Mailing List flyrotary@lancaironline.net Message #38274
From: Ed Anderson <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Fw: [FlyRotary] New subject: Pulstar Plugs
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 15:56:39 -0400
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Thanks for the insight, Bill.  I was under the erroneous impression that a pulse with a very quick rise time might jump the gap before sufficent current had leaked off through the carbon/lead deposits.
 
Below is the response I got from the Pulstar folks to my question about fouling.
 
Ed
 

Ed

Thank you for your interesting question.

 

Plug fouling is the result of an improper choice:

A:F ratio

Plug heat range

Thermostat

Or:

Valve seat leak

Or other condition that allows oil or anything other than fuel and air into the combustion chamber

 

The conductor (electrode) on the Pulstar is no different than what is on spark plugs. You need good conductivity to aid in the ionization of the spark gap. If liquid deposits (oil or fuel) are not percolated off before the next cycle, the added resistance of the deposit is going to compromise the ionization event and may even prevent it (misfire)

 

The Pulstar discharge follows the ionization event to drive electrical power into the fuel charge, so in answer to your question, it has no effect on “blowing” the deposit off of the electrode.

 

However, because the high energy discharge results in more of the fuel mixture being burned, there is less opportunity for deposits to collect.

 

Lou Camilli

 

 

From: Ed Anderson [mailto:eanderson@carolina.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 6:04 PM
To: info@enerpulse.com
Subject: Fouled spark plug

 

Nice concept, but one question.  What is the Pulstar performance in sparking a fouled sparkplug, either carbon fouled or lead fouled - any test done?

 

Ed

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 2:25 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Fw: [FlyRotary] New subject: Pulstar Plugs

In a message dated 7/6/2007 6:19:52 AM Pacific Standard Time, eanderson@carolina.rr.com writes:
Jesse, I sent an e mail to these folks asking them if they had any data on
how their plug performed under fouling conditions - both carbon and lead.
Be interesting to see what the response is - if I get one of course.

$25 is a lot to pay when the stock ones run $5-7 a piece, but if you fly
much with 100LL then you will find you need to replace them around 25 hours
or so.  So if this plug overcame the fouling problem and gave a much longer
life, then they might be worth the price for that reason along.

Ed
>> Isn't 25 bucks each a lot to pay for an air gapped plug ? There may be
>> more to them than that but that is my first reaction. We used to have to
>> move plug wire back off plug or cut small gap in wire to get a plug to
>> fire when valve guide seals went out and/or some other reason loaded
>> combustion chamber with oil. I first learned that from seeing used cars
>> when worn out and using a lot of oil with wire gapped and taped where
>> didn't notice. <g>
>> jofarr, soddy tn
>>
It won't prevent fouling. If you have carbon on the insulator it will foul, end of story. The problem isn't having enough voltage to fire. The problem is being sure that the discharge jumps the gap instead of running down the face of the insulator in the carbon. You can have a million volts but if the spark runs on the surface it won't run any better. I have seen all kinds of high energy CDI systems. They never worked any better.
 
Bill Jepson




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