Forklift Starters and Alternators - Today's starter motor is typically a permanent-magnet composition or a series-parallel wound direct current electrical motor together with a starter solenoid mounted on it. As soon as current from the starting battery is applied to the solenoid, mainly through a key-operated switch, the solenoid engages a lever that pushes out the drive pinion that is positioned on the driveshaft and meshes the pinion with the starter ring gear that is found on the engine flywheel.
Once the starter motor begins to turn, the solenoid closes the high-current contacts. Once the engine has started, the solenoid consists of a key operated switch which opens the spring assembly to be able to pull the pinion gear away from the ring gear. This action causes the starter motor to stop. The starter's pinion is clutched to its driveshaft by an overrunning clutch. This allows the pinion to transmit drive in just one direction. Drive is transmitted in this particular way via the pinion to the flywheel ring gear. The pinion remains engaged, for instance for the reason that the driver did not release the key when the engine starts or if there is a short and the solenoid remains engaged. This actually causes the pinion to spin separately of its driveshaft.
This aforesaid action prevents the engine from driving the starter. This is actually an essential step since this type of back drive will allow the starter to spin very fast that it can fly apart. Unless adjustments were made, the sprag clutch arrangement would preclude the use of the starter as a generator if it was employed in the hybrid scheme discussed earlier. Usually a regular starter motor is intended for intermittent utilization which will stop it being utilized as a generator.
The electrical components are made to function for more or less 30 seconds to avoid overheating. Overheating is caused by a slow dissipation of heat is due to ohmic losses. The electrical components are intended to save weight and cost. This is the reason nearly all owner's handbooks utilized for automobiles recommend the driver to pause for a minimum of ten seconds after each and every 10 or 15 seconds of cranking the engine, if trying to start an engine that does not turn over at once.
The overrunning-clutch pinion was launched onto the marked in the early part of the 1960's. Previous to the 1960's, a Bendix drive was used. This particular drive system operates on a helically cut driveshaft that has a starter drive pinion placed on it. Once the starter motor starts turning, the inertia of the drive pinion assembly enables it to ride forward on the helix, thus engaging with the ring gear. Once the engine starts, the backdrive caused from the ring gear enables the pinion to exceed the rotating speed of the starter. At this moment, the drive pinion is forced back down the helical shaft and thus out of mesh with the ring gear.
During the 1930s, an intermediate development between the Bendix drive was developed. The overrunning-clutch design that was developed and introduced during the 1960s was the Bendix Folo-Thru drive. The Folo-Thru drive has a latching mechanism along with a set of flyweights inside the body of the drive unit. This was a lot better as the typical Bendix drive utilized so as to disengage from the ring when the engine fired, even if it did not stay running.
The drive unit if force forward by inertia on the helical shaft as soon as the starter motor is engaged and starts turning. Afterward the starter motor becomes latched into the engaged position. When the drive unit is spun at a speed higher than what is achieved by the starter motor itself, like for instance it is backdriven by the running engine, and afterward the flyweights pull outward in a radial manner. This releases the latch and permits the overdriven drive unit to become spun out of engagement, thus unwanted starter disengagement could be prevented before a successful engine start.
Click to Download the pdf