WO1997021920A1 - Low inductance high energy inductive ignition system - Google Patents
Low inductance high energy inductive ignition system Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1997021920A1 WO1997021920A1 PCT/US1996/019898 US9619898W WO9721920A1 WO 1997021920 A1 WO1997021920 A1 WO 1997021920A1 US 9619898 W US9619898 W US 9619898W WO 9721920 A1 WO9721920 A1 WO 9721920A1
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- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- ignition system
- voltage
- coil
- core
- primary
- Prior art date
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Classifications
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- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
- F02P—IGNITION, OTHER THAN COMPRESSION IGNITION, FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES; TESTING OF IGNITION TIMING IN COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES
- F02P9/00—Electric spark ignition control, not otherwise provided for
- F02P9/002—Control of spark intensity, intensifying, lengthening, suppression
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- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
- F02P—IGNITION, OTHER THAN COMPRESSION IGNITION, FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES; TESTING OF IGNITION TIMING IN COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES
- F02P3/00—Other installations
- F02P3/005—Other installations having inductive-capacitance energy storage
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- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
- F02P—IGNITION, OTHER THAN COMPRESSION IGNITION, FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES; TESTING OF IGNITION TIMING IN COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES
- F02P3/00—Other installations
- F02P3/02—Other installations having inductive energy storage, e.g. arrangements of induction coils
- F02P3/04—Layout of circuits
- F02P3/0407—Opening or closing the primary coil circuit with electronic switching means
- F02P3/0435—Opening or closing the primary coil circuit with electronic switching means with semiconductor devices
- F02P3/0442—Opening or closing the primary coil circuit with electronic switching means with semiconductor devices using digital techniques
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01F—MAGNETS; INDUCTANCES; TRANSFORMERS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
- H01F38/00—Adaptations of transformers or inductances for specific applications or functions
- H01F38/12—Ignition, e.g. for IC engines
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- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
- F02P—IGNITION, OTHER THAN COMPRESSION IGNITION, FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES; TESTING OF IGNITION TIMING IN COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES
- F02P3/00—Other installations
- F02P3/06—Other installations having capacitive energy storage
- F02P3/08—Layout of circuits
- F02P3/0876—Layout of circuits the storage capacitor being charged by means of an energy converter (DC-DC converter) or of an intermediate storage inductance
Definitions
- a high power, high energy, high efficiency inductive ignition system in which the operating supply voltage Vc energizing the ignition coils is made independent of the variable, low voltage, battery supply voltage Vb (or other voltage of other ignition systems), and the operating voltage Vc is selected in conjunction with low inductance compact ignition coils suitable for plug mounting, or for other type of mounting near the spark plug, to provide higher ignition energy and higher operating efficiency than the conventional automotive Kettering inductive ignition system.
- the ignition system disclosed is designated as “Hybrid Inductive Ignition”, or HBI, since it features inductive energy storage in the magnetic core of the ignition coil as in the conventional inductive system, but also features energy storage at a higher and approximately constant voltage Vc, typically on an energy storage electrolytic capacitor, for delivery to the magnetic core of the ignition coil.
- HBI Hybrid Inductive Ignition
- the system features a high efficiency, e.g. 90%, DC to DC power converter with isolation, and other system features mentioned below and disclosed in the description.
- the ignition system is designed to more optimally operate by having the supply voltage set at about three times the standard automotive battery voltage of 14 volts, i.e. with Vc approximately 42 volts, and the peak "break" or coil primary winding switching current Ipo at about three times the maximum of 10 amps used in conventional systems, i.e. with Ipo approximately 30 amps.
- the coil primary inductance Lp is then selected to be in the range of 0.2 to 1.0 milliHenry (mH), an order of magnitude less than that of the standard inductive system but such that approximately three times the energy Epo can be stored in the coil's magnetic core and approximately three times the "useful" energy Eso can be delivered to the spark as required for best engine dilution tolerance.
- the ignition features open core structure with relatively confined magnetic fields for low primary inductance Lp and low cost manufacture.
- the core can be open E-type, open cylindrical type as in a pencil coil, or other open type core, including I-core structure to provide suitably low primary inductance Lp in the range of 0.2 mH and 1 mH for spark energies in the range of 120 to 600 mj.
- a closed core structure with a large air gap, or biasing magnet, can also be used.
- variable inductance Lsat a variable (or saturating) control inductor of inductance Lsat to reduce the peak coil secondary voltage on switch closure to approximately one half normal, where variable inductance Lsat ideally varies between approximately 60% of the coil primary inductance Lp at low primary currents lp to less than one tenth its initial value at the break current Ipo to store less than 10% of the coil energy (preferably about 5%).
- the ignition also features use of a lossless snubber in conjunction with the use of preferably internally undamped 600 volt Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) to store and deliver back to the power supply most of the energy associated with the coil primary leakage inductance Lpe and variable inductance Lsat occurring at the time of the coil power switch opening with peak break current Ipo.
- IGBTs Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors
- the ignition spark is of higher peak current, typically in the range 300 to 500 milliamps (ma), representing an initial arc type spark discharge which decays to a glow discharge.
- the low current arc discharge is more efficient in delivering spark energy to the mixture in the gap (versus to the electrodes) and is less susceptible to being blown out, or segmented, under higher mixture flow velocities as is found in high efficiency modem engines.
- Other features of the system is the use of particular simple form of current sensing circuit, power switch driver circuit, input triggering circuits, and other features described below in further detail and in the disclosure. More generally, the ignition system is usable with both batteries and other forms of voltage sources and applies to both internal and external combustion engines. For the present automotive application, i.e.
- the power unit uses a DC-DC power converter, preferably fly-back.
- the power unit generates the higher voltage Vc (about three times conventional) and provides the required high current Ipo of about 30 amps with minimum coil and switch dissipation over a wide range of battery input voltages, including 5 volts.
- Vc variable control inductor
- Ipo the required high current Ipo of about 30 amps with minimum coil and switch dissipation over a wide range of battery input voltages, including 5 volts.
- VCI variable control inductor
- lossless snubber circuit to return most of the energy stored in the VCI and coil leakage inductance, after ignition coil switch opening, to the power supply.
- the coil primary winding 40 to 80 turns Np of wire are used (and around 100 for pencil coils) in a two layer winding of turns ratio N of 50 to 100, more preferably 60 to 80, where N Ns/Np, and Ns is the number of secondary turns.
- the power switch S for controlling the primary current is preferably a 400 to 900 volt IGBT, more preferably a standard 600 volt undamped IGBT with current capability of 30 to 60 amps.
- the magnetic core of the coil is open E-type or open cylindrical type for pencil coils.
- the material used is laminated 9 to 24 mil SiFe, preferably standard 14 mil oriented (M6).
