Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Why Twin Plugs

The Pulsars have been using twin-plug heads ever since 2003 and it is believed that two plugs firing the charge bring significant benefits to the table. What are they and how does it help?

In the minds of any engine designer, there is one very important goal--to combust all of the charge in the shortest possible time. We can split this into two parts: combusting all of the charge and combusting the charge in the shortest possible time. It is obvious that for maximum efficiency, whatever charge packed into the cylinder must be combusted fully to realise the full energy. If complete combustion doesn't take place, some of the fresh charge (with some energy left in it) will be taken away into the atmosphere along with the exhaust gas, which is obviously not what is wanted.

It is not enough if the engineer merely concentrates on combusting all of the charge; it has to be done in the shortest possible time. To put it the other way, the combustion has to be complete before a certain maximum time limit. That time limit is a function of the knocking characteristics of the engine. So, we can say that the combustion can be allowed to go on for as long as abnormal combustion doesn't start.

That is why the emphasis is on burning the charge in the shortest possible time. Two flame fronts can combust the charge quickly than can a single flame front. It is for this reason that Bajaj employs twin plugs in its engines. The twin plugs also allow the safe increase of compression ratio to higher than normal values without needing to fear about the adverse effects of the increase.

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3 comments:

Chandrasekharan said...

what bout ur favourite bike, HUNK :)

S R I R A M said...

Nah...Hunk is no more than just a redesigned Xtreme which again is a re-bodied Honda Unicorn. Hero Honda makes our lives easier...we can trace all of its zillion bikes to a handful few!

Sriram said...

What about the heating of the Engine?