Improving the engine efficiency to respond to climate change and energy security issues is strongly required. In order to improve the engine efficiency, lower fuel consumption, and enhance engine performance, OEMs have been developing high compression ratio engines and downsized turbocharged engines. However, higher compression ratio and turbocharging cause cylinder pressure to increase, which in turn increases the demand voltage for ignition.
To reduce the demand voltage, a new ignition system is developed that uses a high voltage Zener diode to maintain a constant output voltage. Maintaining a constant voltage higher than the static breakdown voltage helps limit the amount of overshoot produced during the spark event. This allows discharge to occur at a lower demand voltage than with conventional spark ignition systems.
The results show that the maximum reduction in demand voltage is 3.5 kV when the engine is operated at 2800 rpm and 2.6 MPa break mean effective pressure. However, as engine speed increases, the demand voltage reduction decreases. This paper shows the reduction effects at several engine speeds and explains why the demand voltage reduction changes by changing the engine speed.