JP6104310B2 - Engine starting device and engine starting method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an engine starter known as a starter for starting an engine and an engine start method.

In recent years, idling stop systems have become widespread in order to reduce fuel consumption, and in engine starters used in idling stop systems, the use of ring starters and pinion gears is high due to the high frequency of use of engine starters. Damage due to wear progresses, which may cause the meshing failure of the pinion gear and the ring gear.
In a system that performs idling stop, in order to ensure engine restart performance, the pinion gear may mesh with the ring gear while the ring gear is rotating.

  For example, if a restart request is made at the moment when idling is stopped and the engine has not stopped rotating, or if it is necessary to reduce the time when restarting the engine from a stopped state, the ring During the rotation of the gear, the pinion gear and the ring gear are engaged in advance.

In this way, wear increases as the frequency of idling stop increases, so wear must be suppressed in order not to cause meshing failure. Also, restarting from various states in which the engine is stopped may cause a sense of incongruity at the start unless the time for starting the engine is shortened.
Therefore, it is necessary not only to reduce the loss time of the engagement between the pinion gear and the ring gear, but also to reduce the time required for the engine to reach the idling speed with the starter motor.

For example, there is a starter that can be driven from high torque at the start to high rotation at the end by changing the reduction ratio in the engine starter (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In addition, the motor winding coil can be started quickly by controlling the control element that controls the energization of the coil in accordance with the engine load fluctuation, and the meshing noise between the pinion gear and the ring gear due to the torque fluctuation is reduced. There is a starter control system (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Furthermore, there is an engine starter that controls the amount of current flowing through a circuit that bypasses the series winding coil in accordance with the rotational state of the motor in order to improve engine startability and prevent a large battery current from flowing to the motor ( For example, see Patent Document 3.)

JP 2004-218627 A JP 2002-70700 A JP 2004-31950 A

  In the case of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is possible to increase the output torque by changing the reduction ratio to increase the torque at a low speed, but the energy does not change even if the reduction ratio is changed, so in the high speed rotation range. The torque cannot be increased at the rotational speed of the output shaft, and the motor output can be used efficiently, but the engine cannot be started quickly.

  In the case of the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, it is necessary to increase the output in order to start it quickly. Doing so will increase wear.

  In the case of the above-mentioned Patent Documents 2 and 3, not only the cost is increased if the energy to be applied is controlled by the number of revolutions of the engine or motor, but the engine rotation is recognized. The acceleration timing will be delayed.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to shorten an engine start time and suppress an engine start device and an engine start capable of suppressing noise caused by gear wear and start-up collision. It is in providing a method.

In order to achieve the above object, an engine starter according to the present invention includes a motor unit having a plurality of selectable pole numbers, a pinion gear unit provided on an output shaft of the motor unit, and an output of the motor unit. provided on the shaft, and the pinion moving body movable in the axial direction, the pinion gear portion, and the extrusion mechanism for moving the pinion moving body so as to mesh with the ring gear coupled to the engine, said plurality of Among the number of poles, a solenoid switch unit that selects a smaller number or a larger number of poles to turn on / off the energization current to the motor unit, and selects the smaller number of poles and and the extrusion mechanism is driven when turning on the energizing current the pinion gear portion abuts to the ring gear, then when said pinion gear unit and the ring gear to mesh with the when the the abutment In late, and a solenoid switch unit for switching the number of poles towards the high.

Further, in the present invention, when the energization current to the motor unit is turned on by the solenoid switch unit, a pinion gear provided on the output shaft of the motor unit by selecting the smaller one of the plurality of pole numbers. the part, by extrusion mechanism, is brought into contact with the ring gear coupled to the engine, then the time delay until meshes from when said pinion gear unit and the ring gear is the abut, the number of the plurality of poles An engine starting method for switching to the larger number of poles is provided.

  According to the engine starter and the engine start method according to the present invention, when turning on the energization current to the motor unit, the smaller one of the plurality of poles provided in the motor unit is selected, and then the pinion When it is determined that the gear part and the ring gear mesh with each other, it is configured to switch to the larger number of poles, so the collision force between the pinion gear part and the ring gear during initial meshing can be reduced. The engine can be started quickly while suppressing gear wear and noise. Further, the cost can be reduced without using complicated control for these switching operations.

1 is an exploded perspective view of an engine starter according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is side surface sectional drawing of the engine starting apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is front sectional drawing of the motor part used for the engine starting apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the electric circuit diagram which showed the connection relation of the motor part and solenoid switch part which are used for the engine starting apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure explaining the meshing state of the ring gear and pinion gear part in the engine starting device by Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a characteristic graph figure which shows the relationship between the pinion rotation speed and output torque of the engine starting apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the circuit diagram which showed the modification of the motor part used for the engine starting apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the circuit diagram which showed another modification of the motor part used for the engine starting apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, an engine starter according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The engine starting device according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 schematically includes a motor unit 10, an output shaft 20, a pinion moving body unit 30, a solenoid switch unit 40, a plunger 50, and a lever. 60, a bracket 70, and an internal speed reducing portion 90 are provided.

