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This plasma ignition system can increase engine efficiency by 20%

    This is the view of the top of a cylinder as the TPS ignition module emits a plasma pulse.
    enlarge † This is the view of the top of a cylinder as the TPS ignition module emits a plasma pulse.

    Temporary Plasma Systems

    In 2019 we took a look at an interesting new advanced ignition system from Transient Plasma Systems. It replaces conventional spark plugs in a vehicle’s engine with an ignition module that uses very short (nanosecond) plasma pulses to ignite the fuel/air mixture in the cylinder. At the time, the technology was still bench-tested, but now it’s nearly ready for production after validation tests confirmed its potential to increase fuel economy by up to 20 percent when fitted to an existing engine.

    “We show that the technology has done all the things an advanced ignition system should do to get to the market,” said Dan Singleton, founder and CEO of TPS.

    Aren’t we all going EV?

    At this point, some of you are probably wondering why anyone bothers to develop new technology for internal combustion engines – isn’t our future electric? But with the best will in the world, it will be many years before countries like the US stop selling new combustion engine vehicles and even longer until they are no longer allowed on our roads.

    “There’s been a lot of bits, the data has been analyzed and basically said, look, we need to be real about what the adoption rate of EVs is. So we think the future will be EVs. But the question is, what are we doing while we’re on And I think if you look at the data it’s pretty convincing that the best thing you can do is get CO2 emissions now down. So that’s really where we see this fit if you bring this technology to market immediately. That’s what our data shows is that there is immediate, meaningful CO. is2 discounts,” Singleton told me.

    TPS’s plasma ignition system is designed to fit into existing cars with very little modification. An ignition module replaces the regular spark plugs and there is a power module to operate it, but otherwise the only other changes are in the software as the engine has to be remapped to take advantage of the new technology.

    “A lot of the OEMs we’ve worked with freeze their engine designs, they say ‘no more engine, we can replace some parts, but we freeze the design’. So it really just has to catch the gaps that already exist, what these technology does,” explains Singleton.

    “The important thing is you have to extend the dilution limits – that’s either add exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) or if you want it to go lean you can do that too. And that’s obviously the most important thing the advanced ignition system does,” he said. me.