Capacitor ignition device for internal combustion engines

Claim 1

A capacitor ignition arrangement for an ignition combustion engine having spark plugs, comprising an ignition transformer including primary winding means and a secondary winding connectable with each of the spark plugs; a storage capacitor; a thyristor having a control electrode; means connecting together said thyristor to form a discharge path for said storage capacitor, discharging of the storage capacitor through said discharge path producing a high voltage firing pluse across the spark plug connected with the secondary winding of said ignition transformer; a charging transformer having a pick-up winding and an outputwinding on a ferromagnetic core; means connecting together said storage capacitor and said output-winding to form a charging path for said storage capacitor; a source of direct current; a transistor having an emitter, a collector, and a base; means connecting in series said source of direct current, said pick-up winding, and the collector-emitter path of said transistor, so that when said transistor is conductive, current flows through the pick-up winding and electrical energy is stored in said charging transformer, and when current flow is interrupted by blocking said transistor the stored energy is delivered via said charging path to said storage capacitor; a control pulse generator synchronized with said engine; and a control circuitry responsive to control pulses delivered from said control pulse generator, said control circuitry including said transistor, switch-on means for triggering conductive said transistor with each control pulse, and cut-off means sensitive to the strength of the collector current of said transistor to block the transistor upon reaching a maximum collector current, and also having an output connected with the control electrode of said thyristor so that with each control pulse said thyristor is triggered conductive and a firing pulse is delivered, wherein the charging transformer is equipped with an additional winding, said additional winding and the pick-up winding of said charging transformer forming a transducer which delivers electrical energy when current flows through said pick-up winding, and wherein said additional winding, a blocking diode and the primary winding means of the ignition transformer are connected in series, so that each firing pulse produced by discharging of the storage capacitor is prolonged by an after-discharge of electrical energy delivered from said transducer.