Ignition control apparatus
AssigneeMitsubishi Electric Corporation
InventorKimihiko TANAYA
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Ignition is performed in such a way that a bias voltage is applied to a first electrode of an ignition plug and a current detection device detects a current that flows in the first electrode, that based on the value of the detected current, a smolder level detection device detects the level of a smolder produced in the ignition plug, and that a control device controls, based on the detected smolder level, at least one of the timing of ignition, the number of ignition events per power stroke of an internal combustion engine, and the amount of energy accumulated in an ignition coil device.
Claims8
An ignition control apparatus comprising:
- an ignition plug that is provided with a first electrode and a second electrode that face each other by the intermediary of a gap and that produces a spark discharge in the gap so that an inflammable fuel-air mixture inside a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine is ignited, when a predetermined high voltage is applied to the first electrode;
- an ignition coil device that generates the predetermined high voltage, by accumulating energy and releasing the accumulated energy, and that applies the generated predetermined high voltage to the first electrode;
- a current detection device that applies a bias voltage to the first electrode and detects a current that flows in the first electrode based on the applied bias voltage;
- a smolder level detection device that detects a level of a smolder produced in the ignition plug, based on a value of the current detected by the current detection device;
- and
- a control device that controls, based on a smolder level detected by the smolder level detection device, at least one of the timing of ignition, the number of ignition events per power stroke of the internal combustion engine, and the amount of energy accumulated in the ignition coil device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.