Ignition source characteristics for natural-gas-burning vehicle engines

Natural gas is a promising alternative fuel:to petrol for vehicles. However , one of the factors hampering the design of natural gas burning engines fo r domestic cars is the long delay from the time of ignition to the commence ment of significant heat release. This is mainly due to the substantially e ndothermic phase during the early development of the combustion in natural gas. It is well known that high-energy, extended or multiple ignition sourc es can reduce this problem. The present article uses a large-scale computer simulation of a natural gas engine to examine the issues affecting the opt imization of such ignition sources.