Passenger Vehicle Starter & Alternators

SEA Chrysler E/E Team 07 November - 2008

History

Both Otto cycle and Diesel cycle internal-combustion engines require the pistons to be moving before the ignition phase of the cycle. Originally, a hand crank was used to start engines, but it was inconvenient and rather hard work to crank the engine up to speed. It was also highly dangerous. Even though cranks had an overrun mechanism to prevent it, when the engine started, the crank could begin to spin along with the crankshaft. The engine could kick back (run in reverse), pulling the crank with it, because the overrun safety mechanism works in one direction only. Even a simple backfire could result in a broken thumb; it was possible to end up with a broken wrist, or worse Moreover, increasingly larger engines with higher compression ratios made hand cranking a more physically demanding endeavor.

Electric starter

Electric motor needed to turn over the internal-combustion engines to start. Charles F. Kettering of Dayton Electric Laboratories (DELCO) invented the first useful electric starter. The starter motor is a small but powerful electric DC motor that delivers a high degree of power for a short period of time. These starters were first installed by Cadillac on Production models in 1912.

Gear-reduction starters

In 1962, Chrysler introduced a starter incorporating a geartrain between the motor and the driveshaft. The motor shaft has integrally-cut gear teeth forming a drive gear which mesh with a larger adjacent driven gear to provide a gear reduction ratio.. This permits the use of a higher-speed, lower-current, lighter and more compact motor assembly

Principle of Operation

The basic principle that drives the starter motor, which is a DC motor, is Faradays Law; which states that electrical current is produced when there is relative motion between a conductor and magnetic field. Of course the law is stated for a generator, however the opposite is also true, motion is produced when a current carrying wire is in the presence of magnetic field. The motion is determined by two factors, the direction of the current and the direction of the magnetic field.

Basic requirements to be met by Starter motor

It should deliver the following requirements

Must meet the engine torque requirement (Maximum Cranking Torque) Must meet minimum engine starting temperature (Cold Crank) Must meet minimum Engine RPM Requirement. (Crank Speed) Must adapt the vehicle battery rating.

DC motor

A DC electric motor converts electrical power (voltage and current) into mechanical power (speed and torque) by passing a current through a conductor suspended in a magnetic field. When current passed through a conductor held perpendicular to a magnetic field, a torque is generated which is proportional to the amount of current and the strength of the magnetic field.
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Starter motor - subassembly

Modern starters assemblies are usually made up of the below sub assemblies.

Solenoid assembly Armature Assembly Brush holder assembly Frame Assembly Output Drive assembly End Housing

Solenoid

The solenoid assembly servers two function. It provides the necessary force to pull the drive assembly into engagement with the ring gear. It also provides a high current switch to energies the starter motor with 12 volts from the battery cable. A solenoid is a coil is wound on a cylindrical, hollow, plastic or phenolic form, and with a movable, rod-shaped form made of solid ferromagnetic iron, solid steel, or powdered iron. which can travel in and out of the coil along its axis. When the key is turned in the ignition switch to the start position, electricity flows from the batteries to the starter solenoid and coils inside the solenoid are energized by electricity, they create a magnetic field which attracts and pulls a plunger. This causes the starter solenoid to relay a large electric current to the starter motor, which in turn sets 9

Solenoid

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Armature Assembly

The armature assembly is the heart of the starter. It consists of a steel lamination stack pressed onto a shaft, armature copper windings inserted into laminations core slots, the ends twisted to the proper location and then welded into commutator bars.
commutator change or swap the direction of the current in the coil twice each rotation (four pole). The conductors and commutator bars must be electrically insulated from each other and the steel core and shaft.

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Armature

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Brush Holder Assembly

The brush holder assembly provides the electrical connection to the armature and in conjunction with the commutator assembly, switches the conductor current directions as each commutator passes under it. The brush holder also must insulate the positive brushes from ground potential and locate the brushes at the correct position for optimum output performance (good commutation) and brush life.

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Brush Holder Assembly

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Frame assembly

The frame assembly consists of Permanent magnet & magnet clips which provides the main support structure for the starter subassemblies and also servers to complete the flux path required for the magnetic circuit. Size control is important in order to maintain tight air gap tolerance to maximize the starter output and efficiency.

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Frame assembly

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Drive assembly

Drive assembly is made up of output shaft, Planetary gear assembly and with Over running roll clutch pinion assembly. When the armature assembly is inserted in the drive assembly, the armature shaft gear teeth mesh with the Epicycle planetary gear assembly. As the armature shaft rotates inside the planet gears, the planet gear are in mesh with the internal teeth of stationary gear internal. which is locked in place by feature in the motor end housing, the output shaft also rotated because the planet gear are spinning The drive assembly also transmitting the torque from the starter output shaft to ring gear in order to crank 17 engine.

Drive assembly

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Planetary gear assembly

Example

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End Housing

The drive end housing is normally a machined casting designed for attachment of the starter to the engine & transmission powertrain application. The casting also supports all the other sub assemblies.

