Patent Grant
8032292
1. Technical Area of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical ignition procedure for internal combustion engines, whereby an arrangement of multiple electric coils and a magnetic generator is used, which is coupled to the internal combustion engine by its crankshaft for example, and which turns synchronously with it. With this, the magnetic field of the magnetic ignition generator flows through the coils at times, and a sequence of magnetic flux alterations is generated for each revolution. By this means, corresponding alternating current half waves are induced in the coils.
In the invention-specific ignition system, the alternating current half waves are used for the following:
2. State of the Art
The German patent disclosure texts DE 19 54 874, with an English equivalent in U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,889, and DE 24 19 776, with an English equivalent in U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,031, and U.S. 2002/0 117 148 A1, describe ignition systems that each have speed limitations but without using digital and/or programmable control electronics. Alternating current half waves generated in the coils are used directly for controlling the ignition switch or to trigger the speed limitation. According to DE 24 19 776, when a permissible maximum speed is exceeded, the switching thyristor is guided to discharge the ignition capacitor of a negative half wave, which directly precedes a positive charging half wave for the ignition capacitor. By this means, the charging half wave can flow out over the break of the ignition thyristor, whereby a charging of the ignition capacitor is prevented and the ignition now is stopped. After attenuation of the charging half wave, the switching thyristor again goes back into a locked state. If, through stoppage of the ignition, the speed (again) drops below the maximum value, then the switching thyristor no longer is controlled for a sufficient duration by the (preceding) negative voltage impulse of a control winding. It is then already in a locked state with the start of the (subsequent) positive charging half wave. The ignition capacitor is now again charged, and by the ignition time, an ignition is introduced with the following voltage impulse of a control voltage. In any case, guidance of the ignition thyristor in the speed limitation also takes place at times (DE 24 19 776, FIG. 2 positive Us signal) when it does not have to be guided to short-circuit the positive charging half waves. From this a purposeless consumption of current arises. Additionally, the layout according to this state of the art is not at all suited for a current-saving concept with a digital control device. The guiding signal Us for the ignition discharge switch of necessity derives from the physical layout. US 2002/0 117 148 A1 teaches that with an active speed limitation via a trigger capacitor, a time window expands for guiding the ignition switch to prevent charging of the ignition capacitor by charging half waves to the extent that with excess speeds, the ignition switch is guided for an entire revolution, with corresponding current consumption.
From U.S. 2003/0 089 336 A1, an ignition system is known with a programmable microcontroller as the control device, which scans induced alternating current half waves in the magnetic generator, processes them internally, and from that can make assessments of the state of the internal combustion engine, especially its rotation setting, speed and rotary acceleration. According to ignition strategies that can be programmed in, an ignition switch can be intelligently guided. To supply current to the microcontroller, a separate supply coil is provided in the magnetic generator. The coil output is connected with a power supply circuit for the microcontroller. This has a special output to guide the ignition switch for the purpose of discharging the ignition capacitor. The goal of the published technical teaching is a lengthening of the ignition spark combustion duration with the named pusher effect while simultaneously optimizing the energy content of the ignition spark. Particular modes of operation such as switching off, limiting speed, or stroke disruption are not addressed.
EP 1 643 120 A2 shows a process-controlled ignition system in which pins of the processor chip are directly connected with the input winding of the magnetic generator. The external current to the processor chip is not limited. It is otherwise according to EP 1 496 249 A1, according to which a current supply unit for an ignition control microcomputer does have a current limitation resistance in the area of 2 kΩ). In its current supply path, for voltage stabilization, a direct controller is inserted with multiple components for supplying the microcontroller with current. In EP 1 496 249 A1, FIG. 15 shows that the ignition switch is guided with the signal s4 over a full revolution of the rotor, so that after recognition of the “shutdown” state (h1 in FIG. 15, part c), even after the shutdown switch 10 has been released (see FIG. 12), charging of the ignition capacitor is prevented by short-circuiting the positive charging half waves, for which see FIG. 15, signal e1.
US 2006/0 191 518 A1 discloses an ignition system guided by a processor or microcontroller with a stop button function to initiate a shutdown process of the internal combustion engine. After this button is released, it is necessary to continue preventing generation of ignition sparks until the engine shuts down. For this, the charging current for the ignition capacitor from an alternating current half wave is short-circuited by the ignition switch, to prevent charging of the ignition capacitor.
