JP2012041881A - Engine starting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an engine starting device of suppressing noise, deterioration of the service life due to wearing, and the delay of startability by the loss of a meshing time by improving the meshing property by making it possible to mesh with each other while there is rotational speed difference, even when meshing a pinion gear with a ring gear while the ring gear is rotating.SOLUTION: The engine starting device has a starter motor, the pinion (30) sliding on the output shaft in the axial direction, the shift lever (60), and the ring gear (100) meshing with the pinion pushed out by the shift lever and starting the engine by the rotating force of the starter motor being transmitted, the second teeth (34) not having chamfers in both side of the teeth are arranged in both next locations of the first teeth (33) having chamfers in both side of the teeth in the pinion (30).

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in meshing property between a pinion gear and a ring gear of an engine at a starter when the engine is started.

  A conventional engine starter (hereinafter referred to as a starter) performs a start operation while the engine is stopped. Therefore, the pinion gear is engaged with the ring gear while the ring gear is not rotating. However, in a system that performs idling stop to reduce fuel consumption, restartability is ensured by engaging the pinion gear with the ring gear even while the ring gear is rotating.

  For example, when a restart request is entered when the engine has not stopped yet at the moment of idling stop, or when it is necessary to shorten the time when restarting from the stop state, Engagement with the pinion gear is carried out in advance.

  In such a case, as a method of meshing the pinion gear during the rotation of the ring gear, there is a method of meshing by energizing the starter motor of the pinion gear so as to synchronize with the rotation speed of the ring gear (for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, there is a method in which a gear for meshing is provided after synchronizing to a certain rotational speed difference by friction of the mechanism portion by providing a mechanism for synchronizing in advance (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Furthermore, there is a method of making it easy to mesh by devising a pinion shape (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

JP 2002-70699 A JP 2006-132343 A JP 2009-168230 A

However, the prior art has the following problems.
The ring gear decelerates by inertial rotation after the engine is stopped. In this case, the ring gear stops while the rotation speed pulsates due to torque fluctuation caused by compression and expansion of the piston. Therefore, for example, as in Patent Document 1, a complicated configuration is required to synchronize the rotation speeds of the ring gear and the pinion gear with an engine starter (starter) and mesh them. Specifically, a complicated configuration is required in which the rotation speeds of the ring gear and the pinion gear are acquired or predicted, and based on these, the starter is controlled and meshed.

  Moreover, not only synchronizing, but it will not mesh unless the phase of a pinion gear and a ring gear is made to correspond. For this reason, it is necessary to recognize the exact rotational position for each synchronized gear. However, in order to perform such high-precision control, a high-precision detector such as an encoder and high-speed arithmetic processing of the engine-side ECU are required. Further, the detection of the phase of the pinion gear by an encoder or the like is difficult to mount because the pinion gear itself is a moving body, the system becomes complicated, and the apparatus becomes large.

  Furthermore, even if a complicated configuration is realized by simplifying the method by predicting each rotation and causing the pinion to jump in, due to the error in the predicted value and the variation in the timing at which the pinion jumps in the axial direction, Accurate control is difficult because of the difference in rotational speed at the time of contact.

  On the other hand, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, the rotation speed of the ring gear and the pinion gear can be reduced with a simpler structure by bringing the pinion gear and the ring gear into contact with each other with a synchronization mechanism in advance. Can be synchronized. However, the pinion gear and the ring gear usually have a gear ratio of 10 times for miniaturization of the motor, and are not coaxial due to restrictions on dimensional configuration. Therefore, the friction surface of the synchro mechanism that is brought into contact with the ring gear from the pinion gear is always synchronized with slipping, and it is difficult to achieve complete synchronization that matches the phase.