- the center cylindrical core on which is wound the primary winding is made up of laminations of different widths to give a high fill, with preferably a small center gap of about 1 mm, or bunched round or hexagon wire, or cylinder of powder iron preferably with a gap in the middle which can contain a biasing magnet to increase the maximum magnetic flux swing to offset the more limited capability of the powder iron material.
- the invention comprises a high efficiency, high power, high energy inductive ignition system with power unit and controller that, in comparison to conventional inductive ignition systems, (a) provides a higher voltage Vc of 24 to 80 volts used for rapidly charging the primary winding of a coil with low inductance primary Lp of 0.2 to 1.0 mH to a current of about 20 to 50 amps without false firing upon switch closure; (b) advantageously, as a result of the low inductance Lp, uses simpler open core type coils with moderately confined magnetic fields; and (c) uses simpler control circuits of only one current sensor and one switch controlling device or power switch driver for multi-coil, multi-power switch applications.
- the new system uses a low loss snubber circuit associated with the power switches Si, including an input trigger disabling circuit based on the snubber circuit, with coil power switches Si and coils operating with much less heating than conventional inductive ignition systems for a given stored energy because of the lower primary inductance and short dwell time Tdw (time required to energize the magnetic core of the coil).
- the low primary inductance Lp and low turns ratio N result in low coil secondary inductance Ls and faster high voltage rise time Trise of 5 to 20 microseconds to provide much greater resistance to plug fouling than the conventional inductive ignition.
- Overall ignition system efficiency of the new system is 50% and higher, i.e. ratio of spark energy to energy drawn from the battery, as a result of the high DC-DC power converter efficiency (typically 90%), low primary circuit resistance (typically about 0.2 ohms), low secondary winding resistance Rs, typically about 500 ohms, and the lossless nature of the snubber.
- SSPE shall be used henceforth to mean the energy measured with the industry standard 800 volt zener load, and the criterion for minimum required spark energy for best engine dilution tolerance disclosed herein shall be referenced to an 800 volt zener load, recognizing that SSPE is approximately proportional to the "effective spark energy", ESPE, where ESPE is the energy delivered to the mixture in the spark gap in the form of a high temperature plasma versus that delivered to the electrodes, i.e. measured by subtracting out the electrode drops.
- ESPE effective spark energy
- the preferred arc discharge is found to provide only 50% .spark energy relative to SSPE (because of its lower electrode drop), approximately 50% of the spark energy is effective, for ESPE of approximately 24% of the SSE, equal to that of the low current glow discharge, verifying the usefulness of the SSPE as a proportionality criterion for measuring spark effectiveness (ESPE) for the glow and low current arc.
- the SSPE is not useful for spark duration, giving values approximately 80% and 33% for the glow and arc discharge respectively.
- the ignition criterion disclosed herein can use SSPE for defining the required spark energy for best dilution tolerance.
- the criterion states that for a given engine, the required SSPE is one that ignites a constant fraction of the mixture volume assuming the mixture flows through the spark gap in proportion to the piston speed.
- This novel "proportional volume ignition criterion", PVIC shows that for typical engines, ignition SSPE of 150 mj to 300 mj is required, or 180 mj to 360 mj stored energy for a well designed system, and higher SSPE is required for large bore slow speed engines.
- Such high SSPE for compact ignition coils of preferred volume of 30 to 60 cc (cubic centimeters), approximately 30 cc for 150 mj pencil coils, approximately 40 cc for 200 mj block coils, and approximately 60 cc for 300 mj cylindrical coils, are achievable with the hybrid inductive ignition (HBI) disclosed herein and are impractical for conventional ignition.
- the present invention includes HBI ignition systems using effective combinations of ESPE and PVIC, and engines including such ignition systems.
- a preferred HBI automotive ignition system design has the following approximate values of parameters: supply voltage (Vc) 40 volts, peak current (Ipo) 30 amps, primary inductance (Lp) 0.5 mH, standard spark energy 200 mj, peak output voltage 40 kV, switch (IGBT) voltage 600 volts, turns ratio (N) 75, and peak spark current Is 400 ma.
- the snubber capacitor is preferably 600 volt, 0.2 to 0.4 microfarads (uF) capacitor which charges up to approximately 450 volts when the coil power switches open, and the snubber inductor is preferably in the one to ten millihenry range.
- the principal object of the present invention is to provide an inductive type of ignition system which employs higher energy density coils that are compact, low cost, and suitable for spark plug mounting or placement near the spark plug, which have a much higher stored and delivered spark energy than the conventional Kettering inductive ignition coils, delivering 150 to 500 mj "standard spark energy" to improve engine dilution tolerance, the spark energy delivery being in the form of a higher spark current of 100's of milliamps which is resistant to spark segmentation by high flow.
- a related object is to provide compact, lower cost coils that advanta ⁇ geously use their lower primary inductance by being made up of simple open E- core structures which have nonetheless relatively confined magnetic fields.
- a further object is to accomplish this with the disclosed higher operating input voltage Vc of approximately three times that of standard 13 volt battery and higher peak break current Ipo of 20 to 50 amps (at least three times standard current) over a wide range of battery voltages, including 5 volts, with minimum number of additional components and at a high efficiency, achievable in the case of present automotive ignitions where higher stable voltage Vc is not currently available, typically by use of a DC-DC fly-back converter, or boost converter if isolation between the battery and switch is not required. If higher voltages, e.g.
- this object becomes limited to providing rapid, essentially dwell-free charging of the primary inductances of the low inductance (about 0.5 mH) coils for higher coil stored energy, higher spark power, and higher switch efficiency, with a low loss snubber circuit employed to store the energy in an optional preferred variable inductor and coil leakage inductance (upon switch opening) to deliver that energy back to the power supply to maximize circuit efficiency and minimize heating of the power unit containing the power converter, variable control inductor, and other components.
- Another object is to simplify the ignition control circuitry by using one instead of four current sensing circuits (for four power switches for an assumed 4-cylinder engine with one coil and one switch per spark plug).
- Another object is to use the advantages provided by the HBI ignition, which stores capacitive energy at a higher voltage Vc than battery voltage, to store more than the energy required for one spark firing to enable delivery of more than one spark firing pulse during cold start and during engine cold running without substantial voltage droop, or to use a diode means on the coil secondary to allow recharging of the coil during spark firing to provide a high duty cycle, e.g. above 80%, firing of a train of more than one inductive spark.
- Another object is to use a pencil coil with center core made up of two cylindrical sections separated by an air gap which lowers the primary inductance and provides improved performance for a laminated core, and which for powder iron cores allows for a biasing magnet to be placed in the gap to raise the core's energy storage capability.
- the ends of pencil coil may be open, and the outer shield made up of wrapped thin magnetic sheet, or one turn of magnetic sheet designed to have a skin depth approximately equal' to the sheet thickness.
