Bosch Automotive A product history

12 | Supplement 2 | Journal of Bosch History
New ignition systems
Automotive ignition systems also continued
to evolve. In the 1950s, the automobile
business began to use semiconductor
devices – the predecessors of today’s
electronic components – as standard
equipment. In 1958, Bosch had installed
its first electronic device in a product – a
Variode regulator for a generator. Then, in
1964, ignition followed the trend – with
transistors that allowed maintenance-free
ignition. The main aim in all this was to
make the periods between service stops
longer and, in the long term, to have cars
that could be driven 100,000 km without
the need for a major service – with the
exception of such indispensable things as
oil changes, of course. The ball was now
rolling, and the changing of ignition contacts
was a thing of the past. At the same
time, the foundation stone had been laid
for the development of today’s electronic
ignition systems, which are not only maintenance-free,
but whose precise management
allows compliance with the strictest
emissions standards and a significant
reduction in fuel consumption.
Transistorized ignition was the first step
in this direction, and was followed by a
variant in which the mechanical contact
was replaced by an electronic pulse generator,
known as the Hall generator. From
then on, there was no need for the ignition
distributor contact, which was prone to
wear. Today, the high voltage is commonly
generated by individual coils, which transmit
power directly to the spark plugs. But
in all this, one thing has remained unchanged.
Even today, no gasoline engine
will run without the ignition spark that
Bosch brought into the car.
1974 1979 1982 1983 1987 1989
Maintenance-free,
breakerless TI-i
transistorized
ignition
Motronic
(combination of
L-Jetronic gasoline
injection and
electronic ignition)
Electronic mapcontrolled
ignition
Electronic ignition
with knock control
Electronic ignition
with adaptive knock
control
Motronic with 16-bit
microprocessor