IGNITION SYSTEM

摘要

An ignition system for an internal combustion engine includes an ignition transformer with two primary windings. The ignition system is designed to generate, for a given ignition event, a unipolar current through the secondary winding by way of a control circuit that is configured to first energize and deenergize the first primary winding to establish a first electrical arc across the spark-plug electrodes and, when the current in the secondary winding reaches, or drops below, a current threshold, repeatedly energizes and deenergizes the second primary winding to establish a plurality of second current pulses across the electrodes in order to maintain the burn phase.

主权项

1. An ignition system for an internal combustion engine comprising:
a pair of gapped electrodes; a secondary winding having a pair of output terminals coupled to the gapped electrodes; a first primary winding inductively coupled to the secondary winding; a second primary winding inductively coupled to the secondary winding; a diode in series with said secondary winding and one of said gapped electrodes; wherein said ignition system is designed to generate, for a given ignition event, a current through said secondary winding by way of a control circuit that is configured to: in an initial phase, first energize and deenergize the first primary winding to establish a first electrical arc across the gapped electrodes and, when the current in the secondary winding reaches, or drops below, a current threshold; and in a second phase repeatedly energizes and deenergizes the second primary winding to establish a plurality of second current pulses across the gapped electrodes in order to maintain the burn phase; wherein for a given ignition event the first primary winding is only energized and deenergized once in order to establish the first electrical arc, the burn phase being subsequently maintained by two or more current pulses operated at the second primary winding during the second phase.