Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Millions of people use this technology to light the barbecue grills: a butane lighter. It works by the piezoelectric effect, applying pressure to a crystal of lead zirconium titanate to create a potential of several thousand volts, creating a spark. It’s low in cost, but spark ignition is a very poor way to ignite fuel air mixtures, especially when the mixture stoichiometry is uncontrolled, as in a gas grill. Better solutions are flame ignition or stratified charge, with the spark igniting a locally rich mixture and the resulting flame front lighting off the main vapour volume.
*ABOUT END OF THE LINE:*
Manufacturing veteran James Anderton expresses his compelling and unique opinions about the state of the manufacturing sector and the engineering industry more broadly. He shares his thoughts and insights to help engineering and manufacturing professionals navigate through the challenges of world events, the blending old with new technologies, evolving processes, gaps in skilled labour, in an effort to help maximize productivity of their daily operations. Occasionally, he just likes to vent.
James is a former editor of trade publications in the automotive, metalworking and plastics industries with contributions to a wide range of print and on-line publications. He also brings prior industry experience in quality and manufacturing for a Tier One automotive supplier.
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#gaslighter #piezoelectric #bbqlighter
Millions of people use this technology to light the barbecue grills: a butane lighter. It works by the piezoelectric effect, applying pressure to a crystal of lead zirconium titanate to create a potential of several thousand volts, creating a spark. It’s low in cost, but spark ignition is a very poor way to ignite fuel air mixtures, especially when the mixture stoichiometry is uncontrolled, as in a gas grill. Better solutions are flame ignition or stratified charge, with the spark igniting a locally rich mixture and the resulting flame front lighting off the main vapour volume.
*ABOUT END OF THE LINE:*
Manufacturing veteran James Anderton expresses his compelling and unique opinions about the state of the manufacturing sector and the engineering industry more broadly. He shares his thoughts and insights to help engineering and manufacturing professionals navigate through the challenges of world events, the blending old with new technologies, evolving processes, gaps in skilled labour, in an effort to help maximize productivity of their daily operations. Occasionally, he just likes to vent.
James is a former editor of trade publications in the automotive, metalworking and plastics industries with contributions to a wide range of print and on-line publications. He also brings prior industry experience in quality and manufacturing for a Tier One automotive supplier.
* * *
*JOIN ENGINEERING.COM:*
Easy, free. Join and get access to more stories, videos, white papers, research reports made for the engineering professional. Customize your profile to follow topics you care about and engage with the global engineering community. engineering.com
* * *
*STEM GAMES:*
Play some fun engineering-based STEM games on engineering.com:
engineering.com/resources/games
* * *
*ENGINEERING.COM TV:*
Watch in-depth engineering videos made for the engineering professional and found exclusively on engineering.com TV:
Panel Expert Roundtables: engineering.com/viewAll?category=roundtables
For the Design Engineer: engineering.com/viewAll?category=designing-the-future
For the Manufacturing Engineer: engineering.com/viewAll?category=manufacturing-the-future
* * *
#gaslighter #piezoelectric #bbqlighter
