Modern electronic ignition in VIPower technology

The trend for clean, lean-burn engines implies an increased use of microprocessor based engine management system (EMS) with electronic ignition. This paper describes a solid state integrated ignition driver circuit designed to drive a high energy coil in a microprocessor based EMS, under the direct guidance of a microcontroller. The paper starts with a review of the principal characteristics of the SGS-Thomson Vertical Intelligent power technology and then it introduces the VB921Z, a novel fully protected switch for electronic ignition which directly interfaces with a /spl mu/P controller.