Ignition control device for internal combustion engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11215157-B2
Application number	US-202017103088-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 24, 2020
Priority date	May 25, 2018
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

In an ignition control device for an internal-combustion engine, signal separation circuitry receives and separates an ignition control signal that is an integrated signal of a main ignition signal for controlling the main ignition operation, an energy input signal for controlling the energy input operation, and a target secondary current command signal. The ignition control signal is formed of a first signal and a second signal that are pulsed signals. The signal separation circuitry is configured to generate, from the ignition control signal, the main ignition signal based on rising edges of the first signal and the second signal as pulse-waveform information of the first signal and the second signal, generate the energy input signal based on a pulse width of the second signal as pulse-waveform information of the second signal, and generate the target secondary current command signal based on pulse-waveform information of the first signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ignition control device for an internal-combustion engine, comprising:
an ignition coil formed of a primary coil and a secondary coil, for generating discharge energy in the secondary coil connected to a spark plug by increasing or decreasing a primary current flowing through the primary coil;
main ignition circuitry configured to control energization of the primary coil to perform a main ignition operation for generating a spark discharge in the spark plug;
energy input circuitry configured to perform an energy input operation for superposing, on a secondary current flowing through the secondary coil generated by the main ignition operation, a current of same polarity;
signal separation circuitry configured to receive an ignition control signal that is an integrated signal of a main ignition signal for controlling the main ignition operation, an energy input signal for controlling the energy input operation, and a target secondary current command signal, and separate the received ignition control signal into the main ignition signal, the energy input signal, and the target secondary current command signal that are included in the received ignition control signal,
wherein the ignition control signal is formed of a first signal and a second signal that are pulsed signals, and
the signal separation circuitry is configured to generate, from the ignition control signal, the main ignition signal based on rising edges of the first signal and the second signal as pulse-waveform information of the first signal and the second signal, generate the energy input signal based on a pulse width of the second signal as pulse-waveform information of the second signal, and generate the target secondary current command signal based on pulse-waveform information of the first signal.

2. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the energy input signal indicates a time period during which the energy input operation is performed, and the target secondary current command signal indicates whether to perform the energy input operation and energy to be input.

3. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the signal separation circuitry is configured to generate the target secondary current command signal based on a pulse width of the first signal.

4. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the signal separation circuitry is configured to generate the target secondary current command signal based on a number of times the first signal is output within a predefined time period from a rising edge of the ignition control signal.

5. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the signal separation circuitry is configured to generate the target secondary current command signal based on an output signal level of the first signal.

6. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the signal separation circuitry is configured to generate the target secondary current command signal based on a duty cycle of the first signal.

7. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the signal separation circuitry is configured to detect the first signal and the second signal based on an order in which the first signal and the second signal are input to the signal separation circuitry after beginning operation of the ignition control device or pulse-waveform information of the first signal and the second signal.

8. The ignition control device according to claim 7 , wherein
pulse waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different in output signal level at least in the first instance of output, and
the signal separation circuitry is configured to detect the first signal based on a predefined output signal level.

9. The ignition control device according to claim 7 , wherein
pulse waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different in pulse width at least in the first instance of output, and
the signal separation circuitry is configured to detect the first signal based on a predefined pulse width.

10. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the primary coil includes a main primary coil and a sub-primary coil, and
the energy input circuitry is configured to control the energy input operation by controlling energization of the sub-primary coil.

11. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the signal separation circuitry is incorporated in an ignition device including the main ignition circuitry and the energy input circuitry.

12. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the energy input circuitry comprises an energy input enabling period setter configured to set an enabling period in which the energy input operation is enabled and output an enabling signal for enabling the energy input operation.

13. The ignition control device according to claim 12 , wherein
the enabling signal is a pulse signal that is generated based on an output signal from the signal separation circuitry, and
a pulse width of the enabling signal defines a maximum length of the enabling period.

14. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the energy input circuitry is configured to terminate the energy input operation in response to the target secondary current command signal being at a zero level.

15. The ignition control device according to claim 1 , further comprising an ignition control signal transmitter configured to generate and output the ignition control signal.

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Terada Kanechiyo

Classifications

• F02P17/12

  Testing characteristics of the spark, ignition voltage or current (testing of sparking plugs H01T13/60) · CPC title

• F02P9/002

  Control of spark intensity, intensifying, lengthening, suppression (by means of current control in the storage devices F02P3/05, F02P3/09, during starting F02P15/12) · CPC title

• F02P3/0456

  using digital techniques · CPC title

• F02P3/05 Primary

  for control of the magnitude of the current in the ignition coil (during starting F02P15/12) · CPC title

• H01T13/04

  Means providing electrical connection to sparking plugs · CPC title