Patent ID: 6405708
Filing Date: 2002-06-18
Classification: F02B,F02D,F02F,F02P

Abstract:
A method for timing an ignition system in an internal combustion 4-cycle truly-opposed piston engine with two opposed rows of cylinders, comprising the steps of:a) providing an ignition distribution system with half as many output leads as engine cylinders, each output lead firing two cylinders on the same row of cylinders, half of the output leads passing to each row of cylinders; b) providing a unique repeating ignition timing signal to the distribution system for each pair of opposed cylinders, the ignition timing signals repeating on every 360-degree rotation of the engine; c) sensing the rotational position of the engine via a rotary position sensor attached to a camshaft of the engine, and passing a signal indicating the engine rotational position to the ignition distribution system; and d) passing an alternating one of two said timing signals to each output lead on each 360-degree engine rotation to fire a respectively alternating one of said two cylinders on the same row of cylinders that is on its compression stroke depending on the rotational position of the engine; whereby a unique timing signal is provided for each cylinder in each row of cylinders, each distributor output lead fires two cylinders in the same row of cylinders, and an alternating one of two timing signals is passed to each output lead by the ignition distribution system to fire a respectively alternating one of the two cylinders on said output lead.