CHAPTER 8

IGNITION SYSTEMS
 ENERGY REQUIREMENTS FOR IGNITION
 The total enthalpy required to cause the flame to be self
INTRODUCTION sustaining and promote ignition, is given by the product of the
surface area of the spherical flame and the enthalpy per unit area.
o The electrical discharge produced
between the two electrodes of a spark  The ignition system should supply this energy within a small
plug by the ignition system starts the volume.
combustion process in a spark-ignition  Ignition should occur in a time interval sufficiently short to ensure
engine that only a negligible amount of energy is lost other than to
o The high temperature plasma kernel establish the flame.
created by the spark, develops into a self  Hence, the rate of supply of energy is as important a factor as the
sustaining and propagating flame front. total energy supplied.
o The function of the ignition system is to  A spark can be caused by applying a sufficiently high voltage
initiate this flame propagation process. between two electrodes separated by a gap, and there is a critical
voltage below which no sparking occurs.
o It must be noted that the spark is to be This critical voltage is a function of :
produced in a repeatable manner viz.,
cycle-by-cycle, over the full range of  the dimension of the gap between the electrodes,
load and speed of the engine at the  the fuel-air ratio and
appropriate moment in the engine cycle.
 the pressure of the gas.
• Ignition is merely a prerequisite for  Additionally, the manner in which the voltage is raised
combustion. to the critical value and the configuration and the condition of the
electrodes are important in respect of the energy required
o An ignition process obeys the law of conservation of energy.
REQUIREMENTS OF AN IGNITION SYSTEM
Hence, it can be treated as a balance of energy between:
(i) that provided by an external source
(ii) that released by chemical reaction and A smooth and reliable functioning of an
(iii) that dissipated to the surroundings by means of thermal ignition system is essential for reliable
conduction, convection and radiation working of an engine. The requirements of such
an ignition system are:
THE SPARK ENERGY AND DURATION
o With a homogeneous mixture in the cylinder, spark energy of (i) It should provide a good spark between the
the order of 1mJ and a duration of a few micro-seconds would electrodes of the plugs at the correct timing.
suffice to initiate the combustion process. (ii) It should function efficiently over the entire
range of engine speed.
o The pressure, temperature and density of the mixture between (iii) It should be light, effective and reliable in
the spark plug electrodes have a considerable influence on the service.
voltage required to produce a spark. (iv) It should be compact and easy to maintain.
(v) It should be cheap and convenient to
o Therefore, the spark energy and duration are to be of sufficient handle.
order to initiate combustion under the most unfavourable (vi) The interference from the high voltage
conditions expected in the vicinity of the spark plug. source should not affect the functioning of the
radio and television receivers inside an
o Usually, if the spark energy exceeds 40mJ and the duration is automobile.
longer than 0.5ms, reliable ignition is obtained.
o If the resistance of the deposits on the spark plug electrodes is
sufficiently high, the loss of electrical energy through these
deposits may prevent the spark discharge.
The function of ignition system is to 1. Battery Ignition System
deliver spark
1. At correct time
2. For correct duration
3. With correct strength
Types of Ignition System
1. Battery Ignition System
2. Magneto Ignition System
3. Electronic Ignition System
4. Capacitor Discharged Ignition
System
5. Computerized Ignition System
Battery Ignition System
o A battery of 12V is generally employed. There are two basic
circuits in the system ie, the primary and the secondary circuits.
1. Primary circuits:
The battery, primary winding of the ignition coil, condenser and the
contact breaker form the primary circuit
2. Secondary circuits:
The secondary wiring of the ignition coil, the distributor and the
spark plug constitutes the secondary circuit.
o When the ignition switch is in the ON position, the current
flowing in the primary circuit will grow during the make period of
the contact breaker.
o As the contact breaker points open, the magnetic field built up by
the growth of the current collapses, the energy stored during the
make period is projected into the secondary circuit as high voltage
(25000v).
o From the secondary winding, the high voltage surge is led to each
spark plug in turn with the help of high tension cables and the
distributor.
 Components of a battery Ignition System
1. Battery 2. Ignition Coil 3. Contact Breaker
4. Condenser 5. Distributor 6. Spark Plug
Ignition Coil
o The ignition coil is simply a transformer. It serves
to convert relatively low voltage into high
voltage.
o The primary winding consists of 200-300 turns of
thick wire while the secondary is made up of
large number of turns of fine wire (20000 turns).
o The core is formed of laminated steel with square
section. The whole assembly is submerged in thin
insulating mineral oil and hermitically sealed in
an aluminium case.
o There are two types of ignition coil
1. Core type
2. Can type
o In core type, secondary is wound over primary
and in can type primary is wound over secondary.
o When the engine is running at low speed, due to
the flow of high current, overheating of primary
may occur. To avoid this, a ballast resistor is
sometimes inserted in the primary circuit.
