A comparative study of laser ignition and spark ignition with gasoline-air mixtures

The ignition probability and minimum ignition energy (MIE) of premixed gasoline-air mixture for different equivalence ratio was experimentally studied using a nanosecond pulse at 532 nm and 1064 nm from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in a constant-volume combustion chamber (CVCC) The result was compared with the spark ignition. The initial pressure and temperature of the mixture was 0.1 MP and 363 K, respectively. The research indicates that within the flammable range, the probability increases when the ignition energy increases and the distribution of MIE with the equivalence ratios is U-shape for both laser and spark ignition. For laser ignition with 532 nm, when the incident energy is higher than 110 mJ or the absorbed energy is high than 31 mJ, 100% of ignition could be obtained within equivalence ratios of 0.8-1.6. For 1064 nm it is 235 mJ and 30 mJ. To get the same ignition probability of mixture with identical equivalence ratio, the incident energy of 1064 nm is twice more than the incident energy of 532 nm, while the absorbed energy values are virtually the same. It indicates that significant wavelength dependence is expected for the initial free electrons but irrelevant for the process of absorbing energy. The initial free electrons are produced from impurities in gasoline-air mixture because the intensity in the focus (1012 W/cm2) is too low to ionize gas molecules via the multi-photon ionization process, which requires higher irradiance (≥1014 W/cm2). The MIE obtained with a laser-spark ignition is greater than that measured by electrical sparks. The MIE for laser ignition was obtained at equivalence ratio of 1.0 both of 532 nm and 1064 nm, and it was 13.5 mJ and 9.5 mJ, respectively. But for spark ignition, the MIE is 3.76 mJ with equivalence ratio of 1.6. What׳s more, laser ignition extends the lean flammability limit from 0.8 to 0.6.