Cut back ground
Necked down center electrode
Tapered center electrode
Traditional center electrode
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Quenching is when the heat generated by the spark is absorbed by the center or ground electrodes instead of igniting the air/fuel mixture. To understand quenching and how it is reduced it is first necessary to review the basic purpose of the spark plug is to ignite the air fuel mixture in the combustion chamber. To do this your vehicle ignition system generates tens of thousands of volts to jump the gap between the center and ground electrodes. However it is good to know that it is not the actual electricity that ignites the air fuel mixture, it is the heat energy generated by that electricity or spark. Therefore when you are creating the spark you want as much of the heat from that spark to be used to ignite the air fuel mixture and not have the heat from that spark be re-absorbed by the center and ground electrodes. Thus Autolite manufactures a variety of designs(cut back ground electrodes, fine wire center electrodes, tapered and necked down electrodes, etc.) all to try to reduce quenching by reducing the contact(surface) area between the electrodes and the flame nucleus. |
