Patent ID: 9074646
Filing Date: 2015-07-07
Classification: F02N,F16D

Abstract:
1. A starting system for an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft rotatably supported within an engine block, the starting system comprising: a starter motor; a pinion gear selectively driven by the starter motor; a drive plate having a set of teeth in constant meshed engagement with the pinion gear; an overrunning clutch assembly adapted to selectively drivingly interconnect the drive plate and the crankshaft, the clutch assembly including an inner race adapted to be fixed for rotation with the crankshaft, an outer race fixed for rotation with the drive plate and having circumferentially spaced apart cam surfaces, and a plurality of roller elements positioned radially therebetween, the clutch assembly also including a cage assembly, a seal and a retaining ring, the cage assembly having a skeleton coupled to a spring ring, the spring ring including a plurality of radially extending guides, the guides being arranged to circumferentially space apart each roller element in alignment with the cam surfaces, the guides being resiliently deformable to allow concurrent engagement of each roller element with both the inner and outer races, the seal engaging an inner surface of the outer race and an outer surface of the inner race, the seal being positioned axially outboard of the roller elements, the retaining ring being positioned with ring grooves formed on each of the inner and outer races to restrict movement of the cage; and a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart alignment blocks coupled to the spring ring for maintaining concentricity between the inner and outer races when the clutch operates in an overrunning mode, wherein the spring ring includes a plurality of apertures circumferentially spaced from one another by the guides, and each of the alignment blocks is disposed within one of the apertures, wherein each of the alignment blocks includes a body portion and a first pad and a second pad disposed at opposite sides of the body portion, each of the first pad and the second pad of the alignment blocks defining a groove, and wherein the spring ring includes fingers disposed along the apertures in biased engagement with one of the grooves to establish a snap-fit engagement between the alignment blocks and the spring ring.