Ignition coil and method for operating
AssigneeBorgWarner Ludwigsburg GmbH
InventorsDejan Kienzle, Dirk Wüstenhagen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for operating an ignition coil is described, wherein a secondary voltage pulse is generated by feeding a primary voltage pulse into a transformer of the ignition coil, and a primary current, a primary voltage, a secondary current and/or a secondary voltage are measured, wherein the course of the primary current, the primary voltage, the secondary voltage and/or the secondary current are monitored and, when a malfunction is determined during subsequent primary voltage pulse, an error signal is generated which indicates that a malfunction has occurred during the previous primary voltage pulse and classifies the malfunction. In addition, a corresponding ignition coil is described.
Claims10
A method for operating an ignition coil, comprising:
- feeding a first primary voltage pulse into a transformer of the ignition coil and thereby generating a secondary voltage pulse;
- measuring a primary current, a primary voltage, a secondary current and/or a secondary voltage;
- monitoring the course of the primary current, the primary voltage, the secondary voltage and/or the secondary current;
- and
- when a malfunction is determined from the monitoring, generating an error signal during a subsequent primary voltage pulse, wherein the error signal indicates that the malfunction occurred during the first primary voltage pulse and the error signal classifies the malfunction.
An ignition coil, comprising:
- a transformer having a primary side and a secondary side;
- a signal output;
- and
- a controller having circuitry and sensors, the controller configured to:
- control the transformer and feed a first primary voltage pulse into the primary side of the transformer to generate a secondary voltage pulse for a spark plug;
- monitor the course of a primary current, a primary voltage, a secondary voltage and/or a secondary current to detect a malfunction;
- in response to the detection of the malfunction, generate during a subsequent primary voltage pulse, an error signal on the signal output, the error signal indicating that the malfunction has occurred during the first primary voltage pulse;
- and
- classify the malfunction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.