JPH04325772A - Inertial plunging type starter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the mesh performance of a pinion gear with a ring gear without causing the size enlargement of a one-way clutch. CONSTITUTION:A one-way clutch 3 is formed of a driving side member 4 screwed with the helical spline 2 of a driving shaft 1, a roller 40 and a driven side member 5 with a pinion gear 7 formed thereto. A first spring. 14 is inserted with a clearance of measure (a) between the bottom wall 44 of the ring part 43 of the driving side member 4 and the free end 53 of the driven side member 5, and a clearance of measure (c<a) is formed between the supporting wall 55 of the driven side member 5 and the free end 64 of a second spring 15 with its base part fixed to the large diameter cylinder part 42 of the driving side member 4. At the time of the pinion gear 7 colliding with the ring gear of an engine crankshaft, this collision is buffered by the first and second springs 14, 15, and the mesh depth of the pinion gear 7 with the ring gear is guaranteed by the stroke of both springs.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inertial plunge starting device, and more particularly to an inertial diving starting device in which the stroke of a pinion that meshes with a ring gear is increased to improve meshing performance.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In an inertial plunge starter, when a starter motor rotates a drive gear of the starter and a shaft supporting the gear, an outer member engages with the shaft via a helical spline. Due to the inertia of the one-way clutch, the inner member of the one-way clutch and the pinion gear that rotates integrally with the inner member fly out in the axial direction of the shaft, and the pinion gear is fixed to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine. The pinion gear collides with the ring gear, and the pinion gear meshes with the ring gear while sliding on the end face of the ring gear. This state will be explained with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the teeth 72 of the pinion gear mesh with the teeth 71 of the ring gear by developing the arrangement of the teeth 71 of the ring gear along the circumferential surface of the ring gear on a plane. The teeth 72 of the pinion gear advance in the direction of the arrow from a position distant from the ring gear in the axial direction of the shaft, collide with the end face of the ring gear at a position shown by a broken line 73, and slide in the direction of the arrow in the circumferential direction of the ring gear. The pinion gear tooth 72 then moves forward in the axial direction, with the chamfer of the tooth 72 along the chamfer of the ring gear tooth 71 as shown by the dashed line 74, and at the position shown by the dashed line 75, the chamfer of the tooth 72 moves forward in the axial direction along the chamfer of the ring gear tooth 71. collide with From this state, the pinion gear teeth 72 are prevented from sliding in the circumferential direction of the ring gear, and move forward in the axial direction along the colliding ring gear teeth 71 to complete meshing.

In FIG. 8, the greater the meshing depth h (FIG. 8) when the pinion gear teeth 72 collide with the ring gear teeth 71 at the position indicated by the dashed line 75, the better the meshing performance is. It is generally known that damage to pinion gears and ring gears is relatively rare. As a means for obtaining the above meshing depth, as shown in FIG. 9, a one-way clutch 82 provided on the shaft 81 of the starter device is used.
A clutch outer 83 is screwed onto the shaft 81 via a helical spline 84, and a cylindrical clutch inner 86 constituting a driven side is provided inside the bowl-shaped enlarged diameter portion of the clutch outer 83 via a roller 85. The inner periphery of 86 is connected to the sleeve 8 of pinion gear 87.
8 are meshed with straight splines, and a buffer device 89 made of an elastic material such as rubber or synthetic resin is interposed between the sleeve 88 of the pinion gear 87 and the bottom of the bowl-shaped enlarged diameter portion of the clutch outer 83. Kosho 56-1
It is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 1074. According to the above device,
After the pinion gear 87 collides with the ring gear (not shown) (dashed line 73 in FIG. 8), the pinion gear 87 stops moving forward, and the clutch outer 83 moves forward while compressing the shock absorber 89, leaving the shock absorber 89 in place. After bending by a certain amount, the pinion gear 87 is slid on the end face of the ring gear,
They slide on each other's chamfered portions (dashed line 74 in FIG. 8), and then the pinion gear 87 can be ejected by the elasticity stored in the shock absorber 89.

