JPH04311616A - Oil level warning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an oil level warning device enabling an oil level to be confirmed and oil to be smoothly infused while an engine cover remains attached. CONSTITUTION:A pipe member 14 for vertically guiding a float is provided in the central portion with float stoppers 141, 142. The respective parts of the pipe member divided by the float stopper are equipped with floats 16, 17 provided with sensor energizing members 161, 162. The pipe member is equipped in the central part, upper and lower ends respectively with position sensors SW1-SW3 driven by the sensor energizing members. A control section has an oil level judging function to carry out a predetermined calculation on the basis of the output signal from the respective position sensors for judging the oil level in an oil tank and a lighting means selectively driving function to selectively light any of lighting means according to the positional information of the judged oil level while if necessary driving an alarming means provided previously on the outside.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an oil level warning device, and more particularly to an oil level warning device equipped with an oil level sensor mechanism that is activated by the vertical movement of a float and outputs a predetermined oil level signal.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Separately oiled two-stroke marine engines, which are often used in outboard motors, often have an oil tank built into the engine body. In this type of engine, a lid for supplying oil is provided on the top surface of the engine cover, and an oil tank is located below the lid. And when replenishing oil,
The general structure is to raise the lid, remove the tank cap, and inject oil.

0003

[Problem to be solved by the invention] Two-stroke engines with separate oil supply and built-in oil tank have the above-mentioned structure, so even if there is a lid for oil injection on the engine cover, it is difficult to inject oil. At this time, the amount of oil in the oil tank cannot be seen from the outside, let alone from the inlet. For this reason, it was impossible to know when the tank would be full. Therefore, when replenishing oil, the engine cover must be removed and the oil amount must be checked from outside the tank while filling the tank, which is a hassle.

0004

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the troublesomeness of the conventional example, and in particular to provide an oil that can be smoothly injected while effectively checking the area where the oil level exists without removing the engine cover. is to provide a level warning device.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides an oil level sensor mechanism that is detachably installed in an oil tank and is activated by the vertical movement of a float to output a predetermined oil level signal; and a control section that selects and drives at least one of the plurality of lighting means constituting the indicator based on the output signal of the indicator. Further, a float stopper is provided at the center of the pipe member that guides the vertical movement of the float.

[0006] In one region and the other region of the pipe member separated by the float stopper, floats each having a sensor biasing member are installed. The central portion and upper and lower ends of the pipe member are each equipped with a position sensor driven by a sensor biasing member. and an oil level position determination function in which the control unit inputs output signals from each position sensor and performs predetermined calculations based on the output signals to determine the position of the oil level in the oil tank;
The structure includes a lighting means selection drive function that selectively turns on one of the lighting means according to the determined oil level position information and, if necessary, drives an alarm means installed externally in advance. I'm picking it up. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned objective.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. This embodiment shows the case where the present invention is applied to an ignition system for an outboard motor. Figure 1
shows the configuration diagram of the entire system. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a two-stroke, four-cylinder engine is disclosed. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a magneto section, and reference numeral 2 indicates a control unit for ignition control. Further, reference numeral 3 indicates an ignition coil section whose ignition is controlled by the control unit 2. In the present embodiment, the control portion of the oil level warning device 4 according to the present invention is incorporated into the control unit 2, and the entire operation is regulated by the control unit 2.

The oil level warning device 4 is detachably installed in an oil tank 11 (see FIG. 4), and includes an oil level sensor mechanism 12 that is activated by the vertical movement of a float and outputs a predetermined oil level signal. an indicator that lights up and displays predetermined information regarding the oil level based on the output signal from the oil level sensor mechanism 12;
A plurality of (in this embodiment, three) constituting this indicator 13
Light emitting diode LED1,L as a lighting means
The control unit 5 selects and drives at least one of the ED2 and the LED3. Reference numeral 50 indicates an engine cover. A float stopper 142 is provided at the center of the pipe member 14 that guides the vertical movement of the float. A sensor biasing member 161 is located in one area and the other area of the pipe member separated by this float stopper 142.
, 172, respectively, are equipped separately. Sensor biasing members 161, 172
As such, a magnet is used in this embodiment.

The above-described sensor biasing members 161 and 172 are provided at the center and upper and lower ends of the pipe member 14, respectively.
Reed switch S as a position sensor driven by
It is equipped with W1, SW2, and SW3. The control unit 5 inputs the output signals from the reed switches SW1 to SW20 and performs a predetermined calculation based on the output signals to determine the position of the oil level in the oil tank 11. , a light emitting diode L as a lighting means according to the determined position information of the oil surface.
It has a lighting means selection drive function that selectively turns on any one of ED1, LED2, and LED3 and, if necessary, drives a buzzer BZ as an alarm means installed externally in advance.

