JP2006142985A - Ship propelling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ship propelling machine equipped with a transmission mechanism and reducible in sizes of an upper casing and a lower casing. <P>SOLUTION: The ship propelling machine is equipped with a drive shaft 11 extending in the vertical direction, and the upper casing 23 that makes drive shaft 11 pass therein. The transmission mechanism 21 to decelerate the rotation of a crank shaft 28 and transmit the rotation to the drive shaft 11 is installed between the upper casing 23 and an engine 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a ship propulsion device in which a speed change mechanism is interposed in a drive system of a propeller.

  As this type of conventional ship propulsion device, for example, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the ship propulsion device disclosed in Patent Document 1, an engine is mounted above the upper casing, and a lower casing is attached to a lower end portion of the upper casing, and a propeller provided on the lower casing includes the propeller described above. Thrust is generated by being driven by the engine. In this marine vessel propulsion device, the engine is connected via a drive shaft extending vertically in both casings, a speed change mechanism interposed in the middle of the drive shaft, and a bevel gear provided at the lower end of the drive shaft. Is transmitted to the propeller shaft.

The speed change mechanism includes two planetary gear type speed reducers, and these speed reducers are accommodated in the upper casing in a state of being arranged in the vertical direction (axial direction).
On the other hand, many conventional marine propulsion devices have an upper casing and a lower casing formed into a predetermined shape by casting. Inside the upper casing and the lower casing, an exhaust passage having a structure for exhausting exhaust gas into the water from the axial center portion of the propeller is formed. Further, as a conventional marine vessel propulsion device, there is one equipped with a cooling device in which a water-cooled engine is mounted on an upper casing and seawater is supplied to the engine as cooling water by a cooling water pump provided in the upper casing. .

Furthermore, this type of conventional marine propulsion device includes a clamp bracket that is detachably attached to the hull. The propulsion device including the engine, the upper casing, the lower casing, and the like is supported by the clamp bracket so as to be swingable in the vertical direction via a tilt shaft, and can be tilted up or down. Has been.
In addition, the applicant could not find prior art documents closely related to the present invention by the time of filing other than the prior art documents specified by the prior art document information described in this specification. .
Japanese Patent No. 2785200 (page 2-5, Fig. 1)

  However, in the conventional marine vessel propulsion device configured as described above, since the speed change mechanism is provided in the central portion in the vertical direction of the upper casing, there is a problem that the upper casing is enlarged in the horizontal direction. . When the upper casing is increased in size as described above, the lower casing attached to the lower end portion of the upper casing must also be formed larger, and the resistance caused by the water received by both casings during traveling is increased.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a marine vessel propulsion device that is equipped with a speed change mechanism and that can be downsized in an upper casing and a lower casing.

  In order to achieve this object, a marine propulsion device according to the present invention is a speed change mechanism that decelerates the rotation of a crankshaft of an engine and transmits it to the drive shaft between an engine and an upper casing through which a drive shaft extending in the vertical direction passes. A mechanism is provided.

The marine vessel propulsion device according to the invention described in claim 2 is the marine vessel propulsion device according to the invention described in claim 1, wherein the upper casing is supported by the clamp bracket on the hull side so as to be swingable in the vertical direction via the tilt shaft. In addition, a speed change mechanism is provided above the tilt axis.
The marine vessel propulsion device according to the invention described in claim 3 is the marine vessel propulsion device according to the invention described in claim 1, wherein the engine is an air-cooled engine.

A marine vessel propulsion device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the marine vessel propulsion device according to the first aspect of the invention, comprising an exhaust device that discharges exhaust gas into the atmosphere from an exhaust pipe connected to the engine. It is.
A marine vessel propulsion apparatus according to the invention described in claim 5 is the marine vessel propulsion apparatus according to the invention described in claim 1, wherein the upper casing is formed as a tubular body by drawing.

According to the present invention, since it is not necessary to form a space for accommodating the speed change mechanism in the upper casing, the size of the upper casing can be reduced as compared with the conventional marine vessel propulsion device in which the speed change mechanism is located in the upper casing. Can do.
Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a marine vessel propulsion device that can form a submerged portion in a compact manner and that has low resistance to water received by the upper casing during traveling.

