Method for meshing a starter pinion of a starting device into a ring gear of an internal combustion engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9494122-B2
Application number	US-201214369736-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2012
Priority date	Dec 30, 2011
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for meshing a starter pinion ( 19 ) of a starting device ( 16 ) into a ring gear ( 13 ) of an internal combustion engine ( 10 ). The internal combustion engine ( 10 ) has a driveshaft ( 22 ), and the starting device ( 16 ) has a starter motor ( 25 ), said driveshaft ( 22 ) having a variable rotational speed (n). The internal combustion engine ( 10 ) is switched off in a method step (S1), and the starter pinion ( 19 ), which is not being rotationally driven by the starter motor ( 25 ), is then advanced in the direction of the ring gear ( 13 ) by a toe-in actuator ( 28 ) by means of a toe-in force (FV) in a method step (S2) until the starter pinion contacts the ring gear. A meshing force (FE) is then exerted onto the starter pinion ( 19 ) in a controlled manner in an additional method step (S3) in order to mesh the starter pinion ( 19 ) into a tooth gap ( 34 ) of the ring gear ( 13 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for meshing a starter pinion ( 19 ) of a starting device ( 16 ) into a ring gear ( 13 ) of an internal combustion engine ( 10 ), wherein the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) has a driveshaft ( 22 ) and the starting device ( 16 ) has a starter motor ( 25 ), wherein the driveshaft ( 22 ) has a variable rotation speed (n), and in a method step (S1) the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) is switched off and then in a method step (S2) the starter pinion ( 19 ), which is not driven in rotation by the starter motor ( 25 ), is advanced by a pre-meshing force (FV) using a pre-meshing actuator ( 28 ), in a direction of the ring gear ( 13 ), and then in a further method step (S3) a meshing force (FE) is selectively applied to the starter pinion ( 19 ) in order to mesh the starter pinion ( 19 ) in a tooth gap ( 34 ) of the ring gear ( 13 ) during a time period (tE), characterized in that the starter pinion ( 19 ) is advanced in the direction of the ring gear ( 13 ) by the pre-meshing force (FV) until the starter pinion ( 19 ) touches the ring gear ( 13 ), and then starting from a time (t2) the starter pinion ( 19 ) is applied to the ring gear ( 13 ) during a time period (tA), wherein the meshing of the starter pinion ( 19 ) takes place up to a time (tD1, tD2) at which the driveshaft ( 22 ) of the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) has, after the switching off of the internal combustion engine ( 10 ), a rotational speed (n) which is zero, and thereby a zero crossover occurs during the time period (tE) of the meshing at the rotational speed (n) of the driveshaft ( 22 ).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the rotational speed (n) is set at zero a first time or a further time occurring thereafter.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , characterized in that a time (tD1, tD2) at which the rotational speed (n) is set at zero is determined by pre-calculation.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , characterized in that the starter pinion ( 19 ) is advanced in the direction of the ring gear ( 13 ) by the pre-meshing force (FV) after the pre-calculation.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the method step (S2) occurs after the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) has been switched off and before a first or second time (tD 1 , tD2) at which the driveshaft ( 22 ) of the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) reaches the rotational speed (n) zero, or not until after the driveshaft ( 22 ) has reached an angular acceleration with an absolute value of zero.

6. The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the method step (S3) takes place whenever the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) is switched off.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the method step (S3) takes place only if a controller of the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) receives a starting signal, after which the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) is to be returned to the self-sustained engine operating mode for driving a vehicle.

8. The method as claimed in claim 4 , characterized in that the method step (S2) occurs after the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) has been switched off and before a first or second time (tD 1 , tD2) at which the driveshaft ( 22 ) of the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) reaches the rotational speed (n) zero, or not until after the driveshaft ( 22 ) has reached an angular acceleration with an absolute value of zero.

9. The method according to claim 8 , characterized in that the method step (S3) takes place whenever the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) is switched off.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , characterized in that the method step (S3) takes place only if a controller of the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) receives a starting signal, after which the internal combustion engine ( 10 ) is to be returned to the self-sustained engine operating mode for driving a vehicle.

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Tumback Stefan
• Gross Juergen
• Mauritz Ewald
• Roessle Markus
• Cwik Matthias
• Tsakiris Apostolos

Classifications

• F02N2200/022

  Engine speed · CPC title

• F02N11/0844

  with means for restarting the engine directly after an engine stop request, e.g. caused by change of driver mind · CPC title

• F02N2300/2006

  using prediction of future conditions · CPC title

• F02N11/0851 Primary

  characterised by means for controlling the engagement or disengagement between engine and starter, e.g. meshing of pinion and engine gear · CPC title

• F02N2200/048

  Information about pinion speed, both translational or rotational speed · CPC title