The “speed limitation,” “stroke disruption” and “shutdown” operating modes are known. With each of these there is a reduction in speed, for which a spark shutoff is used fully or in part.
As is known per se, the “speed limitation” mode of an internal combustion engine (combustion motor) is initiated as soon as a certain motor speed is exceeded. For this the state of the art is to initiate a spark switchoff above the speed limitation, and thus on the spark plug, formation of an ignition spark is prevented. For this, the ignition switch is constantly guided above the speed limitation, to prevent a charging of the ignition capacitor, whereby the current from the charging coil is short-circuited to ground. The ignition switch is precluded from not being guided, since typically the combustion motor, in an instance where the load is slightly lessened, is accelerated over the limit speed so that it remains above this threshold for multiple revolutions, and thus the ignition capacitor would be charged up to a multiple of its permissible voltage. By means of voltage limitation components such as a varistor, this in fact would be prevented, but the component expense, and thus manufacturing cost, is increased.
in U.S. 2002/0 11 71 48 A1, as well as in the above EP 1 469 249, constant guidance of the ignition switch to switch off ignition sparks is depicted, for which see FIG. 11 in EP 1 496 249, with the signal s4 there depicting the guidance of the ignition switch. It is evident that when the speed is exceeded during a complete motor revolution, the ignition switch is guided, independent of what amplitude and polarity the induced voltage in the charging coil 6 (FIG. 2 in EP 1 496 249) has. The ignition switch itself is also guided if the ignition capacitor would not be charged by the charging coil, the disadvantage being that current is consumed unnecessarily.
From the state of the art indicated above, it is clear that a part of the energy derived from the flux changes in the magnetic generator is used to supply the control electronics. This need to be supplied is composed decisively of the current consumption for a microelectronic control device and the guidance of the ignition switch. With modern microprocessors, the current consumption of the microelectronic control device can be much reduced, values under 1 milliampere can easily be met. By this means, the share of the guidance current for the ignition switch attains ever greater significance in the overall current supply. For the most part, the guidance current for the ignition switch is at several milliamperes, which is also caused by the fact that according to circuit technology, a resistance is always switched parallel to the control input of the ignition switch to ground. By this means, insensitivity to disturbing effects, and especially protection against being switched on erroneously is achieved.
It can be said by way of summary from the state of the art that with activated ignition switches, the current consumption determines the layout of the control device's power supply. A preset amount of energy is drawn from the charging coil into the control device's power supply, therefore the coupling between the charging coil and the power supply can be designed to be preset in how high the ohmage is.
One task of the invention is to ensure the ignition switch will be guided most of all during shutoff operations, even when, owing to the ignition module being wrongly installed in service, the air gap between the rotating magnet wheel and the rewound yoke core deviated from the 0.3 mm at most that is nominal to 2 mm, for example.
An additional task of the invention consists in being able to use structural components for the ignition system that have increased mechanical tolerances and thus lower costs. For example, the installation play in the attachment boreholes of the yoke care should permit setting of a relatively large air gap when parts are unfavorably paired. When the air gap is large, the voltage falls, which is induced in the charging coil surrounding the yoke core, and therefore a further task of the invention is to be able, by means of circuit-technical dimensioning within the ignition system, to divert enough current from a charging coil surrounding the yoke core, despite increased mechanical tolerances, to supply the control device with power.
To fulfill certain relationships and boundary conditions of various motor types, the “stroke disruption” operating mode is known, in which, similar to with the speed limitation, an ignition spark shutoff or suspension is used as a combustion shutoff, multiple times according to a certain pattern. In particular, the “stroke disruption” operating mode is used at relatively low speeds, such as idling. With this, a problem arises in that for discharging of the ignition capacitor, the ignition switch must be given more lengthy guidance, since with the relatively low speed, the period duration of a revolution is longer. Thus the task of the invention is to be able to ensure energy removal for the ignition switch control device at low speeds, down to idling.
The invention, with the procedural steps named at the outset in connection with an operating mode for combustion shutoff, such as speed limitation, stroke disruption, switchoff, with an internal combustion engine to guide the ignition switch for less than, or for a fraction of the time span, that is needed for a complete revolution of the magnetic generator. With the invention, the advantage is attained that energy consumption for guiding the ignition switch is lessened.