[0010] This will be explained in more detail. The oil level sensor mechanism 12 includes a pipe member 14 and a holder portion 15 installed at the upper end of the pipe member 14 in FIG. The pipe member 14 is a pipe made of a material such as brass. In this pipe member 14,
Reed switches SW1, SW2, and SW3 are installed as position sensors mounted on the board. These reed switches SW1, SW2, S
W3 is provided at the lower end, center, and upper end of the pipe member 14 in FIG. 4, respectively. Pipe member 1
The reed switch SW2 disposed in the center of the float 4 is installed at the lower part of the float stopper 141. The holder part 15 is made of a soft material such as rubber and has a hollow cap shape, and the pipe member 14 described above is attached to the lower part of the holder part 15.
is inserted. Finally, the lead wires from the reed switches SW1, SW2, SW3 come out from this holder portion 15 and are connected to a harness or the like. Reference numeral 141 indicates a float stopper provided at the lower end of the pipe member 14.

On the other hand, the float 1 is provided with sensor biasing members 161 and 172, respectively, in one region and the other region of the pipe member separated by the float stopper 142.
6 and 17 are equipped separately. Sensor biasing member 16
1 and 172, a magnet is used in this embodiment. The floats 16 and 17, each equipped with the sensor biasing members 161 and 172, move up and down according to the amount of oil. On the other hand, each reed switch SW1 to SW3 as a position sensor is turned off (
OFF) to ON.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the oil level sensor mechanism 12 described above is attached to the oil tank 11 and attached to the engine part. When actually injecting oil, use the oil lid 5 on the engine cover as shown in Figure 5.
Open 1 and remove the tank cap.

On the other hand, the magneto section 1 is constructed as shown in FIG. 2, and a capacitor charging coil 32 and a battery charging coil 33 are arranged inside a rotor 31 so as to face each other. On the other hand, pulser coils 34 to 37 are provided outside the rotor 31 at 90° intervals, and the trigger poles attached to the outer periphery of the rotor 11 are set to face each other with a slight gap. Furthermore, a ring gear 39 is press-fitted into the outer periphery of the rotor 31. A gear counting coil 40 is arranged to face the ring gear 39. Reference numeral 38 indicates a trigger pole.

The control unit 2 is mainly composed of a control section 5 consisting of a microcomputer circuit for controlling ignition timing. Reference symbols C1 and C2 indicate charging capacitors that are charged by a capacitor charging coil 32 via a rectifier circuit. This charging capacitor C1, C2
The outputs of thyristors SCR1, SCR2, SCR
3, primary side ignition coil L11, L via SCR4
21, L31, and L41. Reference symbols L12, L22, L32, and L42 indicate secondary ignition coils.

Both ends of the capacitor charge coil 32 are individually grounded as necessary via diodes D20, D22 and a stop switch SW, as shown in FIG. Also pulsar coil 34~3
Each output of 7 is connected to a noise filter 42 and a diode D3.
, D4, D5, and D6 to the respective gates of the corresponding thyristors SCR1 to SCR4. The control unit 5 described above is connected to the anode side of each of the diodes D3 to D6 via a switch circuit 45.

Further, a part of each output of the pulser coils 34 to 37 is passed through a noise filter 42 and a waveform shaping circuit 4.
3 to the control unit 5. Further, a trigger output buffer 44 is connected between the cathode side of each of the diodes D3 to D6 described above and the control section 5. Diodes D7 to D10 are connected in the forward direction to the output stage of the trigger output buffer 44, respectively. The ignition timing of each of these control elements and each control circuit is controlled by the control section 5 as described later. Furthermore, the control unit 5 includes:
The output V2 /V1 of the throttle sensor 46 is inputted via the A/D converter 45.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. First, when the engine is started, a pinion gear (not shown) engages the ring gear 39 and the rotor 31 rotates. When the rotor 31 rotates, an electromotive force is generated in the capacitor charging coil 32. FIG. 3 shows the output waveform in this case. Then, a predetermined power is supplied to the capacitor C1 by the positive output of this capacitor charge coil 32.
A predetermined amount of power is stored in the capacitor C2 at the negative output. After the capacitor C1 is charged, when the end face of the trigger pole 38 and the pulser coil 34 face each other, a negative output of the pulser coil 34 is generated, and current flows to the control unit 5.