- Another object is to use the new "proportional volume ignition criterion", or PVIC, to define the high, minimum required spark energy and to provide the energy by means of the HBI system described herein.
- Another object is to design a compact, low cost power unit (box) which includes all the HBI components other than the ignition coils, i.e. the power converter, higher voltage Vc power supply and variable inductor, ignition power switches and switch driver, lossless snubber, and ignition controller, and in particular to insure that the three magnetic components included in the power unit have the minimum weight, size, and cost, and the maximum efficiency and effectiveness, i.e.
- the DC-DC power converter transformer made up of a ferrite core with narrow winding window
- the variable control inductor made up of a very small, low cost powder iron core of high initial permeability
- the snubber inductor which preferably has a narrow winding window and is made of special design, low cost powder iron with high energy storage.
- FIG. 1 is a partial block diagram, partial circuit diagram of an embodiment of the Hybrid Inductive Ignition, or HBI, system showing two of several coils and power switches, variable control inductor, simple dissipative snubber, preferred driver circuit, and power converter and ignition controller in block forms.
- HBI Hybrid Inductive Ignition
- FIG. 2a is a partly to-scale partial side-view drawing (looking at the lamination flats) of a preferred embodiment of a laminated open E-core coil, usable in the FIG. 1 embodiment and elsewhere, of moderate stored energy of 150 mj to 200 mj, showing certain key lamination dimensions and the prefe ⁇ 'ed two layer primary winding and one half of the magnetic field.
- FIG. 2b is a side-view drawing of the lamination structure of the FIG. 2a embodiment built into an encapsulated cylindrical coil.
- FIG. 2c is a bottom end-view of a cylindrical cross-section coil showing a preferred rectangular core design providing an optimized circular cross-section.
- FIG. 3 is an approximately to-scale side-view drawing of an open I-type (bobbin type) core of approximately square overall dimensions showing the preferred two layer primary winding and the secondary winding in a preferred segmented tapered bobbin.
- FIG. 4 is a side-view drawing of an equivalent magnetic core and primary winding of the cores of FIGS. 2a and 3 for obtaining an approximate formula for the coil primary winding inductance Lp.
- FIG. 5 is a cutaway side-view drawing of the structure of the FIG. 2a embodiment built into a block coil for more suitable mounting onto a spark plug.
- FIG. 6 is a side-view, approximately to-scale drawing of a plug mounted cylindrical coil including a spark plug boot and spark plug.
- FIG. 7a is a plot of a typical coil primary charging current lp and the secondary spark firing current Is for the present ignition application.
- FIG. 7b is a plot of the spark gap voltage corresponding to the coil current waveforms of FIG. 7a.
- FIG. 8a is a partial drawing of an ignition coil circuit used with the fast charging circuit of the present HBI system, i.e. the FIG. 1 and 2a and all other embodiments, including a diode on the output of the coil to permit high duty cycle multi-firing of the ignition spark.
- FIG. 8b is a spark current output of the circuit of FIG. 8a representing two sequential spark firings of high duty cycle.
- FIGS. 9a to 9d are various views of preferred cores for use in the trans- former of the preferred DC-DC fly-back converter arid for the snubber inductor.
- FIG. 10 is a detailed circuit drawing of a preferred embodiment of a complete HBI system with fly-back power converter, lossless snubber, and simple forms of power switch driver circuit and ignition control circuitry. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
- FIG. 1 is a partial block diagram, partial circuit diagram of an embodiment of the (HBI) ignition depicting the power converter (12) and trigger input ignition controller (13) as blocks to be shown in preferred embodiment form in FIG. 10, and depicting the preferred form of distributorless ignition of one coil and one power switch per spark plug (of a multi-cylinder engine), depicting two coils of any number of coils, and assuming for simplicity, where required, a conventional 4-cylinder engine with four coils and four power switches.
- HBI head-to-cylinder engine
- the ignition assumes operation from a 12 volt car battery 1 (voltage Vb), with two ignition coils 2a and 2b of several possible shown stacked in parallel
- each coil has primary winding 3 of inductance Lp, turns Np, and coil primary leakage inductance 4 (inductance Lpe) shown as separate inductors, secondary windings 5 of inductance Ls, turns Ns, terminating in a spark gap 9, and magnetic cores 7 of permeability M.
- inductance Lpe coil primary leakage inductance 4
- the remainder of the ignition power circuit includes energy storage capacitor 10 (with diode 11 across) charged to a voltage Vc from the power convener 12.
- Capacitor 10 typically comprises high temperature electrolytic capacitors of higher voltage rating than Vc, e.g. 50 to 63 volt rating for Vc approximately
- Vc 40 volts with Vc typically ranging from 24 to 80 volts depending on application.
- Capacitance C of capacitor 10 is selected based on the ignition system requirements, with preferably two or three 50 or 63 volt rating in-parallel 270 to 1000 microfarads (uF) capacitors used for the typical automotive application.
- one of the power switches Si is turned on by the controller 13 for the "dwell" period Tdw to build up a prescribed peak or "break" current Ipo, measured by sensor resistor 14 connected between the low side of capacitor 10 and ground, and then opened to deliver the energy El stored in the magnetic core to the secondary coil circuit, where:
- Coupling losses between the primary and secondary windings, switching losses, core losses, and secondary winding losses reduce the energy that is delivered to the spark gap 9 to typically 70% to 80% of the stored energy El.
- the coil coupling coefficient "k" is typically in the range of 0.85 to 0.95.
- Vs' 2 • N • Vc which for a turns ratio N of, say, 75 and a voltage Vc of 40 volts, will give an output voltage of 6 kV, enough to (false) fire the spark gap 9 (a capacitive discharge effect) under light load conditions, especially for engine deceleration.
- the voltage doubling effect is eliminated (halved) to reduce the turn-on voltage Vs' to half that value (3 kV) by use of the variable control (saturable) inductor 6 with initial inductance approximately 0.6 times the coil primary inductance Lp.
- high initial relative permeability M powder iron material is used for the core (M of 75 to 85) which drops to about 1/10th the M value at the peak current Ipo, although ferrite material can also be used that saturates after a few amps of current lp.
- type El 00 core also designated E 24-25
- 40 to 60 turns of approximately # 20 AWG, American Wire Gauge, wire is used, depending on the requirement for the initial inductance Lsati (0.2 to 0.6 mH).
- a simple dissipative snubber whose purpose is to store, in snubber capacitor 16 and to dissipate it in shunt resistors 17a and 17b, the high frequency energy associated with both the coil leakage inductance 4 and variable inductor 6 which occurs upon power switch Si opening.
- Diodes 18a, 18b connected to the collectors of power IGBT switches 8a, 8b provide isolation between the power switches Si and prevent reverse current flow from the snubber capacitor.
