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Laser to replace car spark plugs: Study

LONDON: Car engines could soon be fired by environment-friendly lasers,replacing the 150-year-old spark plugs,researchers have claimed. Researchers said they have designed lasers that could ignite the fuel/air mixture in combustion engines. The approach would increase efficiency of engines,and reduce their pollution,by igniting more of the fuel/air mixture,a team at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics will report on May 1. The team is in discussions to commercialise the technology with Denso,a major automobile component manufacturer,BBC reported. Spark plugs only ignite the fuel mixture near the spark gap,reducing the combustion efficiency.