ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS

• US 20150354524A1
• Filed: 05/29/2015
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: HIRABAYASHI, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 9,752,546 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0814 comprising means for controlling automatic idle-start-stop
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0851 characterised by means for controlling the engagement or disengagement between engine and starter, e.g. meshing of pinion and engine gear
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0859 specially adapted to the type of the starter motor or integrated into it
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/087 Details of the switching means in starting circuits, e.g. relays or electronic switches
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 15/023 of the overrunning type
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 15/04 the gearing including disengaging toothed gears
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 15/046 of the planetary type
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 15/067 the starter comprising an electro-magnetically actuated lever
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2015/061 said axial displacement being limited, e.g. by using a stopper
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2300/102 Control of the starter motor speed; Control of the engine speed during cranking
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2300/104 Control of the starter motor torque
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2300/2002 using different starting modes, methods, or actuators depending on circumstances, e.g. engine temperature or component wear
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2300/2011 Control involving a delay; Control involving a waiting period before engine stop or engine start

Abstract

An apparatus for starting an engine, including an inertia-engagement-type starter. In the apparatus, a starter-characteristic switching mechanism is configured to switch an output characteristic of the starter between a plurality of output characteristics including at least a low-torque high-speed characteristic and a high-torque low-speed characteristic, where the output characteristic of the starter is hereinafter referred to a starter characteristic. A timing controller is configured to control when the starter-characteristic switching mechanism switches the starter characteristic such that the starter characteristic is set to the high-torque low-speed characteristic from initiation of actuation of the starter at least until a pinion successfully meshes with a ring gear, and after the pinion has successfully meshed with the ring gear, the starter characteristic is switched from the high-torque low-speed characteristic to the low-torque high-speed characteristic at which the engine is cranked by the starter.

Claims

1. An apparatus for starting an engine, comprising:

an inertia-engagement-type starter configured to utilize an attractive force of a solenoid to push a pinion into an engaged position with a ring gear of the engine and then transfer a rotational force of the motor from the pinion to the ring gear to start the engine;

a starter-characteristic switching mechanism configured to switch an output characteristic of the starter between a plurality of output characteristics including at least a low-torque high-speed characteristic and a high-torque low-speed characteristic, the output characteristic of the starter being referred to a starter characteristic; and

a timing controller configured to control when the starter-characteristic switching mechanism switches the starter characteristic such that the starter characteristic is set to the high-torque low-speed characteristic from initiation of actuation of the starter at least until the pinion successfully meshes with the ring gear, and after the pinion has successfully meshed with the ring gear, the starter characteristic is switched from the high-torque low-speed characteristic to the low-torque high-speed characteristic at which the engine is cranked by the starter.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the high-torque low-speed characteristic to which the starter characteristic is set from the initiation of actuation of the starter at least until the pinion successfully meshes with the ring gear is a starter characteristic that is lowest in rotational speed of the pinion among the plurality of starter characteristics.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the starter-characteristic switching mechanism is configured to switch the starter characteristic between the plurality of starter characteristics in three or more stages or in a continuously variable manner, and the high-torque low-speed characteristic to which the starter characteristic is set from the initiation of actuation of the starter at least until the pinion successfully meshes with the ring gear is a starter characteristic that is lower in torque than a starter characteristic of highest torque among the plurality of starter characteristics.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the low-torque high-speed characteristic at which the engine is cranked by the starter is lower in torque than the high-torque low-speed characteristic to which the starter characteristic is set from the initiation of actuation of the starter at least until the pinion successfully meshes with the ring gear.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the timing controller comprises a timer function for counting an elapsed time from the initiation of actuation of the starter, and

the timing controller is configured to control when the starter-characteristic switching mechanism switches the starter characteristic such that the starter characteristic is switched from the high-torque low-speed characteristic to the low-torque high-speed characteristic after the pinion has successfully meshed with the ring gear based on an elapsed time from the initiation of actuation of the starter counted by the timer function.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein

an elapsed time from the initiation of actuation of the starter to when the pinion successfully meshes with the ring gear counted by the timer function beforehand is pre-set in the timing controller, and

the timing controller is configured to, when determining that an elapsed time from the initiation of actuation of the starter counted by the timer function has reached the pre-set elapsed time, trigger the starter-characteristic switching mechanism to switch the starter characteristic from the high-torque low-speed characteristic to the low-torque high-speed characteristic.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motor is a brushed direct-current (DC) motor.