Forklift Starters and Alternators - A starter motors today is usually a permanent-magnet composition or a series-parallel wound direct current electrical motor with a starter solenoid installed on it. Once current from the starting battery is applied to the solenoid, mainly through a key-operated switch, the solenoid engages a lever which pushes out the drive pinion that is positioned 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 starts to turn. When the engine starts, the key operated switch is opened and a spring within the solenoid assembly pulls the pinion gear away from the ring gear. This particular action causes the starter motor to stop. The starter's pinion is clutched to its driveshaft by means of an overrunning clutch. This permits the pinion to transmit drive in just one direction. Drive is transmitted in this method through the pinion to the flywheel ring gear. The pinion remains engaged, like for instance in view of the fact that the driver 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 independently of its driveshaft.
The actions discussed above would prevent the engine from driving the starter. This vital step stops the starter from spinning so fast that it could fly apart. Unless adjustments were done, the sprag clutch arrangement would preclude the use of the starter as a generator if it was utilized in the hybrid scheme discussed prior. Normally an average starter motor is designed for intermittent use which will prevent it being used as a generator.
The electrical components are made so as to function for roughly thirty seconds so as to avoid overheating. Overheating is caused by a slow dissipation of heat is due to ohmic losses. The electrical parts are meant to save cost and weight. This is actually the reason the majority of owner's instruction manuals intended for vehicles recommend the driver to stop for a minimum of 10 seconds right 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.
In the early part of the 1960s, this overrunning-clutch pinion arrangement was phased onto the market. Before that time, a Bendix drive was utilized. The Bendix system works by placing the starter drive pinion on a helically cut driveshaft. When 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 allows the pinion to go beyond the rotating speed of the starter. At this point, the drive pinion is forced back down the helical shaft and thus 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 launched during the 1960s. The Folo-Thru drive has a latching mechanism along with a set of flyweights within the body of the drive unit. This was better as the standard Bendix drive used to disengage from the ring as soon as the engine fired, even though it did not stay functioning.
When 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. As soon as the drive unit is spun at a speed higher than what is attained by the starter motor itself, for example it is backdriven by the running engine, and then 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 prevented previous to a successful engine start.
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