Patent ID: 8590500

Claim:
An engine starting system comprising: a motor that generates torque when power is supplied from a battery thereto; an output shaft that rotates when the torque of the motor is transferred thereto; a pinion that shifts to an engine on an outer surface of the output shaft to be engaged with a ring gear to transfer the torque of the motor to the ring gear; a pinion driving solenoid having a first coil that forms an electromagnet when energized, the pinion driving solenoid shifting the pinion to the engine using pull-in force of the electromagnet; and a motor energizing switch having a second coil that forms an electromagnet when energized, the motor energizing switch opening or closing, based on energization or deenergization of the second coil, a main contact for on-and-off of an energizing current to the motor, the engine starting system being configured to restart the engine by activating the pinion driving solenoid and the motor energizing switch when an engine restart request occurs during the engine being stopped; the engine starting system further comprising: a timing delay means that determines a delay time between a first energization timing and a second energization timing during each of: i) key start of the engine in response to an engine start signal generated by a turn-on operation of an ignition key and ii) restart of the engine in response to an occurrence of an engine restart request, the first energization timing representing a timing of energizing the pinion driving solenoid, the second energization timing representing a timing of energizing the motor energizing switch, and the timing delay means determining different values of the delay time for the key start of the engine and for the restart of the engine, respectively, to determine the second energization timing.