I do not know too much about patent laws but looking at things from the point of view of common sense, it seems to me this whole thing about Bajaj patenting twin spark technology is a bit of nonsense. Twin spark plug technology is widely prevalent in its use and simply should be considered prior knowledge. But laws are laws and they cannot be violated. All the best to TVS with their Flame.

@Satish… Bajaj’s patent is for using twin-spark plug technology in low capacity engines and not for twin-spark plug technology per se.

I am aware that the patent is for small capacity engines. But then what difference does cubic capacity make when the principle of using two spark plugs in an internal combustion engine remains the same. Having said this, I would like to state that I am not being argumentative and that since I am not an engineer my knowledge of things is bound to be only very limited. I could have missed an important point somewhere. Thanks.

@Satish… In conventional single-spark equipped combustion chamber, the rate of combustion is relatively slow. The spark plug is usually situated at either end of the combustion chamber , ignites the air-fuel mixture resulting in flame spreading like a slowly inflating balloon. The flame inevitably takes sometime to reach the furthest part of the combustion chamber, therefore the combustion is slow and relatively inefficient.
To avoid this there are two options
1. To use spark plug at the center of the combustion chamber which is what yamaha is doing with the upcoming YZFR15 and not many company’s use it since it requires a major head re-design.
2. To use twin spark plug for faster combustion and flame propagation, which is what Bajaj does.

Although the effects of using twin-spark plug arent drastic, it makes a difference. The DTSi engine in the pulsar starts even with a single plug and will run absolutely fine too. But if you hook it up to CO or pollution sensor, you will see that harmful gas emissions have increased meaning fuel isnt burning as efficiently as it should. Infact Pulsar were the only bike which cleared the then emission norms without the need for exhaust gas recirculation or catalytic converter which say a lot.
Other company’s didnt see the flame propagation as a problem in smaller capacity engines which is why they didnt use the technology. Bajaj was the first company to employ this technology in smaller capacity engines with a degree of success.

This is not a very detailed explanation but I hope this helps.

Admin,
Thanks for the info. Needless to say, it helps in shaping my understanding of things better. Thank you again.