According to a special embodiment (claim 2) of this general basic idea of the invention, the ignition switch is only guided in the angular ranges in which the ignition capacitor would be charged by the magnetic generator's charging coil or possibly by other coils. By this means, the energy consumption for guidance of the ignition switch can be reduced by about a factor of 2-4 as compared to the state of the art.
According to another embodiment of the invention (claim 5) the ignition switch is guided by means of the control device for each revolution of 360° by an electrical impulse or another sequence of electrical, temporally spaced impulses (impulse bundle burst). In this the pauses between the impulses are dimensioned so as to prevent a sparkover and thus an acceleration of the internal combustion engine's revolutions. In a further embodiment of this concept (claim 5), the pulse or the impulse sequence are generated exclusively within the appearance of unipolar charging half waves or within such rotation angle ranges, in which alternating current half waves are available for charging the energy storage element. The pauses between the impulses or the keying ratio is selected to be so wide or so low that the voltage value of the ignition capacitor is not increased enough that with the next switching on of the ignition capacitor, a sparkover could occur on the spark plug through its discharge.
According to a further embodiment of the invention (also see claim 7) the particular time interval between the guidance impulses and thus the keying ratio is stored in a storage area of the programmable control device. Depending on the rotation setting and speed or other characteristic values of the ignition system, a processor of the control device can extract various time interval values for the generation of the pulses that follow each other.
Note that according to the state of the art a thyristor is preferably used as an ignition switch for the capacitor discharge ignitions. This remains conductive as long as a certain stop current is not fallen short of over the gap. As a precaution, an assumption is to be made of the most unfavorable condition, that namely the stop current is fallen short of, and thus the ignition switch must repeatedly be re-guided. Thus, for the guidance of the ignition switch, the highest possible power requirement is to be allowed for.
With use of the electrical pulse or some other sequence of electrical impulses for guiding the ignition switch, the energy consumption is still further lowered by about a factor of 1.5 to 4 versus the basic idea of the invention named above.
As a precaution we make clear that with the above embodiments of the invention, the ignition capacitor must first be discharged before a charging current is short-circuited by guiding the ignition switch, so as not to trigger any ignition sparks.
On the other hand, with an alternative embodiment of the invention, a suggestion is made to achieve a spark suspension by guiding the ignition switch within an angular range that is irrelevant as regards torque generation, where thus the motor is not further accelerated, the ignition switch is guided to prevent the ignition capacitor from being charged excessively, as per claim 10. This means that through an ignition spark triggered in this angular range through the discharge of the ignition capacitor, the machine does not gain any speed and that the ignition spark produces no hazard for the machine. For example, a flame rebound to the carburetor would endanger the machine.
Among other things, the invention is based on the concept of supplying power for the control device and subsequent assemblies with as little energy, and thus current, as possible. The main consumer is the guidance process of the ignition switch, especially the ignition thyristor. Thus, the temporal and/or angular range of the guidance process determine to an important extent the energy requirement of the supply of power or current.
Part of the overall invention concept is also an ignition module (see claim 15) that is distinguished in that a power supply input of the control device is coupled to a charging coil of the magnetic generator, between which an ohmic resistance of more than 3 kΩ is switched. The invention-specific measure of deliberately guiding the ignition switch at certain times, and not over the entire full angular range of a 360° revolution, serves the goal of designing this resistance to be as high in ohmage as possible. According to the invention, an effort is made to dimension the named coupling resistance to be as high as possible, to reduce the current uptake of the control device's power supply, so that all the more energy is available for the ignition energy storage device. It is by just this energy-saving guidance of the ignition switch according to the invention that it is possible, despite incorrect installation of the air gap between the iron yoke core and the rotating magnet wheel to two or three millimeters as mentioned above, for example, to nonetheless use a coupling resistance of more than 3 kΩ that is dimensioned so relatively high.
