A linear electro-mechanical system comprising: a stator including at least first and second stator electronic circuits or groups of circuits; a free piston mover movable in a reciprocating motion relative to the stator, the free piston including: a piston surface; a translator configured so that an electromagnetic force may be applied on the free piston mover by one or more of the stator electronic circuits or groups of circuits; and one or more translator electronic circuits, the system further comprising a switching device for each of the first and second stator electronic circuits or groups of circuits such that the current in each of the first and second stator electronic circuits or groups of circuits is independently controllable, and wherein at least one of the translator electronic circuits is configured to receive power from at least one of the independently controlled stator electronic circuits or groups of circuits during at least part of the stroke of the free piston mover.

An ignition coil for an internal combustion engine includes a primary bobbin including a winding cylinder part and a connection part between the winding cylinder part and a connector part, a primary coil including a primary main coil and a primary sub coil, and a secondary coil. When one of the primary main coil and the primary sub coil that includes an innermost coil part around the winding cylinder part is defined as a firstly-wound coil and the other is defined as a secondly-wound coil, firstly-wound ends, which are ends of the firstly-wound coil, and secondly-wound ends, which are ends of the secondly-wound coil, are attached to the connection part, and a shortest distance from a central axis of the winding cylinder part to each of the firstly-wound ends is smaller than a shortest distance from the central axis of the winding cylinder part to each of the secondly-wound ends.

An ignition coil for an internal combustion engine includes a primary bobbin including a winding cylinder part and a connection part between the winding cylinder part and a connector part, a primary coil including a primary main coil and a primary sub coil, and a secondary coil. When one of the primary main coil and the primary sub coil that includes an innermost coil part around the winding cylinder part is defined as a firstly-wound coil and the other is defined as a secondly-wound coil, firstly-wound ends, which are ends of the firstly-wound coil, and secondly-wound ends, which are ends of the secondly-wound coil, are attached to the connection part, and a shortest distance from a central axis of the winding cylinder part to each of the firstly-wound ends is smaller than a shortest distance from the central axis of the winding cylinder part to each of the secondly-wound ends.

A passive prechamber spark plug for use in a combustion chamber of a vehicle engine includes an upper prechamber having an upper opening where the upper prechamber is connectable to the combustion chamber via the upper opening. An air ignition spark is formable via an upper air spark gap. A central electrode is disposed in an upper region of the upper prechamber where a base of the upper prechamber opposite the upper region is an insulator. An electrically conductive element or a slot is guided by the insulator continuously from the upper prechamber into a lower region under the base and the lower region is either a lower prechamber or is arrangeable directly in the combustion chamber. An earth electrode is disposed in the lower region such that a lower air spark gap is formed between the earth electrode and the electrically conductive element or the slot.

A passive prechamber spark plug for use in a combustion chamber of a vehicle engine includes an upper prechamber having an upper opening where the upper prechamber is connectable to the combustion chamber via the upper opening. An air ignition spark is formable via an upper air spark gap. A central electrode is disposed in an upper region of the upper prechamber where a base of the upper prechamber opposite the upper region is an insulator. An electrically conductive element or a slot is guided by the insulator continuously from the upper prechamber into a lower region under the base and the lower region is either a lower prechamber or is arrangeable directly in the combustion chamber. An earth electrode is disposed in the lower region such that a lower air spark gap is formed between the earth electrode and the electrically conductive element or the slot.

An elastic body includes an annular main body portion to be disposed in an annular gap, a seal lip portion extending from a portion, closer to an object to be sealed, of the main body portion and being to be in contact with an inner member, a flange portion extending outwardly from an end, opposite to the object to be sealed, of the main body portion and including a first side closer to the object to be sealed, the first side being to be in contact with an outer member, a side lip portion extending from the end opposite to the object to be sealed in a direction away from the object to be sealed, and a projecting portion formed circumferentially on a second side, opposite to the object to be sealed, of the flange portion. The side lip portion has a back surface configured to be in contact with the projecting portion in response to the side lip portion being pressed by a mating member disposed opposite to the object to be sealed.

A plasma assisted spark ignition system includes an ignitor and a power supply. The first ignitor includes: a casing having a first end, a second end that forms a first electrode, and a longitudinally extending passage, a second electrode which protrudes longitudinally outward from an opening at the second end of the casing and laterally spaced inwardly to form a spark gap, and an electrical insulator (dielectric) surrounding a portion of the second electrode, and which has a terminus that is at least closely spaced to an interior surface of the end of the casing. The power supply supplies a plurality of voltage pulses to the ignitor per ignition event to generate a flash over on the dielectric. Subsequent pulses in an ignition event may be at lower amplitude than an initial pulse in the ignition event. Pulses may, for example, have a duration on the order of a nanosecond.

In a control method of an internal combustion engine including a fuel injection valve having a plurality of injection holes and adapted to directly inject a fuel into a cylinder and an ignition plug adapted to generate a plug discharging channel, after fuel injection is performed, spark ignition is performed while turbulence in an air flow is generated by the fuel injection by an ignition plug disposed so that a discharging region is sandwiched by fuel sprays injected from the two adjacent injection holes and located within a range where the turbulence in the air flow is generated.

In a control method of an internal combustion engine including a fuel injection valve having a plurality of injection holes and adapted to directly inject a fuel into a cylinder and an ignition plug adapted to generate a plug discharging channel, after fuel injection is performed, spark ignition is performed while turbulence in an air flow is generated by the fuel injection by an ignition plug disposed so that a discharging region is sandwiched by fuel sprays injected from the two adjacent injection holes and located within a range where the turbulence in the air flow is generated.

A pre-chamber spark plug for a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine has a pre-chamber which has a plurality of openings and which is fluidically connectable to the combustion chamber via the openings. Two spark gaps are arranged in the pre-chamber via which respective sparks can be formed. The spark gaps are arranged symmetrically distributed in the pre-chamber and a first of the spark gaps is arranged further outwards than the second spark gap along a direction extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the pre-chamber spark plug.