A Study on the Combustion Characteristics of Spark Plug with Pre-ignition Chamber

The new concept spark plug was developed to study its influence on the combustion characteristics of SI engine. It has pre-ignition chamber in the lower end of spark plug and flame hole, in which fresh mixture gas can be introduced without any fuel supply system. This spark plug was tested with a commercial SI engine. Fuel consumption rate, emission gas and MBT timing were measured in the engine dynamometer for various flame hole numbers, hole positions, hole sizes of the pre-ignition chamber of the spark plug. And average flame propagation speed was measured by using the head gasket ionization probe in single cylinder engine. The new concept spark plug induces fast burn in combustion compared with the conventional spark plug, and MBT(Minimum advance for Best Torque) timing was retarded about 3~5˚ crank angle. The flame hole number, hole direction and volume of pre-ignition chamber were found to influence the combustion characteristics.