According to a patent that CarBuzz discovered at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), Hyundai has developed a method to remotely monitor the wear of spark plugs. The proven hardware of this patent's ignition system is used in a clever new way to check the condition of worn-out spark plugs without actually removing them from the engine.
Naturally, this would prevent accidental damage to components and save mechanics and DIYers time and effort. An expensive ignition coil or even a cheap spark plug can easily become damaged. Even worse, a careless apprentice mechanic could break a spark plug's thread, making it difficult to remove it from the cylinder head.
AutoZone Here, Hyundai's inventiveness shines through. We must first have a general understanding of how ignition coils function before we can comprehend how this new method works. In a setup known as direct-fire ignition, modern gas engines, like the Hyundai Tucson, have a separate ignition coil attached to each spark plug. Similar to a transformer, these ignition coils each have two windings: a primary (low-voltage) winding controlled by the engine's control unit is connected via an iron-based (ferrous) core to a secondary (high-voltage) winding. The spark plug's center electrode is then connected to the secondary winding.
The application of an electric current to the primary winding of an ignition coil by the engine control unit creates a magnetic field in the core, which stores energy in the coil. The magnetic field induces a current in the secondary winding through the ferrous core and quickly dissipates the stored energy by creating a high voltage in the secondary winding when the primary winding's current is abruptly turned off to initiate ignition.
Assuming this optional voltage is sufficiently high, a flash will bounce from the middle terminal to the ground cathode, between the empowered focus cathode of the fitting and the flash attachment body that screws into the chamber head. The air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber is ignited by this spark, and the expansion that results presses down on the piston to convert the fuel mixture's chemical energy into kinetic energy. Now that we have established the foundation, let's move on to Hyundai's innovations.
CarBuzz/Ian Wright A spark causes the secondary winding to produce an electric current. This current will be lower when the spark plug is new compared to when it was old. This is because older spark plugs have eaten away at their electrodes and built up internal resistance, making it harder for a spark to form and increasing the required secondary current before firing. However, Hyundai chooses to measure the current in the primary windings of the coil rather than the secondary current because the secondary current is too erratic to be measured with small and inexpensive equipment.
The currents in the primary and secondary windings are inversely related mathematically, with a high current in the high-voltage secondary winding corresponding to a low current in the primary winding of the coil and vice versa. To put it another way, a new spark plug will have a higher primary current because it requires less secondary current to operate, whereas an old one will have a lower primary current because it requires more secondary current to operate.
MotoDeal's stable operating conditions make it much simpler and more accurate to measure the current in the primary winding than it is to attempt to measure the secondary current. The engine control unit can easily adjust the coil charge time or even the ignition timing to make up for the lower spark plug efficiency with this indication of the condition of the spark plugs.
Given that it is based on components that are already in place, this kind of thing doesn't seem like it would be hard to implement or cost a lot. It's possible that mainstream production will soon occur.
Hyundai is no longer tied to its past and is establishing an image that any legacy automaker would be proud of by improving quality and leading innovation.
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