- High voltage protection clamp 19 is included across the snubber capacitor 16 to limit the peak voltage.
- Capacitor 16 is such as to store energy comparable or greater than that stored in the coil leakage inductance 4 and variable inductor 6 at the peak primary current Ipo.
- the capacitance is typically greater than 0.2 uF and of 600 volt rating for the present application which preferably uses 600 volt IGBT power switches Si.
- a particularly simple one, fully disclosed elsewhere, is to connect an N-type FET switch 20 (or other type of semiconductor switch) with drain to the gates of the various switches Si through isolation diodes 21a, 21 b, ..., and its source to ground.
- the gate of the FET 20 is connected to the controller 13, whose operation is more fully disclosed with reference to FIG. 10.
- FIG. 2a is a partly to-scale side-view drawing of a preferred embodiment of the laminated open E-core for a coil of the present invention.
- the primary winding 3 is shown in this figure, made up of two layers of magnet wire (either round wire or flattened elongated wire) of preferably 40 to 80 turns (20 to 40 turns per layer) of 19 to 22 AWG (American Wire Gauge) magnet wire.
- the center leg 30 of the core is made up of stacked laminations with center leg width "d", which, with side legs 34 (width approximately d/2), define a winding window 35 of height "h" and length "1,".
- Preferably back end 31 of laminations of width "d2" has a mounting hole 32.
- a key aspect of this design is the absence of an I-lamination which is normally provided to form a closed core.
- a primary inductance Lp about one order of magnitude smaller than the required primary inductance Lp of about 0.5 mH, for preferred primary turns Np of approximately 55 and preferred dimensions of the lamination of D approximately 2" (5 cms), primary wire winding length "lp” approximately 1 " to 1.25" (2.5 to 3 cms), and "h” approximately 0.4" (1 cm) for a stored energy El of 200 mj to 300 mj.
- the magnetic field penetration depth lpen is approxi ⁇ mately equal to or less than the length of the coil encapsulated open end, minimally effecting the optimal operation of the coil.
- Bpk [Lp»Ipo]/
- Np «Aml Bpk 1.5 Tesla which is ideally stressed (for Bpk approximately 1.5 Tesla assuming SiFe laminated oriented core material), with ideal magnetic stored energy in the core of approximately 250 mj for most automotive applications.
- B by D of the core for El of approximately 250 mj are approximately 2" by 1.8" (5 cms by 4.6 cms), the center leg width having a dimension "d" of approximately 0.6" (1.5 cm), i.e.
- the width "d2" of the back end 31 of the lamination is preferably 1.5 times d/2 instead of equal to d/2 to provide more area to make up for reduced permeability at high magnetic flux densities, i.e. of the cross grain orientation of the back portion 31 (at approximately 1.5 Tesla based on the center leg core area Am).
- dl square center leg of thickness
- h window height
- the coil would be overall smaller with center leg dimension "d" reduced, although the window height h would be kept at the approximately 7/16" (1.1 cm) for maintaining low secondary resistance Rs and for providing adequate high voltage margins.
- the coil primary resistance Rp is preferably about 0.15 ohms.
- Fig. 2b depicts an approximately to-scale side view drawing of a preferred embodiment of a cylindrical coil based on the core of FIG. 2.
- the coil is based on the design and parameters already disclosed and is made with the primary 3 and secondary 5 windings and segmented bobbin encapsulated into a cylindrical or rectangular cross-section unit 35a which protrudes beyond the open end 33 of the laminations, from which the concentric high voltage tower 36 extends to produce a mating nipple to which can be fitted a flexible insulating boot (not shown).
- a connector 38 connected to the secondary winding end 37 for contacting the spark plug high voltage te ⁇ inal (not shown).
- the secondary winding 5 is shown wound in six segments or slots (five to eight slots or more) indicated as shaded areas in the winding window 35.
- the margins between the secondary winding 5 and both the primary winding 3 and inside surfaces 34a of the outer lamination legs 34 increase along the coil length, the first uppe ⁇ nost, lowest voltage, secondary winding segment 5b having the smallest margins and the last, highest voltage segment 5g the largest margin, as is required and known to those versed in the art.
- This coil can store 200 to 300 mj of energy and transfer the energy at a high efficiency of approximately 75% to the spark assuming a spark voltage of 800 volts (a conventional way of specifying spark energy).
- the primary end wires 3a and 3b emerge at the back of the coil along with the low voltage end 5a of the secondary winding.
- FIG. 2c is a bottom end view of a cylindrical cross-section coil showing a preferred rectangular, versus square, core area based on an open E-laminated core providing an optimized circular cross- section for the coil.
- the larger core cross-section dimension "dl " is selected to equal 1.73 (V3) times the shorter dimension "d", or somewhat less than that, e.g. 1.6. This selection is based on producing a uniform winding window height for the circular cross-section.
- the window height "h" between the core center leg 30a and an outer core leg 34b is equal to the winding height "hi " which represents the minimum clearance between any part of the core leg 30a and a circle 39 whose diameter equals the core width D (where D equals 2 «(d+h)).
- El and large spark energy
- FIG. 3 is an approximately to-scale side view drawing of an open I-type (bobbin-type) core coil of approximately square overall dimensions, i.e. B is approximately equal to D, for a stored energy of 150 to 200 mj, with die coil approp ⁇ ately dimensioned for other stored energy levels, l e. larger for higher energy, and vice-versa. Shown is the p ⁇ mary winding 3 (and ends 3a, 3b), the secondary winding 5, and the actual segmented bobbin 41 on which the coil secondary winding 5 is wound.
- the primary winding 3 is shown concentric with the secondary winding, filling a length lp somewhat less than d e available winding length ⁇ (lp being approximately 90% of 1,)
- the number of p ⁇ mary turns Np is approximately 50 turns of number 29 to 22 AWG magnet wire.
- the secondary winding is approximately 4000 turns of magnet wire wound in the segmented bobbin 41 with five to eight segments (six shown), or more as ts known to d ose versed in the art, with number 34 to 38 AWG magnet wire for a total secondary resistance of 400 to 1000 ohms, preferably approximately 500 ohms.
- the high voltage wire end 37 is brought out axially at the bobbin end for an "I” onentation of the coil (versus an alternative "H” orientation, not shown, where it can be brought out the side, as in the block coil of FIG. 5).
- a higher secondary winding fill of the bobbin 41 is practical in this design, as shown, because of the lack of core side-walls 34 (FIGS 2a, 2b)
- the bobbin 41 has a tapered bottom 41a to handle the increasing voltage along the bobbin length, known to those versed in the art. This design is particularly suited for including a central air gap 42 in the central core section 30c since the core can be made up of two symmetrical sections.
