Issued patent
Coil-On-Plug Igniter for Reliable Engine Starts
An issued NASA patent from the Technology Transfer catalog.
About this technology
Overview
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a coil-on-plug ignition system for integrated liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquid methane (LCH4) thermal-vacuum environment propulsion systems operating in a thermal vacuum environment. The innovation will help quell corona discharge issues and reduce overall mass. Corona discharge represents a local region surrounding a high-voltage conductor where air has undergone an electrical breakdown and become conductive due to ionization, allowing a charge to leak off the conductor and cause a possible malfunction. NASA worked with commercial vendors to modify off-the-shelf automotive coil-on-plug spark plug systems for use with LOX/LCH4 igniters. The coil-on-plug configuration eliminates the bulky standalone coil-pack and conventional high-voltage spark plug cable by combining the coil and the spark plug into a single component. The test campaign successfully proved that coil-on-plug technology can enable integrated LOX/methane propulsion systems in future spacecraft.