An ignition control system includes a spark plug including a cylindrical ground electrode, a cylindrical insulator having a protruding portion held inside the ground electrode and protruding toward a tip side the spark plug relative to the ground electrode, and a center electrode held inside the insulator and exposed from the insulator, an ignition coil including a primary coil and a secondary coil, and a primary current control unit performing creeping discharge control for generating a creeping discharge along a surface of the insulator, and air discharge transition control for stopping the creeping discharge occurring in the spark plug after the creeping discharge control is performed, and cutting off primary current after a discharge stop period ends, in one combustion cycle of the engine.

An ignition system includes a controller which controls two stagesto provide current to a spark plug. The stages include a first transformer including a first primary winding and a first secondary winding and a second transformer including a second primary winding and a second secondary winding. A switch is electrically connected between a supply high side and the high side of the first primary winding. A second switch is electrically connected between the first primary winding and the power supply low side supply. A third switch is connected between the junction of the switch and high side end of the first inductor and a point between the low side of the second primary winding and low side supply. A fourth switch is located between the low side of the second primary winding and the point. A fifth switch is located between the point and low side supply.

To provide an ignition apparatus which can turn on and off the sub primary coil according to extension degree of the discharge path of the spark discharge. An ignition apparatus is provided with an ignition coil that is provided with a main primary coil, a sub primary coil which generates energization magnetic flux of a direction opposite to the energization magnetic flux of the main primary coil, and a secondary coil which is magnetically coupled with the main primary coil and the sub primary coil and supplies spark discharge energy to a spark plug; and after turning off energization to the main primary coil, based on a detection value of terminal voltage of the main primary coil, turns on and off the sub switch circuit to turn on and off energization to the sub primary coil and additionally supply spark discharge energy to the secondary coil.

The present invention relates to a gas heat pump and a control method therefor and, according to the present invention, the method for controlling a gas heat pump, which comprises an ignition plug and a gas engine having an engine combustion unit including a plurality of combustion spaces, may include: a target setting step of setting a target ignition energy amount on the basis of a refrigerant load amount determined according to a driving condition of the gas heat pump; an ignition step of igniting fuel injected into the combustion spaces; a comparison step of comparing an output energy amount emitted in the ignition step with a target ignition energy amount set in the target setting step; and a step of changing an energy amount required to ignite the fuel when the output energy amount and the target ignition energy amount do not coincide in the comparison step.

The present invention relates to a gas heat pump and a control method therefor and, according to the present invention, the method for controlling a gas heat pump, which comprises an ignition plug and a gas engine having an engine combustion unit including a plurality of combustion spaces, may include: a target setting step of setting a target ignition energy amount on the basis of a refrigerant load amount determined according to a driving condition of the gas heat pump; an ignition step of igniting fuel injected into the combustion spaces; a comparison step of comparing an output energy amount emitted in the ignition step with a target ignition energy amount set in the target setting step; and a step of changing an energy amount required to ignite the fuel when the output energy amount and the target ignition energy amount do not coincide in the comparison step.

A current control circuit for an ignition system (i.e., igniter current limiter) is disclosed. The current control circuit can reduce a coil current over a soft shut down (SSD) period using an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) that is controlled by a negative feedback loop, which controls the current limit of the IGBT according to a SSD profile. In order to prevent an unwanted current rise during the soft shut down period, the current control circuit compares a gate voltage of the IGBT to a reference signal and based on the comparison can enable the SSD profile to include a fast ramp. The fast ramp quickly lowers the current limit of the IGBT so that the coil current equals the current limit and can be controlled by the negative feedback loop.

Please substitute the new Abstract submitted herewith for the original Abstract: Energization abnormality of a switch element of an internal combustion engine ignition device is detected appropriately. To this end, in an internal combustion engine ignition device that includes an ignition coil and an ignition plug, the ignition coil includes a primary coil including a main primary coil and a sub primary coil and a secondary coil that generates secondary current in response to a voltage variation generated in the primary coil. The internal combustion engine ignition device includes a main switch element that performs energization/deenergization of the main primary coil in a first direction, a sub primary coil magnetic flux generation state switching unit capable of switching between a forward direction magnetic flux generation state in which energization of the sub primary coil in the first direction is performed and an opposite direction magnetic flux generation state in which energization of the sub primary coil in a second direction is performed, and an abnormality detection section that detects energization abnormality to the sub primary coil. The abnormality detection section is configured so as to detect energization abnormality on the basis of overlap between energization in the first direction and energization in the second direction of the sub primary coil.

An ignition system for an internal combustion engine includes an ignition coil forming a part of a primary circuit and a secondary circuit, a power source to supply power to the ignition coil, and a controller to determine whether the ignition coil is a recognized ignition coil based on a measured risetime and a measured current level in the primary circuit, the measured current level being lower than that required to create a breakdown voltage of the ignition coil.

An ignition system for an internal combustion engine includes an ignition coil forming a part of a primary circuit and a secondary circuit, a power source to supply power to the ignition coil, and a controller to determine whether the ignition coil is a recognized ignition coil based on a measured risetime and a measured current level in the primary circuit, the measured current level being lower than that required to create a breakdown voltage of the ignition coil.

The present invention suppresses the worsening of stability due to a variation in EGR amounts between cylinders in a spark ignition engine. An engine control device for controlling a spark ignition engine equipped with an EGR means for recirculating exhaust gas in a combustion chamber and an air-fuel-ratio detection means for detecting the air-fuel ratio in each cylinder, the engine control device being characterized by being equipped with a means for changing the parameters for ignition control of a rich cylinder, when the air-fuel ratio of cylinders varies and there are richer cylinders and leaner cylinders relative to a prescribed air-fuel ratio during the execution of exhaust gas recirculation by the EGR means.