Patent Application
20120060803
In approximately 1987 the United States Postal Service started purchasing Grumman long life vehicles, commonly referred to as LLV Postal Vehicles. These are lightweight transport trucks that are typically used by letter carriers for curbside and residential delivery of mail.
Some of the Postal Service's LLV vehicles came equipped with an engine that used a distributor-type ignition system. Experience with the LLV vehicles indicates that these distributors tend to fail prematurely, and in some cases the distributors even fail soon after they are installed. There may be numerous causes for these failures but the malfunctioning of the Hall affect sensor and the pickup coil most likely is one of the more frequent causes of failure. These failures are not only expensive to repair, but such failures result in these vehicles being out of service and that, too, substantially contributes to the overall cost of distributor failures.
The present invention relates to a distributorless ignition kit configured to be retrofitted to an engine.
In one embodiment the kit includes a coil pack, a modified crank pulley, and a VR sensor. The VR sensor is mounted adjacent to the modified crank pulley and is operatively connected to the coil pack. As the modified crank pulley is driven by the engine, the VR sensor is repeatedly activated and directs firing signals to the coil pack which in turn fires the engine's spark plugs. An engine computer may also be operatively connected to the coil pack and may make further adjustments to the timing or firing of the spark plugs.
The distributorless ignition kit is easily retrofitted to an engine having an existing electronic ignition system or a conventional distributor-type ignition system. In one method, the distributor, coil and original crankshaft pulley are removed from the engine. A modified crankshaft pulley is mounted to the crankshaft and a VR sensor is mounted adjacent the modified crankshaft pulley. The coil pack is mounted in or over the distributor opening and is operatively connected to the engine wiring harness, the VR sensor, the engine computer, and wires leading to the spark plugs. This automatically establishes the timing and in one preferred design the timing is now non-adjustable.
With further reference to the drawings, the distributorless ignition kit is shown therein and indicated generally by the numeral 10. As will be appreciated from subsequent discussion, the distributorless ignition kit 10 is configured to be retrofitted on an internal combustion engine having, for example, a conventional coil and distributor ignition system.
First, viewing the distributorless ignition kit 10, the kit includes a coil pack 12 and a mounting plate 14 for mounting the coil pack in the opening vacated by the removal of the existing distributor. Details of the coil pack 12 are not dealt with herein because such is not per se material to the present invention and coil packs are known and appreciated by those skilled in the art. Briefly, the coil pack forms a part of an electronic ignition system and typically includes a series of coils. In some cases, there is provided one coil for firing each spark plug. In other cases, one coil may function to fire a pair of spark plugs. In any event, as will be appreciated from the subsequent discussion, the function of the coil pack 12 is to fire respective spark plugs in a particular sequence and timed fashion.
Coil pack 12 includes a number of inputs for receiving power and control or actuating signals. One input is a power input while the two other inputs are for receiving a signal from a VR sensor, to be discussed subsequent herein, and for receiving control signals from the engine computer. In addition, the coil pack includes a series of spark plug wire terminals 16. These terminals connect to electrical conductors or wires that lead to the respective spark plugs that are associated with various cylinders of the engine.
Also forming a part of kit 10 of the present invention is a modified crank pulley, indicated generally by the numeral 30. The modified crank pulley 30 includes a series of uniformly spaced notches 32 formed on the periphery thereof. These notches 32 may be referred to as timing notches and function to control the timing or actuation of the various coils in coil pack 12.
Associated with the modified crank pulley 30, is a VR sensor 18 and a mounting bracket 20 adapted to mount the VR sensor adjacent the modified crank pulley on the engine. VR sensor 18 is a variable reluctance sensor and is positioned closely adjacent the modified crank pulley 30 and senses each passing notch. In response to sensing each passing notch, the VR sensor 18 directs a firing signal to the coil pack 12, which in turn fires a spark plug.
