Influence of the Pressure on Spatial and Temporal Resolved Plasma Physical Parameters of a TCI-Ignition System

In this work, the influence of pressure on the electrical parameters of a standard automotive ignition system and the characteristic spectra of the ignition spark were shown. The spectrum of the breakdown shows the strongest change, from a relatively discrete N2 band spec-trum to a bright continuum spectrum with intense NII line radiation in it. In the arc discharge, the metal lines from the electrode material dominate the shape of the spectrum. These lines can be used to de-termine the excitation temperature and to estimate the intensity with which the electrode material is released by the thermionic effects of the discharge. Lastly, the shape of the glow discharges is not affected by the pressure, only their intensity decreases. Because of the differ-ences in the spectra, several methods are needed to determine differ-ent temperatures or other plasma characteristics.