Ignition device having a reflowed firing tip and method of construction

1. A method of manufacturing an electrode for an ignition device, comprising:

providing an electrode body having a firing tip region;

providing a continuous wire of selected firing tip material having a free end and an opposite end carried by a feed mechanism configured to advance said wire at a predetermined rate;

providing a laser for emitting a high energy laser beam;

feeding the free end of said wire via said feed mechanism into said firing tip region and into the laser beam;

reflowing said free end during the feeding step in the laser beam and forming a melt pool of the continuous wire material on said firing tip region with a portion of said continuous wire remaining on said feed mechanism for use in the manufacture of a subsequent ignition device;

moving said electrode body and said laser vertically away from one another along an axis of said laser beam during the reflowing step; and

cooling said melt pool to form a solidified firing tip surface of said selected firing tip material.

2. The method of claim 1 further including providing a plurality of continuous wires of selected firing tip material having free ends and opposite ends carried by said feed mechanism and feeding said free ends into the firing tip region simultaneously to form said firing tip surface.

3. The method of claim 2 further including providing said plurality of wires formed from different materials from one another.

4. The method of claim 3 further including providing at least one of said plurality of wires formed from the same material as said electrode body.

5. The method of claim 2 further including feeding the free end of at least one of said plurality of wires into said firing tip region at a different rate than the other free ends.

6. The method of claim 2 further including feeding each of said free ends into the firing tip region at different rates from one another.

7. The method of claim 2 further including providing at least one of said wires having a different cross-sectional geometry from the other wires.

8. The method of claim 2 further including carrying said wires on separate feeding mechanisms.

9. The method of claim 2 further including varying the feed rate of at least one of said wires during the reflowing step.

10. The method of claim 1 further including varying the feed rate of said free end into the firing tip region during the reflowing step.

11. The method of claim 1 further including providing the wire as a noble metal.

12. The method of claim 1 further including forming a recess in said electrode body and forming said melt pool in said recess.

13. The method of claim 1 further including varying the feed rate of said wire toward said firing tip region during the reflowing step.

14. The method of claim 1 further including moving said laser relative to said electrode body with said electrode body remaining stationary during the reflowing step.

15. The method of claim 14 further including moving said laser away from said electrode body during the reflowing step.

16. The method of claim 1 further including varying the intensity of energy output from said laser during the reflowing step.

17. The method of claim 1 further including monitoring the melt pool characteristics with a monitoring device during the reflowing step.

18. The method of claim 17 further including relaying information from said monitoring device to at least one of said laser or said feed mechanism and making real-time adjustments to parameters of said at least one of said laser or said feed mechanism.

19. The method of claim 18 further including making the real-time adjustments by varying at least one of the intensity of energy being emitted from said laser or the rate of feed of said wire from said feed mechanism in response to said information during the reflowing step.

20. A method of manufacturing an ignition device for an internal combustion engine, comprising:

providing a housing;

securing an insulator within the housing with an end of the insulator exposed through an opening in the housing;

mounting a center electrode within the insulator with a firing tip region of the center electrode extending beyond the insulator;

extending a ground electrode from the housing with a firing tip region of the ground electrode being located opposite the firing tip region of the center electrode to define a spark gap therebetween;

providing a continuous wire of a selected firing tip material having a free end and an opposite end carried by a feed mechanism;

providing a laser for emitting a high energy laser beam;

feeding the free end of said wire via said feed mechanism into at least one of said firing tip regions;

reflowing the free end of the wire in the laser beam during the feeding step to form a melt pool of the wire material on at least a selected one of said firing tip regions of said center electrode or said ground electrode;

moving said selected one of said firing tip region and said laser away from one another along an axis of said laser beam during the reflowing step; and

cooling said melt pool to form a solidified firing tip of said selected firing tip material.

21. The method of claim 20 further including providing a plurality of continuous wires of selected firing tip material having free ends and opposite ends carried by said feed mechanism and feeding said free ends into the firing tip region.

22. The method of claim 21 further including carrying said wires on separate feeding mechanisms.

23. The method of claim 21 further including providing said plurality of wires formed from different material from one another.

24. The method of claim 23 further including providing said wires formed from different material from said electrodes.

25. The method of claim 23 further including providing one of said wires formed from the same material as at least one of said electrodes.

26. The method of claim 21 further including feeding the free end of at least one of said wires into the firing tip region during said reflowing step at a different rate from the other wires.

27. The method of claim 21 further including varying the feed rate of at least one of said free ends toward the firing tip region during the reflowing step.

28. The method of claim 21 further including providing at least one of said wires having a different cross-sectional geometry from the other wires.

29. The method of claim 20 further including providing said wire as a noble metal from a group of iridium, platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, silver and osmium, and alloys thereof.

30. The method of claim 29 further including alloying the noble metal from the group of tungsten, yttrium, lanthanum, ruthenium and zirconium.

31. The method of claim 20 further including varying the feed rate of said free end into the firing tip region during said reflowing step.

32. The method of claim 20 further including forming a recess in said selected one of said firing tip regions of said center electrode or said ground electrode and forming said melt pool in said recess.

33. A method of manufacturing an ignition device for an internal combustion engine, comprising:

providing a housing;

securing an insulator within the housing with an end of the insulator exposed through an opening in the housing;

mounting a center electrode within the insulator with a firing tip region of the center electrode extending beyond the insulator;

extending a ground electrode from the housing with a firing tip region of the ground electrode being located opposite the firing tip region of the center electrode to define a spark gap therebetween;

providing a continuous wire having a free end and an opposite end carried by a feed mechanism;

providing a high energy emitting device;

feeding the free end of said wire via said feed mechanism into at least one of said firing tip regions;

reflowing the free end of the wire with the high energy emitting device during the feeding step to form a melt pool of the continuous wire material on at least a selected one of said firing tip regions of said center electrode or said ground electrode;

moving said selected one of said firing tip region and said high energy emitting device vertically away from one another during the reflowing step; and

monitoring selected characteristics of the melt pool with a monitoring device during the reflowing step and communicating a signal from said monitoring device to at least one of said high energy emitting device or said feed mechanism and varying at least one of the intensity of energy being emitted from said high energy emitting device or the rate of feed of said wire from said feed mechanism during the reflowing step in response to said signal.