Patent attributes
A rotor of a starter that employs an SR motor is directly connected to a crank shaft of an engine. The rotor and the crank shaft are set in such a way that when a piston is positioned at a top dead center or the like, salient poles and of the rotor face U-phase poles, so that an output torque of the starter comes to its maximum at a maximum pass-over torque position of the engine. When the engine is stopped, electricity is supplied through U-phase coils, thereby making the salient poles and the U-phase poles stop so as to face each other. In this manner, the piston is stopped at the maximum pass-over torque position. When the engine is started, electricity is supplied to W-phase coils which are adjacent to the U-phase coils, thereby making it possible to overcome a maximum friction torque with maximum outputs.