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For many years, charging systems on self-propelled vehicles used vibrating contact units to limit maximum voltage so as to lengthen life of lamps and prevent battery overcharge. Now the transistor regulator offers means of improving the reliability and durability of the voltage control unit. Since it has no moving parts that can wear out, its design life meets the requirements of today's farm vehicles and provides extreme ruggedness. The use of a potentiometer allows a precise voltage adjustment and more nearly assures optimum charging system performance, thereby minimizing overcharged and undercharged batteries. These advantages make the transistor regulator an ideal component for today's farming equipment.

A new breakerless capacitor discharge ignition system has been developed by Delco-Remy Division, GMC. This unit provides important benefits to the vehicle operator, and has been designed to fit the requirements of modern gasoline engines. An extensive engine test program was conducted to establish the major design objectives. In this test program, it was found that under adverse cold starting conditions the system must produce 23-25 kv of ignition at the spark plug to insure reliable starts. Battery voltage may drop as low as 4.0 volts at this time. It was also determined that an extremely rapid voltage rise at the spark plug is not necessarily best for smooth engine operation. A risetime of 35 microsec was chosen as a more nearly optimum choice to provide smooth engine operation and extended spark plug life. In the process of making applications for original equipment, a number of problems were encountered.

Recent development work has led to production of two new families of integral charging systems featuring semiconductor voltage regulators designed to employ integrated circuit electronic techniques. The severe application conditions defined by the environment under the hood of heavy-duty vehicles and passenger cars and the tight electrical performance specifications have been satisfied by integrated circuit techniques not previously used in an automotive application. Successful voltage regulator designs open the way for other vehicular applications of integrated circuits.