Pulse Plugs Make Prius Greener and Faster?

Well, a good plug can make a difference at peak torque and peak hp conditions, but they do not usually make much of a difference under part load conditions. I am a bit skeptical of the those two fuel usage charts. That is just one run using each plug. I would want to see a couple more runs for me to believe there is a difference.

There are irridium plugs that have a bit smaller tip that are said to create a bit more peak hp and torque, but they wear out in 50-60k not the 120k miles that the standard irridium will provide. Having said that, I wonder how long these plugs last.

 

Bwahahahahaha

A real dyno graph looks like this. Not BS numbers on a webpage.
Modern day engines are 99.9% efficient meaning nothing will make them get better mpg. Hotter spark means higher voltage ignition system which they dont include with the plugs. The FAKE video is krap.

 

How 'bout that, a timing retarder built into the plug. I wonder how much it increases polluting emissions?

 

If you click the numbers on the web page you get an image of the dyno chart.

Just like the image of the dyno chart here.

Oh, yeah, my name is Kyle, I do of course work for the company (might as well get it out there) so ANY questions you have I'll be happy to answer.

And no, I'm not selling you anything, just informing.

 

99.9% efficient at turning gas into mechanical energy? Is that your FINAL answer?!

More like along the lines of 38% efficient, not factoring in transmission, alternator and other losses.

 

Looking at the dyno chart, I get the impression the test was with the accelerator floored and the dynamometer controlled the velocity?

Do you have any dyno data from other speed ranges? In particular I am interested in the range from 20-50 mph.

I didn't see where the fuel consumption numbers were plotted on the dyno chart, did I miss something?

How was fuel consumption monitored? (aka., exhaust gas analysis, MFD display over some finite period of time, fuel meter, mass air flow meter?)

Can you share any more about the testing protocol such as warm-up protocol, brand of gas, the test order of the different plugs, speed order (50 mph -> 80 mph or 80 mph -> 50 mph)?

The chart suggests the values were plotted as a continuous line but I'm used to measurements where we 'hold a value' and let it settle out before moving to the next test point ... a series of steps. Could you tell us over what time interval the 50-80 mph test ran and if there were any 'hold points' not evident in the graph?

Have you tested the plugs for 'lean burn' in some other vehicle or engine?

Do you have a more detailed profile of the 'Pulse Plug'? I am not interested in the pulse circuit as much as what appears to be a darkish area between the tip electrod and the center conductor that normally is a carbon element to help reduce spark plug noise.

If we measured the resistance from the tip to the terminal on the standard plug, I would expect a standard VOM to show what appears to be a resistor whose temperature profile should match carbon. Would the pulse circuit look like a capacitor or something else over time at VOM voltages?

Do you have any oscilloscope traces showing the dV/dt trace for a standard spark plug and the pulse plug?

Would you have any spectrographic analysis that might give us an idea of the equivalent 'blackbody' heat of the two plugs?

If I wanted to buy just one for some lab testing, what would it cost? NOTE: $25 per web page.

I looked at sparkplugs.com and their test results are a little difficult to interpret. They changed scales on both the X and Y axis which means to analyze the data, you need a graphics editor with clip and scaling capabilities. <UGH!> Also, the vendor claims these plugs are good for 50k miles.

As I looked over the Google found pages, I'm feeling less informed. These may be great plugs but the web pages don't inspire confidence.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

"A real dyno graph looks like this. Not BS numbers on a webpage.
Modern day engines are 99.9% efficient meaning nothing will make them get better mpg. Hotter spark means higher voltage ignition system which they dont include with the plugs. The FAKE video is krap."

How efficient did you say? wow. Thats pretty good. The rest of us are doing considerably less than 40%. In fact I think unless you are in StarFleet, everyone on earth is doing less than 40% .

I'm beginning to understand your screen name.:second:

 

Hi All,

Hi Kyle. Were the OEM plugs they tested with were new , and how many miles were on them if not new ? What did the OEM plugs look like when they came out of the car? Were they pristene looking? Is there a wear issue in this Prius that when the Pulstar plugs have been in for a few thousand miles, will effect the Pulstar plugs the same as the OEM's ? What about the resistance? Were the OEM plugs still within the new limits?

New Plugs usually improve acceleration and fuel economy.

 

And that assumes the engine is being used at an optimum efficiency power level that would be quite problematic if used continuosly. After a while at that power level the Prius would be up to around 90 mph.

The Prius engine is remarkable in that it only drops to 25 % efficiency down at 12.5 HP (1/6 max power). Argonne Labs measured this. Unlike other engines which drop down to 10 % or so at low powers.