A further basic idea of the invention is based on dividing the energy available for the entire ignition system from a charging coil of the magnetic generator with a microelectronic and/or programmable control device to its power supply device and to the ignition capacitor or the energy storage element. Ultimately the energy content of the energy storage element determines the spark energy. The less energy that flows into the power supply of the microcontroller and its peripheral components, the more energy is available to the energy storage element or ignition capacitor. One measure for the energy content of the energy storage element or ignition capacitor is its voltage amount. If the current or power supply of the control device emits little current, the coupling or compensating resistance between the charging coil and the power supply input is raised, so that correspondingly more energy gets to the energy storage element or the ignition capacitor. In the “spark arrest” operating mode, according to the state of the art, the ignition switch is guided multiple times over a full revolution or 360°. However, if, according to the invention, the ignition thyristor or some other ignition switch device is supplied only at certain angular ranges and not over the entire revolution with power and current, this saves energy that is available to the energy storage element or ignition capacitor and thus to the ignition spark.
Further particulars, features, advantages and effects based on the invention are gleaned from the following description of a preferred embodiment example of the invention, as well as from the drawings and diagrams. Shown in them are:
a-2d, the progressions of the voltages prevailing in the coils and magnetic fluxes through iron core sections over the particular same turning angle of the motor;
a schematic block diagram of the invention-specific ignition module;
a-4f, the method by which the invention-specific ignition module functions as per
According to
According to
Owing to the reduced consumption attained according to the invention for the guidance of ignition switch U9, the coupling resistance R10 can be enlarged to more than 2 kΩ, and in fact without use of a direct regulator, for which see above in the assessment of the state of the art. As part of the invention, a value of more than 3 kΩ is applied for the coupling resistance R10. Due to the mechanical design, the air gap L between the magnet wheel P and yoke core K is adjustable according to a standard to a maximum of one millimeter. With this, on the basis of the invention-specific ignition switch control device, the coupling resistance R10 can be increased to 10 kΩ. This leads to a considerable increase in charging current, and thus of the charging voltage of the ignition capacitor at high speeds, as is illustrated using the appended diagram according to
According to
According to
In what follows, the following is presented on the operational procedure of the invention-specific ignition system:
In
For orientation and to depict the varied rotational angle of magnetic wheel P, in
a shows a simplified schematic of the progressions of the signals induced in the coils, divided according to the particular positive and negative alternating current half waves, with PS1-PS4 as primary coil signals and LS1-LS4 as charging coil signals. In this it is perceptible that at radial symmetry line 33, corresponding to the 30° rotational setting of the combustion engine or magnetic wheel, before the upper dead center OT of the internal combustion engine, the negative alternating current half waves PS3 in the primary coil appear, and LS3 synchronous to that in charging coil U1. The particular last alternating current half waves PS4, LS4 appear with their apexes in the area of the upper dead center corresponding to symmetry line 34. As per the circuit arrangement in
According to the depiction of a fictitious state of the art with normal operation and with no speed limitation in
With the fictitious state of the art that is illustrated in
d illustrates an embodiment example of the invention-specific ignition switch guiding procedure. After recognition by the control device that a speed limitation threshold has been exceeded, and discharge of the ignition capacitor about 30° before the upper dead center (symmetry line or angular setting 33), a new discharge of the ignition capacitor is triggered. For this, around the symmetry lines 31 and 34 an ignition switch guidance impulse h is generated by the control device. Consequently, the charging coil half waves LSp2 and LSp4 having positive polarity cannot be converted into capacitor charging, but rather are short-circuited by the ignition switch. If the speed again drops below the speed limitation threshold, which is monitored by the control device, the specific ignition switch guidance is adjusted about twice per revolution respectively in the area of a positive charging half wave, so that at about the end of the third revolution (vertical symmetry line or angular setting 34 there), again a pre-charging can be built up in the ignition capacitor.
The embodiment example of the invention-specific procedure according to
With the embodiment examples as per
With the embodiment examples as per
According to
It is also within the scope of the invention that the embodiment forms described can also be used on capacitor magnetic ignition units in which the iron yoke core K consists of three legs, or in which the named coils are divided up in another way.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07113616 | Aug 2007 | EP | regional |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6691689 | Kiessling | Feb 2004 | B2 |
| 6701896 | Kiessling | Mar 2004 | B2 |
| 6761148 | Kiessling | Jul 2004 | B2 |
| 7156075 | Kiessling | Jan 2007 | B2 |
| 7546836 | Andersson et al. | Jun 2009 | B2 |
| 20020117148 | Kiessling | Aug 2002 | A1 |
| 20090084368 | Kiessling et al. | Apr 2009 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2419776 | May 1971 | DE |
| 1954874 | Feb 1976 | DE |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090071441 A1 | Mar 2009 | US |
