DE VELO PMENT IgNiTiON

CORONA IGNITION SYSTEM FOR HIGHLY EFFICIENT GASOLINE ENGINES

Many future gasoline engines will require higher air/fuel ratios and higher mean effective pressures to further improve fuel efciency. Federal-Mogul has taken up this challenge and has developed the Advanced Corona Ignition System (ACIS) as a new solution to reliably ignite a mix with high AFR/EGR and high MEP. During engine tests ACIS enabled a direct fuel economy improvement of up to 10%.

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AUTHORS

CHALLENGE TO THE IGNITION

DR. JOHN BURROWS, MIET, is Electronics and Analysis Manager ACIS Ignition at the Federal-Mogul Limited in Manchester (Great Britain).

JIM LYKOWSKI is Design and Development Manager ACIS Ignition at Federal-Mogul in Plymouth, Michigan (USA).

KRISTAPHER MIXELL, P.E., is Director Advanced Technology Ignition at Federal-Mogul in Plymouth, Michigan (USA).

The continuous improvement of gasoline engine efciency has already had many impacts on engine sub-systems and components. The next step on this path will pose a challenge to the ignition. Future high-efciency engines will require advanced lean-burn concepts and/or greater use of charge stratication to achieve even better fuel economy. In combination with higher mean effective pressures (MEPs) and more aggressive charge dilution the traditional spark plug may not sufce to provide a reliable ignition during all operating conditions of the engine. The challenge is to a technology that was developed under totally different boundary conditions. In the days of a more or less homogenous, stoichiometric charge, or mild lean-burn concept at the most, the restriction to a small ignition source was not a problem. With aggressive charge stratication, and much higher lambda () this restriction is becoming a bottleneck. While the issue of higher MEPs and potentially also a slightly greater could still be overcome by increasing the breakdown voltage and arc duration, problems remain: If it takes longer to ignite the charge, the point of 50%-mass fraction burnt will also be

delayed. In addition, longer arc duration, coupled with high energy, can increase plug wear. More importantly, however, nothing can be done about the location of the spark. To overcome these limitations, Federal-Mogul has developed an ignition system that is based on multiple long plasma jets instead of a single small spark, . This Advanced Corona Ignition System (ACIS) enables more aggressive optimisation concepts to increase a gasoline engines efciency.
SYSTEM COMPONENTS AND PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

An ACIS solution consists of two main components. The rst is the two-piece igniter assembly which is mounted in the cylinder head very much like the traditional spark plug and ignition coil. The igniter assembly contains the inductor at the top and the ring tip at the bottom. The second system component is a controller which computes the trigger signal from the engine control unit and converts the 12V DC electrical supply into the required AC voltage at a resonant frequency of around 1MHz, which is fed forward the igniter, . At this frequency the igniter emits a strong electrical eld with up to 72kV at the tips of the ring end. Originating at

Corona discharges, originating at the

tips of the four ACIS igniter electrodes

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DE VELO PMENT IgNiTiON

Overview of the
ACIS components

the four electrodes of the igniter tip, the eld extends into a large volume of the combustion chamber. The energy content of the electrical eld excites the air fuel mix near the electrodes until it turns into a plasma with a high content of charged particles (ions), a process that only takes several nanoseconds as

opposed to up to 70s in the case of spark ignition arc breakdown. When the electron density reaches a sufcient level, multiple long streams of ionised gas extend into the combustion chamber and ignite the charge, . The name corona ignition refers to these visible streams of ionised gas. The air-fuel mix

Comparison between the arc-lengths of a corona system (left) and a conventional plug (right)

is ignited in several areas at the same time, which speeds up the burn rate and results in a fast, harmonious combustion. In contrast to the spark plug which produces a single short arc, the four ion streams originate from the tip of an electrode and extend outward into the combustion chamber, . Due to the low current and low heat discharge, there is no electrical erosion. Therefore the ACIS is not subject to the same level of wear as a conventional plug. Potentially ACIS can be developed to serve as a lifetime component. Already at the moment its functional principle offers a long life and longer service intervals. The biggest single ACIS benet, however, is the vast volume which is reached by the corona. In the case of a spark plug, the electric arc is always limited to the small gap between the two electrodes. The only way to increase the energy of this ignition source is to use a higher current and to prolong the arc duration. Both measures increase the energy consumption of the ignition system and thus the parasitic electrical load. shows a comparison between the energy consumption of a spark plug and an ACIS for different on-times. The re sults were measured with a stoichiometric charge. Recent testing indicates that an ACIS application requires an on-time