0004

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] In the inertia diving type starter device in which a shock absorber is provided between the clutch outer of the one-way clutch and the pinion gear as described above, when the pinion gear collides with the ring gear, the above-mentioned engagement depth is In order to make h sufficiently large, it is more advantageous to use a shock absorber having spring characteristics with a relatively high load and a long stroke. However, in the case of the structure shown in Fig. 9, in order to use a shock absorber with spring characteristics of high loads and long strokes, considering that the shock absorber must have a spring stress capable of withstanding the set load. The larger size of the shock absorber causes the one-way clutch to become larger, making it unsuitable for installation in an internal combustion engine. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an inertial plunge-starting device in which the pinion gear meshes well with the ring gear without increasing the size of the one-way clutch.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes a pinion gear provided on a drive shaft so as to be rotatable and axially movable with respect to the shaft, and a drive side member screwed to the drive shaft via a helical spline. and a driven side member that pushes the pinion gear in the axial direction based on the relative rotation between the drive shaft and the drive side member and rotates the pinion gear integrally during a starting operation. In the type starter, a first spring is sandwiched between the driving side member and the driven side member of the one-way clutch, and the relative proximity movement of both members is caused by a predetermined distance a in the axial direction of the driving shaft. Between the first allowable gap and the drive-side member and the driven-side member, a second member having a base attached to one of the two members and having a free end facing the other member; a second gap portion in which a spring is disposed and both members can move relatively close to each other in the axial direction of the drive shaft, and the first spring has a spring constant equal to that of the second spring. The spring constant is set to be smaller than the spring constant, and in the free extension state of the second spring, the dimension a is set between the free end of the second spring and the other member opposite to the free end. This feature is characterized in that they are spaced apart by a smaller dimension c.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main part thereof. In the figure, a drive shaft 1 of a starter device is provided with a helical spline 2 on a part of its peripheral surface, and a drive side member 4 of a one-way clutch 3 is screwed onto the helical spline 2.
The driven member 5 is rotatably and slidably supported by the drive shaft 1 via a bearing 6. The driven member 5 has a pinion gear 7 integrally and coaxially formed at one end thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, the driving side member 4 of the one-way clutch 3 includes a small-diameter cylindrical portion 41 having a spline portion formed on its inner circumferential surface that engages with the helical spline 2, and the small-diameter cylindrical portion 4.
A large diameter cylindrical portion 42 formed to have a larger diameter than 1, and both cylindrical portions 41 and 4.
2 and an annular portion 43 extending in the radial direction of the drive shaft 1. The driven member 5 includes the inner circumferential surface of the large-diameter cylindrical portion 41 of the driving member 4, a base cylindrical portion 51 having an inner circumferential surface that performs a one-way clutch function together with the roller 40, and a support cylindrical portion forming the pinion gear 7. 52, and is supported by a bearing 6 on the drive shaft 1 in the support cylinder portion 52. A drive gear 8 is coaxially attached to the drive shaft 1 at a position adjacent to the helical spline 2 by means of serrations or keys so as to rotate together with the drive shaft 1, and the drive gear 8 is connected to a starter motor (not shown). ) is meshed with a gear 91 formed on the shaft 9 which is rotated by the shaft 9. At the other end of the drive shaft 1, there is a support cylindrical portion 52 of the driven member 5 on which the pinion gear 7 is formed.
A stopper 10 having a shape suitable for contact with the end face of the driven member 5 is supported by a snap spring 12 fitted in a circumferential groove 11 formed in the drive shaft 1, and
A return spring 13 is interposed between the stopper 10 and the stopper 10. In this embodiment, when the starting motor is connected to a power source and the shaft 9 is rapidly rotated, the gears 91,
The drive shaft 1 is rotated via the drive gear 8,
Drive-side member 4 corresponding to the outer member of the one-way clutch 3
Due to the engagement of the small-diameter cylindrical portion 41 with the helical spline 2 of the drive shaft 1 and the inertia of the one-way clutch 3, the driven member 5, which corresponds to the inner member, suddenly moves against the biasing force of the return spring 13. The drive shaft 1 begins to move in the axial direction, and a portion of the tooth end surface of the pinion gear 7 collides with a ring gear (not shown) coaxially fixed to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine.

