Hi CEans, I had come up with an brief explanation on the working of Petrol engine ignition system. Many of you would have been wondering on one question: How a whooping voltage of 15,000Volt was produced from a simple 12V or 6V battery and at the end of the post you would find the exact answer. There should be a special arrangement to step up the voltage to required amount and “Ignition system” satisfies it. There are three ignition systems available they are ,
1)Battery coil ignition system(Bit older one)
2)Magneto ignition system and
3)Electronic ignition system(New one and vastly used).
Today I would explain first two methods as both of them follows similar working concepts.
BATTERY COIL IGNITION SYSTEM: In this system the main parts are
Primary circuit:Battery, ignition switch, Primary winding of ignition coil, breaker points , High current condencer.
Secondary Circuit:Secondary winding of ignition coil, distributor, rotor, spark plugs.
Working: The circuit would be connected as shown in the figure. When the ignition switch is switched ON the current flows from battery towards Ignition coil and the
current flowing through the coil produces magnetic field and this field will keep on building up in the primary winding of IG coil when the contact breaker points are in closed position(Touching each other, The contact breaker points will be connected to a hexagonal shaped nut fitted to the camshaft). So when the camshaft rotates, the breaker points “open” and “close” alternatively. So when the contact breaker points go to OPEN position the magnetic field in Ignition coil collapses and a high voltage is produced in the secondary coil .This high voltage pass through high tension wire and reaches distributor. In distributor there will be a rotor which rotates and touches the contact points where during each contact the spark plug connected to it will be able to spark with 15,000 Volt.
Magneto coil ignition system:
This one is similar but a battery was replaced with permanent magnet.
Primary circuit:Magnet, primary winding, condencer, Contact breaker points and the end of CB points are grounded as shown in figure.
Secondary circuit: Secondary winding of ignition coil, distributor, rotor, spark plugs.
Working: When we cycle or two wheeler pedal engines crankshaft and flywheel rotates and Magnet connected to it rotates .This will cause the production of current in the primary winding of ignition coil and hereafter the process works same as battery coil ignition system.
Post your queries below.Thanks.