Intra-event control strategy for corona ignition systems

A corona ignition system, comprising:

• a corona igniter receiving energy and emitting an electric field during a corona event, wherein the energy is at a voltage level and a current level, and the corona event includes a single continuous duration of time extending from a start time to a stop time;
• a driver circuit providing the energy to the corona igniter during the corona event;
• the driver circuit providing no energy to the corona igniter for a duration of time immediately after any occurrence of an arc formation;
• the driver circuit obtaining information about the at least one occurrence of the arc formation, the information including at least one of:
• timing of at least one occurrence of the arc formation relative to the start time of the corona event, duration between two consecutive occurrences of the arc formations, and number of occurrences of the arc formation over a period of time during the corona event;
• the driver circuit providing energy to the corona igniter after the duration of time wherein no energy is provided to the corona igniter;
• a control unit receiving the information about the arc formation from the driver circuit and adjusting the duration of time wherein no energy is provided to the corona igniter based on the information about the arc formation;
• and
• the driver circuit providing no energy to the corona igniter for the adjusted duration of time after a subsequent occurrence of the arc formation during the corona event.

A corona ignition system, comprising:

• a corona igniter receiving energy and emitting an electric field during a corona event, the corona event including a single continuous duration of time extending from a start time to a stop time;
• a driver circuit providing the energy to the corona igniter during the corona event;
• the driver circuit providing no energy to the corona igniter for a duration of time immediately after any occurrence of an arc formation;
• the driver circuit obtaining information about the at least one occurrence of the arc formation, the information including at least one of:
• timing of at least one occurrence of the arc formation relative to the start time of the corona event, duration between two consecutive occurrences of the arc formations, and number of occurrences of the arc formation over a period of time during the corona event;
• the driver circuit providing the energy to the corona igniter after the duration of time wherein no energy is provided to the corona igniter;
• and
• a control unit receiving the information about the arc formation from the driver circuit and adjusting the stop time of the corona event based on the information about the arc formation.

A method of controlling a corona ignition system, comprising the steps of:

• providing energy to a corona igniter during a corona event, wherein the energy is at a voltage level and a current level, and the corona event includes a single continuous duration of time extending from a start time to a stop time;
• providing no energy to the corona igniter for a duration of time immediately any occurrence of an arc formation;
• obtaining information about the at least one occurrence of the arc formation, the information including at least one of:
• timing of at least one occurrence of the arc formation relative to the start time of the corona event, duration between two consecutive occurrences of the arc formations, and number of occurrences of the arc formation over a period of time during the corona event;
• adjusting at least one of the voltage level, the current level, the stop time of the corona event, and the duration of time wherein no energy is provided to the corona igniter based on the information about the arc formation, and
• the adjusting step occurring during the corona event.