  Further, since the rotation of the crankshaft is decelerated by the transmission mechanism and transmitted to the propeller shaft, the propeller can be rotated at an efficient low speed, and the bevel gear provided at the connection portion between the drive shaft and the propeller shaft Can be formed compactly. The reason why the bevel gear can be reduced in size is that it is not necessary to decelerate with the bevel gear as in the prior art because the speed change mechanism on the engine side can sufficiently decelerate. Since the bevel gear can be formed in a compact manner in this way, the width of the lower casing can be narrowed, so that the resistance caused by water received by the lower casing during traveling can be further reduced.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the load when tilting up is smaller than when the speed change mechanism is located below the tilt shaft. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a ship propulsion device that can be easily tilted up.

  In the marine vessel propulsion apparatus according to the invention described in claim 3, since it is not necessary to supply cooling water to the engine, the upper casing is compared with a case where water cooling parts such as a cooling water pump and a cooling water pipe are provided in the upper casing. Can be miniaturized. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a marine vessel propulsion device in which the upper casing is further miniaturized.

Since the ship propulsion device according to the invention described in claim 4 does not need to provide an exhaust passage in the upper casing, these casings are provided in comparison with the conventional ship propulsion device in which the exhaust passage is formed in the upper casing and the lower casing. Can be formed thinly.
Therefore, according to the present invention, the upper casing and the lower casing can be formed more compactly.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, mass production of the upper casing is facilitated, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a marine vessel propulsion apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a front view of a marine vessel propulsion apparatus according to the present invention, which is drawn with the clamp bracket broken. 2 is a side view of the marine vessel propulsion apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the configuration of the transmission mechanism, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the configuration of the transmission mechanism. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the marine vessel propulsion apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 5 (a) shows a state where the carrying handle is positioned rearward, and FIG. 5 (b) shows a state where the carrying handle is removed. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another example of the steering handle. FIG. 6A shows a forward state, and FIG. 6B shows a state where the steering handle is removed.

  In these drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates an outboard motor as a ship propulsion device according to this embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the outboard motor 1 includes a clamp bracket 4 that is detachably attached to an attachment member 3 of the hull 2, and a vertical rotation through the tilt shaft 5 to the clamp bracket 4. The swivel bracket 6 is movably supported, and a propulsion device 8 described later is rotatably supported by the swivel bracket 6 by a steering shaft 7 whose axial direction is the vertical direction.

The clamp bracket 4 is provided with support plates 4 a at both ends in the left-right direction, and is detachably attached to the attachment member 3 with attachment bolts 9.
The tilt shaft 5 is fixed to the support plate 4a so as to be bridged between the pair of support plates 4a and 4a.

  The swivel bracket 6 is rotatably supported by the tilt shaft 5 inside the pair of support plates 4a, 4a. The swivel bracket 6 is formed so as to extend rearward from the tilt shaft 5, and supports the steering shaft 7 in a freely rotatable manner at the rear end portion.

  The steering shaft 7 is formed in a cylindrical shape protruding upward and downward from the rear end portion of the swivel bracket 6 and is supported by the swivel bracket 6 so as to be rotatable around an axis in the vertical direction by a bearing (not shown). Yes. In addition, a drive shaft 11 described later is passed through the hollow portion of the steering shaft 7.

  The propulsion device 8 includes a speed change mechanism 21 supported on the upper end portion of the steering shaft 7, an engine 22 supported on the upper end portion of the speed change mechanism 21, and an upper that is supported by the lower end portion of the steering shaft 7 and extends downward. A casing 23, a gear case 24 as a lower casing attached to the lower end portion of the upper casing 23, a propeller 25 rotatably supported by the gear case 24, and the drive shaft 11 from the transmission mechanism 21 to the propeller 25. The transmission device 26 is used to transmit power and a steering handle 27 for carrying and steering (see FIG. 5).