- the gap can include a biasing magnet to increase the capability of the core (so it can be driven harder since in this application the peak core magnetic flux is in one direction). Even without the biasing magnet, a simple air-gap may be an advantage since it will both reduce the inductance, which by design can be made to have an appropriate value and will allow the core to be driven harder, i.e. to a higher peak magnetic flux of 1.5 to 1.8 Tesla before the magnetic properties of the material begin to limit its operation.
- a model has been developed for analyzing the primary inductance of the open E-core and bobbin cores with the preferred thin two layer primary winding, based on the assumption that the ratio of the magnetic length lm to average core diameter d is less than 8, i.e. lm/d ⁇ 8.
- FIG. 4 shows the magnetic equivalents of the E-core (the "I" or bobbin core having a central primary winding of length lp) in the form of stretched out linear equivalent core 43 with magnetic length lm and winding length lp.
- the magnetic length lm can be taken as 2B + D/2; for the bobbin core it can be taken as D+B.
- Lp 0.02'Ma.[(d''Np) 2 ]/[lp] uH where the dimensions are given in inches and Ma is the well known apparent permeability of a straight core of permeability Mm and given ratio lm/d'.
- the coefficient 0.02 is a weak function of the window width "h" (relative to the overall coil dimensions).
- the stored energy El is approximately 200 mj as preferred.
- the peak magnetic flux density Bpk given the core area Am of 1.5 square cm: Bpk [4.5»301/[60»1.5
- 1.5 Tesla, a preferred value for peak magnetic stress, and hence an optimum design.
- the coils are expected to be placed near the spark plug and are not ideally suited for spark plug mounting.
- Two designs a block coil (FIG. 5) and pencil coil (FIG. 6) are suited for spark plug mounting, the pencil coil ideally suited for spark plug mounting in the spark plug well.
- the block coil of FIG. 5 uses the preferred open E-structure of the present low primary inductance Lp, high primary current Ipo.
- the drawing is an approximately 2/3 scale cutaway drawing of a side-view of a moderate energy, approximately 200 mj block coil. Core width "D" and core body length “Dl " are approximately equal at 4 1/2 cms (1.75"), and coil height "D2" is approximately 3 cms (1.25").
- the core center leg cross-section is square to minimize die coil height "D2".
- the winding window height "h” is approximately 1.6 cm (0.4") to limit the overall core height.
- the coil has a primary winding 3 (preferred two layer), segmented secondary winding 5 with six segments as in FIGS. 2b and 3 (shown only in the cutaway section), and a high voltage tower 36a which is located near the right most, high voltage end of the 1 coil, with the high voltage wire 37 shown emerging from the last segment 5g of the secondary winding to connect to the high voltage tower 36a.
- the tower end 36a can be of a range of designs to accommodate a boot for mounting onto the spark plug.
- FIG. 6 is a side-view, approximately to-scale drawing of such a plug- mounted cylindrical coil which is designed to have an overall small diameter (which can be as small as 23 mm outside diameter (OD) of the preferred automotive industry standard pencil coil). It has a hybrid core structure with center core 30b made of either low cost iron powder material, laminations of various widths, bunched circular or hexagonal cross-section wire, etc., with the back end flange 31 a made up preferably of low cost iron powder material, and outer cylindrical section 45 made of thin, about 1/16" (1.6 mm) thickness "t" material or greater as required, made up of wound, SiFe, 2 to 5 mil tape, or other magnetic tape, or of single thickness high resistivity material with skin depth (at the coil low operating frequency fO) approximately equal to the thickness "t".
- center core 30b made of either low cost iron powder material, laminations of various widths, bunched circular or hexagonal cross-section wire, etc.
- the back end flange 31 a made up preferably of low cost iron
- center core section 30b and end flange 31a are made of preferred newly developed low cost powdered iron of permeability Mm approximately equal to 25 (versus 20 at a high magnetic field H of 200 Oersted), one can significantly improve the design by including a biasing magnet
- the primary winding 3 is preferably made of two layers of flattened magnet wire, of 60 to 120 turns, where the degree of flattening can also effect and control the primary inductance through the ratio Np 2 /lp.
- the secondary winding 5 is segmented, with seven segments shown in this case of a relatively long core.
- the center cylindrical core diameter is between 0.35" (0.9 cm) and 0.8" (2 cm) and outside cylindrical diameter D is between 0.9" (23 mm) and 2" (5 cms) (or greater if required).
- the winding window height h is between 0.2" (0.5 cm) and 0.45" (1.1 cm), and the core length can vary over a wide range, from 5 cm and up, depending on the requirements for stored energy and the constraints on the diameter.
- the primary wire is flattened magnet wire wound over the 50 to 70 mm core length in two layers, preferably #20 to #22 AWG, and the secondary wire is preferably #36 to #39 AWG, with a turns ratio N equal to 75.
- a preferred spark plug 50 connected to the end of the coil through a semi-rigid thick walled boot 51 which, in this case, is shown to encase a connector 52 which terminates the high voltage winding with end wire 37.
- the open core, high voltage end can terminate in a high voltage tower such as 36 of FIG. 2b, to which is connected a boot.
- a preferred design is one with a large spark gap 54 of approximately 0.08" (2 mm) which can be fired by the present high energy coils wim their inherent high (36 to 50 kV) peak output voltages Vs.
- the plug end electrode tips 55 and 56 are of erosion resistant wire, e.g. about 1 mm cylindrical tungsten-nickel-iron or other erosion resistant material buttons.
- the plug gap is shown protruding from the spark plug shell 57 for good spark penetration and for increased spark voltage to improve the spark efficiency and reduce the spark energy dissipated in the coil secondary winding
- the insulator 58 is thin and the shell interior 59 of large diameter to create the largest practical clearance between the insulator 58 (and center electrode 55) and the inside shell wall 59, to allow for a large spark gap 54 without "back firing (or pocket spark as it is referred to).
- the low inductance of the present design coil results in a faster than normal rise time which aids in preventing back firing.
- three equations are required to determine the design, the equation for the peak magnetic flux density Bpk, the equation for the primary inductance Lp, and the equation for the energy El.
- the preferable materials are low cost SiFe laminations (typically 14 mil) or high inductance powder iron as are currently being developed (advantage of round center core but lower permeability).
- a center core can be designed to be made up of bunched steel/iron wire which is preferably of polygon cross- section (e.g. square, hexagon, etc.) for maximum packing factor.
- Wire diameter can be relatively large, e.g. about 1/16" (1.6 mm) as dictated by the operating frequency fO of tiie ignition system (and hence the skin depth) which is typically about 1 kHz, i.e. 0.5 to 2 kHz.
- FIG. 7a shows a typical primary coil charging current lp and the secondary spark firing current Is for the present application.
