Patents by Inventor Michael A. V. Ward
Michael A. V. Ward has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 8082908Abstract: An ignition-engine system for internal combustion engines having two-valves per cylinder (100) with a larger intake valve (103) and a smaller exhaust valve (104) in a longitudinal layout with a single camshaft (118) operating bucketed valve stems 103a and 104a that are vertical, with the valves making up essentially the roof of the combustion chamber and having a volume essentially under the intake valve of approximately 35% of the combustion chamber and a volume under the exhaust valve of approximately 65%, and two spark plugs per cylinder with plugs (102a) and (102b) located at the edge of two opposite squish-zones (105) of a compact combustion chamber, wherein the air-flow near TC is channeled between the two large squish-lands (101a) and (101b) wherein the cross-section of the channel is approximately constant of average width “W’, resulting in a relatively more compact combustion chamber having squish-lands take up approximately ? of the projected bore area of the cylinder and the more compact channel toType: GrantFiled: January 14, 2009Date of Patent: December 27, 2011Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 7318397Abstract: A piston (10), a spring (15) operatively coupled to a piston, the spring being inside (21) or outside (41) the piston, and if the spring is inside the piston, the diameter of the spring is equal to 0.7 to 0.9, and if it is outside of the piston it is an external coil spring which is outside the cylinder which contains the piston and is able to provide a force of thousands of pounds per inch, and furthermore so that at light load the compression ratio (CR) is greater than 13 to 1 designated as CR0, at medium load has a compression ratio less then CR0 but greater than CReff, and at wide open throttle (WOT) has a CR equal to Creff, the CR is less than CR0 as would occur at medium or higher load which would lead to a flexing of the spring, and the cycle on the compression stroke is known as the HCX cycle where the pressure goes between Ppre and less than or equal to Pf.Type: GrantFiled: May 27, 2005Date of Patent: January 15, 2008Assignee: Combustion Electromagnetics Inc.Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 7182077Abstract: A high energy density and high efficiency inductive ignition coil for IC engine achieved by the use of biasing magnets (14/15) located at the end (16/17) of an open-E laminated core to raise the coil energy to five times typical, i.e. of approximately 150 mj and to double the coil efficiency including novel use of coil winding structure (12/13/20/21) with a primary winding turns (Np) of between 70 and 86 and primary inductance Lp of between 700 uH and 1,100 uH, and a low turns ratio (Nt) of 53 to 67 allowing for a short, efficient, cylindrical coil, with secondary turns (Ns) of 4,000 to 5,000 turns with current of approximately 330 ma which is predominantly in the high glow and low arc discharge mode, with a special ratio R defined as Np/Nt and equal to between 1.15 to 1.45, and the coil being small and light enough to be directly mounted on the spark plugs or near the plugs in a region of high squish flow in an engine.Type: GrantFiled: May 23, 2006Date of Patent: February 27, 2007Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 7178513Abstract: A high energy inductive coil-per-plug ignition system operating at a higher voltage Vc than battery voltage Vb by use of boost-type power converter (1), using high energy density low inductance coils Ti which are further improved by partial encapsulation of the coils and by use of biasing magnets (120) in the large air gaps in the core to increase coil energy density, the coils connected to capacitive type spark plugs, with improved halo-disc type firing ends, by means of improved suppression wire (78), the system operated and controlled by a micro-controller (8) to generate and control the coil charge time Tch, the sequencing the spark firing, and other control features including finding the firing cylinder by simultaneous ignition firing and sensing during engine cranking, to provide a highly controlled and versatile ignition system capable of producing high energy flow-coupling ignition sparks with relatively fewer and smaller parts.Type: GrantFiled: April 19, 2003Date of Patent: February 20, 2007Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 7165528Abstract: An improved ignition-engine system for internal combustion engines comprising a compact combustion chamber in the cylinder head and two main squish zones (101a, 101b) for producing high flow and turbulence, and at least one minor squish zone (105) at the end of the intake valve (104), the system using independently operated spark plugs (102a, 102b), placed asymmetrically at or near the edge of the high flow squish zones to handle both ultra-lean light load conditions and high load conditions without misfire or knocking, the engine leanness and high load operation and further improved by using variable compression ratio and/or direct fuel injection, including air-blast fuel injectors (181) and more centrally located air-blast-ignition fuel injector (193) more ideally suited for four valve engines and mild hybrid engines.Type: GrantFiled: April 19, 2003Date of Patent: January 23, 2007Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 6584965Abstract: Capacitive discharge system for ignitors of internal combustion engines with one ignition coil (T) per ignitor with one or more capacitors (6) and shunt switch means (5) associated with each such coil, together forming a coil primary ignition circuit of Type II topology and resonance oscillation capability, each switch means being a series combination of shunt diode (D) means and switch (SD) across the coils primary winding, with a voltage drop element (Vdb) across switch SD, the system constructed to produce capacitive ignition initial spark discharge of duration less than a quarter period of the resonance oscillation of the primary ignition circuit followed by an essentially triangular distribution decaying spark discharge of longer duration than the initial discharge, with switch SD to be turned off near or after spark circuit zero to divert residual primary discharge circuit through the voltage drop element.Type: GrantFiled: October 6, 2000Date of Patent: July 1, 2003Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 6545415Abstract: A high efficiency high voltage ignition coil with segmented high voltage bobbin (15) with the last few bays (16,17,18) having fewer secondary winding turns than the average and thicker flanges separating the bays, and further including an inductor (20) of inductance at least 0.5 mH with a core material which is lossy in the 100 KHz to 1 MHz range, the inductor located between the end of the high voltage winding and the spark gap (7b) so as to reduce the peak voltages across the last few high voltage bays immediately following the spark gap breakdown.Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2000Date of Patent: April 8, 2003Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 6267107Abstract: An improved ignition-combustion system for internal combustion engines comprising a compact combustion chamber zone (4) in the engine cylinder head (6) mainly under the exhaust valve (8) and with large air-squish zones (124a, 124b) formed at the edge of the combustion zone which produce colliding squish flows (2, 2a, 3a, 3b) with high turbulence (3c) at the center of the combustion zone, with one or two spark plugs (12a/118, 12b/18a) located at the edge of the combustion zone within the high squish zones, resulting in a combined ignition and combustion system of colliding-flow-coupled-spark discharge (CFCSD), with the ignition employing high energy flow-resistant ignition sparks which move under the influence of the squish flow towards the central turbulence region as the piston nears engine top center, to produce rapid and complete burning of lean and high EGR mixtures for best engine efficiency and lowest emissions.Type: GrantFiled: February 1, 2000Date of Patent: July 31, 2001Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 6142130Abstract: A high power, high energy inductive ignition system with a parallel array of multiple ignition coils Ti (2a, 2b) and associated 600 volt unclamped IGBT power switches Si (8a, 8b), for use with an automotive 12 volt storage battery (1), the system having an internal voltage source (12) to generate a voltage Vc approximately three times the peal primary coil current with coils Ti of low primary inductance of about 0,5 millihenry and of open E-type core structure for spark energy in the range of 120 to 250 mj, the system using a lossless snubber and variable control inductor (6) to provide very high circuit and component efficiency and high coil energy density, in mj/gm, three times that of conventional inductive ignition systems, and high output voltage of 40 kilovolts with fast rise time of 10 microseconds.Type: GrantFiled: April 21, 1999Date of Patent: November 7, 2000Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5947093Abstract: An improved high energy high efficiency hybrid capacitive/inductive ignition system with one or coils Ti for internal combustion engines employing one or more energy storage capacitor means (4) shunted by diode means (9), with high leakage inductor means (3a) of coils Ti with which have their primary (1a) and secondary (1b) windings wound side-by-side on a single segmented bobbin 72, unidirectional switches Si for each coil Ti which are preferably IGBTs, and high efficiency shunt diode/switch means SDi for each coil Ti shunting the primary winding of each coil Ti, so that, following production of an initial quarter cycle capacitive spark with peak current in the 0.2 to 3 amp arc discharge range, there is a decaying inductive unidirectional flow-resistant spark flowing through shunt switch means SDi.Type: GrantFiled: November 12, 1997Date of Patent: September 7, 1999Assignee: Ignition Systems International, LLC.Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5577471Abstract: An improved anti-fouling controlled erosion long life spark plug (36) for high current arc type spark discharges with low heat absorbing large circular gap (31) electrode structure comprised of a conical section center electrode (26) and low mass ring ground electrode (21) supported by three legs (24) defining flow-through slots (25) behind the ring which extends into the combustion chamber and an insulator end (13a) recessed with respect to the flow-through slots to prevent its fouling, the plug end electrode structure minimizing flow obstruction, flame quenching, and heat absorption from the combusting air-fuel mixture.Type: GrantFiled: June 21, 1995Date of Patent: November 26, 1996Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5558071Abstract: A high efficiency high power DC to DC power converter and controller system for a CD ignition system with a simple converter controller (8) for controlling a power switch (2) of a transformer (1) operated as a flyback which includes a lossless snubber (6) and simple current sensor (8a) for sensing and controlling the power converter current, and further including ignition trigger conditioner (9) and phase conditioner (10) for operating a trigger output circuit (11) based on an octal counter (67) for triggering ignition coil circuits of a preferred distributorless ignition circuit of the hybrid ignition system type.Type: GrantFiled: February 24, 1995Date of Patent: September 24, 1996Assignee: Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc.Inventors: Michael A. V. Ward, Winfield Hill, Arthur J. Pennell
