• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.774-780
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• 2021

The auxiliary power unit (APU) of a rotorcraft starts the engine during operation/flying. The APU is composed of a gas turbine engine type. The starting principle of the component is that the electric start motor generates the power required for starting by rotating the shaft. In this study, quality improvement was performed by applying an over-running clutch (ORC) between the APU and the starter motor to secure the operability of the starter motor of the APU mounted on the rotorcraft. The starter motor has the main role of starting the APU, but during operation, it is rotated without load by the rotational force of the APU gear shaft, resulting in friction at the brush. This phenomenon causes abrasion of the brush of the starter motor. Consequently, when the APU operation time increases, the brush life decreases, and the operability of the APU is affected. In this study, an ORC that separates the interlocking between the start motor brush abrasion and the APU operation time was applied to improve the operability/durability of the APU starter motor. The effect was verified through a test, and the technical feasibility of the design change was analyzed.