A poppet valve for an internal combustion engine with integrated electrode to overcome the need for spark plugs

A poppet valve 30 incorporating a primary electrode 69. The primary electrode 69 may have a number of discharge tips and is located on the valve head 32 for use with at least one secondary electrode 35 not formed as part of the valve 30. At least part of the valve 30 is made from an electrically insulating material, for example a ceramics material, and there may be an insulating washer (268, figure 10a) between the valve head 32 and primary electrode 69 to insulate the electrode from the cylinder block 11. The valve 30 may have an electrically conductive core (68, figure 14) or an internal cavity containing a central conductor (266, figure 10a) to connect the primary electrode 69 to a source of electrical energy. A secondary electrode 35, of which there may be several, may be a fuel injector nozzle (75, figure 9) or an integrally formed projection (133, figure 4a) on the cylinder head 11. A combustion chamber in an engine may have two or more of these valves and the ignition timing of each primary electrode 69 may be independently controlled.