Contact Breaker/ Point (CB)
o The function of contact breaker is to
make and break the primary ignition
circuit.
o One contact breaker is fixed while the
other is movable.
o The heel is generally made of plastic.
o The contact breakers are normally made
of Tungsten or alloy of Platinum and
Iridium.
o Normally the contact breaker gap
should be between .4mm to .5mm.
o Dwell angle is the time expressed in
terms of the degree of distributor cam
rotation for which the points remain
closed.
o A reduction in point gap will increase
the dwell angle.
 Condenser
o Condenser is connected across the contact
breaker.
o The function of a condenser is to
1. Avoid arcing and pitting of CB point
2. To intensify spark
o Condenser absorbs the excess energy during
break period and gives out the same thereby
intensify the spark and protecting CB point.
o The condenser consists of metallic plates
usually of aluminium foil separated by thin
sheets of insulating paper or mica.
o The capacity of the condenser used in the
automobile ranges generally between .2 to
.25mFd.
Distributor
o Distributor consists of rotor and a cap.
Rotor point is made of brass or nickel.
o Each cap terminal is connected to a spark
plug on the engine by means of high tension
cables according to the firing order of the
engine.
o The centre terminal is connected to the
secondary of the ignition coil.
o As the distributor spindle rotates, the rotor
point comes into contact with each terminal
on the cap thereby sending high
Ignition Advance The two mechanisms used are:
o Since it takes certain time called ignition delay (i) Centrifugal advance mechanism
to start the combustion after the spark, it is clear (ii) Vacuum advance mechanism
that the spark must occur prior to the moment
at which maximum pressure is desired.
o The difference between this moment and the
occurrence of spark plug in terms of degrees of
crankshaft rotation is termed as ignition
advance.
Centrifugal Advance Vacuum Advance
o This method provides the ignition timing • A vacuum advance unit senses any
control according to the engine speed. variation of manifold vacuum which is a
o The system consist of two centrifugal direct measure of engine load.
weights which expands when speed • The vacuum advance contains a rubber
increases. diaphragm which is connected to the
o The weights turn about their fulcrum and breaker plate of the distributor.
by so they form the cam along the • One side of the diaphragm opens to the
direction of rotation so that the contact atmosphere while the other side is
points open earlier thus providing the subjected to the vacuum from the
desired advance. carburetor.
• When the throttle is opened, the vacuum
is applied which moves the diaphragm
which rotate the distributor breaker plate
in the direction opposite to the usual
distributor rotation, causing the ignition to
advance.
Spark Plug The correct spark plug gap is specified by the
Spark plug is mounted into the combustion manufacturer, which is usually varies from
chamber of an engine where working 0.6mm to 1mm.
conditions are severe. The function of spark is The plug has three parts, the center electrode,
to initiate the firing. the ground electrode and the insulator separating
Requirements of a good plug are them.
1. Very high resistance to current leakage The ground electrodes are usually formed of
nickel ally of nickel and manganese.
2. Continued maintenance of gap The center electrode is normally copper cored
3. Gas tightness with a nickel alloy jacket around the core.
4. Resistance to corrosion  Platinum tips are also used. The insulators are
generally made of porcelain or sintered alumina.
5. Sufficient reach –
Reach is defined as the length of the threaded
position that enters the cylinder.
6. Correct heat range – on the basis of heat
range, spark plugs can be classified as hot plugs
and cold plugs.
Hot plugs run hotter than the cold plug
because the part of the heat dissipation of the
cooling water in the jackets is longer with the
hot plug than in the cold plug.
Magneto Ignition System
 Magneto Ignition System
In a magneto ignition system, the current in the primary winding is
produced and supplied by the magneto itself.
A voltage source like battery is not required. A magneto may be low
tension type or high tension type.
In low tension type magneto, the ignition coil is not a part of it
whereas in a high tension magneto, the ignition coil is incorporated in
the magneto itself. The main advantage of magneto ignition system is
its reliability.
Type of Magnetos
1. Rotating armature
2. Rotating magnet
3. Polar Inductor
4. Flywheel magneto
 Rotating Armature
It consists of a permanent magnet fitted with
two pole shoes.
 Between the pole shoes is rotated an armature
carrying the primary and secondary winding.
 The primary winding like the ignition coil
consists of a few hundred turns of thick wire
whereas the secondary winding comprises
some thousand turns of thin wire.