- the period T is made up of the charging period Tdw and spark period Ts, shown to be 1 msec (typically between 1 msec and 2 msec). This represents an operating frequency of about 1 kHz.
- FIG. 7b shows the spark gap voltage corresponding to the coil current waveforms of FIG. 7a.
- the spark discharge proceeds from a very high voltage (many kV) high efficiency breakdown spark, to a low electrode voltage drop moderate efficiency arc discharge, to a moderate electrode drop, low efficiency glow discharge at approximately 200 milliamps (ma).
- the 300 a spark shown is in the transitional discharge region, having some arc discharge characteristics, which under moderate engine flow conditions are superior in preventing spark segmentation (spark break-up) and hence improve "useful" spark energy. This is important in modern engines, as in lean burn engines with high flow and racing engines.
- Vs SQRT(Lp/Cs) » k » Ipo
- Cs the coil secondary open circuit output capacitance
- Vs the peak output voltage
- k the coil coupling coefficient
- SQRT means "square root”.
- FIG. 8a is a partial drawing of an ignition coil circuit including a transformer coil 2 (with its leakage inductance not explicitly shown), switch 8, and an output diode 48 (assuming negative coil secondary voltage) which permits high duty cycle multi-firing of the ignition spark.
- Output isolation diode allows the coil switch S to be turned-on during spark firing (since turn-on output voltage is of opposite polarity to the spark firing voltage) to charge the primary inductance, and open the switch S during the initial spark firing to produce a second spark, as shown in FIG. 8b (or more than two sparks if desired). Since the charging time (dwell time Tdw) is short relative to the spark firing time because of the high input voltage Vc (which can be even higher, e.g.
- variable control inductor 6 is still useful here since it can reduce the voltage requirement of the diode 48, which must also handle the peak current of the coil secondary capacitance dumping its charge through the lower secondary winding resistance
- FIGS. 9a to 9d show approximately to-scale drawings of cores for either the power converter transformer 72 or the snubber i ductor 112 of FIG. 10.
- the cores feature a winding window "h" of approximately 0.16" (4 mm), narrower than conventional, for both the preferred two layer winding of transformer 72 and the preferred five to eight layer winding of the snubber inductor 112.
- FIG. 9a is an approximately to-scale top-view drawing showing the preferred round center core 61 of diameter preferably between 0.4" (1 cm) and 0.5" (1.3 cm), narrow winding window 62 (width "h"), and rectangular base 63 of dimensions WI by W2, approximately 1.0" (2.5 cm) by 0.6" (1.5 cm).
- the core material is preferably ferrite for transformer 72, and the special, low cost, high capability powder iron (permeability of approximately 25 at 200 Oersted) for the snubber inductor 112.
- FIG. 9b is an approximately to-scale side-view drawing of the core of FIG. 9a, with like parts having like numerals with respect to FIG. 9a.
- the core is a two part symmetrical core of height W3, approximately 1.0" (2.5 cm), with a central air gap 64 to provide the appropriate inductance and peak flux density Bpk.
- the primary turns Np are between 12 and 20, preferably equal to 16 turns of 19 to 22 AWG wire, with turns ratio N (Ns/Np) of approximately 1.6, inductance Lp is about 40 uH, and Bpk is about 0.2 Tesla at a peak current of 10 amps.
- snubber preferably 200 to 300 turns of 25 to 30 AWG magnet wire are used for total resistance about 2 ohms, for preferred inductance Lsn of about 4 mH, and Bpk of about 0.6 Tesla at a peak current of approximately 4 amps.
- preferred winding for the transformer a single layer secondary winding 65 with a single layer primary winding 66 on top filling most of the window winding length W4.
- FIG. 9c shows an alternative to the embodiment of FIG. 9b with a single open core (of the general E-type used in the disclosed coils) of height W5 with single center leg 1 a, winding window 62a open at the top end, single core base
- FIG. 9d shows a top-view of the structure of FIG. 9c with base 63a, bobbin top 67a of the bobbin 67, and mounting holes 69a and 69b for mounting the structure to a surface, which can include a circuit board where the mounting holes can double up as the inductor winding lead wires.
- the core structures are only usable where a large air-gap is required, as is the present case for both the transformer 72 and snubber inductor 112.
- FIG. 10 is a detailed circuit drawing of a preferred embodiment of a complete HBI system with a high efficiency and simple fly-back DC-DC power converter, variable control inductor, lossless snubber, and simple forms of power switch driver and ignition control circuitry. Like numerals represent like parts with respect to the previous figures.
- the power converter 12 is made up of a flyback transformer 72, field- effect transistor (FET) switch 73 (or other transistor switch), and output diode 74 (preferably ultra-fast recovery) to charge energy storage capacitor 10.
- FET 73 is a low RDS, e.g. 28 to 50 millioh , 50 to 60 volt FET.
- the power converter preferably uses snubbing circuit made up of diode 75, snubber capacitor 76a, and snubber resistor 76b. Current sensor 77a, sensor transistor 77b, and off-time converter timing resistor 77c are used as disclosed in U.S. patent # 5,558,071 to produce continuous operation with a DC current.
- An input capacitor 78 (Cin) is used for reducing noise and for confining the power converter currents in a small loop.
- a power converter output of approximately 40 watts may be adequate, achieved a by switching transformer 72 peak primary cu ⁇ ent Icnv of approximately 10 amps, e.g. 5 amps DC and 5 amps AC (Icnv(AC)), using a small, gapped core for transformer 72, e.g. an
- ETD-29 core but preferably cores disclosed with reference to FIGS. 9a to 9d with the primary and secondary turns disclosed, and primary inductance Lcnv of approximately 40 microHenry (uH).
- the switch on-time Ton is approximately 16 microseconds (usecs) for a 13 volt battery, which is defined according to:
- the driver of the FET switch 73 is a novel driver comprised of a turn-off
- N-type FET switch 80 (or other switch type) with a resistor 81 across it, connected directly between the gate of the power FET switch 73 and ground, and a turn-on PNP transistor 82 with emitter taken to the regulated 12 volt point (designated 12v) and collector to the gale of power FET 73 through resistor 83, with resistor 84 connected between base of transistor 82 and gate of FET 80 which is the driving point 85.
- drive point 85 is pulled low, power FET switch 73 is turned on, and when it is taken high switch 73 is turned off.
- Timing control of FET switch 73 is provided by the timing circuit comprised of off-time resistor 77c (Rc), on-time resistor 87 (Rb), timing capacitor 88, diode 89 shunting resistor 87, isolation diode 90, and comparator 91 functioning as an oscillator.
- the oscillator off- time Toff is reduced with increased output voltage Vc (as optimally required) by more rapid charging of timing capacitor 88 through resistor 77c.
