Starter for an internal combustion engine

Abstract

The starter apparatus for an internal combustion engine (2) includes a starter-generator including a device for rotating a flywheel (5) to a predetermined rotational speed and a device for rotating the crankshaft (3) of the engine to directly start the engine; at least one clutch (6, 7) for directly coupling or disengaging the flywheel (5) with the crankshaft (3) of the engine (2) so that the flywheel (5) starts the engine (2) with the rotational energy stored in the flywheel (5) by the starter-generator in an impulse starting method and a changeover device (11) for changing between the impulse starting method based on engagement of the flywheel (5) with the engine (2) and a direct starting method in which the starter-generator (4) is directly coupled to the engine, wherein the changeover device switches between the direct starting method and the impulse starting method as a function of a temperature of the engine (2) so that the impulse starting method is used at comparatively lower temperatures and the direct-starting method is used at comparatively higher temperatures. The starter apparatus also includes a device for adaptively determining the threshold for changeover between impulse starting and direct starting.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.