  In the synchro mechanism, when the ring gear and pinion gear come into contact after synchronization, slip occurs between the ring gear and pinion gear except when the phases coincide by chance at that time. When they match, they will mesh. As described above, in the configuration using the synchro mechanism, the pinion and the ring gear are brought into contact with each other after being synchronized by sliding. For this reason, there has been a problem of noise and wear at that time, or a separate space because a separately synchronized wear surface is required.

  In addition, for example, when using a synchro mechanism, it is considered that the shape of the tip of the pinion is devised to chamfer the tip of the tooth so that the pinion gear and the ring gear can easily mesh with each other as in Patent Document 3. It is done. Thereby, in patent document 3, while the insertion for the space part by chamfering is attained, the invitation effect by the surface contact is implemented.

  Here, if it is meshing in a state where the ring gear is stopped, there is an invitation effect by chamfering. However, when the relative rotation speed of the pinion is different during the rotation of the ring gear, a force component that pushes the pinion in the axial direction is generated by the collision of both gears due to the contact of the chamfered portion. As a result, there is a problem in that a collision sound or a delay in meshing occurs at the time of meshing.

  As described above, when the pinion gear is meshed during the rotation of the ring gear, if more reliable synchronization and phase alignment are not performed at the moment of contact, the start of operation due to noise, a decrease in service life due to wear, and loss of meshing time. There will be a delay.

  In particular, when there is a large rotational speed difference when the pinion gear and the ring gear mesh, the teeth mesh with each other while rubbing the teeth. As a result, in addition to the problem of life due to tooth wear, the torque force of the rotational speed difference on the chamfered surface becomes the axial force and the pinion gear is greatly blown off, resulting in loss of meshing time and restartability. There was a problem of getting worse.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. Even when the pinion gear is meshed with the ring gear during the rotation of the ring gear, it is possible to mesh with a difference in the number of rotations so that the meshing property is achieved. It is an object of the present invention to provide an engine starter that improves the engine and suppresses a delay in startability due to a loss of life due to noise and wear and a loss of meshing time.

  The engine starter according to the present invention includes a starter motor, a pinion portion that slides in an axial direction that is splined to the output shaft side of the starter motor, and a plunger that is sucked when a key switch is turned on. A shift lever that pushes the pinion part toward the ring gear of the engine, and a ring gear that meshes with the pinion of the pinion part pushed out by the shift lever and starts the engine by transmitting the rotational force of the starter motor. In the engine starting device, the pinion has a first tooth having a chamfered portion on both sides of the tooth and a second not having a chamfered portion on both sides of the tooth with respect to the tooth shape of the ring gear side end surface. It has a configuration in which teeth are mixed and second teeth are arranged on both sides of the first teeth.

  According to the engine starting device according to the present invention, the pinion gear in which the second teeth not having the chamfered portions on both sides of the teeth are arranged on both sides of the first teeth having the chamfered portions on both sides of the teeth. By using, the rotation speed difference can be achieved even when the pinion gear meshes with the ring gear during rotation of the ring gear by synchronizing with the tooth surfaces instead of synchronizing with the friction between the end faces of the gears. It is possible to obtain an engine starting device that can be engaged in a certain state to improve the meshing property and suppress a delay in startability due to noise, a decrease in life due to wear, and a loss of meshing time.

It is an exploded view of the engine starting device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is sectional drawing at the time of attaching the engine starting device in Embodiment 1 of this invention to an engine. It is the perspective view which showed the chamfering shape of the pinion part in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a front view of the pinion gear and ring gear by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a front view of the pinion gear and ring gear by Embodiment 1 of this invention. FIG. 3 is a front view of a pinion gear and a ring gear when chamfering is provided on end faces in the same direction of adjacent teeth of the pinion gear. It is an image figure which shows the cross section of the tooth | gear of the pinion gear of FIG. 6, and the tooth | gear of a ring gear. FIG. 5 is a front view of a pinion gear and a ring gear when end surfaces of adjacent pinion gear teeth are alternately retracted. It is a front view of a pinion gear and a ring gear when chamfering is provided on both end faces of adjacent teeth of the pinion gear. It is a front view of the pinion gear and ring gear which contact | abut in the end surface part of the pinion gear by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a perspective view of the front-end | tip shape of the pinion by Embodiment 2 of this invention.

