BMMA 3573

Engine and Transmission Control System

By: Herdy Rusnandi

Edited: Mohd Suffian Ab Razak,
Nur Rashid Mat Nuri

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ELECTRONIC IGNITION SYSTEM

Main requirements of electronic ignition systems:

• Provide a spark or arc at a spark plug that is strong enough to
ignite the air–fuel mixture; this spark must occur at the
correct time in the operating cycle.
• Produce a sufficiently high voltage from the ignition coil at all
speeds to enable the air–fuel mixture to be initially ignited
under cylinder pressure (compression pressure).
• Many thousands of volts (kilovolts, or kV) are used to create
or initiate the spark.
• The spark or arc produced at the spark plug must produce
sufficient heat to cause ignition of the mixture.

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Ignition system developments:

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Contact breaker ignition system:

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Distributorless ignition system:

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Output voltage produced by an ignition coil during one ignition cycle for one
cylinder:

Air ionization process

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Voltage requirement (firing voltage):
• A typical voltage requirement for a modern engine is in the region of 7 kV to
12 kV or higher.

The major factors affecting ignition systems:

• Plug gap
with a gap in the electrical HT circuit (high tension or high voltage circuit), the energy
required for the electrical flow to jump the gap and reach earth will be large. The
larger the gap, the higher the voltage requirement.
• Resistance
if we add resistance to the plug leads and possibly also to the spark plug (to provide
suppression), again this will mean that a higher voltage is required.
• Cylinder pressures
with modern high compression engines the high pressure at the plug gap makes it
more difficult for electricity to reach earth and a higher voltage is again required.
• Air fuel ratio (AFR)
it is more difficult to create a spark in a weak mixture; again, a higher voltage is
required.

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•The figure above illustrate that once the spark has been
initiated, a much lower voltage is then required to maintain
the spark: once the ionisation process has been started,
maintaining that process does not require such a high
voltage.

•When almost all of the coil energy has been used to

initiate and maintain the spark, the energy remaining in the
coil will be insufficient to keep the spark going; therefore
the spark will extinguish. The small amount of remaining
energy then tends to oscillate backwards and forwards
within the system until there is no usable energy
remaining.
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‘Firing voltage’ is at a high voltage value, which is necessary to

initiate the spark at the spark plug gap (under operating
conditions).
• Maintaining the spark (spark duration):
– Since the introduction of emissions regulations, because engines generally
operate on weaker or leaner mixtures (a greater proportion of air), it is more
difficult initially to ignite the air/fuel mixture.
– To help overcome these problems, a slightly higher initial spark voltage is
required, but a spark of longer duration is also required to maintain the
temperature at the spark plug, thus helping to ignite or maintain the
combustion of all of the mixture.
– Modern ignition systems produce a spark that can last typically around 2 ms or
more, whilst older engines (with relatively rich mixtures) had spark durations of
around 0.5 ms.
– The coil needs to produce sufficient energy or voltage to create the spark
initially, but there must also be sufficient energy available from the coil to
maintain the spark for longer periods than was the case with older systems that
ignited richer mixtures. 10
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• Ignition timing refers to when

the spark plug fires in relation
to piston position.
– The time when the spark
occurs depends on engine
speed, and therefore must
be advanced (spark plugs
fire some) as the engine
rotates faster.

FIGURE : Ignition timing marks

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• Ignition timing is very important, since the

charge is to be ignited just before (few
degrees before TDC) the end of compression,
since when the charge is ignited, it will take
some time to come to the required rate of
burning.

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FIGURE: The initial timing is where

the spark plug fires at idle speed. The
computer then advances the timing
based on engine speed and other
factors.
Copyright © 2007 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
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• Ignition is timed
– So it occurs just before piston reaches top of
compression stroke
• Ignition timing variation
– Computer determines best ignition timing setting
• Advanced or retarded in response to engine speed and
load changes, altitude, and engine temperature
– Intake manifold vacuum (MAP sensor)senses
engine load
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• Computer systems continuously adjust spark

timing to optimize power and emissions
– Throttle position sensor determines throttle
position
– MAP sensor determines intake manifold pressure
– Crankshaft sensor interprets engine speed
– Coolant temperature sensor allows adjustments
for changes in engine temperature

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Spark Timing

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Incorrect timing:
• Over-advanced timing can cause combustion knock, the premature expansion of
the gases will be wasted because the piston is still rising on the compression stroke
when the gases are expanding.
• Over-retarded timing will result in the maximum pressure occurring when the
piston has already travelled too far down the cylinder: therefore the expansion of
the gas will again be wasted.
• Both over-advanced and over-retarded timing will cause a reduction in power.
• The ignition timing can also affect the emissions.
• Over-advanced timing can cause incomplete combustion of the mixture which will
result in high levels of unburned or partially burned fuel entering the exhaust gas.
In addition, higher temperatures will be created in the cylinder (the pressure rise
will be higher), which can result in increases of oxides of nitrogen.
• However, over-retarded timing can in some cases help to reduce emissions,
although this might also cause poor combustion.

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Load related timing advance:

• When an engine is operated at light load (e.g. less
passenger), it is possible to operate on weaker
mixtures than when the engine is operated under
high load conditions.

• A weaker mixture takes longer to burn, so the spark

timing will require additional advance. The cylinder
pressures and temperatures are lower, which also has
an effect on the burning process. (torque based ECU
calculation)
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• Spark ignites compressed air-

fuel mixture
– Length of threaded area called
reach
– Heat range indicates how fast
heat travels away from the
center electrode
• Determined by how far ceramic
insulator extends into combustion
chamber

Parts of a typical spark plug

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The heat range of a spark plug is determined by the distance the heat has to
flow from the tip to the cylinder head
N/A, not too high compression: can use 5-6 (medium plug)
SEM 2 2020/2021Very high compression, more nitrous: go for 8-10 (cold plug)
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• Transistor triggers buildup and collapse of

magnetic field
– Housed in an ignition module or in PCM
• Transistor
– Electronic switch or relay
• Power transistor: controlled by driver transistor
• Components: emitter, collector, and base
– Switches when a small amount of current is
applied to its base

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• Advantages of Electronic Injection

– Reduced cost and lower maintenance
• No rotor, distributor cap, or spark plug cables
• Crankshaft position sensor
– Determines engine speed and crankshaft position
• Camshaft position sensor
– Gives information for sequencing fuel injection
system and coil firing

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• Waste spark
– One coil for every two spark plugs
– A waste-spark system fires one cylinder while its
piston is on the compression stroke and into paired or
companion cylinders while it is on the exhaust stroke.
– In a typical engine, it requires only about 2 to 3 kV to
fire the cylinder on the exhaust strokes. The remaining
coil energy is available to fire the spark plug under
compression (typically about 8 to 12 kV)

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Primary
ECU
Secondary
Firing Order Primary
1342
Secondary

NGK
NGK NGK NGK

TDC power TDC exhaust

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Primary
ECU
Secondary
Firing Order Primary
1342
Secondary

NGK
NGK NGK NGK

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• Coil-on-plug (COP) ignition

uses one ignition coil for each
spark plug.
• This system is also called coil-
by-plug, coil-near plug, or
coil-over-plug ignition.
– Two-wire.
– Three-wire.

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A coil-on-plug ignition system

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Ignition maps

• Variables of relevance to an electronic ignition system are

signalled to a control unit. These include engine load, speed
and temperature. A separate ignition angle is applicable to
each operating mode. Software updates can be used to
match the ignition angles with each vehicle. The ignition map
is frequently adapted during chip tuning procedures.
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