuel mixture

The ignition sparks provided by the classical system do not always assure a fast and complete combustion of the hydrocarbon-air mixture. For this reason have been made a lot of studies, most of them trying to implement new types of electronic ignition systems, including power supply and the spark plug itself, which must provide faster, more complete and more efficient-fuel burning, so overall a lower impact on the environment. The aim of such system consists in the generation of an electrical discharge between the spark plug electrodes able to assure a larger and more homogenous volume of the plasma in the engine cylinder. The implementing of such a system involves conducting complex electrical, mechanical, chemical and physical analysis, to validate its benefits in comparison to the classical system. The new type of ignition system with two sparks uses a spark plug with three electrodes. The first one is connected at the high voltage, the second at the ground and the third, located between the two others, free of potential. This paper proposes a complex and comparative study to the classical ignition system. Measurement of the electrical parameters and the physical analysis were done mainly by testing ignition systems in a reactor with air. The mechanical and chemical parameters were measured using an engine stand four-stroke.