In this case, under the control of the control section 5, this signal will not be output to the trigger output buffer 44 or later for several seconds after starting. Furthermore, when the rotor 31 rotates and the other end surface of the trigger pole 38 and the pulser coil 34 face each other, a positive output of the output waveform of the pulser coil 34 is generated. Due to this output, current flows from "pulsar coil 34 → noise filter 42 → diode D3 → gate of thyristor SCR1 → primary L11 of ignition coil", and thyristor SCR1, which was in the OFF state until then, flows.
turns on. Then, the electric charge of the capacitor C1 that was previously charged becomes “Capacitor C1 → Thyristor S
CR1 → ignition coil primary L11" and is rapidly discharged. This generates a high voltage on the secondary side of the ignition coil, causing sparks to fly to the spark plug and ignite the air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber. This will start the engine.

[0019] Thereafter, the same operation causes sparks to fly and ignite in other spark plugs one after another. The ignition timing at this time is the starting ignition timing, which is several degrees advanced from the ignition timing when the engine is fully closed, thereby improving startability.

Next, the operation after the starting ignition timing will be explained. For example, assume that the maintenance of the ignition timing at the time of starting is set in terms of time. Assuming that this holding time is T seconds, after T seconds have elapsed, the control section 5 starts outputting from the negative side of the pulser coil output waveform, and the gear counting coil 40 generates an output as shown in FIG. , the control unit 5 counts this waveform. And throttle sensor 4
After counting the number of pulses of the output of the gear counting coil 40 from the signal No. 6, it is determined whether or not to output the signal to the trigger output buffer 44 and beyond.

Further, after the starting advance angle time T seconds has elapsed, the switch circuit 45 is turned ON and the positive side outputs of the pulser coils 34 to 37 are bypassed, so that there is no influence on the ignition timing determination. The trigger output buffer 44 outputs an output to the gate of the thyristor for the cylinder at which the ignition timing is exactly at that time, turns on the thyristor, and finally causes the spark to fly. The above is the steady state operation after the starting ignition timing.

Further, the oil level sensor mechanism 12 is inserted from above into the oil tank 11 installed in the engine cover 50, as shown in FIG. Then, the oil lid 51 of the engine cover 50 is opened, the cap 11A of the tank 11 is removed, and oil is injected. This results in
The float gradually rises according to the oil level.

The relationship between the control section 5 and the oil level sensor mechanism 12 will now be explained. Reed switches SW1, SW2, SW3 of oil level sensor mechanism 12
The control unit 5 is connected to each of the contacts via a built-in interface 5A and diodes D23, D24, and D25. On the other hand, power is constantly applied to the light emitting diodes LED1 to LED3 of the indicator 13 and the buzzer BZ via the IG switch 18. The negative side of the light emitting diodes LED1 to LED3 and the buzzer BZ are connected to switching transistors TR1 and T
It is grounded via R2, TR3, and TR4, respectively. These switching transistors TR1 ~
The TR4 is individually controlled to be driven by the control section 5.

Next, the operation of the oil level warning device in the above embodiment configured as described above will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. 7 and the explanatory diagram of FIG. 6. First, I.G.
When the switch 18 is turned on, the control section 5
The switching transistor TR1 is made conductive for a second to make the buzzer BZ sound, thereby first checking the quality of the buzzer BZ itself. After T1 seconds have elapsed, the buzzer BZ will automatically stop sounding (
S1-S3).

Next, it is determined whether the reed switch (reed switch SW1 located at the lowest end in FIG. 5) installed in the oil level sensor mechanism 12 is off (OFF) (S4). In this case, since the oil level is at the warning level, a conductive signal is output from the interface to the bases of switching transistors TR1 and TR2.
1 and TR2 are turned on and the buzzer BZ is sounded. or,
At the same time, the light emitting diode LED1 lights up to notify the driver that the oil level is at the warning level (S5). Also, if reed switch SW1 is off (YES), the process goes to the next determination and determines whether or not the engine is running (S
6). If it is operating, reed switch SW
2 is off (S7). If it is off (yes), interface 5 is displayed as shown in Figure 5.
When a signal is input from A to the base of the switching transistor TR3, the switching transistor T
R3 is turned on and light emitting diode LED2 lights up, indicating that the oil level is at a medium level (S8). vinegar.

On the other hand, when the reed switch SW2 of the oil level sensor mechanism 12 is on (no), as can be seen from FIG. Switching transistor TR4 of interface 5A
The light is turned on by the on operation (S9).

