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US 10,018,230 B2Granted
Permanently engaged starter with dry friction clutch
AssigneeBorgWarner Inc.
InventorBrett Peglowski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An engine starter that includes a starter motor, a ring gear, a pinion driven by the starter motor and meshingly engaged with the ring gear, a disk that is configured to be coupled to an engine crankshaft for common rotation, and a dry clutch that is configured to selectively couple the ring gear to the disk.
Claims4
An engine starter comprising:
- a starter motor;
- a ring gear;
- a pinion driven by the starter motor and meshingly engaged with the ring gear;
- a disk that is adapted to be coupled to an engine crankshaft for common rotation;
- and
- a dry clutch that is configured to selectively couple the ring gear to the disk, the dry clutch having a clutch surface, which is coupled to the ring gear for rotation there with, and a plurality of clutch assemblies, each of the clutch assemblies having a pivot pin, a clutch member, a friction shoe and a biasing spring, each of the pivot pins being fixedly coupled to the disk, each of the clutch members being pivotably coupled to an associated one of the pivot pins, each of the friction shoes being fixedly mounted to an associated one of the clutch members so that rotation of the clutch members about their corresponding pivot pins causes corresponding movement of the friction shoes between a first position, in which the friction shoes are engaged to the clutch surface, and a second position in which the friction shoes are disengaged from the clutch surface, the biasing springs biasing the friction shoes toward their first positions.
3 more elements
An engine starter comprising:
- a starter motor having an output shaft;
- a pinion fixed to the output shaft and driven by the starter motor;
- a ring gear meshingly engaged to the pinion;
- a shoe-engagement structure coupled to the ring gear;
- a flex plate that is adapted to be coupled to an engine crankshaft for common rotation;
- an arm pivotably coupled to the flex plate by a pivot pin for pivoting motion about a pivot point, the arm having a shoe and a counter mass;
- and
- a spring biasing the arm about the pivot point to urge the shoe toward the shoe-engagement structure;
- wherein the counter mass is configured to counteract the spring and drive the shoe away from the shoe-engagement structure when a rotational speed of the flex plate is greater than or equal to a predetermined rotational speed.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.