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MAXIMUM VOLTAGE [V]

MAXIMUM CURRENT [A]

MAXIMUM POWER [W]

AVG. ENERGY/ IGNITION EVENT [MJ]

Spark (~ 3 ms) ACIS (0.5 ms) ACIS (0.25 ms)

14 53 53

8.7 2 2

102 101 100

192 160 93

The ACIS fuel economy benet is achieved at a very similar energy draw per ignition event as is the case
with spark ignition

Close-up of the igniter tips

between 100 and 300s for = 1. The conventional spark ignition had to be on for 2000 to 3000s in comparison. The notable difference is explained by the physics and the high speed of the corona principle. In terms of energy consumptions both solutions are on par. For lean and diluted charges both systems require longer on-times.
ENGINE INTEGRATION AND FUEL BENEFITS

Once integrated in an engine, the ACIS enables more aggressive measures to increase thermodynamic efciency. Several boundaries, which currently apply to gasoline engines with conventional spark plug technology, can be pushed. As described below the ACIS ignition is much faster. While a specic ignition event with a plug may last 3000s, the same ignition event only requires 100 to 300s with an ACIS. This is a step change which offers a much higher degree of freedom to control ignition timing. Also, the rapid ignition and quick burning result in a better conversion of fuel energy to mechanical energy. In addition, owing to the multiple streams of ions, which extend far into the combustion chamber, the initial ame development and subsequent burn rate is faster so that the 50%-mass fraction burnt is achieved at 5 to 8CA earlier than with a plug system. Also the lean limit is pushed out further with ACIS.
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While a spark plug permits ignition at = 1.5 with a very high release of energy, the ACIS achieves the same with an air-fuel ratio approaching 2. A similar improvement was found with the achievable charge dilution. Where the best spark system worked at up to 20% during customer testing, ACIS permitted EGR levels in excess of 35%. This par ticular benet can be highly relevant to control the level of NOx emissions in direct injection gasoline engines. Furthermore the ACIS corona is more tolerant to high compression ratios than previous corona systems were. ACIS can help to control knock at high pressures by adjusting ignition timing. In terms of fuel consumption, the immediate effect of an ACIS application could be measured at between 5 and 10% of fuel economy improvement. Up to 10% reduction of fuel consumption were measured on a 1.6-l turbocharged gasoline direct injection engine. However, these results do not tell the whole story as ACIS is essentially an enabling technology, which facilitates more comprehensive gasoline engine technology paths that can, in total, result in fuel economy benets of around 30%.
ADDED BENEFITS OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY

nearby. The igniter assembly uses materials that are already proven in automotive applications to ensure durability throughout the designed service life. In particular the materials can be selected for different fuels without compromises for full time arcing requirements. As the ACIS was specically developed for high MEP, high air-fuel ratios, high charge dilution gasoline engine strategies, the engine needs to be calibrated toward these conditions. The limit for high-load operation, which is at 25 to 30bar with a spark plug ignition, still needs to be conrmed, as the ongoing customer testing of the ACIS is strongly focusing on part load lean and diluted charge combustion.
SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK

ACIS is optimised for ease of implementation in high-volume applications for both current and future powertrain architectures by designing it to package within the space of a spark-ignition system. The two-piece igniter design means that the ACIS can be integrated in an engine without signicant redesign of the engine or cylinder head. The igniter simply replaces the spark plug, the in ductor can either be integrated into the igniter assembly or it is installed separately where the ignition coil previously was. The ACIS controller can be located

While advanced spark plugs will continue to be a solution for millions of gasoline engines in the future, ACIS offers a new technological option for high-performance gasoline engine applications, which push beyond the boundaries of spark-ignition systems. In particular ACIS addresses lean and stratied charges, high EGR rates and high MEPs. For such high-efciency powertrains ACIS is an enabling technology for better fuel economy and lower NOx emissions. The multiple ion streams provide a powerful ignition source which reliably ignites a mix with an air-fuel ratio of up to 2, and results in a faster burn rate plus a more consistent combustion. As the ignition process is particularly fast, ACIS also increases the degree of freedom to control ignition timing. If used as a screw-in replacement and combined with a suitable engine calibration ACIS itself has been measured to improve the en gines fuel economy by up to 10%. However, when ACIS is used as an enabler for a more comprehensive package of engine optimisation elements, it can help to facilitate fuel efciency improvements of up to 30%.

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