The free end 53 of the base cylinder portion 51 of the driven member 5 of the one-way clutch 3 has a stepped portion whose outer peripheral end surface is removed in the axial direction so that the center portion of the free end 53 protrudes in an annular shape. While forming the wall 54, the annular portion 43 of the drive side member 4
A recessed bottom wall 44 is formed by removing the inner diameter side on the surface facing the step wall 54 , and an annular spring 14 ( This spring is called a first spring), and the elasticity of the spring 14 urges the driven member 5 in a direction away from the driving member 4. A roller 4 is provided at the open end of the large diameter cylindrical portion 42 of the drive side member 4.
An annular end plate (flat washer) 45 is abutted to prevent the spring from falling off, two semi-annular washers 46 are abutted on the outside thereof, and a spring 15 having a semi-annular outer shape is further outside the end plate (flat washer) 45. (This will be referred to as a second spring) are brought into contact with each other, and the end edge of the substantially bowl-shaped cover 16 made of a metal plate attached to the entire outer peripheral surface of the large diameter cylindrical portion 42 is pressed against the spring. 15, and is caulked to the annular portion 43 side to be fixed to the large diameter cylindrical portion 42. The first spring 14 is a wave washer-like leaf spring whose planar shape is shown in FIG. 3, and whose cross section along the diameter line is shown in FIG.
Its annular inner circumferential edge abuts against the step wall 54 of the driven member 5, and its annular outer circumferential edge abuts against the bottom wall 44 of the drive side member 4. The second spring 15 has a planar shape as shown in FIG. 5 and a side surface shape as shown in FIG.
A plurality of spring parts 63 having a trapezoidal planar shape are formed through a plurality of linear gaps 62 extending in the radial direction from 1, and the plate spring is formed into a plate shape with the peripheral edge connection part 61 as the periphery. , is held between the semi-annular washer 46 at the open end of the large diameter cylindrical portion 42 of the drive side member 4 and the edge of the cover 16 in the peripheral edge connecting portion 61, and each free edge of the trapezoidal spring portion 63 64 is opposed to a support wall 55 facing radially outward formed on the pinion gear 7 side of the base cylinder portion 51 of the driven side member 5 or at the base of the pinion gear. These springs 14, 15 are set such that the spring constant of the first spring 14 is considerably smaller than the spring constant of the second spring 15.

Between the free end 53 of the base cylindrical portion 51 of the driven member 5 of the one-way clutch 3 and the bottom wall 44 of the driving member 4, when the first spring 14 is in the freely extended state, The shaft 1 has a gap having a predetermined dimension a in the axial direction (this is referred to as a first gap). Further, between the semi-annular washer 46 fixed to the driving side member 4 and the support wall 55 formed on the driven side member 5, there is a gap larger than the dimension a when the first spring 14 is in the freely extended state. It has a gap of dimension b (this is referred to as a second gap), and further has a first gap.
and in the freely extended state of the second springs 14, 15,
Free end edge 6 of the trapezoidal spring portion 63 of the second spring 15
4 and the supporting wall 55, a gap having a dimension c, which is not larger than the dimension a, is formed. Then, as described above, the starting motor is connected to the power source, and the driving side member 4 of the one-way clutch 3 is rapidly driven together with the driven side member 5 due to the engagement with the helical spline 2 and the inertia of the one-way clutch 3. When the shaft 1 moves in the axial direction and a part of the tooth end surface of the pinion gear 7 collides with the ring gear (not shown), the shaft of the drive shaft 1 is moved between the base cylinder part 51 of the driven side member 5 and the roller 40. The driven member 5 starts to move relative to the driving member 4 in the axial direction, and the step wall 54 formed at the end of the base cylinder portion 51 of the driven member 5 and the driving member 4 The first buffer spring 14 begins to be bent between the bottom wall 44 formed in the annular part 43 of the base cylinder part 51 and the free end 5 of the base cylinder part 51.
3 and a bottom wall 44 formed on the annular portion 43 of the drive side member 4.
The dimension a of the first gap between the two decreases. When the amount of relative movement of the driven side member 5 with respect to the driving side member 4 in the axial direction reaches the dimension c, the support wall 55 formed on the base cylinder portion 51 of the driven side member 5 moves against the spring portion 63 of the second spring 15. The spring portion 63 starts to deflect. This first
The elastic force caused by the deflection of the spring 14 and the second spring 15 acts as a pressing force (load) on the tooth end surface of the pinion gear 7 and the ring gear, so the pressing force is shown by the solid line X in FIG.
As shown, until the relative movement amount (spring stroke) of the driven side member 5 with respect to the driving side member 4 reaches the dimension c after the tooth end surface of the pinion gear 7 comes into contact with the ring gear, the first position shown by the dashed line Y The pressing force generated by the spring 14 (
spring load), and if the relative displacement exceeds dimension c,
The pressing force generated by the first spring 14 and the second spring shown by the broken line Z
The pressing force (spring load) generated by the spring 15 is combined.