  The propulsion device 8 can rotate in the left-right direction with respect to the swivel bracket 6 together with the steering shaft 7 to change the direction of the propulsive force. That is, the hull 2 moves forward by positioning the propulsion device 8 at the position shown in FIGS. Or turn left. In the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment, the hull 2 can be moved backward by changing the propulsion device 8 by 180 ° from the position shown in FIGS.

  In this embodiment, the speed change mechanism 21 is constituted by a planetary gear type speed reducer as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the speed change mechanism 21 is positioned higher than the tilt shaft 5. It is mounted on. The speed change mechanism 21 includes a sun gear 29 provided integrally with a lower end portion of a crankshaft 28 (see FIG. 3) of the engine 22, and is positioned on the same axis as the sun gear 29 and is connected to the sun gear 29 and the axis. The internal gear 30 positioned at the same position in the direction, the three planetary gears 31 interposed between the internal gear 30 and the sun gear 29, and the planetary gears 31 respectively rotating (spinning). The carrier 32 is configured to freely support and connect all the planetary gears 31 so as to integrally revolve. All the gears used in the speed change mechanism 21 according to this embodiment are spur gears.

The internal gear 30 is supported and fixed to a housing 33 (see FIG. 3) of the speed change mechanism 21. The carrier 32 is rotatably supported by the housing 33 by a bearing (not shown). The upper end portion of the drive shaft 11 is connected to the axial center portion of the carrier 32.
The speed change mechanism 21 according to this embodiment is configured to decelerate so that the rotational speed of the carrier 32 becomes 1/5 with respect to the rotational speed of the sun gear 29.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the drive shaft 11 penetrates the steering shaft 7 and the upper casing 23 and is formed so as to face the inside of the gear box. A propeller shaft 36 is connected to the lower end portion of the drive shaft 11 via a pair of bevel gears 37 and 38 as will be described later. The drive shaft 11 according to this embodiment is rotatably supported by a steering shaft 7 and a gear box by a bearing (not shown).

  The engine 22 is an air-cooled four-cycle engine and is mounted on the transmission mechanism 21 with the axial direction of the crankshaft 28 (see FIG. 3) oriented in the vertical direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the engine 22 includes an exhaust pipe 34 that exhausts exhaust gas behind the transmission mechanism 21. As shown in FIG. 5, the engine 22 is equipped with a forced air cooling device (not shown) composed of a fan and a shroud in order to be covered by the cowling 35.

  The upper casing 23 is formed by a pipe made of aluminum alloy, and is fixed to the lower end portion of the steering shaft 7. The cross-sectional shape of the upper casing 23 is formed in an elliptical shape that is long in the front-rear direction. The cross-sectional area of the space formed in the upper casing 23 is set to a size that provides a minimum space necessary for passing the drive shaft 11 into the upper casing 23. This is because the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment is such that the engine 22 is air-cooled and there is no need to pass a cooling water pipe through the upper casing, and the exhaust gas of the engine 22 is discharged into the atmosphere near the engine 22. This is because it is not necessary to form an exhaust passage in the upper casing.

  Thus, since the upper casing 23 has a structure in which only the drive shaft 11 passes through the upper casing 23, the upper casing 23 can be formed by a pipe having a constant cross-sectional shape as shown in this embodiment. The upper casing 23 according to this embodiment is manufactured using a pipe formed by drawing.

The gear case 24 is formed in a predetermined shape by casting, and is fixed to a lower end portion of the upper casing 23. Further, the gear case 24 rotatably supports a propeller shaft 36, which will be described later, by a bearing (not shown).
The propeller 25 has two blades 25a, and is formed to have an outer diameter larger than that of a conventional propeller so as to obtain a large thrust at a low rotation. In other words, the propeller 25 is formed such that the outer diameter is relatively large and the boss diameter is small, and the so-called blade aspect ratio is larger than that of a conventional outboard propeller.

