A method of controlling a motor assembly for starting an engine and driving a balance shaft includes: determining whether starting or restarting of an engine is desired; operating an actuator such that a motor shaft is moved forward when the starting or restarting of the engine is desired; and starting or restarting the engine by rotating a motor and by driving a start gear, after the operating the actuator.

A pinion starter drive for an internal combustion engine is provided. The pinion starter drive includes a drive pinion and a starter gear. At least one tooth of the drive pinion has a drive actual profile, and at least one tooth of the starter gear has a starter actual profile. A sum of at least one discrete value of a deviation of the drive actual profile from a drive target profile in the drive pinion tooth root region and at least one discrete value of a deviation of the starter actual profile from a starter target profile in the starter gear tooth tip region is less than 0. A method of manufacture of a pinion starter drive includes selecting a drive pinion and a starter gear from a plurality of gears having a deviation sum less than zero.

The invention relates mainly to a starter (11) for a motor vehicle combustion engine, comprising: an electric motor (15), a drive pinion (60), a pinion body (61) on which said drive pinion (60) is mounted, a drive shaft (12) able to transmit a torque derived from the electric motor (15) to the drive pinion (60) via the pinion body, the pinion body (61) being mounted with the ability to slide axially with respect to the drive shaft (12), and in which, with there being a chamber (86) delimited notably by one end of the drive shaft (12) and one end of the pinion body (61) opposite the end of the drive shaft (12), the chamber (86) is vented via a through-opening (85) made in an annular wall of the drive shaft (12) or of the pinion body (61).

A DC motor is provided for use in a starter that starts an ermine. The DC motor includes a commutator and a brush. The commutator is formed of copper or a copper alloy whose copper percentage content is higher than or equal to 99 mass %. The brush is arranged in sliding contact with a surface of the commutator. Moreover, the brush is formed of a sintered compact that contains graphite, copper and at least one metal sulfide solid lubricant. The percentage content of copper in the sintered compact is 30-70 mass %. The at least one metal sulfide solid lubricant includes tungsten disulfide. The percentage content of tungsten disulfide in the sintered compact is higher than or equal to 6.5 mass %.

An air turbine starter for starting an engine, comprising a housing defining an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path extending between the inlet and the outlet for communicating a flow of gas there through. A turbine member is journaled within the housing and disposed within the flow path for rotatably extracting mechanical power from the flow of gas. A secondary supply port is fluidly coupled to the flow of the pressurized gas in the housing.

A starter includes a motor configured with a direct current motor. The direct current motor has a brush and a commutator. The brush is a sintered material formed of graphite and a copper powder. The commutator is formed of either copper or a copper alloy that has a copper content of 99% or more. A surface of is a sliding portion of the commutator which has sliding movement with the brush is provided with a graphite cover-layer that contains graphite as a main component. The graphite cover-layer contains a hard compound which has a Vickers hardness higher than 10 GPa and a metal sulfide solid lubricant.

Disclosed is an electric starter with a manual turning function. A main shaft, a drive gear mechanism, a shift fork, an electromagnetic relay guide rod and a first return spring are arranged in a housing of the electric starter. A gear shifting mechanism comprises a force receiving component which extends out of the housing of the electric starter and serves as an external force applying point so as to promote the electromagnetic relay guide rod to move rightwards, a normally closed switch for cutting off a power supply of the electric starter when the force receiving component moves to an extreme position, a positioning component for locking the force receiving component when the force receiving component moves to the extreme position, and a first return component which enables the force receiving component to automatically returns to an original state when the force receiving component is unlocked. The main shaft is indirectly driven to rotate by the turning mechanism via a transmission mechanism or directly driven to rotate by the turning mechanism via a turning tool. An improvement is made to a structure of a traditional electric starter without affecting existing functions thereof, i.e., a function of manual turning is added. Therefore, a flywheel gear of a motor can be precisely positioned during maintenance so as to improve efficiency and eliminate potential safety hazards.

There is provided an internal-combustion-engine starting apparatus that eliminates the restriction that the portion of the output axle at the axial-direction anti-motor side needs to be narrower than the inner diameter of an inner ring portion and that eliminates the requirement that a member for restricting the output axle from traveling toward the axial-direction anti-motor side is added as an extra component. An internal-combustion-engine starting apparatus (1) is characterized in that the outer helical spline (11) includes an outer ridge portion (12), in that an inner helical spline (20) includes a both-side opened recess groove portion (21) and a one-side opened recess groove portion (22), in that the outer ridge portion (12) engages with the one-side opened recess groove portion (22), in that the outer diameter of an inner small-diameter portion (24) of an output axle (4) is smaller than the inner diameter of the tooth crest of the outer helical spline 11, in that the outer diameter of an inner large-diameter portion (33) of the output axle (4) is larger than the inner diameter of the tooth crest of the outer helical spline (11), and in that the axial-direction length of the inner small-diameter portion (24) is the same as or larger than the axial-direction length of the outer ridge portion (12).

The invention relates mainly to an assembly comprising:a combustion engine ring gear having a plurality of teeth, the said ring gear being defined by a modulus and a pressure angle,a starter comprising a pinion (31) able to engage with the said ring gear of the said combustion engine, the said pinion (31) having a plurality of teeth (42) is defined by a modulus (Mp) and a pressure angle (alpha_p), characterized in that a pinion product which is the product of the modulus (Mp) of the said pinion (31) and the cosine of the pressure angle (alpha_p) of the said pinion (31) is greater than a ring-gear product equal to the product of the modulus of the said ring gear and the cosine of the pressure angle of the said ring gear.

An air turbine starter for starting an engine, comprising a housing defining an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path extending between the inlet and the outlet for communicating a flow of gas there through. A turbine member is journaled within the housing and disposed within the flow path for rotatably extracting mechanical power from the flow of gas. A secondary supply port is fluidly coupled to the flow of the pressurized gas in the housing.