  A preferred embodiment of an engine starter according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is an exploded view of an engine starter according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The engine starter in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a motor driving force unit 10, a shaft 20, a pinion unit 30, a suction coil unit 40, a plunger 50, a lever 60, a bracket 70, a stopper 80, and a reduction gear unit 90. It is configured.

  The motor driving force unit 10 starts the engine. The shaft 20 is coupled to the output shaft side of the motor via a reduction gear unit 90. The pinion portion 30 is integrated with an overrunning clutch that is helically splined to the shaft 20 and can slide in the axial direction.

  The suction coil unit 40 sucks the plunger 50 by turning on the switch. The lever 60 transmits the movement of the plunger 50 by suction to the pinion unit 30. The bracket 70 fixes each component including the motor driving force portion 10, the shaft 20, and the pinion portion 30 to the engine side via a stopper 80 when the pinion moves.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view when the engine starter according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is attached to the engine. When the engine is started, when the switch is turned on, the relay contact is closed, a current flows through the suction coil 41 of the suction coil unit 40, and the plunger 50 is sucked. When the plunger 50 is sucked, the lever 60 is pulled and the lever 60 rotates around the lever rotation axis center 61.

  In the rotated lever 60, the end opposite to the plunger 50 pushes out the pinion part 30, and as a result, the pinion part 30 is pushed out while rotating along the spline of the shaft 20.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a chamfered shape of pinion gear 300 included in pinion portion 30 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and shows end surface 300a on the side in contact with ring gear 100 as an upper surface. . Each code | symbol in FIG. 3 has each shown the following.
300: Pinion gear 300a: End surface 31a, 31b of the pinion gear 300 on the side in contact with the ring gear 100: Each tooth surface (on the left and right sides) in contact with the teeth of the ring gear 100 32: Tooth on the end surface 300a Chamfered portions 32a and 32b provided at the tip of each of the teeth: chamfered portions provided on both sides of the teeth 33: teeth having tooth surfaces 31a and 31b and chamfered portions 32, 32a and 32b, respectively. Equivalent 34: tooth having tooth surfaces 31a and 31b and chamfered portion 32, corresponding to second tooth

  In the first embodiment, both the chamfered portion 32 provided at the tip of the tooth of the end surface 300a and the chamfered portions 32a and 32b provided on both sides of the tooth are adjacent to both sides of the tooth 33. The tooth 34 which has only the chamfering part 32 provided in the front-end | tip part of the tooth | gear of the part surface 300a as a chamfering part is arrange | positioned.

  If the number of teeth is an even number, the teeth 33 and the teeth 34 can be arranged alternately. In addition, FIG. 3 illustrates a case where the number of teeth is 13, and basically, the teeth 33 and the teeth 34 are alternately arranged, but the teeth 34 are continuously arranged at only one place. There is a part. However, even in such an arrangement of FIG. 3, the teeth 34 are always arranged on both sides of the teeth 33.

  FIG. 4 is a front view of the pinion gear 300 and the ring gear 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The pinion gear 300 in FIG. 4 has the same configuration as that in FIG. Further, the ring gear 100 in FIG. 4 includes a plurality of teeth 102 having tooth surfaces 101 a and 101 b on the left and right sides that abut against the teeth 33 and 34 of the pinion gear 300.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the rotational speed difference between the ring gear 100 and the pinion gear 300 occurs in the direction of the arrow, the teeth 102 of the ring gear 100 are attracted by the chamfered portion 32 a of the teeth 33 of the pinion gear. . As a result, the tooth surface 31a of the pinion gear and the tooth surface 101a of the ring gear 100 come into contact with each other. Therefore, since the teeth 102 of the ring gear 100 and the teeth 33 of the pinion gear 300 are engaged with each other, the impact of the rotational speed difference becomes a torque that synchronizes the rotational speed difference.