- the oscillator on-time Ton is reduced with increasing battery voltage Vb to provide approximately constant peak primary current in transformer 72 for 12 to 30 volts battery voltage Vb, achieved by tying resistor 92a, connected to the non-inverting input of the comparator 91 , to the battery switched voltage Vcc (essentially equal to Vb), tying the comparator output and one end of resistor 92b to 12v (not to Vcc) through a resistor 93 of much smaller value, e.g. 2.2 kohm, and the other end of resistor
- comparator 91 drives the drive point 85 of the switch 73 driver circuit directly, turning the power switch on when the output goes low, and the switch off when the output goes high, as already mentioned.
- Two reference voltages are provided, a 2 volt reference (designated 12v) which is based on a standard automotive low drop-out regulator 94 with output capacitor (not shown) and a five volt zener diode 95 (standard 5.1 volt zener diode) of reference voltage Vref connected to 12v through resistor 95a of about 470 ohms for the low current requirements of a few milliamps.
- the reference voltage Vref is divided by voltage divider resistors 96a and 96b to a lower reference voltage Vref which is applied to the non-inverting input of a regulator comparator 97 whose inverting input is connected to a voltage regulation point between divider resistors 101 and 102 across the output voltage Vc, used to regulate the output voltage Vc.
- Selection of resistor values for the on and off times of switch 73 to provide the required operation can be obtained from study of disclosure of U.S. patent # 5,558,071.
- FIG. 10 is also disclosed a preferred embodiment of a lossless (actually low loss) snubber whose purpose is to store high frequency energy associated with both the coil leakage inductance 4 and saturating inductor 6 (and to a lesser extent with the lower frequency output voltage Vs, if pertinent) to deliver the energy back to the energy storage supply capacitor 10.
- a lossless (actually low loss) snubber whose purpose is to store high frequency energy associated with both the coil leakage inductance 4 and saturating inductor 6 (and to a lesser extent with the lower frequency output voltage Vs, if pertinent) to deliver the energy back to the energy storage supply capacitor 10.
- Lsn is selected to only partially discharge capacitor 16 during the rise time for best operation, e.g. with preferably about 4 mil inductance value.
- the lossless snubber is comprised of the snubber capacitor 16, a P-type FET 105 with its source connected to snubber capacitor 16, with a source to gate resistor 106 and protection zener diode 106a across it, with a gate resistor 107 in series with an NPN control transistor 108 whose emitter is grounded, and which turns FET 105 on and off.
- Resistor network in series with resistor 106 to ground provides the drive for control transistor 108 (base emitter resistor 109) and for disabling switch 120 (series resistors 109, 110, and 111).
- the circuit is designed to turn switch 105 on rapidly as the snubber capacitor 16 charges up.
- Switch 105 is turned off by control switch 108 when the snubber capacitor drops to a low voltage, say 80 volts so that 100 volt rating switches 105 and 108 can be used, and in such a way as to provide enough gate drive to FET 105, say 7 volts, just before turn-off, and 2 volts after turn-off (for relatively quick turn off).
- Possible values for resistor 107 is 4.7 k ⁇ , 10 k ⁇ for sum of resistors 110 and 111 , 75 ⁇ for resistor 109, and 220 ⁇ for resistor 106.
- Divider 111 , 110 is selected to provide the required drive for a defined disabling duration of the input disabling switch 120.
- Snubber inductance is in the range of millihenries (mH), translating to a peak switch 105 current of one to several amps.
- Inductor 1 12 charging time is in the tens of microseconds or longer range, and the discharging time is in the hundreds of microseconds range.
- switch 105 When switch 105 is turned off, the energy in the snubber inductor finds a path through diode 113 (connected in series with it to ground) and capacitor 10 to return energy stored in it to the supply capacitor.
- Tdw is achieved by means of the sensor NPN transistor 103 whose collector is taken to an appropriate control circuit (a timing capacitor 121 in the trigger input circuit shown in this case).
- capacitor 10 begins to discharge, and voltage Vsense (due to current flow through sense resistor 14) at the emitter of sense transistor 103 falls (becomes more negative) until it reaches the base emitter threshold voltage Vbe (0.6 volts), turning on sense transistor 103, discharging timing capacitor 121, which flips the output of comparator 122 high to turn on control switch 20 which pulls all the gates of the switches Si low and turns them off (including t e one that was on).
- disabling switch 120 is turned on, keeping the comparator 122 inverting input low and its output high (which keeps switches Si off) to disable the trigger input from spurious input signals (for a period of typically the order of magnitude of msecs) determined by the values of snubber capacitor 16, snubber resistors 106, 109, 110, 11 1 , and the threshold voltage of switch 120.
- the ignition controller used in this embodiment is a particular simple one, of many possible, which assumes a positive trigger signal Tr (pulse or step) and positive phase signal.
- the trigger input has a differentiating input capacitor 123 and resistor 124 (taken to ground), a time delay resistor 125, zener reference diode 126 close to Vref zener voltage, and an isolation diode 127 through which the timing capacitor 121 is charged. Across the timing capacitor is a slow discharge resistor 128 and the disabling switch 120.
- Sense transistor 103 has its collector connected to the capacitor node X to discharge the timing capacitor 121 and turn switch Si off when the set peak primary current Ipo is attained. Node point X also connects to the inverting input of control comparator 122, whose non-inve ⁇ ing input is at the reference voltage Vref, to flip its output when the capacitor is charged and discharged.
- Output of comparator 122 is taken to a voltage level Vx through pull-up resistor 129.
- Voltage Vx is a voltage approximately equal to 15 volts, obtained from the supply Vc by connecting resistor 104a and zener diode 104b between Vc and ground, with the zener diode setting the voltage point Vx.
- the phase input circuit which resets the octal counter 130, is modelled after the trigger circuit so that components that play similar roles are given the same numerals with the suffix "a".
- the positive signal phase input Phs uses a differentiating capacitor 123a and resistor 124a.
- an emitter-follower NPN transistor 127a is used to provide a high impedance to the phase input (and the voltage reference and the isolation), with its base connected to input base resistor 125a, its collector connected to a reference voltage Vref, and its emitter to capacitor 121a and discharge resistor 128a.
- the base-emitter diode of the transistor 127a plays the isolating role of diode 127, and the reference voltage Vref provides the limiting ' reference voltage for the non- inverting input of comparator 122a (so diode 126a can be a simple diode versus a zener in the case of diode 126). In this case (versus for the case of the trigger circuit), comparator output is normally low, with its inverting input connected to a reference voltage Vref well below Vref, e.g. 2.5 volts.
- the output of the comparator 122a has pull-up resistor 129a to the voltage Vx, which as already stated, is approximately 15 volts to be able to drive industrial type IGBT's (which preferably comprise the power switches Si) which require higher gate drive than more conventional clamped ignition IGBTs.
- clock (CLK) input and VCC input of octal counter 130 are connected to Vx.
