Denso Corporation

Shun Sugita

Shunichi Takeda

Noriaki Nishio

Yuya Abe

Shohei Ishida

Naoki Tanimoto

Mariko Hashimoto

Keita Fujii

A spark plug includes a main ground electrode having a main connecting portion connected to the housing and forming a discharge gap between the main ground electrode and the center electrode, and a sub ground electrode having a sub connecting portion connected to the housing. The direction on which the main connecting portion and a plug center axis are arranged is set to be perpendicular to an air flow direction of an air stream in the combustion chamber. The sub connecting portion is located in a downstream side than the main connecting portion. The tip end position of the sub ground electrode in the plug axial direction is located in farther tip end side than that of the main ground electrode is. The sub ground electrode is configured such that an end point of the discharge spark is movable on the sub ground electrode.

Spark plug for internal combustion engine

An ignition apparatus for an internal combustion engine is provided. The ignition apparatus includes an ECU. The ECU calculates a target value E* of an energy input amount of energy inputted into a spark plug based on an in-cylinder flow velocity v, a cylinder pressure P, and an air-fuel ratio AFR. The ECU also calculates a command value I* of a secondary current based on the in-cylinder flow velocity and control an operation of a second circuit according to the target value E* and the command value I*. The calculation of the target value E* using the in-cylinder flow velocity v, the cylinder pressure P, and the air fuel ratio AFR enables the energy input amount to be controlled according to the operating state of the internal combustion engine. The calculation of the command value I* based on the in-cylinder flow velocity v enables the secondary current to be controlled so as to eliminate a risk of the blowout of sparks. The ignition apparatus is, thus, capable of variably changing the amount of energy inputted to the spark plug to improve the fuel consumption.

Ignition apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Nisshin, Japan

Shun Sugita