Abstract:
A blind cavity precombustion chamber engine has a plasma jet ignition system including a spark plug for each cylinder having an extended electrode with its spark gap located in the turbulent gas zone between the center of the prechamber and the mouth of a restricted orifice connecting the cavity with the main combustion chamber. A high energy ignition system is included which causes a sustained high current arc at the spark gap that avoids arc blowout and is capable of ionizing and igniting very lean turbulent air-fuel mixtures. The sustained arc initiates and continues combustion in the prechamber, raising its pressure and expelling burning gases through the orifice into the main chamber. The arc may be maintained for a period sufficient to further ionize the gases as they move through the arc and into the main chamber to create a plasma torch or jet of burning products that ignites the lean mixture in the main chamber. In one embodiment, a higher level of energy is created in the combustion products being expelled from the blind chamber by discharging a high current across the spark gap at the time the burning gases are being expelled through the orifice, thus further ionizing the gases and creating a higher energy plasma of burning and burned gases that is expelled into the main chamber to ignite the mixture therein.