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US 12,529,341 B2Granted
Ignition system and method of operating a combustion engine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsCraig Alan Gonyou, Sibtosh Pal, Miles Burnett, Steven C. Vise
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ignition system for a combustion engine, includes a combustor having an igniter configured to receive a series of electrical current pulses, and, responsive to each electrical pulse, to generate a spark. A sensor is configured to detect each electrical pulse to provide a signal indicative of the electrical pulse to a controller. The controller is configured to determine, prior to an injection of a fuel into the combustor, a spark rate of the igniter, determine whether the spark rate satisfies a spark rate threshold, and in response to a determination that the spark rate satisfies the spark rate threshold, initiate an injection of the fuel into the combustor.
Claims18
A method of operating a combustion engine having a combustor including at least one igniter, the method comprising:
- prior to an injection of a gaseous fuel into the combustor, monitoring, for a predetermined first period, a series of electrical pulses on a respective transmission line coupled to the at least one igniter, each electrical pulse respectively indicative of a spark generated by the at least one igniter;
- determining, by a controller, based on the series of electrical pulses during the predetermined first period, at least one of a spark rate of the at least one igniter, or a pulse magnitude of the series of electrical pulses;
- determining, by the controller, whether the at least one of the spark rate of the at least one igniter during the predetermined first period satisfies a spark rate threshold, or the pulse magnitude of the series of electrical pulses during the predetermined first period satisfies a pulse magnitude threshold;
- and
- in response to a determination that the at least one of the spark rate of the at least one igniter during the predetermined first period satisfies the spark rate threshold, or the pulse magnitude of the of the series of electrical pulses during the predetermined first period satisfies the pulse magnitude threshold, initiating the injection of the gaseous fuel into the combustor;
- wherein the at least one igniter includes a set of igniters, wherein monitoring the series of electrical pulses on a respective transmission line coupled to the at least one igniter includes detecting the series of electrical pulses on a respective transmission line coupled to at least a subset of the set of igniters;
- wherein the determining the spark rate of the at least one igniter includes determining the spark rate of the at least a subset of the set of igniters;
- wherein the determining, the pulse magnitude of the at least one igniter includes determining the pulse magnitude of the at least a subset of the set of igniters;
- wherein the determining, whether the spark rate of the at least one igniter satisfies the spark rate threshold includes determining whether the spark rate of the at least a subset of the set of igniters satisfies the spark rate threshold;
- and
- wherein the determining, whether the pulse magnitude of the at least one igniter satisfies the pulse magnitude threshold includes determining whether the pulse magnitude of the at least a subset of the set of igniters satisfies the pulse magnitude threshold.
8 more elements
An ignition system for a combustion engine, comprising:
- a combustor having at least one igniter, the at least one igniter configured to receive a series of electrical pulses, and, responsive to each electrical pulse, to generate a respective spark;
- a respective transmission line coupled to the at least one igniter to provide the series of electrical pulses thereto;
- a respective sensor communicatively coupled to each respective transmission line, configured to detect an electrical pulse thereon and to provide a respective signal indicative of the electrical pulse to a controller, wherein the controller is configured to:
- determine, prior to an injection of a fuel into the combustor, based on the series of electrical pulses during a predetermined first period, at least one of a spark rate of the at least one igniter, or a pulse magnitude of the series of electrical pulses;
- determine whether the at least one of the spark rate of the at least one igniter during the predetermined first period satisfies a spark rate threshold, or the pulse magnitude of the series of electrical pulses during the predetermined first period satisfies a pulse magnitude threshold;
- and, in response to a determination that the at least one of the spark rate of the at least one igniter during the predetermined first period satisfies the spark rate threshold, or the pulse magnitude of the of the series of electrical pulses during the predetermined first period satisfies the pulse magnitude threshold,
- initiate an injection of the fuel into the combustor;
- wherein the at least one igniter includes a set of igniters, and wherein the controller is further configured to:
- receive a respective signal indicative of the series of electrical pulses on the respective transmission line coupled to at least a subset of the set of igniters for the predetermined first period;
- determine based on the respective signal, at least one of the spark rate of at least the subset of the set of igniters during the predetermined first period, or the pulse magnitude of the at least a subset of the set of igniters during the predetermined first period;
- determine at least one of whether the spark rate of the at least the subset of the set of igniters during the predetermined first period satisfies the spark rate threshold, or whether the pulse magnitude of the at least the subset of the set of igniters satisfies the pulse magnitude threshold;
- and
- in response to a determination that at least one of the spark rate of the at least the subset of the set of igniters during the predetermined first period satisfies the spark rate threshold, or the pulse magnitude of the at least the subset of the set of igniters satisfies the pulse magnitude threshold, initiate the injection of the fuel into the combustor.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.