 

Hi Kyle,

Are these Pulstar plugs hot or cold plugs? That is the length of the electrode and insulator are such that the tip of the center pin runs at a hotter or colder temperature than stock? A hypermiler, that does not highway drive, may have issues with cold plug fouling. A competition (cold) plug may not be appropriate for such application. A hotter plug can keep the insulation cleaner, and the electrically shunting deposits less.

 

So your saying the engine only burns 62% of the fuel injected into it? Im saying it burns 99%. The spark plug will not make it burn more fuel then it already burns.

 

So your saying the engine only burns 60% of the fuel injected into it? Im saying it burns 99%. That fancy spark plug will not make it burn more fuel then it already burns.

 

Hi ProblemChild,

Effiiciency has nothing to with how much fuel is burned. It has to do with how much work is extracted from the burning of the specific amount of fuel.

Yes, engines only do about 35 % of the work they could, based on the energy released by the combustion of the fuel. The rest goes into heat, either into the water jacket, or out the tail pipe.

You are right that 99.9 % of the fuel is burning in modern emissions controlled engines, and these plugs will not change that at all. But that does not change their efficiency significantly, over 99.5 % that was burned in 1970's boat cars. Lets see, 99.9/99.5 is like an improvement of 0.4 % in efficiency. The Prius engine alone, is dramatically more efficient than even the engine that uses the same block in a Toyota Echo. But, I wont go into why here (hint the Prius expansion ratio is 13 to 1, so the Tout is allot lower).

What might explain an improvement in efficiency due to a high pulse energy plug is that the burn is quicker. And being quicker, the peak temperature reached is higher. Which would improve the Input Temperature in the heat cycle. And its been known for many years that the efficiency of an engine is directly proportional to the ratio of Tin / Tout . Hell, I even learned this in freshman college physics in the mid 70's. And they told me that this had been understood since the 1800's.

If the Pulstar Plug improvement is happening, one way to explain it is that the larger discharge energy would result in fuel in a bigger radius being ignited simulatneously.

Now, this is actually along the lines of research by other professional engine people. They are working to make a HCCI engine, where all the fuel/air mixture, everywhere in the cylinder is triggered to burn simultaneiously, by a compression ignition scheme. The Saturn Aura will be available with an engine that can run in this mode at low powers in a few years, actually. Yea, they will actually turn off the spark plugs while in this mode.

This is different than a Diesel, in that the fuel in a Diesel is burned as its injected. While in a HCCI engine, the fuel/air mixture is present, and hopefully uniform throughout the cylinder at the time of ignition.


Now the bugabo in all this is NOx. A higher temperature would generate more NOx. Might not be an issue with the Prius, as it will run the engine less to get to speed. But it would be interesting to see the NOx outputs from the baseline US06, and the Pulstar US06 Prius tests.

 

I'll stick with Bosch.

 

Nice analysis Donee. I too would be interested in any emissions data obtained with the Pulstar plugs.

In theory, HC emissions should be lower and NOx emissions should be higher, but who knows. Could the ECU actually end up compensating and slightly richening the mixture thus offsetting any fuel economy gain and increase in NOx emissions?

My main concern is that I have heard of some poor QC control with some of the early Pulstar plugs on the NASIOC forums...

 

Nicely outlined Donee. Wasn't this what made the Hemi so much stronger - simply lighting up the fuel from the top instead of the side?

As I learn more about my Prius it seems after changing driving style considerably in order to get consistently in the 40-50 mpg range one few reasonable things left is to maximize the efficiency of the ICE. It's the ICE that brings mileage down.

If the Pulstar plugs provide an ROI then that's a win. At $100 for a set and 5% increase in mileage, they would break even roughly a little under 50,000 miles, the manufacturer's listed life span. Then you start all over again. :>)

 

"If the Pulstar plugs provide an ROI then that's a win. At $100 for a set and 5% increase in mileage, they would break even roughly a little under 50,000 miles, the manufacturer's listed life span. Then you start all over again. :>) "

maybe its just me... but why would I buy these if their is no advantage?

 

So..... What happened to answering ANY questions?

My boss found this if anyone cares to find out more: GB: Official Pulse Plug GB Thread, Mazda 3/6 Pulse Plugs...................

 

Funny the so called "not trying to sell you guys" guy left so soon. He must not have thought Prii drivers were not all that smart and would be a slam dunk. Im all for better parts to make more power and better mpg at less pollution but his price was just too much for too little benefit.