Motor Controls Services A motor starter is a device that can be electric, hydraulic or pneumatic in nature. Its main role is to regulate the flow of current so the engine can start or stop properly.
The History of The Starter Previously, people tried different ways to start vehicle engines. These methods were different to the function of today’s motor starters. Early methods involved the use of gun powders to pump the cylinders. The other method used wind up springs. When it came to airplanes and other similar vehicles, people used cranks to propel or start the engines.
As stated, hand cranks were popular back in the day. These things help start most engines back in the day. But as time went by, people found cranks to be inconvenient and sometimes dangerous. First generation engines were hard to pull. It would take a lot of might just to crank the engines. An engine has the ability to kick back, and this causes it to create a reversal movement.
Other engines used motor starters which included a slip that went to the opposite direction. This allowed the starter to be released from the engine once it was started. However, if the engine decided to kickback, the starter would still be attached to the engine while it was starting. The shaking and jerking had the potential to cause injuries to the operator of the vehicle. Motor Controls
The Different Types Of Starters
Today, modern starters are used in most vehicles and these are the electric starter and the other one is the gear reduction starter. The electric starter is the widely used motor starter because this is used in most gasoline engines. Motor starters today consist of magnetic or electrical motor current that is equipped with a relay or solenoid. The current which is from the battery passes to the solenoid to push out the pinion. The pinion then combines with the ring gear, powering the engine.
Problems can occur with the pinion when either the driver does not release the key soon after the engine has started, or there is a shortage somewhere in the system and the solenoid is not able to become disengaged. When one of these scenarios occur, the pinion will spin alone and not with the drive shaft. This is the main reason why most vehicle manuals instruct drivers to pause for a few seconds after every attempt to crank the vehicle when the engine does not start immediately.
Chrysler is the company that modernized motor starters. It placed advancements to early starters so people will find it convenient to use. In 1960, Chrysler introduced the geartrain in the market. This new piece of equipment was installed between the drive shaft of the vehicle and the engine. This concept was not entirely new back in the day but it was Chrysler that perfected the design and mass produced the geartrain.
Without motor starters, vehicles would be difficult to start. Thanks to people who perfected the design, it is now easy to use vehicles.