Development of misfire detection technique for internal combustion engines using discharge information of ignition coil

Abstract

A method for detecting misfires in internal combustion engines using information from the ignition coil's discharge has been developed. A dual discharge concept has been adopted, in which a sub-discharge for detecting misfires is carried out during the expansion stroke following the main-discharge for ignition. The peak value of the primary voltage of the ignition coil and the discharge duration have been selected as discharge feature values for determining misfires. Verification results using a single-cylinder engine confirmed that high misfire detection accuracy can be obtained by optimising the timing of the sub-discharge and the dwell period.