Electricity: measuring and testing – Fault detecting in electric circuits and of electric components – Of individual circuit component or element
Patent
1998-06-02
2000-08-08
Brown, Glenn W.
Electricity: measuring and testing
Fault detecting in electric circuits and of electric components
Of individual circuit component or element
324388, 324537, F02P 1710, G01R 3106
Patent
active
061007013
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to the monitoring of current drawn by an ignition coil for a spark ignition engine, and in particular to circuitry and a method for detecting a malfunction in the charging of an ignition coil or its associated drive circuitry. The electronic circuit comprises: circuitry to measure the voltage of a battery (VB) for charging the coil; software (52) to determine according to the measured battery voltage (VB) a nominal dwell time (TC) for charging fully the coil prior to discharge of the coil; circuitry (32,34) to measure an amount of current drawn by the coil over a time less than the time taken to charge fully the coil; software (36) to extrapolate from the measured current a calculated expected dwell time TD to charge fully the coil; and a device to indicate an error condition (44,62,64,66,68) if the difference (44) between the expected (TD) and nominal (TC) dwell times is beyond a predetermined error limit (58,60).
REFERENCES:
patent: 4165481 (1979-08-01), Wells et al.
patent: 5283527 (1994-02-01), DeBiasi
patent: 5507264 (1996-04-01), Kugler et al.
Dixon Jon
Hoy Alan
Brown Glenn W.
Ford Motor Company
Mollon Mark L.
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