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Performance Curve

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Direct Drive Starter motor

1 Drive shaft 2 Stop ring 3 Pinion 4 Roller-type overrunning clutch 5 Pinion-engaging lever 6 Solenoid switch 7 Electrical connection 8 Commutator bearing 9 Brush holder 10 Commutator 11 Armature 12 Magnet 13 Stator housing 14 Meshing spring

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Gear-reduction starter motor

1 Drive shaft 2 Stop ring 3 Pinion 4 Roller-type overrunning clutch 5 Meshing spring 6 Pinion-engaging lever 7 Solenoid switch 8 Hold-in winding 9 Pull-in winding 10 Return spring 11 Switch contact 12 Switch contact 13 Electrical connection 14 Commutator end Shield 15 Commutator 16 Brush holder 17 Armature 18 Magnet 19 Stator housing 20 Planetary gear

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1.8 kW starter motor

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Alternator - Charging

Nothing can function without electric power in a vehicle. The battery represents the vehicles energy store to supply power to all current consuming loads (ignition, lighting, starter motor etc). But we need something to keep the battery charged or it will lose its charge and die. In order to supply the power required for the electrical system. The alternator is the onboard electricitygenerating plant when engine is operation. The task is to supply power all current consuming loads and maintains battery a full charge at all times.
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Basic requirements to be met by alternator

Supplying all connected loads with direct current Additional power reserves for fast charging of battery even when continuous loads are switched on and when engine is only idling Keeping the alternator voltage constant over the entire engine speed range As maintenance-free as possible in operation Rugged construction to withstand external influences such as vibration, change in temperature, dirt, damp.

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Magnetic Induction Principles

Michael Faraday discovered in 1831 that if a electric conductor cut across the lines of magnetic force of a magnet, an electric charge is induced in the conductor. It is immaterial whether the whether the magnetic field remains stationary while the conductor moves, or vise versa. This is the basic principle by which practically all our present day electric current is generated .

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Alternator

Alternator are driven directly by the vehicle engine. Drive is usually by means of V-belt. The four main parts of the alternator are

A A A A

rotating field winding called the rotor. stationary induction winding called the stator. diode assembly called the rectifier bridge. control device called the voltage regulator.

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Rotor

A rotor consists of a iron core, coil winding, two slip rings, and two claw-shaped finger pole pieces. some models include support bearings and two internal cooling fans. The assembly is then machined and balanced to control tight air gap to the stator & insures quite operation at high speed. When ignition is switched on the current flows via warning lamp to the rotor field winding and from their via the regulator to ground. Which creates the per excitation magnetic field. When magnetic field saturates . One finger pole becomes a north pole and the other a south pole. that induces voltage into the

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Stator

The stator is made with three sets of windings for 3 phase & six sets of windings for 6 phase, winding are arranged at 120o from each other in three phase & 60o from each other in six phase. in a thin laminated stack iron frame. Stator winding lead ends output current to the diode rectifier bridge.

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Stator

Stator Designs Delta wound stators can be identified by having only three stator leads, and each lead will have the same number of wires attached. Wye style has four stator leads. One of the leads is called the Neutral Junction. The Neutral Junction is common to all the other leads.
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Star or Wye connection

Wye wound stators have three windings with a common neutral junction. They can be identified because they have 4 stator lead ends (3 phase). Wye wound stators are used in alternators that require high voltage output at low alternator speeds. Two windings are in series at any one time during charge output.

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Delta connection

Delta wound stators can be identified because they have only three stator lead ends (3 phase). Delta stators allow for higher current flow being delivered at low RPM. The windings are in parallel rather than series as like the Wye design

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Stator

The stator winding has three sets of windings. Each is formed into a number of evenly spaced coils around the stator core. The result is three overlapping single phase AC sine wave current signatures, A, B, C. Adding these waves together make up the total AC output of the stator. This is called three phase current. Three phase current

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Rectifier

The Diode Rectifier Bridge is responsible for the conversion or rectification of the AC voltage into DC voltage. Two diodes are connected to each stator lead. One positive the other negative. When three or six phase alternator current is applied across a rectifier diode, the diode allows current to pass only one direction. Diodes used in this configuration will redirect both the positive and negative polarity signals of the AC voltage to produce DC voltage. This process is called 36 'Full - Wave Rectification'.

Rectification circuit

Diodes are used as one-way electrical check valves. Passing current in only one direction, never in reverse. In red you can see B+ current pass through to the rectifier as it goes to the battery. In green you can see the return path.

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Rectification circuit

Diodes are mounted in a heat sink to dissipate the heat generated by the diodes. Diodes redirect the AC voltage into DC voltage so the battery receives the correct polarity

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Regulator

The regulator will attempt to maintain a pre-determined charging system voltage level. If the voltage produced by the alternator goes above 13.5 - 14.5 volts, the battery will be ruined very quickly. It's the job of the voltage regulator to keep the output voltage between the 13.5 - 14.5 volt range. When charging system voltage falls below the set point, the regulator will increase the field current, thus strengthening the magnetic field, which results in an increase of alternator output. When charging system voltage raises above the set point, the regulator will decrease field current , thus weakening the magnetic field, and results in a 39

Regulator

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 The regulator monitors battery voltage.

The regulator controls current flow to the rotor assembly. The rotor produces a magnetic field. Voltage is induced into the stator. The rectifier bridge converts AC stator voltage to DC output for use by the vehicle.

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Performance Curve

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Alternator

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Although the individual components Alternator with voltage regulator and Starter motor" are subject to their own operating conditions, they are highly dependent on each other.

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