A Systems Approach to Engine Starting System Design

Future aircraft requirements dictate the need to integrate all aspects of an engine starting system early in the program. In the past, an engine starter was sized, designed, and selected with minimal consideration of its application to the total aircraft system. Then came expanded aircraft requirements, such as extended motoring, clearing engine stalls, making leak checks, and integrating the starter system with secondary power systems and/or start self-sufficiency. The result: costly extensive revisions of the original design. To avoid this in the future, efforts must be made to consider as many as possible of the above factors early in the initial design phase.

This paper presents the many aspects of system design and provides technical approaches which will satisfy specific requirements in a program's preliminary design phases. Pneumatic systems are typical of the various types of starter systems being addressed.