Forklift Starters - A starter motors today is typically a permanent-magnet composition or a series-parallel wound direct current electrical motor along with a starter solenoid mounted on it. Once current from the starting battery is applied to the solenoid, mainly via a key-operated switch, the solenoid engages a lever which pushes out the drive pinion which is situated on the driveshaft and meshes the pinion utilizing the starter ring gear which is seen on the engine flywheel.
The solenoid closes the high-current contacts for the starter motor, that begins to turn. Once the engine starts, the key operated switch is opened and a spring inside the solenoid assembly pulls 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 means of an overrunning clutch. This allows the pinion to transmit drive in only a single direction. Drive is transmitted in this particular method via the pinion to the flywheel ring gear. The pinion remains engaged, like for example in view of the fact that the operator fails to release the key as soon as the engine starts or if the solenoid remains engaged because there is a short. This actually causes the pinion to spin separately of its driveshaft.
This aforementioned action prevents the engine from driving the starter. This is an important step as this particular type of back drive would enable the starter to spin so fast that it can fly apart. Unless modifications were made, the sprag clutch arrangement will stop the use of the starter as a generator if it was used in the hybrid scheme mentioned prior. Normally an average starter motor is intended for intermittent utilization which will preclude it being used as a generator.
The electrical components are made to function for approximately thirty seconds so as to prevent overheating. Overheating is caused by a slow dissipation of heat is because of ohmic losses. The electrical components are designed to save weight and cost. This is really the reason nearly all owner's guidebooks used for automobiles recommend the driver to stop for a minimum of ten seconds right after each and every ten or fifteen seconds of cranking the engine, whenever trying to start an engine which does not turn over instantly.
During the early 1960s, this overrunning-clutch pinion arrangement was phased onto the market. Before that time, a Bendix drive was utilized. The Bendix system operates by placing the starter drive pinion on a helically cut driveshaft. When the starter motor starts turning, the inertia of the drive pinion assembly allows 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 hence out of mesh with the ring gear.
The development of Bendix drive was made in the 1930's with the overrunning-clutch design called the Bendix Folo-Thru drive, developed and introduced in the 1960s. The Folo-Thru drive consists of a latching mechanism together with a set of flyweights inside the body of the drive unit. This was a lot better as the typical Bendix drive used in order to disengage from the ring when the engine fired, though it did not stay functioning.
As soon as the starter motor is engaged and begins turning, the drive unit is forced forward on the helical shaft by inertia. It then 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 allows the overdriven drive unit to become spun out of engagement, thus unwanted starter disengagement can be avoided previous to a successful engine start.
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