New product harnesses plasma technology to deliver more power and torque, quicker throttle response, better fuel efficiency and reduced emissions, company states
Albuquerque, N.M.—Pulstar, a U.S.-based ignition technology company, announced this week a new line of fine-wire iridium, high-power spark plugs for the automotive market.
“The new product is the next generation of our patented, Plasmacore spark plug,” said Lou Camilli, president of Pulstar. “We tested the new line of Pulstar fine-wire iridium spark plugs and found that they have a 35 percent higher resistance to fracture, very low error rates, and cycle-to-cycle electrical discharge consistency that is the best we have ever seen.”
Iridium, a hard, dense metal with an very high melting point, resists corrosion and arc erosion in today’s high-temperature engines. Camilli explained that the fine-wire design produces a consistent and stable spark that refines the electrodynamics of the Plasmacore ignition event. The insulator has been rebuilt from the ground up, with a new, sturdier profile and a more robust ceramic build that increases tensile and dielectrical strength.
Camilli developed the Plasmacore ignition technology with Albuquerque’s Sandia National Laboratories, one of three National Nuclear Security Administration research and development labs in the U.S. Their work led to the first transformational change to spark plug design in a century: a built-in capacitor that amplifies electrical discharge power at the gap and saturates the engine with a highly reactive field of ionized plasma.
Studies at AVL, Nissan and the University of Southern California have all showed dramatically faster ignition initiation and flame kernel development compared to conventional spark plugs.
Road and dyno testing of Pulstar spark plugs with Plasmacore technology have shown measurable improvements in horsepower, torque and mileage across a variety of vehicles. Tests conducted at Motiva Performance on a Lotus engine showed increases to horsepower of 7 percent and to torque of 10 percent. DSPORT Magazine also reviewed Pulstar spark plugs and reported increased horsepower of 3.5 percent and torque of 3.8 percent on its Honda Civic.
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