  On the other hand, FIG. 5 is a front view of pinion gear 300 and ring gear 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and the difference in rotational speed between ring gear 100 and pinion gear 300 occurs in the opposite direction to FIG. Shows the case.

  As shown in FIG. 5, even when a relative rotational speed difference on the opposite side to FIG. 4 is generated, the teeth 102 of the ring gear 100 are similarly invited to the chamfered portions 32b of the teeth 33 of the pinion gear. It is inserted and contacts the tooth surface 31b of the pinion gear. As a result, the pinion gear 300 is synchronized with the ring gear 100 without being repelled.

  Here, the effect of disposing the teeth 34 having no chamfered portions 32a, 32b on both sides of the teeth 33 having the chamfered portions 32a, 32b on the tooth surfaces (end surfaces) 31a, 31b on both sides of the pinion gear 300 will be described. Therefore, before describing this effect, a case where a pinion gear having a configuration different from that of FIG. 4 is used will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the case where chamfering is provided at all tooth end portions will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a front view of the pinion gear and the ring gear 100 when chamfering is provided on end faces in the same direction of adjacent teeth of the pinion gear. 7 is an image view showing a cross section of the teeth of the pinion gear and the teeth of the ring gear 100 of FIG. The temporary pinion via illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 will be described as a pinion gear 310.

  Consider a case in which the ring gear 100 is moved from below to above so as to mesh with the pinion gear 310 when the ring gear 100 is rotating in the direction of the arrow in relative rotation. In this case, the chamfered portion 32a of the pinion gear 310 collides with the edge portion of the ring gear 100, and the rotational torque Fx of the pinion gear 310 and the force Fz in the direction of repelling the pinion shaft are generated.

  By generating this force Fz, when the pinion gear 310 and the ring gear 100 mesh with each other, a collision sound and a meshing delay occur. In addition, the force Fz increases as the rotational speed difference increases. For this reason, the pinion gear 310 is largely repelled.

  Next, instead of providing chamfers at all tooth ends, if the heights of the end surfaces of adjacent teeth of the pinion gear are changed and retracted alternately (that is, the distance to the end surface of the ring gear 100) The case where the teeth of the pinion gears are different from each other will be described. FIG. 8 is a front view of the pinion gear and the ring gear when the end face portions of the teeth of adjacent pinion gears are alternately retracted. The temporary pinion via illustrated in FIG. 8 will be described as a pinion gear 320.

  In FIG. 8, a tooth 37 indicated by a dotted line indicates a tooth having a gap to the end face of the ring gear 100 even when the tooth 36 indicated by a solid line comes into contact with the ring gear 100. Here, at the initial stage when the pinion gear 320 rotating in the direction of the arrow moves to the ring gear 100 and the meshing operation starts, the teeth 37 of the pinion gear 320 are retracted. For this reason, both the tooth 36 of the pinion gear 36 and the tooth 102 of the ring gear come into contact with each other to cause tooth tip interference, and the rotation stops, which may cause damage to the shaft and the like.

  FIG. 9 is a front view of the pinion gear and the ring gear when chamfering is provided on both end faces of adjacent teeth of the pinion gear. The temporary pinion via illustrated in FIG. 9 will be described as a pinion gear 330.

  As shown in FIG. 9, when there are chamfered portions 32a and 32b on both sides of the adjacent teeth of the pinion gear, the ring gear teeth 102 are connected to the pinion gear regardless of the relative rotational speed difference in either rotation direction. The chamfered portion 32a or 32b of 330 is repelled.

