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ipribadi
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http://www.pulstarplug.com
is there any truth to this .. or is it in the likes of turbonator ?
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CarPhreakD
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A capacitor inside a spark plug?
Something is very wrong here. A capacitor has to build up a charge before releasing it, and once it releases it needs to recharge again... which takes time and a steady current (i.e. not a burst from a distributor, for example). So if they're claiming that their spark plugs will unleash a more powerful spark, I somehow don't think they're telling the truth, because it looks like there might be missed spark events if the capacitor has to recharge and unleash a stronger charge than what originally went in.
Or...
If it somehow takes in energy from the wire, and then outputs a bigger spark simultaneously (i.e. with a charge rate so small that it's negligible)... then it looks to me like a perpetual energy machine. Something has to give.
What's more likely, I think, is that this spark plug WILL give you a stronger spark, but the spark time (length of time a spark plug will keep the spark going) for these sparkplugs will be shorter than the time from an average plug. The capacitor can probably store enough energy to create a bigger spark, but in order to create a bigger spark it has to unleash all that energy in a much smaller time frame than a regular spark plug (think of it as 'condensing' electricity)
In which case, it probably doesn't help at all or even decrease engine performance, because that shorter spark time might not be enough to actually ignite the A/F mixture. Or it might even cause the engine to misfire because it creates a bright spark at the wrong time (engine might not be at top dead center when the spark plug goes off)! Some automakers use dual spark-plug setups (Like Acura's new TSX, for example) that go off at slightly different intervals, and that's for a more complete burn because the mixture is being ignited over a slightly longer interval and at different locations in the combustion chamber (so everything is thoroughly burned). It seems pretty obvious that as long as you have a good spark, the length of time for that spark is more important than how big it is.
A shorter burst of brighter spark won't help as much as a normal spark over a longer period of time.
In any case, don't waste your money. If it were so easy to increase efficiency of spark plugs NGK et. al would have already created these and mass marketed them. And at $25 a pop I would not waste my money on this.
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CarPhreakD
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Actually, I thought about this further while eating dinner too, since it's pretty interesting.
I think that on higher compression ratio cars you won't see any gains at all with this. In fact you might lose power because the way I see it, if the spark is strong but short, the engine will likely misfire because the flame kernel will be snuffed out due to the shortened spark time. Obviously this is bad for the engine, and it might even retard timing to compensate.
On lower compression engines, if it doesn't misfire (i.e. ignites successfully), you MIGHT see a slight gain, similar to a dual ignition setup. But until there's instrumented data I wouldn't count on that.
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ipribadi
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Good explanations from you two .. thx
I completely agree.
What the pulse plug does is increase the spark intensity over a shorter period of time.
If increasing fuel eco is simply making larger sparks, then Honda would have simply increased the coil charge and spark plug size to begin with.
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accord1989
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There is a write up in import tuner, where they say the pulse plugs add 3 to both torque and HP on the dyno.
Similar to the up to 4 denso touts with the Iridium power 4mm plugs.
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MojaveAccord
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I came across this article today:
Anyway, going to Pulstar's site and reading their own information I can tell you that I hope they don't work the way they claim because if they did, your engine probably won't last as long as it should. They claim the flame front of the burning air/fuel mixture moves much faster than stock which, to me, equals a burn rate that will no longer match the geometric relationship of the piston-rod-crank and would yield an abnormally early rise in cylinder pressure followed by an early fall in cylinder pressure. Thankfully it seems that these merely end up messing with the timing of the ignition slightly which will be dialed back by the ECU.
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MojaveAccord
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Next time I'll take the time to preview my message!
http://www.sparkplugs.com/sparkplug411.asp?kw=SRT%2D4+Dyno+Results&mfid=0&KID=3147
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CarPhreakD
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MojaveAccord wrote:
I came across this article today:
Anyway, going to Pulstar's site and reading their own information I can tell you that I hope they don't work the way they claim because if they did, your engine probably won't last as long as it should. They claim the flame front of the burning air/fuel mixture moves much faster than stock which, to me, equals a burn rate that will no longer match the geometric relationship of the piston-rod-crank and would yield an abnormally early rise in cylinder pressure followed by an early fall in cylinder pressure. Thankfully it seems that these merely end up messing with the timing of the ignition slightly which will be dialed back by the ECU.
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Yeah, definitely. The way I see it, if you have a low compression car, you can see some gains with this because spark timing isn't quite that critical. On higher compression engines, you will need to be able to be able to advance and retard spark timing or else you won't see too many gains. I wouldn't be worried about the engine lasting, because there *is* no perfect burn and there are always slight variances. That is of course, as long as the engine isn't actually knocking.
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MojaveAccord
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CarPhreakD wrote:
Yeah, definitely. The way I see it, if you have a low compression car, you can see some gains with this because spark timing isn't quite that critical. On higher compression engines, you will need to be able to be able to advance and retard spark timing or else you won't see too many gains. I wouldn't be worried about the engine lasting, because there *is* no perfect burn and there are always slight variances. That is of course, as long as the engine isn't actually knocking.
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http://www.pulstarplug.com/ignition-velocity.html
Straight from their website, "In this high-speed video (shot at 68,000 frames per second), you can actually see, in real time, the ignition plume of Pulstar™pulse plug growing at more than twice the speed of the iridium spark plug."
I still don't buy their claim but I sure as heck don't want anyone messing with the pressure rise in my engine's cylinders, and definitely don't want to see the flame front moving at "twice the speed".
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notyper
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I think the critical item is the dyno testing. Completely inconclusive. Even assuming they did their setup right and held conditions as constant as possible, avg peak power only varied by less than 1 hp among the top 3-4 plugs. Considering that run to run variation is usually higher than that (and that the dyno used doesn't guarantee variability of less than 1%) and it pretty much makes no difference.
The only plugs we've ever seen make a measurable and repeatable hp difference are the expensive surface gap (no electrode protruding) race plugs. But at $30+ per plug and a short lifespan (usually one race weekend), they are not conducive to street use.
SC
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