Ignition Laser Awarded

With an ignition laser that will replace spark plugs in combustion engines of the future, and thus create a more efficient combustion process, AVL has been awarded two significant Styrian prizes within very short time: one was this year’s Fast-Forward Award of the Steirische Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft (Styrian business promotion corporation) and the other was the “Primus”, a major prize of the Styrian economy awarded for the first time this year (in 2007).

Until now, a limitation to further raise the efficiency of combustion processes in gasoline and gas engines has been the spark plug. It protrudes into the combustion chamber of every engine to ignite the charge, but otherwise is an obstacle for efficient and clean combustion. The AVL ignition laser creates a free-standing plasma to ignite the incylinder fuel-air mixture. That way, the fuel is ignited precisely at the place from which the flame propagates to yield combustion at highest efficiency. The ignition laser radiation passes into the combustion chamber by a small window inserted into the chamber wall. Thus, any physical obstacle to combustion has been removed from inside the combustion chamber.

AVL is the world’s largest privately-owned and independent company for the development of powertrain systems with combustion engines as well as instrumentation and test systems. The high-tech company AVL employs 3,640 people worldwide. Turnover in 2006 was 537 million Euro.

Contact

Dipl.-Ing. Michael Ksela, company spokesperson
scoop next level marketing
Breite Gasse 4, 1070 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1 523 4088
Fax: +43 1 523 4088 180
eMail: michael.ksela@scoopnextlevel.com