  The transmission 26 for transmitting power from the transmission mechanism 21 to the propeller 25 includes the drive shaft 11 connected to the carrier 32 of the transmission mechanism 21 and bevel gears 37 and 38 at the lower end of the drive shaft 11. And the propeller shaft 36 connected thereto. In this embodiment, the bevel gears 37 and 38 are configured not to decelerate. That is, the rotational speed of the propeller shaft 36 (propeller 25) matches the rotational speed of the drive shaft 11. The bevel gears 37 and 38 may be configured such that the rotation of the propeller shaft 36 is decelerated with respect to the rotation of the drive shaft 11.

  The carrying handle 27 is for holding the outboard motor 1 when it is carried or for the driver to steer. The carrying handle 27 is formed in a U-shape as shown in FIG. The support shaft 39 is pivotally attached to the propulsion device 8. The support shaft 39 is formed such that the axial direction is the left-right direction, and is rotatably supported by a rigid body portion (the transmission mechanism 21 and the engine 22) of the propulsion device 8.

  As shown by a solid line in FIG. 5A, the carrying handle 27 functions as a steering handle for steering substantially when the vehicle moves backward by being rotated so as to extend rearward. That is, at the time of reversing, the propulsion device 8 is rotated 180 ° horizontally with respect to the position shown in the figure. In this state, the carrying handle 27 extends toward the hull 2 side. By operating No. 27, it is possible to steer when reversing. At the time of forward movement, the carrying handle 27 can be gripped and steered by turning it 180 degrees forward about the support shaft 39 from the position shown by the solid line in FIG.

  By positioning the carrying handle 27 in a vertical position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 5A, the carrying handle 27 functions substantially as a grip handle for gripping when carrying the outboard motor 1. The outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment is provided with a detachable steering handle 40 at the front end portion of the propulsion device 8 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 instead of the carrying handle 27. It can also be formed by a single rod 41 as shown in FIG.

6 has a grip 43 at one end and a support shaft 44 at the other end, and the support shaft 44 at the left end of the propulsion device 8. It is attached so that it can rotate freely. The steering handle 42 is used in a state of being directed forward when moving forward, and is used after being rotated 180 ° from the advanced state when moving backward.
Further, although not shown, the carrying handle 27 and the steering handle 42 are provided with a throttle operation member for increasing or decreasing the rotational speed of the engine 22.

  In the outboard motor 1 configured as described above, the rotation of the crankshaft 28 of the engine 22 is transmitted to the propeller 25 via the transmission 26 in a state where the rotation of the crankshaft 28 of the engine 22 is decelerated by the speed change mechanism 21. Rotating at 1/5 the number of revolutions, thrust is generated. In the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment, since the speed change mechanism 21 that decelerates the rotation of the engine 22 is positioned above the upper casing 23, the speed change mechanism is located inside the upper casing 23. Compared to the conventional outboard motor, the width of the upper casing 23 in the left-right direction and the front-rear direction can be reduced.

  Therefore, according to the outboard motor 1 of this embodiment, the submerged portion can be formed in a compact manner, and the resistance due to water at the time of running can be reduced. Further, since the rotation of the crankshaft 28 is decelerated by the transmission mechanism 21 and transmitted to the propeller shaft 36, the propeller 25 can be rotated at an efficient low speed, and the drive shaft 11 and the propeller shaft 36 are connected. The bevel gears 37 and 38 provided in the portion can be formed compactly.

  The reason why the bevel gears 37 and 38 can be reduced in size is that the speed change mechanism 21 on the engine 22 side can sufficiently reduce the speed and the bevel gears 37 and 38 do not need to be decelerated. In order to reduce the speed with the bevel gears 37 and 38, the diameter of the bevel gear 38 provided on the propeller shaft 36 must be relatively large, and the overall outer shape of the bevel gears 37 and 38 is increased. As a result, the gear case (lower casing) becomes larger. However, as shown in this embodiment, in the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment, since the bevel gears 37 and 38 can be formed compactly, the lateral width of the gear case 24 can be formed narrow. Resistance due to water received by the gear case 24 during navigation can be further reduced.