  The motor unit 10 includes input units 11 and 12 and generates a rotational force for starting an engine (not shown). The output shaft 20 has a helical spline portion 20 a for coupling to the motor portion 10 via the reduction gear portion 90. The pinion moving body portion 30 is helically splined to the output shaft 20 by a helical spline portion and an output shaft helical spline portion 20a, which will be described later, and rotates the peripheral surface of the output shaft 20 in the axial direction of the output shaft 20 While moving.

  The solenoid switch unit 40 includes an input unit 45 and output units 41 and 42 and includes a plunger 50. The lever 60 has a substantially central portion rotatably supported, one end engaged with the plunger 50 and the other end engaged with the pinion moving body 30. The bracket 70 stops the movement of the pinion moving body 30 when the pinion moving body 30 moves to a predetermined position opposite to the motor 10. The motor 70, the output shaft 20, and the pinion moving body 30 Components such as the solenoid switch 40 are fixed to the engine side.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the engine starting device shown in the exploded view of FIG. The solenoid switch unit 40 is activated when an on-command is issued to the engine starting device when a key switch (not shown) of the vehicle is turned on or from an engine control device (not shown; hereinafter referred to as ECU). At this time, the suction coil 43 provided inside is energized and sucks the plunger 50. The suction coil 43, the plunger 50, and the lever 60 constitute an extrusion mechanism unit that moves the pinion gear unit 31 to a position where the pinion gear unit 31 meshes with the ring gear 80 via the pinion moving body unit 30. Ring gear 80 is coupled to the engine.

  When the engine is restarted, the plunger 50 is pulled by pulling the lever 60 by energizing the suction coil 43 of the solenoid switch unit 40 from the battery 100 (see FIG. 3) by a restart signal. Accordingly, the pinion moving body 30 is pushed in the direction of the ring gear 80 by rotating around the lever rotation center 61. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5A described later, the pinion gear portion 31 comes into contact with the ring gear 80 at the end surface portion.

  As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 3, the motor unit 10 includes a plurality of magnetic cores 13 arranged in the rotation direction around the rotor unit 14 inside the yoke, and a plurality of the magnetic cores 13. Each of the field windings 11a, 11b and 12a, 12b is wound around each, and is configured to change the number of energization poles according to a predetermined condition.

  Electrically, as shown in FIG. 4, the battery 100 as a power source is connected to the input unit 45 of the solenoid switch unit 40, and the switch 40 a when the solenoid switch unit 40 is energized with 4 poles and the battery 40 b when it is energized with 2 poles. And connected to the output units 41 and 42. Note that only the switch 40b is turned on when the two-poles are energized, and both the switch 40b and the switch 40a are turned on when the four-poles are energized.

  The output units 41 and 42 of the solenoid switch unit 40 are connected to the input unit 11 when the motor unit 10 is energized with four poles and 12 when the motor unit 10 is energized with two poles, respectively. The input units 11 and 12 are connected to a parallel circuit of field windings 11a and 11b when energizing four poles and a parallel circuit of field windings 12a and 12b when energizing two poles, respectively. These parallel circuits are connected to the rotor unit 14.

Hereinafter, the energization operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 and FIGS. 5 and 6.
When the engine start signal is generated, the switch (or contact) 40b is turned on when the two poles are energized. At this time, the field windings 12a and 12b are energized from the input unit 12 when the two-poles are energized, and start rotating as a two-pole motor. After the pinion gear 31 and the ring gear 80 mesh with each other, transition is made when energizing the four poles, and when the switch (or contact) 40a is turned on in addition to the switch 40b, the field winding 11a and 11b is also energized and rotates as a 4-pole motor.

Next, FIG. 5 conceptually shows the meshing state of the pinion gear portion 31 and the ring gear 80, and FIG. 6 showing the characteristic relationship between the torque and the rotational speed, when switching from 2-pole energization to 4-pole energization. This will be described below with reference.
First, when the switch 40b is turned on, the suction coil 43 is energized correspondingly, so that the pinion moving body 30 is moved by the arrow 50 in FIG. The pinion gear part 31 is pushed out in the direction. Thereby, as described above, the pinion gear portion 31 is brought into contact with the ring gear 80 at the end surface portion as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, when the plunger 50 turns on the switch 40b when the two poles are energized, the power from the battery 100 is supplied to the field windings 12a and 12b via the input unit 12 of the motor unit 10. As a result, the rotor unit 14 starts rotating, and the pinion moving body unit 30 starts rotating via the reduction gear unit 90.

  As a result, as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 5 (B), the pinion gear portion 31 starts to rotate, so that the pinion gear portion 31 and the ring gear 80 are once separated and come into phase with each other. The pinion moving body 30 is pushed into the ring gear 80 by being pushed in 60.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5C, the pinion gear portion 31 and the ring gear 80 mesh with each other by causing an initial collision. In addition to being pushed by the lever 60, the rotor portion 14 is further pushed by the helical spline portion 20a of the output shaft 20 as a result of the rotation, and the ring gear 80 is completely engaged as shown in FIG. Start rotation and move in the direction of the arrow.

