Nippon Soken, Inc.

Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Yoji Kato

Akihiro Kobayashi

Masashi Kida

Masaaki Noguchi

Taro Tanaka

Takashi Hagiwara

Shunzo Yamaguchi

Takeshi Fukazawa

Novuei Ito

Katsuji Kosaka

Shinichi Saigo

Hirosi Tukamoto

Osamu Minai

A manually assistable electric driving device for a lid of an automobile luggage compartment has a clutch mechanism disposed between an electric motor and an output member drivingly connected to the lid. The clutch mechanism is so constructed that, when the lid is being driven by the motor in either direction, the lid can be manually moved in the same direction and at a speed higher than the speed caused by the motor drive.

Manually assistable electric driving device

A glow plug for preheating the combustion chamber of a diesel engine. The glow plug has a heat generating portion and a mounting portion. The heat generating portion is provided with a ceramic central electrode made of an electrically insulating material and provided with at least one spiral screw-thread groove formed in the outer peripheral surface thereof. A ceramic electric resistor serving as a heat generating member is disposed in the groove. The electric resistor is made of TiC or SiC with or without addition of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.

Glow plug for diesel engines

An engine preheating apparatus in which an actuation circuit for a glow plug mounted in the engine is provided with a starting resistor of barium titanate of which the resistance value abruptly increases at a specific temperature, and a normal-operation resistor connected in parallel to the starting resistor. When the starting resistor is low in temperature and hence has a small resistance value, a large current is supplied to the glow plug, whereas when the starting resistor is high in temperature and therefore has a high resistance, a comparatively small current is supplied to the glow plug through the normal-operation resistor. The starting resistor is comprised of plural resistor elements of barium titanate as a main component and plural electrode plates alternately pressed one on each other. Each of the electrode plates is in pressure contact with each of heat radiators, so that the heat generated by the resistor elements is radiated from the radiators through the electrode plates. The time constant of the resistor elements is determined by the shape of that portion of the electrode plate which is connected to the radiator.

Engine preheating apparatus

A parallel circuit of an ordinary resistor exhibiting an ordinary resistance characteristic and a starting resistor abruptly increasing its resistance at a certain temperature is inserted between glow plugs in a Diesel engine and a battery. The resistance of the starting resistor is smaller than that of the ordinary resistor at a normal temperature. The resistance of the starting resistor becomes larger than that of the ordinary resistor when a large amount of current flows through the starting resistor. Therefore, current flows from the battery to the glow plugs mainly through the starting resistor at first, and then it flows mainly through the ordinary resistor. The ordinary resistor is disposed in an intake air passage of the engine.

Preheating apparatus for diesel engines

A parallel circuit of an ordinary resistor exhibiting an ordinary resistance characteristic and a starting resistor abruptly increasing its resistance at a certain temperature is inserted between glow plugs in a Diesel engine and a battery. The resistance of the starting resistor is smaller than that of the ordinary resistor at a normal temperature. The resistance of the starting resistor becomes larger than that of the ordinary resistor when a large amount of current flows through the starting resistor. Therefore, current flows from the battery to the glow plugs mainly through the starting resistor at first, and then it flows mainly through the ordinary resistor. A voltage drop of the battery due to engine starting is prevented by bypassing the parallel circuit by a resistor. Preferably, the starting resistor is of honeycomb shape.

Preheating apparatus for Diesel engines

In the ignition system of the internal combustion engine, a preignition control circuit is further provided. The preignition control circuit includes a high voltage generator which supplies a high voltage to the spark plug to produce a preignition spark between the electrodes of the spark plug. The preignition spark is timed to appear as the engine nearly concludes its suction stroke so that radicals are produced from the air-fuel mixture around the electrodes thereby to ensure reliable ignition and complete burning of the air-fuel mixture.

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Okazaki, Japan

Yoji Kato