Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Mark Albert Paul

Albert Anthony Skinner

Colin J Hamer

Harry Oliver Levers, Jr

Viorel N Moga

Kenneth P Senseman

David D Jackson

Raymond O Butler, Jr

James Alva Boyer

Harry O Levers

Douglas Lynn Sprunger

Andre V Scaff

Edgard Wolf

Brian Dewayne Lively

Hector J Herrera

Paul G Knight

An ignition apparatus includes a core, primary and secondary windings and a loop-shaped magnetic return path structure. The structure includes layers of wound strip steel or wound ferritic wire stacked in an outward fashion. The core is placed in an interior of the loop forming at least one air gap between a core end surfaces and the structure. A combined core and magnetic return path structure includes a continuous loop formed by winding ferritic wire either on a spool or on a mandrel and is then bonded. The bonded winding is cut to form two C-shaped portions. Each C-shaped portion has a central yoke that extends into a pair of parallel legs. The C-shaped portions are re-assembled over primary and second windings so that the legs form a pair of parallel branches. One branch acts as the core and the other branch acts as the magnetic return path.

Ignition coil

A spark plug coil assembly has a primary core bearing primary windings and a secondary winding spool around which secondary windings are wound and in which the primary core is received. A case receives the spool with core. The entire case can be made of composite Iron to function as a magnetic return path for the core, or a composite Iron shield can be overmolded to an otherwise plastic case.

Ignition coil for vehicle

An ignition coil engages an inner surface of a bore of an engine, the providing access to a spark plug. The engagement is a boltless cam-lock engagement. A spring is associated with the engagement to hold the assembly in tension, and the spring also contacts a ground terminal in the ignition coil and the base of the spark plug to provide a short electrical path for radiofrequency interference (RFI) dissipation.

Ignition coil with spring-loaded boltless mounting to spark plug

An ignition apparatus includes a transformer having a central core, a primary winding disposed thereabout, a secondary winding disposed outwardly of the primary winding, and an outer core or shield disposed outwardly of the secondary winding. The central and outer cores and the primary and secondary windings define a magnetic circuit through which magnetic flux flows during various phases of operation. An end-of-spark natural ringing of the secondary voltage is suppressed and limited by a control winding disposed in relation in the magnetic circuit. The control winding has a pair of terminals across which is connected a diode. The diode is oriented so that during a spark event, it is reverse biased but after the spark event it becomes forward-biased when the secondary voltage is positive so as to selectively facilitate dissipation of any residual electrical charge. Ringing is further suppressed by a resistor connected across the primary winding, or selectively connected across the primary winding using a controlled switch.

Method and apparatus to reduce ring out in an ignition coil to allow for ion sense processing

A plastic case surrounds a primary winding of a multicharge ignition system, and has a rib in which the high voltage end is routed back to the low voltage end, so that the low and high voltage ends can be closely juxtaposed with each other while advantageously permitting the primary winding to have one and only one winding layer to reduce resistance and size. The rib of the case extends into the slot of the magnetic shields of the winding.

Multicharge ignition coil with primary routed in shield slot

A twin spark ignition apparatus having two high-voltage (HV) outputs incorporates features for balancing load capacitance on each HV output. The ignition apparatus provides a first high-voltage (HV) connection configured for direct mounting on a first spark plug, and a second HV connection for coupling to a second spark plug by way of an HV cable. The HV cable would adds capacitance at the second HV output, as compared to a direct mount. Various structures are included to offset and balance the additional capacitance attributable to the HV cable so that the capacitance of the first HV connection and the second HV connection are balanced within a range. The voltage variation between the two HV outputs is reduced.

Twin spark ignition coil with provisions to balance load capacitance

A distributorless ignition coil has two high voltage secondary windings wound around a primary winding, with each secondary winding being electrically connected to a respective spark plug. A shield surrounds the secondary windings. The secondary windings share a common center tap between them, and the center tap is electrically connected to the shield, which thus acts as a conductor to convey current back to an end of the shield that conveniently may be connected to ignition components to complete the electrical path, thus obviating the need for an interior wire extending from the center tap inside the coil to the end of the coil case.

Ignition coil with secondary winding center tap connected to shield

An ignition apparatus having twin spark high-voltage outputs incorporates features of a pencil coil wherein at least a portion of a transformer assembly is disposed within a spark plug well when installed in an internal combustion engine, thereby reducing the space required on the top of the engine. A secondary winding spool is configured to retain a secondary winding in first and second portions, wound either the same way for use in waste spark ignition systems or in opposite orientations for two-plug-per-cylinder systems. An alternate configuration includes an isolated shield that is internal to the case.

