Ignition Systems

An Ignition system is a system for igniting a fuel-air mixture. It is best known in the field of internal combustion engines but also has other applications, e.g. in oil-fired and gas-fired boilers. more...

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The earliest internal combustion engines used a flame, or a heated tube, for ignition but these were quickly replaced by systems using an electric spark.

History

Magneto systems

The simplest form of spark ignition is that using a magneto. The engine spins a magnet inside a coil, and also operates a contact breaker, interrupting the current and causing the voltage to be increased sufficiently to jump a small gap. The spark plugs are connected directly from the magneto output. Magnetos are not used in modern cars, but because they generate their own electricity they are often found on piston aircraft engines and small engines such as mopeds, lawnmowers, snowblowers, chainsaws, etc. where there is no battery

Magnetos were used on the small engine's ancestor, the stationary "hit or miss" engine which was used in the early twentieth century, on older gasoline or distillate farm tractors before battery starting and lighting became common, and on aircraft piston engines. Magnetos were used in these engines because their simplicity and self-contained nature was more reliable, and because magnetos weighed less than having a battery and generator or alternator.

Aircraft engines usually have multiple magnetos to provide redundancy in the event of a failure. Some older automobiles had both a magneto system and a battery actuated system (see below) running simultaneously to ensure proper ignition under all conditions with the limited performance each system provided at the time.

Switchable systems

The output of a magneto depends on the speed of the engine, and therefore starting can be problematic. Some magnetos incorporate an impulse system, which spins the magnet quickly at the proper moment, facilitating easier starting at slow cranking speeds. Some engines, such as aircraft but also the Ford Model T, utilized a system which relied on non rechargeable dry cells, (like large flashlight batteries, not what are usually thought of as automobile batteries today) to start the engine or for running at low speed; then the operator would manually switch the ignition over to magneto operation for high speed operation.

In order to provide high voltage for the spark from the low voltage batteries, however, a "tickler" was used, which was essentially a larger version of the once ubiquitous electric buzzer. With this apparatus, the direct current passes through an electromagnetic coil which pulls open a pair of contact points, interrupting the current; the magnetic field collapses, the spring-loaded points close again, the circuit is reestablished, and the cycle repeats rapidly. The rapidly collapsing magnetic field, however, induces a high voltage across the coil which can only relieve itself by arcing across the contact points; while in the case of the buzzer this is a problem as it causes the points to oxidize and/or weld together, in the case of the ignition system this becomes the source of the high voltage to operate the spark plugs.

Read more at Wikipedia.org