Ignition Systems:
New and Old
Jeff Tuttle
Period 3
9/9/04
Ignitions systems in motor vehicles have evolved in the past thirty years. Points was a simple concept but was not reliable and needed adjustment and replacement of components seemed constant. Today a magnetic sensor relays a signal to the computer which in turn sends the voltage to the selected cylinder to ignite the fuel/air mixture. There are not mechanical parts to fail or become corroded and brittle. There are many different parts to an ignition system. These parts differ between modern and old ignition systems. There is a coil. Sometimes one coil provides the increased voltage to the distributor or there is no distributor at all and each cylinder has its own coil to provide voltage for the spark plug.
The coil is a compact, electrical transformer that boosts the battery's 12 volts to as high as 20,000 volts. The incoming 12 volts of electricity pass through a primary winding of about......
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Approximate Word Count: 1924
Approximate Pages: 8 (260 words per double-spaced page) |