Control apparatus for small boat

• US 20090298359A1
• Filed: 05/05/2009
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Nakayama, Shinsaku, Shimizu, Norikazu, Furuya, Kentaro, Hiroshima, Naoki
• Granted Patent: US 7,993,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 440/1
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 79/10 using sensors, e.g. pressure sensors, strain gauges or accelerometers
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 79/40 for controlling the operation of vessels, e.g. monitoring their speed, routing or maintenance schedules
• CPC Class Codes: B63H 20/00 Outboard propulsion units, e.g. outboard motors or Z-drives; Arrangements thereof on vessels
• CPC Class Codes: B63H 21/22 the propulsion power units being controlled from exterior of engine room, e.g. from navigation bridge; Arrangements of order telegraphs
• CPC Class Codes: B63J 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

In an apparatus for controlling a small boat having a hull and two outboard motors mounted on a stem of the hull and an actuator adapted to open/close a throttle valve of each engine of the motors for regulating speed of the engine, acceleration acting on the boat in a direction of gravity axis when the boat ascends or descends the ocean wave and angular acceleration about the gravity is detected and a correction amount of the engine speed is calculated based on the detected acceleration so as to change behavior of the boat, thereby mitigating a burden on the operator and improving stability of the boat.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a small boat having a hull, at least one outboard motor driven by an internal combustion engine and adapted to be mounted on a stem of the hull, and an actuator adapted to open/close a throttle valve of the engine for regulating speed of the engine, comprising:

an acceleration sensor installed on the boat to generate an output indicative of acceleration acting on the boat in a direction of gravity axis;

a correction amount calculator that calculates a correction amount of the engine speed based on the output of the acceleration sensor so as to change behavior of the boat; and

an actuator controller that controls operation of the actuator based on the calculated correction amount.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction amount calculator calculates the correction amount of the engine speed such that a speed of the boat increases when the acceleration in the gravity axis increases.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction amount of the engine speed is set beforehand with respect to the output of the acceleration sensor.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of the outboard motors mounted on the stern of the hull is two or more and including:

a declinometer that produces an output indicative of a direction of navigation of the boat; and

the correction amount calculator corrects the navigation direction based on angular acceleration about the gravity axis detected by the acceleration sensor and calculates the correction amount of the engine speed of each of the outboard motors so as to change the behavior of the boat such that the boat moves towards the corrected navigation direction.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the correction amount calculator corrects the navigation direction by calculating a difference between a desired navigation direction and an actual navigation direction and by correcting the difference by the detected angular acceleration.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the correction amount of the engine speed is set beforehand with respect to the difference between the desired and actual navigation directions.

7. A method of controlling a small boat having a hull, at least one outboard motor driven by an internal combustion engine and adapted to be mounted on a stem of the hull, and an actuator adapted to open/close a throttle valve of the engine for regulating speed of the engine, comprising the steps of:

detecting acceleration acting on the boat in a direction of gravity axis;

calculating a correction amount of the engine speed based on the detected acceleration so as to change behavior of the boat; and

controlling operation of the actuator based on the calculated correction amount.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of correction amount calculation calculates the correction amount of the engine speed such that a speed of the boat increases when the acceleration in the gravity axis increases.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the correction amount of the engine speed is set beforehand with respect to the output of the acceleration sensor.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the number of the outboard motors mounted on the stem of the hull is two or more and including the step of:

detecting a direction of navigation of the boat; and

the step of correction amount calculation corrects the navigation direction based on detected angular acceleration about the gravity axis and calculates the correction amount of the engine speed of each of the outboard motors so as to change the behavior of the boat such that the boat moves towards the corrected navigation direction.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of correction amount calculation corrects the navigation direction by calculating a difference between a desired navigation direction and an actual navigation direction and by correcting the difference by the detected angular acceleration.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the correction amount of the engine speed is set beforehand with respect to the difference between the desired and actual navigation directions.