- GAP»RPM] K Tsp • [GAP-RPM l/BORE Using data from tests conducted at Robert Bosch and GM for minimum energy for maximum dilution tolerance, one obtains respectively values for the constant K (for the average spark current Isp(ave) of 80 ma and the average spark voltage Vsp(ave) of 800 volts):
- 0.040"'l 200]/3.6" - 67 RPM-msec so a good value for the constant K is 65 RPM-msec, i.e. Tsp 65 • BORE/
- Spark energy (Esp) for an ignition spark is given by: Esp Isp(ave) «Vsp(ave) » Tsp
- the model for the typical engine and ignition that is proposed is a 3.6" bore engine operating at a speed of 1800 RPM. Taking a constant spark current
- SSPE standard spark energy
- coil stored energy of at least 250 mj (assuming 80% efficiency energy transfer between coil energy storage and 800 volt zener load), used as the reference energy for the HBI coils disclosed which have three times the industry standard maximum stored energy of 80 mj (for the same size).
- the coil secondary resistance Rs in the typical HBI coil design should be preferably below 750 ohms for an arc discharge of peak current of 400 ma. Also, by using a wide, extended gap plug (FIG. 6), and placing it well into the combustion chamber (practical for the HBI system), the plasma voltage Vpl will be high, increasing the overall efficiency and hence useful energy delivered.
- the preferred strategy for the new (HBI) ignition approach is to use a voltage Vc of approximately 40 volts, or approximately three times that of conventional 12 volt battery voltages, and a peak primary current of approximately 32 amps, i.e. 24 to 40 amps, but preferably "equal to" 32 amps, i.e. 29 to 35 amps, to obtain approximately 2.5 times the spark energy for the same size coil operating from a 12 volt battery with peak current of 8 amps.
- HBI present inductive ignition
- the standard inductive ignition For example, in comparing the preferred design of the present inductive ignition (HBI) to the standard inductive ignition, one finds that for the same size coil one can attain, for the HBI system, 2.5 times the energy El, approximately 0.6 times the primary turns, and one half the secondary turns (achieved in part to a lower turns ratio N made possible by using undamped 600 volt IGBT switches Si). These factors have not only performance benefits, but significant cost and fabrication benefits in allowing for fewer winding turns, thicker secondary wire, (which for standard ignition can be as fine as 44 AWG which is difficult to handle), and of course one piece open E-type cores.
- the present design allows for harder driving of the magnetic core at higher magnetic flux density Bpk than conventional coils, which are limited by the reduced permeability at high magnetic flux density B.
- Bsat core saturation
- high voltage e.g. 900 volt
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Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US09/284,810 US6142130A (en) | 1995-12-13 | 1996-12-12 | Low inductance high energy inductive ignition system |
EP96944368A EP0898651B1 (en) | 1995-12-13 | 1996-12-12 | Low inductance high energy inductive ignition system |
DE69626863T DE69626863T2 (en) | 1995-12-13 | 1996-12-12 | INDUCTIVE HIGH-ENERGY IGNITION SYSTEM WITH LOW SELF-INDUCTIVITY |
Applications Claiming Priority (7)
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US859995P | 1995-12-13 | 1995-12-13 | |
US60/008,599 | 1995-12-13 | ||
US1173996P | 1996-02-15 | 1996-02-15 | |
US60/011,739 | 1996-02-15 | ||
US08/631,623 | 1996-04-08 | ||
US2914596P | 1996-10-21 | 1996-10-21 | |
US60/029,145 | 1996-10-21 |
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WO1997021920A9 WO1997021920A9 (en) | 1997-09-25 |
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PCT/US1996/019898 WO1997021920A1 (en) | 1995-12-13 | 1996-12-12 | Low inductance high energy inductive ignition system |
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US (1) | US6142130A (en) |
EP (1) | EP0898651B1 (en) |
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US5558071A (en) * | 1994-03-07 | 1996-09-24 | Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc. | Ignition system power converter and controller |
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US5207208A (en) * | 1991-09-06 | 1993-05-04 | Combustion Electromagnetics Inc. | Integrated converter high power CD ignition |
US5456241A (en) * | 1993-05-25 | 1995-10-10 | Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc. | Optimized high power high energy ignition system |
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1996
- 1996-12-12 WO PCT/US1996/019898 patent/WO1997021920A1/en active Search and Examination
- 1996-12-12 EP EP96944368A patent/EP0898651B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1996-12-12 US US09/284,810 patent/US6142130A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1996-12-12 DE DE69626863T patent/DE69626863T2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
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US4522185A (en) * | 1983-11-14 | 1985-06-11 | Nguyen Minh Tri | Switching electronic ignition |
US5056497A (en) * | 1989-04-27 | 1991-10-15 | Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha | Ignition control system |
US5315982A (en) * | 1990-05-12 | 1994-05-31 | Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc. | High efficiency, high output, compact CD ignition coil |
US5193514A (en) * | 1991-07-04 | 1993-03-16 | Hitachi, Ltd. | Induction discharge type ignition device for an internal combustion engine |
US5558071A (en) * | 1994-03-07 | 1996-09-24 | Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc. | Ignition system power converter and controller |
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Cited By (10)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0903493A2 (en) * | 1997-09-17 | 1999-03-24 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Ignition apparatus |
EP0903493A3 (en) * | 1997-09-17 | 2000-12-20 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Ignition apparatus |
US6305365B1 (en) | 1997-09-17 | 2001-10-23 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Ignition apparatus |
EP0974985A1 (en) * | 1998-07-23 | 2000-01-26 | Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft | Ignition coil |
WO2001018946A1 (en) * | 1999-09-03 | 2001-03-15 | Lambda Electronics | Inductor current sensing |
US7533643B2 (en) | 2006-12-07 | 2009-05-19 | Contour Hardening, Inc. | Induction driven ignition system |
US7647907B2 (en) | 2006-12-07 | 2010-01-19 | Contour Hardening, Inc. | Induction driven ignition system |
US8181618B2 (en) | 2006-12-07 | 2012-05-22 | Contour Hardening, Inc. | Induction driven ignition system |
US8424501B2 (en) | 2006-12-07 | 2013-04-23 | Contour Hardening, Inc. | Induction driven ignition system |
RU198583U1 (en) * | 2020-01-13 | 2020-07-17 | Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего образования "Волгоградский государственный технический университет" (ВолгГТУ) | Capacitor Ignition Module on Complementary Transistors |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
EP0898651B1 (en) | 2003-03-19 |
DE69626863T2 (en) | 2003-12-24 |
EP0898651A1 (en) | 1999-03-03 |
DE69626863D1 (en) | 2003-04-24 |
US6142130A (en) | 2000-11-07 |
EP0898651A4 (en) | 1999-03-03 |
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