Therefore, when the chamfered portion of the teeth of the pinion gear 7 rotates to a position where it can engage with the chamfered portion of the ring gear (the position indicated by the broken line 74 in FIG. 8), the pinion gear 7 and the driven member 5 of the one-way clutch 3 rotate. First, the strong pressing force of the second spring 15 causes the driven member 5 to move forward, and the first spring 14 pushes out the driven member 5 to compensate for the remaining force. Further, as the drive shaft 1 rotates, the teeth of the pinion gear 7 come into contact with the teeth adjacent to the teeth that are in contact with the end surface of the ring gear (at the position indicated by the dashed line 75 in FIG. 8), and after obtaining the meshing depth h, the pinion gear 7 or the driven The side member 5 moves forward until the end surface of the support cylinder portion 52 comes into contact with the stopper 10, and the engagement of the pinion gear 7 with the ring gear is completed. After the pinion gear 7 engages with the ring gear, the rotation of the drive shaft 1 is caused by the clutch action of the one-way clutch 3.
The crankshaft of the internal combustion engine is rotated through the pinion gear 7 and the ring gear, and when the internal combustion engine starts, the driven side member 5 of the one-way clutch 3 overruns the drive side member 4, cutting off the connection between the starting motor and the power source. By that,
The one-way clutch 3 is returned to its original position by a return spring 13.

In the above embodiment, the pinion gear 7 was molded integrally with the driven member 5 corresponding to the clutch inner of the one-way clutch 3. The portion 51 and the clutch inner that abuts the roller 40 may be formed separately and connected to rotate together by a serration or key parallel to the axial direction of the drive shaft 1. An inner edge connecting portion is formed in a semicircular shape on the inner periphery in a planar shape, and a plurality of spring portions are formed radially outward from the inner edge connecting portion, and the driven side member 5 is supported at the inner edge connecting portion. It may be fixed to the wall 55 and the tip of the spring portion may be opposed to the side surface of the semi-annular washer 46. Furthermore, the first and second springs 14 and 15 may be replaced with leaf springs shown in the drawings, such as coil springs of different shapes, or springs made of different elastic materials such as rubber or synthetic resin.

[0011]

Effects and Effects of the Invention The present invention includes a pinion gear provided on a drive shaft so as to be rotatably and axially movable with respect to the shaft, and a drive side member screwed to the drive shaft via a helical spline. An inertial plunge starter having a one-way clutch having a driven member that pushes the pinion gear in the axial direction and rotates the pinion gear integrally based on the relative rotation between the drive shaft and the drive member during operation. It is related to. In the starting device, when the drive shaft is suddenly rotated from a stationary state by the starter motor during a starting operation, the one-way clutch is activated by its inertia and the drive side member of the one-way clutch being threaded into the drive shaft via a helical spline. The driven member of the one-way clutch and the pinion gear move forward rapidly in the axial direction of the drive shaft, causing the pinion gear to collide with a ring gear fixed to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine; It is known to start an internal combustion engine by rotating the pinion gear while meshing with the ring gear.

