The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 15, 1992
Filed:
Aug. 27, 1991
Norman D Brinkman, Troy, MI (US);
Cameron J Dasch, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US);
Lynn A Rockwell, Anderson, IN (US);
Daniel H Hopper, Peru, IN (US);
General Motors Corporation, Detroit, MI (US);
Delco Electronics Corporation, Kokomo, IN (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for enhancing the cold starting performance of a spark ignition, internal combustion engine fueled with an alcohol-based fuel mixture is described. The quantity of fuel mixture delivered to the engine is regulated to establish a combustible fuel vapor-air mixture in each engine cylinder during cranking, while restricting the accumulation of unvaporized fuel in the each cylinder so as not to exceed a predetermined amount. In addition, each cylinder spark plug is provided with an ignition current having a peak magnitude sufficient to achieve voltage break down across each spark plug arc gap, when each gap is resistively loaded due to wetting in accordance with the predetermined amount of accumulated unvaporized fuel. Preferably, the quantity of fuel delivered to the engine during cranking is reduced at a substantially exponential rate as a function of the cumulative number of revolutions the engine is rotated during cranking. An ignition coil having a secondary to primary winding turns ratio in the order of 65:1, with its secondary winding wrapped onto a plurality of partitions in a segmented dielectric bobbin, is employed to provide the required ignition current for firing the engine spark plugs when the predetermined amount of unvaporized fuel accumulates in the engine cylinders.