If the engine is stopped (No in S6), it is determined whether the reed switch SW2 of the oil level sensor mechanism 12 is on. If it is off (no), the oil level is medium, so the light emitting diode LED2 is lit in the same way as before. On the other hand, if the reed switch SW2 is on (YES), the next operation is performed, and the reed switch SW2 of the oil level sensor mechanism 12 is turned on.
3 is on (S11). Off (no)
In this case, the light emitting diode LED3 continues to light up as in the above case.

When the reed switch SW3 of the oil level sensor mechanism 12 is on (YES in S11), it indicates that the oil level is full. Therefore, a buzzer BZ sounds to notify the driver of the full tank state. Further, the LED 3 in the indicator 13 continues to be lit (S11). As a result, even if the driver opens the oil lid 51 and injects oil with the engine cover 50 attached when replenishing oil, the buzzer BZ will sound when the tank is full, so the driver can immediately fill up the tank. You can stop the oil injection. Here, when T2 seconds have passed after the buzzer BZ sounds, the sound of the buzzer BZ is automatically stopped (S1
3, S14). Note that this buzzer stop time can be set arbitrarily.

[0029] Here, when it is determined whether or not the engine is running during the process, the oil-full warning is only issued while the engine is stopped. This is to prevent the transom angle from changing during cruising, or the oil level from moving due to vibrations, resulting in erroneous indications.

Furthermore, the relationship between the lighting range of each of the LED1 to LED4 of the indicator 13 and the amount of oil during the period until the oil is full may be set arbitrarily. Further, although the light-emitting diode is used as the lighting display in this example, a lamp or a liquid crystal display may be used instead of the light-emitting diode.

Furthermore, in this example, the buzzer sounds only when the oil tank is full, but it is also possible to use a method in which the buzzer sounds in different patterns along with each lighting display (for example,
If reed switch SW1 is on, it sounds continuously,
(For example, when SW2 is on, there will be no sound). In this way, each oil level at the time of oil injection can be heard audibly, allowing the driver to know more detailed information.

As described above, in this embodiment, (1) it is possible to easily grasp the timing when the injected oil is full, and the troublesome time when injecting oil can be eliminated;
Therefore, the oil injection work can be done quickly.■ Since the full tank status when replenishing the oil can be displayed externally with light or sound, there is no need to remove the engine cover and check the oil level each time before filling the oil.■ When injecting oil,
Since oil level changes can be confirmed at regular intervals by light emission and sound, there is an advantage in that it is easy to estimate the amount of oil to be injected.

[0033]

[Effects of the Invention] Since the present invention is configured and functions as described above, it is possible to easily know the timing when the injected oil is full from the information displayed by the lighting means, and the troublesome time when injecting oil can be avoided. Therefore, it is possible to provide an unprecedented and superior oil level warning device that can quickly perform oil injection work.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

[Fig. 1] Circuit diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention

[Fig. 2] Explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the magneto section in Fig. 1

[Figure 3] Timing chart showing the operation of the magneto section, etc. in Figure 1

[Fig. 4] Explanatory diagram showing the oil level sensor mechanism in Fig. 1

[Fig. 5] A sectional view showing the oil tank portion equipped with the oil level sensor mechanism shown in Fig. 4.

[Fig. 6] An explanatory diagram showing the display mode of the indicator part in Fig. 1.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the oil level warning device portion in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

4 Oil level warning device 5 Control section 11 Oil tank 12 Oil level sensor mechanism 13 Indicator section 14 Pipe members 141, 142 Float stopper 16,
17 Float

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: An oil level sensor mechanism that is detachably installed in an oil tank and outputs a predetermined oil level signal according to the vertical movement of a float, and a lighting operation based on the output signal from this oil level sensor mechanism. In the oil level warning device, the oil level warning device is provided with an indicator that controls the movement of the float, and a control unit that selects and drives at least one of a plurality of lighting means constituting the indicator. , a float stopper is provided, and floats each equipped with a sensor biasing member are installed in one region and the other region of the pipe member separated by the float stopper, and at the center and upper and lower ends of the pipe member. Each is equipped with a position sensor driven by the sensor biasing member, and the control section inputs output signals from each position sensor and performs predetermined calculations based on the output signals to control the position in the oil tank. An oil level position determination function that determines the position of the oil level, and selects and lights up one of the lighting means according to the determined position information of the oil level, and drives an alarm means installed externally in advance as necessary. An oil level warning device characterized by having a selective driving function for a lighting means.