Inter-event control strategy for corona ignition systems

A corona ignition system, comprising:

• a corona igniter receiving energy and emitting an electric field during a plurality of corona events, wherein each corona event extends continuously from a start time to a stop time;
• a driver circuit providing the energy to the corona igniter during the corona events;
• the driver circuit detecting any occurrence of an arc formation from the corona igniter and providing no energy to the corona igniter for a predetermined duration of time immediately after any occurrence of the arc formation;
• the driver circuit obtaining information about any occurrence of an arc formation during at least one of the corona events, the information including at least one of:
• timing of any occurrence of the arc formation relative to the start time of the corona event, duration between two consecutive occurrences of the arc formations, number of occurrences of the arc formations over a period of time during the corona event, timing of an occurrence of the arc formation relative to the stop time of the corona event, total number of occurrences of the arc formations during the corona event, and the voltage level provided to the corona igniter at the stop time of the corona event;
• a control unit receiving the information about any occurrence of the arc formation during the one corona event from the driver circuit, and the control unit adjusting the predetermined duration of time wherein no energy is provide to the corona igniter based on the information relating to the corona discharge;
• and
• the driver circuit applying the adjusted predetermined duration of time wherein no energy is provide to the corona igniter in at least one subsequent corona event and not before the stop time of the at least one corona event from which the information was obtained.