Starting System, Engine

a set of devices for starting an internal-combustion engine; in general, it consists of a power-producing device, a source of energy, and a connecting-system.

The starting system for a gas-turbine aircraft engine includes a starter, a source of energy, that is, a fuel supply system that is used to feed a fuel-air mixture in the combustion chamber, and an ignition system for the fuel-air mixture. The energy source may be installed on board the airplane, or it may be contained in a starting unit on the airfield flight line. There are electrical, pneumatic, and thermal starting systems. The electrical systems have DC electric starters and are powered either from storage batteries or from turbogenerator sets located on the airfield or on board the airplane. In pneumatic starting systems, compressed air from on-board bottles or from compressors on the ground is fed to a turbine starter; in low-power engines, the compressed air is fed directly to the engine’s turbine blades. In multi-engine airplanes, a composite starting system may be used, in which compressed air is supplied from a compressor powered by one of the airplane’s engines that has been started previously by its own starting system. Thermal starting systems use low-power gas-turbine engines that operate on the same fuel as the engines being started, or they may use cartridge turbine starters.

The starting systems for automotive, ship, and stationary internal-combustion engines are simpler. The crankshaft is rotated by means of a crank handle (in manual systems), by an electric starter (starter-generator) powered from a storage battery, by a starting engine, or by compressed air from a storage tank.