As noted above, coil pack 12 includes a number of input terminals. To power the coil pack 12, there is provided a power cord 34 that is operatively connected between the coil pack 12 and the wiring harness of the engine. In order for the coil pack 12 to be compatible with the wiring harness, it may be necessary to provide a pin adaptor. In one embodiment, there is provided a four pin to six pin adaptor in order to make the wiring harness compatible with the coil pack 12. In addition to the power cord 34, there is provided a VR sensor cord 36. Cord 36 extends from the VR sensor 18 to the coil pack 12 and functions to direct firing signals from the VR sensor to the coil pack. Finally, there is provided an engine computer input cord 38. Cord 38 operatively interconnects the engine computer with the coil pack 12. In many applications, the engine's computer contains all necessary coding for the installation and utilization of the distributorless ignition system of the present invention. For example, the engine computer can supply control signals to the coil pack 12 that control or make timing adjustments.
Turning to the installation of the ditributorless ignition kit 10, as noted above, the distributorless ignition kit is designed or adapted to be retrofitted to an engine that includes a conventional distributor type ignition system. Thus, the process or method of installation begins with removing the distributor, the distributor cap and the existing or original ignition coil. Once the distributor and distributor cap are removed, this exposes the distributor opening. Furthermore, the installation method or process entails removing the serpentine belt and the existing crankshaft pulley from the engine.
Now, the modified crankshaft pulley 30 can be installed on the crankshaft in the place formerly occupied by the existing crankshaft pulley. VR sensor 18 is mounted adjacent the modified crankshaft pulley 30. In a typical LLV postal vehicle for example, the bracket 20 and VR sensor 18 is mounted on the lower right side of the engine. This is achieved by removing one bolt from the power steering bracket and attaching the VR sensor bracket 20 on top of the power steering bracket. Other holes in the VR sensor bracket 20 align with existing holes in the engine block. Hence, the VR sensor bracket 20 can be securely anchored or stationed to the engine block such that the VR sensor 18 is properly positioned with respect to the modified crankshaft pulley 30. More particularly, VR sensor 18 is aligned with the center of the modified crankshaft pulley 30 and a gap of approximately 0.080-0.125 inches is made and maintained between the tip of the VR sensor 18 and the notched edge of the modified crankshaft pulley 30. Now, the serpentine belt is reinstalled on the engine.
Coil pack 12 is mounted in the opening formerly occupied by the distributor. In particular, the mounting bracket 14 is secured over the existing distributor opening and supports the coil pack 12. Also, the same hold down device used for the distributor is used to engage and hold down the coil pack 12. It should be appreciated that the coil pack 12 can be mounted either on the engine or at other locations in the vicinity of the engine.
Now, any adaptors required to make the coil pack 12 compatible with the wiring harness is installed. The VR sensor cord 36, in the case of one embodiment and particularly an LLV postal vehicle, is routed behind the power steering pump and up around the front of the engine and under the intake manifold to the coil pack 12. Care should be taken to make sure that the VR sensor cord 36 does not rest or lie on the exhaust manifold or interfere with any moving parts of the engine. Now, the spark plug wires are connected to the spark plug wire terminals 16 on the coil pack 12. Once it is verified that everything is installed and the wiring is properly routed, the engine may be started. The timing is set automatically and non-adjustable.
Various approaches can be utilized to set and control the timing of the distributorless ignition system 10. In one embodiment, the crank shaft pulley 30 is provided with six notches 32 that are uniformly spaced at 60 degree intervals around the crank shaft pulley. There is an additional notch, a seventh notch, that is disposed 10 degrees after one of the other notches. See
The use of “including”, “comprising” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted”, “connected”, “supported” and “coupled” and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect mountings, connections, supports and couplings.
The present invention may, of course, be carried out in other ways than those specifically set forth herein without departing from essential characteristics of the invention. The present embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12327270 | Dec 2008 | US |
| Child | 13302250 | US |