After detecting the time until complete meshing or meshing with a mechanism or sensor for detecting meshing, the process shifts to 4-pole energization. Here, the mechanism for detecting meshing can be easily detected at low cost without any problems by using a mechanism that detects if the positional relationship of the lever 60 moves more than a certain level by moving the lever 60.
That is, the switch 40 a of the solenoid switch unit 40 is turned on, that is, the field windings 11 a and 11 b are energized from the battery 100 via the output unit 41 and the motor input unit 11 by energizing the suction coil 44. Thus, the rotation of the rotor portion 14 is further accelerated to start the engine quickly.

The motor unit 10 at this time exhibits characteristics as shown in FIG.
That is, at the time of the first two-pole energization, the solid line portion of the torque-rotation speed characteristic 100b at the time of two-pole energization is traced, and the solid line portion of the characteristic 100c at the time of switching is followed. The solid line portion of the characteristic 100a is traced.

Further, the specifications of this field winding are 2 based on the characteristics 100a at the time of four-pole energization clearly by changing the number of turns of the field windings 12a and 12b of the two-pole portion, for example, by reducing the number of turns. The torque of the characteristic 100b at the time of pole energization can be suppressed.
By controlling the motor capable of switching the number of poles in this way, the torque characteristics at the time of two-pole energization can be suppressed, so that the noise and the gear tip wear generated in FIG. 5C can be suppressed. Therefore, it can be effective as a technique for increasing the output in order to improve the startability, or as suppression of wear when increasing the input voltage.

  Before meshing, the minimum required torque that can be started at a low temperature is suppressed, and after meshing, there is no problem even if the output is increased as much as possible. Gear wear and noise can be suppressed while shortening the starting time.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, a resistor 15 or the like is attached in series with the parallel circuit of the field windings 12a and 12b when the two poles are energized, or the current to 12a and 12b is suppressed by a circuit equivalent thereto. Also good.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, after the switch 40b for energizing the two poles is first turned on, when switching, the switch 40b is turned off, and then the switch 40a is energized to make the four-pole energization. Good.
In that case, the field windings 12a and 12b at the time of two-pole energization are divided into two, a part of the field windings 12a1 and 12b1 are left for two-pole energization, and the other field windings 12a2 and 12b2 The wire connection state may be changed so as to be assigned to the field windings 11a and 11b during energization of four poles.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Motor part, 11 Energization input part to motor, 11a Field winding at the time of 4 pole energization (after gear meshing), 11b Field winding at the time of 4 pole energization, 12 Energization input part to motor, 12a 2 pole Field winding during energization (before gear meshing), 12b Field winding during 2-pole energization, 13 magnetic core, 14 rotor section, 14a armature winding, 15 resistance, 20 output shaft, 20a output shaft helical spline Part, 30-pinion moving body part, 31-pinion gear part, 31a starter side teeth, 40 solenoid switch part, 41 output part at the time of 4-pole energization, 42 output part at the time of 2-pole energization, 43 suction coil, 44 suction coil, 45 Input section, 50 Plunger, 60 Lever, 61 Lever rotation axis center, 70 Bracket, 80 Ring gear, 80a Engine side gear teeth, 90 Reduction gear section, 100 Battery, 100a Torque and rotational speed characteristic curve when energizing 4 poles, 100b Torque and rotational speed characteristic curve when energizing 2 poles, 100c Torque and rotational speed characteristic curves when switching.

Claims (5)

A motor unit having a plurality of selectable pole numbers;
A pinion gear portion provided on the output shaft of the motor portion;
A pinion moving body provided on the output shaft of the motor unit and movable in the axial direction;
An extrusion mechanism for moving the pinion moving body so that the pinion gear engages with a ring gear coupled to the engine;
Among the plurality of poles, a solenoid switch unit that selects a smaller or larger number of poles to turn on / off a current flowing to the motor unit, and selects the smaller number of poles and wherein the pinion gear portion energizing current is the extrusion mechanism is driven when turned on is brought into contact with the ring gears, then to mate from when said pinion gear unit and the ring gear is the abut An engine starter comprising a solenoid switch unit that switches to the larger number of poles with a time delay . The motor unit includes a rotor, a yoke, a plurality of magnetic cores arranged in a rotation direction of the rotor inside the yoke, and a field wound around each of the magnetic cores The engine starting device according to claim 1, wherein the field winding is different in winding depending on the number of poles. The engine starter according to claim 1, wherein a resistance is provided in series with the field winding on the side of the small number of poles, and a low current is always supplied with the small number of poles. The engine starter according to claim 2 , wherein the connection state is changed so that a part of the field winding on the side with the smaller number of poles is allocated to the field winding on the side with the larger number of poles. When the energizing current to the motor unit is turned on by the solenoid switch unit, the pinion gear unit provided on the output shaft of the motor unit is selected by selecting the smaller one of the plurality of poles , and the extrusion mechanism The part is brought into contact with the ring gear coupled to the engine ,
Thereafter, the time delay until the pinion gear portion and said ring gear is engaged from when the the abutment, of the number plurality of poles, many people engine starting method of switching the number of poles of the.

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