In this embodiment, the bevel gears 37 and 38 are formed so as to transmit power at a constant speed. By adopting this configuration, in the bevel gears 37 and 38, the relative sliding amount between the tooth surfaces meshing with each other can be minimized. As a result, the input torque of the bevel gears 37 and 38 is relatively increased due to the rotation of the engine 22 being decelerated by the speed change mechanism 21 having a large reduction ratio and being input to the bevel gears 37 and 38. The PV value (surface pressure / sliding speed) can be increased even though the surface pressure increases.
Therefore, the bevel gears 37 and 38 of the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment have higher durability than those used in conventional outboard motors.

  In addition, when the bevel gears 37 and 38 are configured to transmit power at a constant speed or a reduced speed ratio, it is not necessary to form undercut portions on the teeth of these bevel gears 37 and 38. For this reason, since a forging method with a so-called steel structure flow becomes possible, the bevel gears 37 and 38 are manufactured by this method, and the strength that can offset the increase in tooth bending stress due to an increase in input torque is provided. The gears 37 and 38 can be applied, and the durability can be further improved.

  In the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment, since the speed change mechanism 21 is positioned above the tilt shaft 5, the outboard motor 1 is rotated around the tilt shaft 5 to be lifted and tilted up. The load is smaller than when the speed change mechanism 21 is positioned below the tilt shaft 5. Therefore, the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment can easily tilt up.

  The outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment is equipped with the air-cooled engine 22, so there is no need to supply cooling water to the engine 22. For this reason, compared with the outboard motor of the structure which provides components for water cooling, such as a cooling water pump and a cooling water pipe, in the upper casing 23, size reduction of the upper casing 23 can be achieved.

  Since the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment is configured to exhaust the exhaust gas into the atmosphere above the speed change mechanism 21, it is not necessary to provide an exhaust passage in the upper casing 23. For this reason, the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment can form these casings thinner than a conventional outboard motor in which an exhaust passage is formed in the upper casing and the lower casing.

Further, the outboard motor 1 according to this embodiment can reduce the manufacturing cost because the upper casing 23 is formed by a drawing process capable of mass production.
In addition, since the speed change mechanism 21 according to this embodiment is constituted by a planetary gear speed reducer that uses only spur gears, it is possible to obtain a large speed reduction ratio while improving durability.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the speed change mechanism 21 is configured by the planetary gear type reduction gear is shown. However, the speed change mechanism according to the present invention is not limited to this, and other speed reducers and transmissions are used. It is also possible to mount a plurality of planetary gear type speed reducers side by side in the vertical direction so that the reduction ratio can be switched artificially and automatically.

It is a front view of the ship propulsion device concerning the present invention. It is a side view of the ship propulsion device concerning the present invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the structure of a transmission mechanism. It is a top view which shows the structure of a transmission mechanism. It is a perspective view of the ship propulsion device concerning the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the other example of the steering handle.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Outboard motor, 4 ... Clamp bracket, 6 ... Swivel bracket, 8 ... Propulsion device, 11 ... Drive shaft, 21 ... Transmission mechanism, 22 ... Engine, 23 ... Upper casing, 24 ... Gear case, 25 ... Propeller, 28 ... Crankshaft, 29 ... Sun gear, 30 ... Internal gear, 31 ... Planetary gear, 32 ... Carrier, 34 ... Exhaust pipe, 36 ... Propeller shaft, 37, 38 ... Bevel gear.

Claims (5)

  A marine propulsion device comprising a transmission mechanism that decelerates and transmits rotation of a crankshaft of an engine between an upper casing through which a drive shaft extending in a vertical direction passes and an engine.   2. The marine vessel propulsion device according to claim 1, wherein the upper casing is supported by a clamp bracket on the hull side in a vertically swingable manner via a tilt shaft, and a speed change mechanism is provided above the tilt shaft. .   The marine vessel propulsion device according to claim 1, wherein the engine is an air-cooled engine.   The ship propulsion device according to claim 1, further comprising an exhaust device that discharges exhaust gas into an atmosphere from an exhaust pipe connected to the engine. 2. The marine vessel propulsion device according to claim 1, wherein the upper casing is a tubular body formed by drawing.

Images