While the armature rotates the flux through the
armature core varies.
This produce a high voltage surge in the
secondary winding it is sufficient to establish
spark at the spark plug point.
In a rotating magnet type magneto, the system
is virtually same but in it is the magnet and not
the armature winding which rotates.
 Electronic Ignition System
In this system, a timer is employed instead of contact breaker.
This timer may be a pulse generator or a Hall Effect switch or an optical switch which
triggers the ignition module which is also called as power transistor.
 The base current of the transistor is triggered off and on by the timer which results in the
stopping and starting of the primary current.
Capacitor Discharge Ignition System
• In this method, electrical energy is stored in a
charging capacitor.
• When ignition is timed to occur, a thyristor
power switch completes the capacitor primary
winding circuit of the ignition coil.
• Due to this, the capacitor will discharge
through the primary winding, causing sudden
flow of current which induces a very high
voltage surge in the secondary winding, thus
firing the spark plugs.
Computerized Ignition System
• In this system, there is no distributor.
• The distribution of spark to various cylinders
according to firing is controlled by the vehicle
computer.
• Instead of a single ignition coil for all cylinders there
may be separate ignition coil for each cylinder or two
cylinders may share one coil.
• If spark plugs are made to fire at the same point on
each revolution, it would ignite the charge in one
cylinder and would not consume any noticeable
energy in the other cylinder.
• To trigger the coils at correct time, a Hall Effect
sensor is usually employed.
FIRING ORDER
Every engine cylinder must fire once in every cycle.
This requires that for a four-stroke four-cylinder engine the ignition system must fire for every 180
degrees of crank rotation.
For a six-cylinder engine the time available is only 120 degrees of crank rotation.
The order in which various cylinders of a multi-cylinder engine fire is called the firing order.
The number of possibilities of firing order depends upon the number of cylinders and throws of
the crankshaft.
It is desirable to have the power impulses equally spaced and from the point of view of balancing
this has led to certain conventional arrangements of crankshaft throws.
 Further, there are three factors which must be considered before deciding the optimum firing order
of an engine.
These are:
(i) Engine vibrations
(ii) Engine cooling and
(iii) Development of back pressure
1. Moment Effect
Consider that the cylinder number 1 of the four-cylinder
engine, shown in Fig.10.13, is fired first.
Pressure, p, generated in the cylinder number 1 will
give rise to a force equal to pA[b/(a+b)] and
pA[a/(a+b)] on the two bearings A and B respectively.
The load on bearing A is much more than load on
bearing B.
If the next cylinder fired is cylinder number 2, this
imbalance in load on the two bearings would further
aggravate the problem of balancing of the crankshaft
vibrations.
If we fire cylinder number 3 after cylinder number1, the
load may be more or less evenly distributed.
2. Engine Cooling Effect 3. The Flow of Exhaust Gases in the Exhaust Pipe

consider the effect of firing sequence on engine After firing the first cylinder, exhaust gases flow
cooling. out to the exhaust pipe.
When the first cylinder is fired its temperature If the next cylinder fired is the cylinder number
2, we find that before the gases exhausted
increases. by the first cylinder go out of the exhaust pipe
If the next cylinder that fires is number 2, the the gases exhausted from the second cylinder try
to overtake them.
portion of the engine between the cylinder
number 1 and 2 gets overheated. This would require that the exhaust pipe be
made bigger.
If then the third cylinder is fired, overheating is Otherwise the back pressure in it would increase
shifted to the portion between the cylinders 2 and the possibility of back flow would arise.
and 4.  If instead of firing cylinder number 2, cylinder
number 3 is fired then by the time the gases
Thus we see that the task of the cooling system exhausted by the cylinder 3 come into the
becomes very difficult because it is then, exhaust pipe, the gases from cylinder 1 would
required to cool more at one place than at other have sufficient time to travel the distance
places and this imposes great strain on the between cylinder 1 and cylinder 3 and thus, the
development of a high back pressure is avoided.
cooling system.
 If the third cylinder is fired after the first the
overheating problem can be controlled to a
greater extent.
It should be noted that to some extent all the above three requirements
are conflicting and therefore a trade-off is necessary.
For four-cylinder engines the possible firing orders are:
1 - 3 - 4 - 2 or 1 - 2 - 4 - 3
The former is more commonly used in the vertical configuration of cylinders.
For a six-cylinder engine the firing orders can be:
1 - 5 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 4 or 1 - 5 - 4 - 6 - 2 – 3
or
1 - 2 - 4 - 6 - 5 - 3 or 1 - 2 - 3 - 6 - 5 - 4
The first one is more commonly used.
Thank You