TY - GEN
T1 - Analysis of the Rotating Arc Plug in a natural gas
AU - Tassitano, Jim
AU - Parks, James E.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Large natural gas engines are durable and cost-effective generators of power for distributed energy applications. Fuel efficiency is an important aspect of distributed generation since operating costs associated with fuel consumption are the major component of energy cost on a life-cycle basis; furthermore, higher fuel efficiency results in lower CO 2 emissions. Leaner operation of natural gas engines can result in improved fuel efficiency; however, engine operation becomes challenging at leaner air-to-fuel ratios due to several factors. One factor in combustion control is ignition. At lean air-fuel mixtures, reliable and repeatable ignition is necessary to maintain consistent power production from the engine, and spark plug quality and durability play an important role in reliability of ignition. Here research of a novel spark plug design for lean natural gas engines is presented. The spark plug is an annular gap spark plug with a permanent magnet that produces a magnetic field that forces the spark to rotate during spark discharge. The rotating arc spark plug (RASP) has the potential to improve ignition system reliability and durability. In the study presented here, the RASP plug was operated in a small natural gas engine, and combustion stability (measured by the coefficient of variation of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP)) was measured as a function of air-to-fuel ratio to characterize the ignition performance at lean mixtures. Comparisons were made to a standard J-plug spark plug.
AB - Large natural gas engines are durable and cost-effective generators of power for distributed energy applications. Fuel efficiency is an important aspect of distributed generation since operating costs associated with fuel consumption are the major component of energy cost on a life-cycle basis; furthermore, higher fuel efficiency results in lower CO 2 emissions. Leaner operation of natural gas engines can result in improved fuel efficiency; however, engine operation becomes challenging at leaner air-to-fuel ratios due to several factors. One factor in combustion control is ignition. At lean air-fuel mixtures, reliable and repeatable ignition is necessary to maintain consistent power production from the engine, and spark plug quality and durability play an important role in reliability of ignition. Here research of a novel spark plug design for lean natural gas engines is presented. The spark plug is an annular gap spark plug with a permanent magnet that produces a magnetic field that forces the spark to rotate during spark discharge. The rotating arc spark plug (RASP) has the potential to improve ignition system reliability and durability. In the study presented here, the RASP plug was operated in a small natural gas engine, and combustion stability (measured by the coefficient of variation of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP)) was measured as a function of air-to-fuel ratio to characterize the ignition performance at lean mixtures. Comparisons were made to a standard J-plug spark plug.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=32844456620&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:32844456620
SN - 0791847365
SN - 9780791847367
T3 - 2005 Fall Technical Conference of the ASME Internal Combustion Engine Division
SP - 595
EP - 599
BT - Proceedings of the 2005 Fall Technical Conference of the ASME Internal Combustion Engine Division
T2 - 2005 Fall Technical Conference of the ASME Internal Combustion Engine Division
Y2 - 11 September 2005 through 14 September 2005
ER -
