Engine starter

Details Engine starter Engine starter

1988-10-06

1990-04-03

Kannan, Philip C.

Machine element or mechanism

Engine starters

Automatic

74437, 74 7A, 475 17, 475149, 475254, 475904, F02N 1500

Patent

active

049129937

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a starter and, more particularly, to a starter for use in starting an engine used in a vehicle or the like.


BACKGROUND ART

A conventional starter for use in starting a vehicular engine has been constructed as shown in FIG. 1.
The conventional engine starter 1 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a d.c. motor 2, an over-running clutch assembly 4 slidably mounted on an armature rotary shaft 3, a gear unit 5 for reducing and transmitting the rotating force of the armature rotary shaft 2a of the d.c. motor 2 to a clutch outer member 4a of the over-running clutch mechanism 4, and a shift lever 8 engaged at its one end with a plunger rod of a solenoid switch assembly 6 which is disposed on one side of the d.c. motor 2 for axially moving the over-running clutch assembly 4 and at its the other end with an annular member 7 mounted to the over-running clutch assembly 4.
However, during the starting of an internal combustion engine, high torque is required at the initial stage and low torque and high speed are required after the initial combustion. With a conventional starter having only a fixed speed changing ratio, more torque is needed at the initial stage of starting and more rotating speed is required after initial combustion. Therefore, a starter employing a belt-type stepless speed changer such as the one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-172058 has been proposed.
However, in the starter with the belt-type stepless speed changer as disclosed in the aforementioned Japanese Laid-Open document, a problem of power loss due to slipping is posed and, since the load change is great between the compression stroke and the combustion stroke of the piston particularly in starting the engine, the belt slips easily, resulting in very poor transmission efficiency as compared to an ordinary starter.


DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a starter having a stepless speed changing mechanism low in power loss and high in efficiency.
A starter of the present invention includes a speed changing mechanism for transmitting rotational force of an electric motor to a pinion gear capable of being brought into or out of engagement with a ring gear of an engine. The speed changing mechanism includes a geared stepless speed changer. A speed reduction ratio is controlled responsive to a load change by means of an input shaft, an output shaft, and input and output frames rotatable relative to each other about the input shaft. A ratio of angular velocities of the input and output shafts is related to an angle of rotation between the input and output frames.
According to the starter of the present invention, when an engine starter switch is closed, the pinion is axially moved until it is brought into engagement with the ring gear of the engine. The rotating force of the electric motor is transmitted to the pinion through the geared stepless speed changer to rotate the ring gear to start the engine. While the load change is large between the compression and combustion strokes of the engine piston, the rotational force of the electric motor is transmitted to the ring gear without a large power loss because the stepless speed changer is of the gear type.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the conventional engine starter;
FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the starter of one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the geared stepless speed changer constituting the starter;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the geared steepless speed changer taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the geared stepless speed changer taken along line V--V of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the geared stepless speed changer taken along line VI--VI of FIG. 3;
FIG. 7 is a

REFERENCES:
patent: 4472984 (1984-09-01), Cook
patent: 4495905 (1985-01-01), Morishita et al.
patent: 4635489 (1987-01-01), Imamura et al.
patent: 4671125 (1987-06-01), Yabunaka
patent: 4685348 (1987-08-01), Takami
patent: 4765195 (1988-08-01), Takami

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