Automobile Engineering

NME-702

By
VINEET KR. VASHISHTHA
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engg. Department
KIET, GZB
1
 Introduction

The combustion in a spark ignition

engine is initiated by an electric al
discharge across the electrodes of a
spark plug, which usually occurs from 100
to 300 before TDC depending upon the
chamber geometry and operating
conditions.

The ignition system provides a spark of

sufficient intensity to ignite the air-fuel
mixture at the predetermined position in
the engine cycle under all speeds and
load conditions.
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 Introduction – contd.

In a four-stroke, four cylinder engine

operating at 3000 rpm, individual cylinders
require a spark at every second revolution,
and this necessitates the frequency of firing
to be (3000 / 2) x 4 = 6000 sparks per minute
or 100 sparks per second. This shows that
there is an extremely short interval of time
between firing impulses.

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 Introduction – contd.
The internal combustion engines are
not capable of starting by themselves.
Engines fitted in trucks, tra ctors and other
industrial applic ations are usually
cranked by a small starting engine or by
compressed air.
Automotive engines are usually cranked
by a small electric motor, which is better
known as a starter motor, or simply a
starter. The starter motor for SI and CI
engines operates on the same principle
as a direct current electric motor.

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 Ignition System -Requirements
It should provide a good spark between the
electrodes of the plugs at the correct timing
The duration of the spark must be long enough
with sufficient energy to ensure that ignition of the
mixture has a high chance of occurring
The system must distribute this high voltage to
each of the spark plugs at the exact time in every
cycle, i.e., it must have in it a distributing device
It should function efficiently over the entire
range of engine speed
It should be light, effective and reliable in
service
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 Glow plug ignition
One of the early ignition system employed
was the glow plug ignition used in some
kinds of simple engines like model aircraft.

A glow plug is a coil of nichrome wire that

will glow red hot when an electric current is
passed through it. This ignites the air-fuel
mixture upon conta ct. The coil is electrically
activated from engine starting, and once it
runs, it will retain sufficient residual heat on
each stroke due to heat generated on the
previous stroke. Glow plugs are also used to
aid starting of diesel engines.

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 Contact ignition
The other method used was the conta ct
ignition. It consisted of a copper or brass
rod that protruded into the cylinder, and
was heated using an external source.
Heat conduction kept the end of the rod
hot, and ignition takes place when the
combustible mixture comes into its conta
ct. Naturally this was very inefficient as the
fuel would not be ignited in a controlled
manner. This type of arrangement was
quickly superseded by spark ignition.

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 Modern ignition systems
 The development of high speed, high
compression internal combustion engine
requires a reliable high-speed ignition
system. This is met by a high-tension ignition
system that uses a spark plug as the source
of ignition. The electric al energy to the spark
plug is supplied by one of the following
systems and is termed accordingly.

1. Battery ignition system

2. Magneto ignition system
3. Electronic ignition system

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 Battery ignition system

Secondary
Coil winding

ignition Distributor contacts

switch Primary
winding 1

Contact 2
Ammeter
breaker
3
capacitor 4
Distributor Spark plugs
Contact-breaker
Battery operating cam

9
 Battery ignition system

The primary circuit consists of the battery,

ammeter, ignition switch, primary coil
winding, capacitor, and breaker points. The
functions of these components are:
Battery : provides the power to run the system

Ignition switch : allows the driver to turn the system on and off

Primary coil : produces the magnetic field to create the

high voltage in the secondary coil
Breaker points : a mechanical switch that acts as the
triggering mechanism
Capacitor : protects the points from burning out

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 Battery ignition system
The secondary circuit converts magnetic
induction into high voltage electricity to jump
across the spark plug gap, firing the mixture at the
right time. The functions of the components are:

Secondar : the part of the coil that creates the high voltage
y coil electricity
Coil wire : a highly insulated wire to take the high voltage to
the distributor cap
Distributo : a plastic cap which goes on top of the distributor,
r cap to hold the high tension wires in the right order
Rotor : spins around on the top of the distributor shaft, and
distributes the spark to the right spark plug

Spark : another highly insulated wire that takes the high

plu voltage from the cap to the plugs
g leads
Spark plugs : take the electricity from the wires, and give it an air
gap in the combustion chamber to jump across, to
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light the mixture
 Magneto ignition system
The high powered, high speed spark
ignition engines like aircraft, sports and
racing cars use magneto ignition system. The
basic components of a magneto ignition
system consist of a magneto, breaker points,
capacitor, ignition switch, distributor, spark
plug leads, and spark plugs.
Magneto can either be rotating armature
type or rotating magneto type. In the former,
the armature consisting of the primary and
secondary windings all rotate between the
poles of a stationary magneto, while in the
second type, the magneto revolves and the
windings are kept stationary.
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 Magneto ignition system
(with rotating magnets)
Spark plugs
Distributor

Coil

Ca m
Primary winding
Secondary winding
Rotating magnet (two-pole)

Contact- breaker

Ig nitio n
Capacitor switch

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 Electric Circuit

 Uses a changing
magnetic field to
generate current
in primary and
secondary
circuits

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 Magnetic Flux

• As magnet
approaches,
induces magnetic
flux in armature

• Bre aker points close

and current
dissipates through
primary circuit

15
 Spark Fires

• After magnet rotates

past armature flux
reverses direction,
and the breaker
points open
• Change in magnetic
flux produces 170
volts in primary circuit
• Induces 10,000 volts
in secondary circuit,
firing spark plug

16
Breaker Points

• Crankshaft rotation
causes mechanic al
actuation of breaker
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 Electronic ignition system

The disadvantage of the mechanic al

system is that it requires regular
adjustment to compensate for wear, and
the opening of the conta ct breakers,
which is responsible for spark timing, is
subject to mechanic al variations.

