How Electronic Ignition System Works?

Introduction

Why Electronic Ignition System?

• It depends on the engine speed, so shows starting problem due to low speed at the starting of the engine, which is later solved with the introduction of Battery coil ignition system in which battery becomes the energy source for the system.
• Expensive than electric coil ignition system.
• Wear and tear is more than battery coil ignition because of greater number of mechanical moving parts than battery coil system.
• Can cause misfire due to leakage.

Electric coil ignition or Battery ignition system – System is the latest of all above and is being used from long time due to its better efficiency and accuracy but it also shows some limitations-

• Less efficient with the high speed engines
• High maintenance required due to mechanical and electrical wear of the contact breaker points

So, Since in the modern automobile new technologies are introduced and it is found that use of sensors and electronic component gives more effective and accurate outputs than that of mechanical components so the use of sensors with electronic controlled unit becomes essential to fulfill the needs of modern high power and high speed automobiles or hyper series of automobiles, so to fulfill the need for high performance, high mileage and greater reliability has led to the development of Electronic ignition system.

1. Battery

It is the powerhouse of the ignition system as it supplies the necessary energy to the ignition system.same as battery coil ignition system.

2. Ignition Switch

it is the switch used in ignition system which governs the ON and OFF of the system ,same as the battery coil ignition system.

3. Ignition Control Module or Control Unit of Ignition System

It is the brain or programmed instruction given to the ignition system which monitors and control the timing and intensity of the spark automatically. It is the device that receives voltage signals from the armature and set the primary coil to ON and OFF ,it can be placed separately outside the distributor or can be place in electronic control unit box of the vehicle.

1. Battery

It is the powerhouse of the ignition system as it supplies the necessary energy to the ignition system.same as battery coil ignition system.

2. Ignition Switch

it is the switch used in ignition system which governs the ON and OFF of the system ,same as the battery coil ignition system.

3. Ignition Control Module or Control Unit of Ignition System

It is the brain or programmed instruction given to the ignition system which monitors and control the timing and intensity of the spark automatically. It is the device that receives voltage signals from the armature and set the primary coil to ON and OFF ,it can be placed separately outside the distributor or can be place in electronic control unit box of the vehicle.

Working of Electronic Ignition System

• To understand the working of the electronic ignition system let’s consider above figure in which all the components mentioned above are connected in their working order.
• When the driver switch ON the ignition switch in order to start a vehicle the current starts flowing from the battery through the ignition switch to the coil primary winding, which in turn starts the armature pickup coil to receives and send the voltage signals from the armature to the ignition module.
• When the tooth of the rotating reluctor comes in front of the pickup coil as shown in the fig the voltage signal from pickup coil is sent to the electronic module which in turn senses the signal and stops the current to flow from primary coil.
• When the tooth of the rotating reluctor goes away from the pickup coil, the change in voltage signal is sent by pickup coil to the ignition module and a timing circuit inside ignition module turns ON the current flow.
• A magnetic field is generated in the ignition coil due to this continuous make and break of the circuit which induced an EMF in secondary winding which increases the voltage upto 50000 Volts.
• This high voltage is then sent to distributor ,which has the rotating rotor and distributor points which is set according to the ignition timing.
• When the rotor comes in front of any of those distributor points the jumping of voltage through the air gap from the rotor to the distributor point takes place which is then sent to the adjacent spark plug terminal through the high tension cable and a voltage difference is generated between the central electrode and ground electrode which is responsible for generating a spark at the tip of the spark plug and finally the combustion takes place.