"Say goodbye to spark plugs, a 19th century technology about to be supplanted by lasers. The UK paper The Telegraph reports that Ford is working with the University of Liverpool to develop a laser ignition system for internal combustion engines. That's right, engines with frickin' lasers strapped to their heads.

The laser beam is delivered by a thin fiber-optic cable to a focusing lens that would take much less space than a spark plug, allowing engineers greater flexibility in designing valves and cylinders. The laser beam can be split to ignite the fuel mixture from multiple points deep in the cylinder, making for a more efficient burn than a spark plug, reducing emissions and getting better fuel economy. Another advantage of the laser system is that part of the beam can be reflected to a receiver and used to gather data on the fuel mixture and the quality of the burn.

And this isn't merely a research project, as there are working prototypes of the system at the University of Liverpool laboratory. Ford, which has eagerly been adopting fuel efficiency technology such as electric power steering and six speed transmissions, reportedly will use the laser ignition system in some of its cars over the next couple of years, then spread the technology to the full range. "

 

that sounds really cool, I found this slightly more technical article:
http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications...r/mb-0006.html





its a novel idea, we'll see if they can grab a decent market share

 

Haha... frickin' engines with lasers attached to their heads...

 

well we know lasers need to be charged and don't work well when they are scalding hot. must be some crazy capacitor setups. in theory, i think it would work great but in reality, it may be a little sketchy. also we'll be looking at expensive tune ups lol

 

DAMNIT this is going to be way to easy for Dr Evil to get his hands on.

 

Awesome, cause those will be cheap to replace.....

 

I don't see this happenning on a near future. The mere cost of fitting any vehicle with this system is completely outrageus, then the maintenance part, since vibrations from an internal combustion engine are not the best enviroment for a multimode laser beam to be sitting on, constant realignment will be required, then there comes the need for power, say good buy a 12 or 24V accumulator, the laser required would be so power hungry that the vehicle might as well be electric.

 

Uhh, if Ford is dumping millions into it... I think their engineers are probably one up on any of our level of expertise, ya know? So vibrations and heat and cost are obviously manageable... otherwise they wouldn't be doing it.
Cost can go down tenfold when something that's usually made in minute quantities is ordered in the tens or hundreds of thousands. R&D is obviously working to address other issues.

Just weird to hear all the nay-saying when I'm doubting you're certified frickin laserbeam engineers.

 

^^^LOL. Even if they plan to do it, its still going to be expensive as new technology. Hell the sony walkman when it came out was $500, and that was in the 80's! If they can't get that kind of cost down to close to the price of the modern day platinum spark plug (no time soon) then it won't be implemented in the next 10 years most likely. 2019 will be the earliest you will see this technology.

 

Haha, making bold claims trying to predict the course of technology isn't ever accurate! Look at Bill Gates and his "640kb ought to be enough memory for anybody" quote from the 80's.

Anyhow, as with all premium cars... this stuff gets implemented as a pilot. GM put their magnetic suspension into the corvette, Mercedes has implemented their infra-red and radar equipped cars, and who knows, maybe Ford will soon release this technology, too.