Ignition control circuit with dual (two-stage) clamp

• Main Authors: Yedinak Joseph A, Pearson Scott
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 31.01.2017
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; BLASTING; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TOTRANSPORTATION; COMBUSTION ENGINES; CORONA DEVICES; ELECTRICITY; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERATING IONS TO BE INTRODUCED INTO NON-ENCLOSED GASES; HEATING; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS; IGNITION, OTHER THAN COMPRESSION IGNITION, FORINTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; OVERVOLTAGE ARRESTERS USING SPARK GAPS; SPARK GAPS; SPARKING PLUGS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TESTING OF IGNITION TIMING IN COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES; WEAPONS

In a general aspect, an apparatus can include an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) device configured to control charging and discharging of an ignition coil and a two-stage voltage clamp coupled with the IGBT device. The two-stage voltage clamp can include a high-voltage portion coupled with the IGBT device and a low-voltage portion coupled with high-voltage portion and the IGBT device. The apparatus can further include a sense device coupled with the two-stage voltage clamp and a timing circuit coupled with the sense device. The timing circuit can be configured to provide a control signal to cause the sense device to enable or disable the high-voltage portion of the two-stage voltage clamp.