Skip to main content

The challenges of start-stop technology

According to automotive technology supplier Dayco, the number of vehicles featuring start-stop technology will continue to rise over the next few years. The company says that it is only by incorporating such a function into a number of models in each range, that vehicle manufacturers will be able to reduce their fleet average emission levels and achieve the targets that EU legislation demands. Dayco, in alliance with Peugeot/Citroën, has developed a starter/alternator that has an auxiliary belt system w
September 9, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
According to automotive technology supplier Dayco, the number of vehicles featuring start-stop technology will continue to rise over the next few years.  The company says that it is only by incorporating such a function into a number of models in each range, that vehicle manufacturers will be able to reduce their fleet average emission levels and achieve the targets that EU legislation demands.

Dayco, in alliance with Peugeot/Citroën, has developed a starter/alternator that has an auxiliary belt system with the strength to start and restart the engine instantly when the vehicle needs to pull away, but is no wider than a standard auxiliary belt. In contrast to a conventional belt system, the patented Dayco self tensioning system (STS) maintains a balanced tension on both sides of the belt in relation to the starter/alternator drive pulley. Instead of having a tensioner on just one side of the belt system, the tensioning device connects both sides of the starter/alternator belt system.

The Dayco STS is designed to create a balance of forces between the two sides at all times, which enables the starter/alternator to seamlessly switch between its starting and charging modes to allow the vehicle’s start-stop system to function to its full potential.

The major development of this self-balancing device is the rigid connection of its pulleys, which allows it to maintain the correct belt tension irrespective of the direction of the load.

Related Content

  • Olympic challenges in Sochi
    May 27, 2014
    Sporting events always create problems for traffic planners and none more so than the Winter Olympics. It is difficult to think of more diametrically opposite challenges for transport planners than the 2012 Olympics in London and this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi: from a summer event in the heart of a megacity with well established transport infrastructure to winter games with unpredictable weather and events in remote and mountainous locations. The Winter Games are always a challenge and Sochi was no di
  • MaaS: 'It's been much easier to convince politicians than we expected'
    August 11, 2021
    As she leaves the Mobility as a Service sector, Piia Karjalainen explains why the user must continue to be the focus – and why we haven’t yet even seen half of the innovations available 
  • 3M sees big potential in ITS sector
    December 16, 2013
    Having re-entered the ITS market, 3M is busy shaping the future technology for vehicle detection, tolling and parking, as Colin Sowman discovers. Having sold off its Opticom business in 2007, 3M effectively re-entered the ITS market last year paying $110 million for Federal Signal Technology Group (FSTech) – but why?
  • Telematics standards need to evolve to keep up with technology
    July 30, 2012
    Scott Andrews and Scott McCormick take a look at how standards development for the telematics environment needs itself to evolve in order to stay abreast of technological advances. While the road has been somewhat arduous, telematics has evolved from a research activity to a resource for fleet operators, consumers and road management authorities.