Twin spark pencil coil

A shock absorbing assembly reduces impact forces on a terminal of a spark plug that is mounted within a spark plug bore of an internal combustion engine when a pencil ignition coil is mounted thereto. The shock absorbing assembly includes a plug cup that is fixedly secured to the terminal end of the spark plug. A case cup is movably mounted to the plug cup. The case cup includes a resistor receptacle for receiving an end of a resistor therein. The shock absorbing assembly also includes a cup spring that extends between the plug cup and the case cup. The cup spring absorbs the impact forces of mounting the pencil ignition coil to the terminal of the spark plug.

Shock absorbing assembly for a pencil ignition coil

An ignition apparatus includes a central core extending along a main axis, and a primary winding disposed radially outwardly thereof. The ignition apparatus further includes a secondary winding. The primary winding has a greater axial length than the secondary winding, this additional axial length being implemented on the low-voltage axial end of the ignition apparatus, relative to the main axis. The extended primary winding provides an increased leakage inductance spike, which may be used by an ion sense system to (i) obtain increased bias voltages, and, (ii) increase the effective turns ratio, thereby reducing the amount of wire required for the secondary winding.

Ignition apparatus having increased leakage to charge ion sense system

A method for inhibiting or eliminating case erosion in a pencil ignition coil having an internal primary winding and an external secondary winding and shield. Three alternative means for resisting damage due to the partial discharge phenomenon arising from a high electric field in such coil configurations are provided: (i) applying an ozone resistant coating on the case; (ii) applying a coating on the case for eliminating partial discharge under the shield; and (iii) applying a polyimide tape covering to the case for resisting partial discharge under the shield. Several significant benefits include: an increased commercial value by allowing the use of an efficient internal primary winding which increases energy density and eliminates the need for a spool, thereby lowering the manufacturing costs, the processing costs falling well beneath that of liquid polymer processing, the ease of processing by coating or molding, the reduction of electrical noise, the improved durability even through thermal cycling, and the lowering of case manufacturing costs by allowing the use of lower cost plastic.

Erosion resistant pencil coil having external secondary winding and shield

An ignition apparatus includes a high voltage (HV) terminal formed of stamped sheet metal attached to a secondary winding spool, and to which a high voltage end of the secondary winding is soldered. The ignition apparatus further includes an electrically conductive cup formed of stamped aluminum or brass that is disposed in a case and is configured to receive the high voltage terminal when the secondary winding spool is inserted in the case. The high voltage terminal has a spring tab or the like that is biased radially outwardly into engagement with an inner annular surface of the cup. A bottom outer surface of the cup is arranged to be engaged by a high voltage spring or the like for making the connection to the spark plug. The cup is substantially free of burrs, sharp edges, and the like, and therefore reduces localized occurrences of high electric field concentrations, which could otherwise lead to insulating material, and thus ignition coil, failure.

Ignition apparatus having reduced electric field HV terminal arrangement

An ignition coil assembly includes a cylindrical central core having a main axis, a primary winding outwardly of the central core, a secondary winding outwardly of the primary winding, and a case comprising polyimide material. In one embodiment, a secondary winding spool comprises polyimide material. The overall diameter of the ignition coil assembly is reduced relative to conventional designs.

Ignition coil with polyimide case and/or secondary spool

An electrical connection between a high voltage terminal and a spark plug head. A case contains a high voltage terminal connected to a high voltage source. A connector portion extends from a bottom portion of the case, which in turn is secured to an insulator boot for attachment to the spark plug. The high voltage terminal has a nipple extending within the connector portion. A barrel shaped coil spring is snapped over the nipple and positively retained thereto. The head of the spark plug is inserted within the connector portion and engages the barrel shaped coil spring. The barrel shape of the coil spring offers a smaller height with an increased working length thereby providing a larger tolerance between the high voltage terminal and the spark plug head.

Electrical connection for a spark plug and method of assembling the same

An ignition coil for a spark ignition engine generally includes primary and secondary windings disposed about a magnetic core. The secondary winding is wound around a spool. The spool includes a cylindrical body having opposite first and second ends and a winding section between the ends. A conical winding surface at one of the ends tapers from a large diameter at the one end to a smaller diameter. A grooved surface extends axially toward another of the ends of the body and extends to adjacent the smaller diameter of the conical surface. The grooved surface contains longitudinally spaced continuous circular grooves that have unequally angled sides. The sides toward the one end are sloped at a greater angle relative to a radial direction than are the sides toward the other end. The secondary winding is wound around the winding section forming a plurality of turns of wire wound one over the other at a desired angle. The grooves are sized such that only one turn of the wire is disposed within each groove.

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El Paso, TX, United States of America

Mark Albert Paul