In the present invention, the first spring is sandwiched between the driving side member and the driven side member of the one-way clutch, and the relative relationship between the two members is increased by a predetermined dimension a in the axial direction of the driving shaft. In addition to the first gap portion that allows close movement and the first gap portion, a base portion is attached to one of the two members between the driving side member and the driven side member of the one-way clutch. and a second spring with its free end facing the other member, and a second gap portion in which both members are movable relative to each other in the axial direction of the drive shaft. When the pinion gear, which has moved forward together with the one-way clutch during the starting operation, collides with the ring gear, the pinion gear is stopped from moving in the axial direction by the end face of the ring gear. Since the drive side member of the one-way clutch is movable relative to the drive shaft in the axial direction within the range of dimension a allowed by the first gap, the drive side member first moves in the direction of the axis of the drive shaft. bend the
Next, when moving forward by the dimension c of the second gap, the second
Deflect the spring and move forward. At this time, the pressing force of the pinion gear against the ring gear is increased by the deflection load of both springs. As a result, the impact force in the axial direction when the pinion gear collides with the ring gear is absorbed by the first and second springs. At this time, since the composite spring characteristics of both springs are set as shown in FIG. 7, for example, compared to the case where one spring achieves the same amount of deflection with the same deflection load, from the relationship with the stress during compression, The space for the spring can be reduced.

[0013] The driving side member moves forward with respect to the driven side member within the range of the dimension a of the first gap, but the advancing force thereof is greater than the deflection loads of the first and second springs. When it becomes, when the driven side member and the driving side member come into contact with each other after moving forward by the dimension a, and when it becomes smaller,
When the forward force balances the loads of the first and second springs, the one-way clutch rotates with the rotation of the shaft due to the action of the helical spline, and the pinion gear seeks a position where it properly meshes with the ring gear. , slides on the end face of the ring gear. As a result, when the teeth of the pinion are brought into a position where they properly mesh with the teeth of the ring gear, the driven member of the one-way clutch that pushes the pinion gear is subjected to pressure due to the deflection loads of the first and second springs. Since pressure is applied, the pinion gear and the driven member first move forward due to the load stored in the second spring, and the load stored in the first spring is transferred to the pinion gear to compensate for the excess force. and pushes the driven member forward. As a result, the one-way clutch rotates further, and when the pinion gear contacts the next tooth of the ring gear, the meshing depth h (see FIG. 8) of the pinion gear with the ring gear can be increased. The pinion gear then abuts the next tooth of the ring gear, preventing circumferential sliding and advancing axially along the ring gear tooth to complete meshing.

As described above, in the present invention, the impact force of the collision against the ring gear caused by the rapid advancement of the pinion gear during the starting operation of the starter device is transmitted between the driven side member of the one-way clutch that pushes the pinion gear and the one-way clutch. The first and second springs provided between the drive side member can absorb the force of the pinion, and the pinion spring, which provides the depth of engagement when meshing with the ring gear, has a long stroke with a low load first spring and a short stroke with a high load. By using it in conjunction with a second load spring, each spring can be used within the allowable stress without increasing the size of the pinion spring, and a long stroke and high load spring characteristic can be obtained, resulting in a larger engagement depth. This has the effect of improving the engagement performance and durability of the starter device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part thereof.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the first spring.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the diameter line.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the second spring.

FIG. 6 is a side view thereof.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the combined loads of the first and second springs.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which a pinion gear meshes with a ring gear.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a main part of a one-way clutch in a conventional inertial plunge starter.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Drive shaft 2 Helical spline 3 One-way clutch 4 The drive side member 5 The driven side member 7 Pinion gear 14 First spring 15 Second spring 40 Roller 41 Small diameter cylinder part of drive side member 42 The large diameter cylinder part 43 The annular part 44 The bottom wall 51 Base tube part of driven side member 52 Its support cylinder part 53 Its free end 54 The stepped wall 55 Its support wall

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pinion gear provided on a drive shaft so as to be rotatably and axially movable with respect to the shaft, and a drive side member screwed to the drive shaft via a helical spline, the drive shaft being rotated during a starting operation. and a driven side member that pushes the pinion gear in the axial direction based on relative rotation with the drive side member and rotates the pinion gear integrally with the drive side member. a first gap portion for sandwiching a first spring between a driving side member and a driven side member of the clutch and allowing relative proximity movement of both members by a predetermined dimension a in the axial direction of the drive shaft; , a second spring is disposed between the drive side member and the driven side member, the base being attached to one of the two members, and the free end facing the other member; The second member is movable relative to each other in the axial direction of the second member.
The first spring has a spring constant smaller than that of the second spring, and when the second spring is in the free extension state, the first spring has a spring constant smaller than that of the second spring. An inertial plunge-starting device characterized in that a distance c smaller than the dimension a is provided between the free end and the other member facing the free end.