  On the other hand, FIG. 10 is a front view of pinion gear 300 and ring gear 100 that abut on the end surface portion of pinion gear 300 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, at the initial stage when the pinion gear 300 moves to the ring gear 100 and the meshing operation starts, before the chamfered portion 32 a of the tooth 33 of the pinion gear 300 comes into contact with any tooth of the ring gear 100. In addition, the end face portion of the tooth 34 of the pinion gear 300 is in contact with the tooth 102 of the ring gear at the location “A portion”.

  For this reason, the rotational force of the ring gear 100 is such that the tooth surface 101a of the tooth 102 of the ring gear 100 abuts against the end surface portion (tooth surface 31b) of the tooth 34 of the pinion gear 300, so It becomes transmission. As a result, the pinion gear 300 is not repelled. And it will mesh in the state of previous FIG. 4 by the invitation of the chamfering part 32a of the next tooth (namely, tooth | gear 33 provided with the chamfering parts 32a and 32b).

  Thus, the presence of the tooth 34 having only the chamfered portion 32 provided at the tip of the tooth of the end surface 300a as the chamfered portion makes the end surface of the pinion perform a function of synchronization by frictional force, and the chamfering of the tooth 33. It is possible to prevent the ring gear 100 from hitting the portions 32a and 32b. Furthermore, the presence of the teeth 33 having the chamfered portions 32a and 32b provided on both sides of the teeth along with the chamfered portions 32 provided at the tip of the teeth of the end surface 300a makes the teeth 34 of the ring gear 100. Immediately after starting to mesh with the teeth 102, it is possible to mesh smoothly by inviting chamfering.

  Accordingly, the pinion gear 300 and the ring gear 100 can be instantaneously engaged with each other even when a slight rotational speed difference is generated without being greatly repelled. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the meshing loss time due to the pinion gear 300 being repelled and to reduce noise.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, by using a pinion gear in which teeth having different chamfered shapes are mixed, even when there is a rotational speed difference between the pinion and the ring gear, the friction between the end faces of the gears is reduced. It can synchronize by making a tooth surface collide instead of synchronizing by. As a result, it is possible to increase the time for synchronization, to suppress the reduction of the life due to wear such as rubbing, and to reduce the noise by shortening the rubbing time.

  More specifically, the pinion gear according to the first embodiment has a chamfered portion provided at the tip of the tooth on the end surface, and both teeth adjacent to each other having chamfered portions provided on both sides of the tooth as chamfered portions, The tooth | gear which has only the chamfering part provided in the front-end | tip part of the tooth | gear of an end surface as a chamfering part is provided. By providing such a chamfered structure, it becomes possible to engage with each other by colliding the tooth surfaces of the ring gear and the pinion gear regardless of the difference in rotational speed between them.

  In the first embodiment described above, the case where the chamfered portion 32 is provided in common at the tip of each tooth of the pinion gear 300 has been described. However, a feature of the present invention is that teeth that do not have chamfered portions 32a and 32b are arranged on both sides of teeth that have chamfered portions 32a and 32b provided on both sides of the tooth, respectively. is doing. Therefore, the same effect can be obtained even when teeth that are not provided with the chamfered portion 32 are used.

  In FIG. 3, the teeth 33 and the teeth 34 are basically arranged alternately. However, if the teeth 33 having the chamfered portions 32 a and 32 b as the chamfered portions are not arranged adjacent to each other, the meshing is performed. It is possible to improve the sex. Therefore, as an extreme arrangement of the teeth 33 and the teeth 34, it is possible to arrange the teeth 33 only at one location and the teeth 34 at other locations.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment, the case where the pinion and the ring gear are synchronized around the tooth surface by using the pinion gear in which teeth having different chamfered shapes are mixed has been described. In contrast, in the second embodiment, a pinion and a ring are provided around the tooth surface by using a pinion gear having a configuration in which the tooth surface (tooth thickness) of the tip portion is made thinner than the chamfered portion in the same manner as the chamfer. A case of realizing gear synchronization will be described.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the tip end shape of the pinion according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows the end surface 300a on the side in contact with the ring gear 100 as an upper surface. Each code | symbol in FIG. 11 has each shown the following.
300: Pinion gear 300a: In the pinion gear 300, end surfaces 31a and 31b on the side that comes into contact with the ring gear 100: tooth surfaces on both sides (left and right sides) that come into contact with the teeth of the ring gear 100, from the end surface 300a Tooth surfaces 31c, 31d provided at distant positions: tooth surfaces having a tooth thickness thinner than the tooth surfaces 31a, 31b, and tooth surfaces provided on the end surface 300a side 38: tooth surfaces 31a, 31b, 31c Tooth with 31d

