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Diagnostic system for a capacitor discharge ignition system

  • US 5,672,972 A
  • Filed: 11/09/1992
  • Issued: 09/30/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. An apparatus (8) for monitoring ignition in individual cylinders of a multicylinder engine having an ignition system (10) which includes individual transformers (24a-f) for each cylinder, each transformer (24a-f) having a primary coil (26a-f) and a secondary coil 28a-f), the secondary coil (28a-f) being electrically connected in series with a spark gap (22a-f) in an associated one of the cylinders, the ignition system (8) including a means to receive cylinder select signals and responsively connect respective transformer primary coils (26a-f) to a power source (18) to induce current flow through a respective primary coil (26a-f), the current flow through the primary coil (26a-f) resulting in a voltage potential across an associated spark gap (22a-f) which normally increases to a magnitude sufficient to cause a spark across the spark gap (22a-f), comprising:

  • first means (98) for receiving the cylinder select signals, sensing a time delay between the reception of a cylinder select signal and sparking in a respective cylinder and responsively producing a delay signal indicative of the sensed time delay;

    diagnostic means (124) for receiving the delay signal, comparing the delay signal to a plurality of preselected thresholds, and responsively producing a status signal indicating the status of ignition in a respective cylinder.

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