Ignition systems over the

years
Automotive technology
Beñat Alberdi Orbegozo
Index

1) Early ignition evolution

2) Battery ignition systems over the years

1. Early ignition evolution
Christiaan Huygens’ powder machine

• The first known attempt to create a

thermal-energy machine to replace
boiler, burner and steam with internal 1. Capsule with
gunpowder
combustion. 2. Fuse

3. Tube

• Year 1673. 4. Non-return valve

5. Piston

6. Idler pulley

7. Weight G
1. Early ignition evolution
Isaak de Rivaz’s atmospheric piston engine

• Working along similar lines to Huygens’

powder machine, a piston was blasted
upwards by the explosion before being 1. Button for
transmitting
pulled back again by atmospheric ignition spark

pressure. 2. Cylinder

3. Piston

4. Bladder, filled
• Year 1807. with hydrogen
1. Early ignition evolution
High-voltage vibrator ignition

• Year 1860, by Etienne Lenoir.

• No option was available at the time

for generating the required current
while the vehicle was actually
moving.

1. Battery (galvanic element) 2. Ruhmkorff spark inductor

3. Trembler contacts 4. Armature 5. Distributor with contact spring
6. Spark plug
1. Early ignition evolution
Hot-tube ignition

• Developed by Gottlieb Daimler in 1883.

1. Gasoline
reservoir for
• Depending on the system design, speeds burner

as high as 700...900rpm were possible. 2. Hot tube

3. Burner

4. Preheater bowl
1. Early ignition evolution
Magneto ignition

• Bosch developed magneto-electric low-

voltage devices for Otto’s snap-release
ignition. (1887) a) Design
b) Block diagram
(section)

• The system’s asset was its ability to 1. Compression-

spring
operate without a battery. 2.
arrangement
Ignition lever
3. Ignition pin
4. Ignition flange
5. Push rod
• The high weight of the armature and the 6. Double-T
armature
slow ignition mechanism prevented its 7. Elbow lever
8. Control shaft
continued use in automotive engines. 9. Terminal
1. Early ignition evolution
Magneto ignition

• The system now used a sleeve suspended

between the pole shoes and the fixed
armature to act as a conductor of the 1. Terminal

lines of flux. 2. Double-T armature

(fixed)

3. Pole shoes

• The sleeve was driven via bevel gears 4. Sleeve (oscillating)

(conic gears), which also served to adjust

the moment of ignition.
1. Early ignition evolution
Magneto ignition

a) Block diagram of 8. Current

high-voltage conduction to
magneto contact breaker
b) Design of first (primary)
series 9. Terminals to spark
manufactured high plugs
voltage magneto 10.Contact-breaker
lever
11.Breaker point
1. Pole shoe 12.Condenser
2. Sleeve (rotating) 13.Ignition-timing
3. Double-T armature adjustment
4. Current collector 14.Magnet
with connecting 15.Cam
bar to spark-plug 16.Spark plug
terminals
5. Distributor disk
with collector ring
6. Current
conduction to
distributor disk
(secondary)
7. To ignition switch
1. Early ignition evolution
Battery ignition

• Bosch brought in 1925 onto the European

1. Battery
market a battery-ignition system.
2. Ignition switch

3. Ignition condenser

• Battery ignition consisted of two separate 4. Contact-breaker

cam
devices: the engine-driven ignition
5. Breaker point
distributor and the ignition coil.
6. Spark plugs

7. Ignition coil

8. Ignition distributor
2. Battery ignition systems over the years
Conventional coil ignition (CI)

1. Battery

2. Ignition/starter
switch

3. Ignition coil

4. Distributor

5. Capacitor

6. Contact-breaker
points

7. Vacuum advance
mechanism

8. Rotor

9. Spark plug

1, 4, 15, Terminals
2. Battery ignition systems over the years
Breaker-triggered transistorized ignition

• The difference is in the control of the 1. Battery

2. Ignition/starter
primary ignition circuit. switch
3. Series resistor
4. Resistor bypass
switch for starting
5. Coil with primary
• Instead of being opened and closed by winding L1 and
secondary winding
contact-breaker points, the circuit is now L2
6. Ignition capacitor
controlled by a transistor. 7. Contact breakers
8. Distributor
9. Spark plugs
10.Electronic circuits
with resistors for
voltage distributor
R1, R2 and
transistor T

1, 4, 15, 30 Terminals
2. Battery ignition systems over the years
Transistorized ignition with Hall-effect trigger
2. Battery ignition systems over the years
Breaker-triggered transistorized ignition

a) Design concept

b) Inductive voltage
curve

1. Permanent magnet

2. Inductive winding
with core

3. Variable gap

4. Rotor

tz Ignition point
2. Battery ignition systems over the years
Electronic ignition
2. Battery ignition systems over the years
Distributorless electronic ignition
Automotive technology
Beñat Alberdi Orbegozo

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