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Patent number: 5551411Abstract: Lean burn, exhaust gas recirculating internal combustion engine system (10) and process of operation wherein a motor driven valve (16) governs tapping of exhaust gas via a conduit (11) to the high pressure side of a throttle (14) in an air intake region of the engine with control of the valve and lean burn to maintain a) lean operation with high exhaust dilution at light engine loads, b) high exhaust dilution and high overall dilution at medium to high engine loads and c) smooth transition between a) and b).Type: GrantFiled: February 2, 1995Date of Patent: September 3, 1996Assignee: Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc.Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5517961Abstract: An improved spark ignition engine system producing a large continuous, centrally directed, flow coupled ignition spark discharge through combustion chamber (1), piston (4), inlet system (28/29), spark plug (5), and ignition spark discharge (26) design, and through the location and orientation, with respect to the mixture flow field, of a special design firing end and gap (7/9) of a spark plug fired with a spark discharge of hundreds of watts of power for hundreds of microseconds without spark segmentation or spark break-up by the flow field of up to about 20 m/sec flow velocity, with bulk flow occurring at the spark plug site at most engine speeds including low speeds to produce a very large centrally directed spark-initial flame front kernel which allows for substantial dilution of the mixture and significant reduction in engine cycle-to-cycle variation under most operating conditions of the engine including low speed light load.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 1995Date of Patent: May 21, 1996Assignee: Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc.Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5456241Abstract: A high power high energy ignition system for internal combustion engines using an energy storage capacitor (4), resonating inductor (3) and one or more coils Ti with switches Si for each coil Ti. The system is designed and optimized according to the transient voltage doubling formulation and certain coil magnetic flux formulations to produce a very high power, very high energy, high efficiency ignition powered and controlled by a power converter (14) and controller (15) to produce an initial high frequency spark pulse followed by moderate firing longer duration spark pulses or continuously firing spark oscillations for delivery to the air-fuel mixture of an engine with total spark energy approximately independent of engine speed. The energy is delivered by means of a toroidal gapped spark plug (46) with extended electrodes (48a) to maximize ignition kernel size and minimize spark plug erosion and fouling.Type: GrantFiled: November 8, 1993Date of Patent: October 10, 1995Assignee: Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc.Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5454352Abstract: A virtual three-stroke engine (1) with intake and compression strokes approximately one half of the power stroke of approximately 12 to one expansion ratio and with total firing cycle stroke lengths equal to approximately three expansion strokes to minimize engine throttling and frictional losses over the real world drive cycle and provide high torque from a one-to-one drive shaft RPM to engine firing cycle RPM provided by a cam type driver for controlling the piston motions and extracting the power from the piston.Type: GrantFiled: December 3, 1993Date of Patent: October 3, 1995Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5315982Abstract: A high efficiency, high output, compact ignition coil particularly suited for use in capacitive discharge, multiple pulsing ignition systems, with about ten turns of primary (1) wire (Np) and about five hundred fifty turns of secondary (2) wire (Ns) for an input voltage Vp of approximately 350 volts and a peak output voltage Vs of 30 kV, the core and windings of the coil featuring separate and different primary (31) and secondary (41) core halves structured on the basis of herein developed coil open and closed circuit criteria such that the core half (31) containing the primary winding has a large center post (32) of cross-sectional area Ap with a narrow slot of width W1 around the post (32) for winding the primary wire (1) to provide essentially the total required coil leakage inductance Lpe of about 50 uH for an input capacitance of about 5 uF and spark discharge frequency fcc of about 10 kHz, and the secondary core (41) structured to have a center post (42) of cross-sectional area As about half that of ApType: GrantFiled: April 15, 1992Date of Patent: May 31, 1994Assignee: Combustion Electromagnetics, Inc.Inventors: Michael A. V. Ward, Richard Redl
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Patent number: 5211147Abstract: An internal combustion engine system with combustion chamber (11) of the upper-half-clam-shell type in which is generated both swirl and squish and microscale turbulence near the center of the chamber where is located a toroidal gap spark plug (18) fired according to a lean-burn-timing prescription to deliver rapidly moving spark pulses (24) of high power and energy into a very lean reverse stratified mixture further diluted with exhaust gas residual for further reducing NOx emissions while maintaining low HC emissions and high engine efficiency.Type: GrantFiled: April 15, 1991Date of Patent: May 18, 1993Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5207208Abstract: A high power high energy capacitive discharge (CD) ignition system for internal combustion engines using a separate resonating inductor (7) in the discharge circuit which is constructed and arranged to provide suitable operation of the discharge circuit and to allow coupling of energy from a voltage source (13a) for storage in the inductor (7) for delivery to the CD system discharge capacitor (4) during the operation of the ignition to help maintain energy during the preferred mode of multiple spark pulse firings of an ignition spark in a preferred large toroidal gap spark plug and to recharge the capacitor (4) between firings.Type: GrantFiled: June 16, 1992Date of Patent: May 4, 1993Assignee: Combustion Electromagnetics Inc.Inventor: Michael A. V. Ward
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Patent number: 5131376Abstract: A high power high energy distributorless ignition system for multicylinder internal combustion engines using a single energy storage capacitor (4), a single leakage resonating inductor (20) with a switch SS partially or entirely across it, and one or more coils Ti with bi-directional switches Si and with single or double hith voltage outputs, the system defining a compact coil assembly powered by a resonant converter power supply (12), the ignition power delivery controlled by means of circuitry based on a robust gate (17), an oscillator (19), and steering circuitry (21).Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 1991Date of Patent: July 21, 1992Assignee: Combustion Electronics, Inc.Inventors: Michael A. V. Ward, Winfield Hill, Fred Kern