Analysis of Spark Systems for SI Engines

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

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 Paschen Law

Paschen found that breakdown voltage was described by the equation

Where V is the
breakdown voltage, pWhatis is the main requirement for Ignition ?
the pressure, d is the gap
distance.
The constants a and b
depend upon the
composition of the gas.
For air at standard
atmospheric pressure of
101 kPa, a = 43.6×106
V/(atm·m) and b = 12.8.
Pd (Pa-m)
Measurement of Minimum Ignition Energy
 Ignition energy in air at 1 atm, 20C

Fuel E’ (10-5J)
Methane 33
Ethane 42
Propane 40
n-Hexane 95
Iso-Octane 29
Acetylene 3
Hydrogen 2
Methanol 21
 Duty of An Ignition System

• The purpose of a spark ignition system is to provide enough

energy into a small gas volume, in the vicinity of the electrode
gap.
• Energy provided by SIS must ensure a successful initiation of the
combustion process.
• This energy is initially stored as electrical energy in the ignition
system and is converted into thermal energy when released into
the spark gap.
Theoretical & Practical Minimum Spark
Energy
• The minimum ignition energy is a measure of required energy
for a localised ignition source to successfully create a
temperature higher than SIT.
• The practical minimum energy required to ignite an air-fuel
mixture is much higher.
• Effect of Various Parameters on MIE:
• Distance Between Electrodes
• Fuel
• Equivalence Ratio
• Initial Temperature
• Air Movement
 Simplified electrical scheme of a coil
ignition system
The evolution of the electrical energy of the secondary circuit
The energy is not entirely transferred to the spark: a substantial
part is lost by Joule effect.
dEs (t )
  Rs is2 (t )  Vspk is (t )
dt
Mechanism of Spark Creation

ii) breakdown
i) pre-discharge

15kV
(1mJ) 50V
Mechanism of Spark Development

iv) arc

15kV
(1mJ)
50V
(1mJ)
Mechanism of Spark Development

v) arc/glow transition
iv) arc
50V 500V
(1mJ) (30mJ)
15kV
(1mJ)
vi) glow
 i) pre-discharge

15kV
(1mJ)
ii) breakdown
iii) breakdown/arc transition
50V
(1mJ)

iv) arc

v) arc/glow transition
500V
Mechanism of Spark Development

(30mJ)

vi) glow
Evolution of Gap Current
Reaction Vs Action
 Thermal Arc (Plasma)

• Thermal Arc is a type of plasma that has a exceptionally high

temperature.
• In general temperature of this arc zone is several thousand
degrees ~35000K.
• This plasma is characterized by a condition of thermal
equilibrium between all the different species contained in the
gas.
• Sufficiently higher values of gas density generates a sub-
atomic level Resonance.
• This resonance leads to the frequency of collisions between
electrons, ions, and neutral species composing the plasma.
• This frequency leads to an efficient energy exchange.
Voltage and Energy distribution in Spark
Gap
• During arc and glow phases, only a fraction of the spark
energy is released to the gas.
• The energy released in a thin region near the electrodes is
essentially lost by voltage drop due to contact resistance.
• The potential difference between both electrodes, also called
spark voltage is written

Vspk  Vcf  Vaf  Vgc

where Vcf is the cathode fall voltage,
Vaf is the anode fall voltage and
Vgc is the gas column voltage
Voltage distribution in Spark Gap

Vspk  Vcf  Vaf  Vgc

 The Gas Column Voltage

Vspk  Vcf  Vaf  Vgc

The anode fall voltage is similar for the arc and glow modes and
equal to 18.75 V for Inconel.
The cathode fall voltage is 7.6 V during arc phase and 252 V
during glow phase for Inconel.

The gas column voltage is expressed by:

0.32 0.51
Vgc  40.46l i spk s p
 Energy Available for Gas Column

• At breakdown, about 60% of the breakdown energy is released to

the gas, providing the ignition energy Eign .
• This is a function of the spark gap and of the breakdown voltage.
•  During the glow phase, the voltage fall is localised in the vicinity
of the electrodes.
• Therefore it is assumed that the energy released within these
regions is lost to the electrodes.
• Finally, the energy transferred to the gas is deduced from the gas
column voltage and the intensity following:

dEign (t )
 Vgc (t )is (t )
dt
This energy Eign is used to determine if ignition is
successful or not!!!!!
 Energy Available for Gas :Growth of Spark

dEign (t )
 Vgc (t )is (t )
dt
t
Eign t    Vgc t is t dt
0

Espark t    gasVspark C p , gas Tspark  Tgas, 

• At breakdown, the spark length is equal to the spark gap and then, the
spark is stretched by convection and by the turbulent motion of the
flow .
•  
Energy Responsible for Ignition
Size of Spark between thin cylindrical electrodes :
Quiescent fuel-air Mixture

10s 30s 60 s
Size of Spark between thin conical electrodes : Quiescent fuel-
air Mixture
 Actual Length of spark In Engine Cylinder

The spark is mean stretch

stretched by
l spark  l gap   co n vectio n
convection :

The spark is also stretched by turbulence in the gap :

mean stretch
lspark  l spark   turbu lence lspark  l gap   convection
stretch stretch
  tu rb ulen ce
The spark wrinkling evolution equation
where Kspk,T and Kspk,M
stretch
1 d Overall 1 are the spark strain by
stretch
 K spk ,T  K spk , M  the turbulent and by the
 turbulence dt 2
mean flow respectively
 Model for Spark Diameter

• At a very early stage (1 to 10 ns), a cylindrical channel of about 40

m in diameter develops together with a pressure jump and a rapid
temperature rise.
• Pressure and temperature of hot plasma at this early stage may be
estimated by constant volume addition of breakdown energy Ebd .
• The high local pressure generated leads occurrence of normal
shock wave.
• As the ratio of temperature of ambient temperature
1 to plasma
temperature isdvery low,
the
 diameter
1 Ebdof the spark is estimated as:
2

spark2   
  pl gap 
 Volume of the Spark

Considering the spark as a cylindrical channel of length lspark,

the channel radius is:
2
Vspark  r l
spark spark

In the spark discharge studies it is found that inside spark Tspark =

35,000 K for a gas with 300 K & and 0.1 MPa.

Every fuel injection system must ensure these conditions are

sustained after breakdown of spark for successful ignition.