  In the pinion gear according to the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, teeth having tooth surfaces 31c and 31d with a thinner tooth thickness are stacked on teeth having tooth surfaces 31a and 31b. It is composed of teeth 38 having a structure. In this way, it is possible to suppress the force to repel the pinion gear by making the tooth surface (tooth thickness) of the tip portion thinner than the chamfered portion, equivalent to chamfering.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, by using a pinion gear having a tooth shape in which different tooth thicknesses are stacked, even when there is a rotational speed difference between the pinion and the ring gear, the end surfaces of the gears It is possible to synchronize by colliding the tooth surface instead of synchronizing by friction. As a result, it is possible to increase the time for synchronization, to suppress the reduction of the life due to wear such as rubbing, and to reduce the noise by shortening the rubbing time.

  More specifically, the pinion gear according to the second embodiment is not a chamfered portion, but has a configuration in which teeth having a thinned tooth surface (tooth thickness) at the tip portion are provided on the end surface side of the pinion in the same manner as the chamfered portion. Yes. And by providing such a tooth surface structure, it becomes possible to mesh | engage by making both tooth surfaces collide, even if the rotation speed difference of a ring gear and a pinion gear exists in whichever.

  In the above-described embodiment, the description has been made on the content that the overrunning clutch moves, but the present invention is not limited to such a structure. In some actual structures, there is a clutch on the motor side of the spline, but considering this structure, the same effect can be obtained in any structure by capturing the pinion part as a moving body. Can do.

  Further, the “chamfered portion (corresponding to reference numerals 32, 32a, 32b)” in the first embodiment described above means a tapered portion that is intentionally provided in order to obtain an invitation effect when the gears are engaged with each other. ing. Therefore, for example, even if there are rounded portions on both sides of a tooth due to restrictions in processing parts, the tooth having such a portion belongs to the “tooth without a chamfered portion” in the present application.

  10 motor driving force section, 20 shafts, 30 pinion section, 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d end face, 32, 32a, 32b chamfered section, 33-38 teeth, 40 suction coil section, 41 suction coil, 50 plunger, 60 lever, 61 Lever rotation axis center, 70 bracket, 80 stopper, 90 reduction gear part, 100 ring gear, 101a, 101b tooth surface, 102 teeth, 300 pinion gear, 300a end surface.

Claims (2)

A starter motor,
An axially sliding pinion portion splined to the output shaft side of the starter motor;
A shift lever that pushes the pinion part toward the ring gear of the engine in accordance with the movement of the plunger that is sucked when the key switch is turned ON,
An engine starter comprising: a ring gear that meshes with the pinion of the pinion portion pushed out by the shift lever and starts the engine by transmitting the rotational force of the starter motor.
The pinion has a first tooth having a chamfered portion on both sides of the tooth and a second tooth not having a chamfered portion on both sides of the tooth with respect to the tooth shape of the ring gear side end surface. An engine starter characterized by having a configuration in which both are arranged and the second teeth are arranged on both sides of the first teeth. The engine starter according to claim 1,
The pinion is
When the number of teeth is an even number, the first teeth and the second teeth are alternately arranged,
When the number of teeth is an odd number, one portion where two second teeth are continuous is provided, and in the other portion, the first teeth and the second teeth are alternately arranged. A characteristic engine starting device.

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