In addition, the spark voltage is also

dependent on conta ct effectiveness,
and poor sparking may lower the engine
efficiency. Electronic ignition system has
solved these problems.

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 Electronic ignition system

Electronic
Ignition coil control unit

Switch Spark plugs

Sensor coil 3

Battery 4

Armature Distributor

19
 Electronic ignition system – contd.

In this system, the conta ct breaker points

are replaced by an angular sensor of some
kind - either optical, where a vaned rotor
breaks a light beam, or more commonly
using a hall effect sensor, which responds to a
rotating magnet mounted on a suitable
shaft.

The sensor output processed by a suitable

circuitry is then used to trigger a switching
device such as a thyristor, which switches a
large flow of current through the coil.

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 Electronic ignition system – contd.

The rest of the system (distributor and spark

plugs) remains the same as that of the
mechanic al system. The lack of moving parts
compared with the mechanic al system leads
to greater reliability and longer service
intervals. In some older cars, it was usually
possible to retrofit an electronic ignition system
in place of the mechanic al one.
Electronic
Ignition coil control unit
Switch Spark plugs

Sensor coil 3

Battery 4

Armature Distributor

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 Spark Plugs
Terminal
 The spark plugignites
the air-fuel mixture
inside the cylinder. This Insulator
occurs when high Electrode
voltage, triggeredat
precisely the right
instant, bridges the gap
Shell
between the center
and the ground
electrodes. It also Reach
provides a secondary
Gap
purpose of helping to
channel some heat Ground
electrode
away from the cylinder.
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A cold plug has the
advantage of quicker heat
transfer. It has a shorter
insulator, and thereby
allowing heat to travel a
shorter distance.
(a) Cold plug

A hot plug has a longer

insulator, and therefore, heat
travel path from firing tip to
electrode is longer. This
enables it to operate at
higher temperature to
compensate for the cooler
running engine.
(b) Hot plug

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 Firing Order
Firing order indicates the sequence or
order in which the firing impulses occur in a
multi-cylinder spark ignition engine. It is
chosen to give a uniform torque, and hence
a uniform distribution of firing per revolution
of the engine.

This is naturally dictated by the engine

design, the cylinder arrangement and the
crankshaft design. The firing order be such
that there must always be a proper
balance so as to minimize the engine
vibration.

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 Firing Order

As for example, in a four-stroke, four-

cylinder engine, the firing or the ignition in
all the cylinders has to be completed in
two revolutions of the crankshaft. With
crank throws at 1800, the cylinders 1 and
4 will reach TDC at the same time. Now, if
the firing interval is made by 1800, the
firing in cylinder-1 cannot be followed by
cylinder-4. For the same reason, the firing
of cylinder-2 cannot be followed by
cylinder-3. As such, the possible
sequence is 1-2-4-3 or 1-3-4-2.

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 Firing Order

Consider another example of four-

stroke, six-cylinder inline engine, where
cranks are set at 1200, and with the
cylinders 1-6, 2-5 and 3-4 will reach TDC
simultaneously. Here, the possible
sequence is 1-5-3-6-2-4 or 1-4-2-6-3- 5.
For radial engines, the cylinders are
usually numbered consecutively. Thus,
for a seven-cylinder radial engine, the
sequence is 1,3,5,7,2,4,6.

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 References
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 Web Resources
1. http://www.mne.psu.edu/simpson/courses
2. http://me.queensu.ca/courses
3. http://www.eng.fsu.edu
4. http://www.personal.utulsa.edu
5. http://www.glenroseffa.org/
6. http://www.howstuffworks.com
7. http://www.me.psu.edu
8. http://www.uic.edu/classes/me/ me429/lecture-air-cyc-web%5B1%5D.ppt
9. http://www.osti.gov/fcvt/HETE2004/Stable.pdf
10. http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid457.php
11. http://www.tpub.com/content/engine/14081/css
12. http://webpages.csus.edu
13. http://www.nebo.edu/misc/learning_resources/ ppt/6-12
14. http://netlogo.modelingcomplexity.org/Small_engines.ppt
15. http://www.ku.edu/~kunrotc/academics/ 180/Lesson%2008%20Diesel.ppt
16. http://navsci.berkeley.edu/NS10/PPT/
17. http://www.career-center.org/ secondary/powerpoint/sge-parts.ppt
18. http://mcdetflw.tecom.usmc.mil
19. http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm
20. http://www.eng.fsu.edu/ ME_senior_design/2002/folder14/ccd/Combustion
21. http://www.me.udel.edu
22. http://online.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/phys140
23. http://widget.ecn.purdue.edu/~yanchen/ME200/ME200-8.ppt -

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