JP5853335B2 - Marine propulsion device control device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a marine propulsion apparatus that includes a motor in addition to a main engine, and can perform motor propulsion by the motor alone, propulsion by the main engine alone, and hybrid propulsion by adding assistance from the motor to the output of the main engine. In particular, the present invention relates to a control device for a marine propulsion device that can prevent blackout of a generator by controlling electric power supplied to a motor.

  For work boats such as dredgers, the main engine is selected according to the output required at the time of work, so the load factor of the main engine is low when moving or waiting other than during work, which is preferable in terms of fuel consumption and maintenance management. It is not a state. When waiting offshore, it is necessary to move at a low speed in order to maintain the position according to the sea conditions, but work boats often use a fixed-pitch propeller, so the speed of the main engine is idle. When the rotational speed is less than the rotational speed, the speed is controlled by slip control using a clutch. For this reason, an output loss or a heat loss due to slip occurs, and the efficiency is deteriorated. Further, the output is increased as compared with an output capable of obtaining a greenhouse gas emission amount.

  On the other hand, in variable speed control by electric propulsion that has been increasing in recent years, slip control during low-speed movement is not necessary, but work ships such as dredgers require a large amount of output during work. In view of the above, there is a problem that the required capacity of the power generation engine and the output of the motor become large, and it is difficult to fit into the current hull form.

  In order to solve these problems, we have two power sources, the main engine and motor, as environmentally friendly technologies. The main engine is driven by the motor only at low loads where the efficiency of the main engine is low, and the main engine is As a result, a hybrid system that assists this with a motor and uses the main engine and the motor in a range where the efficiency of each of the main engine and the motor is good is becoming popular.

  In a marine propulsion device of such a hybrid system, in general, an inboard generator that is an AC generator that supplies electric power to an inboard load and a motor, a DC power supply that converts AC from the inboard generator into DC, and a DC power supply Is provided with a power supply system including a controller for controlling power supply to the motor.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-56731

However, the marine propulsion device of such a hybrid system has the following problems with respect to the power supply system.
(1) The problem of blackout (stop of inboard generator) When the total power consumption in the ship, which is the sum of the inboard load and motor power consumption, exceeds the generated power of the inboard generator, Stop) will occur. In order to prevent this, a breaker is conventionally provided in the power supply system so as not to overload the onboard generator, but there is a problem that the size of the control panel becomes large due to the large breaker. . Further, in preparation for the case where the breaker is dropped, it is necessary to separately provide a circuit for automatically returning the broken breaker, which increases the manufacturing cost of the control panel.

(2) Problem of inrush current In the power supply system, a capacitor is used like a smoothing capacitor of a DC power supply, but when the power is turned on, a large current flows from the inboard generator into the capacitor that is not stored. A phenomenon called current may occur, which may have some adverse effects on the power supply system. Therefore, when a large-capacitance capacitor is used, the inrush current increases, so that such a large-capacity capacitor cannot be used. Conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1, for example, an inrush current prevention resistor is used to limit an inrush current passing through a smoothing capacitor provided on the output side of the rectifier bridge diode. However, the resistance value is constant. For this reason, it was difficult to adjust the rise time for preventing entry.

(3) Problem of Mixing Ratio of Supply Electric Power In the above-described marine propulsion device of the hybrid system, a battery is often provided in addition to the inboard generator as the power supply system power source. In order to obtain a stable output from the power supply, it is necessary to adjust the mixing ratio of the supplied power. Conventionally, power adjustment is performed by a PWM converter. However, the PWM converter has a problem that energy conversion efficiency is not good, the size is large, and the price is high.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. In a marine propulsion device control apparatus that includes a main engine and a motor and can perform hybrid propulsion in addition to motor propulsion and main engine propulsion, The purpose is to effectively solve conventional problems such as generator blackout by controlling the applied power.

The marine propulsion device control apparatus according to claim 1 is:
A motor that drives a propeller, a main engine that drives the propeller via a clutch, an onboard load, and an AC generator that supplies an AC current to the motor, and the motor that is operated with the clutch disengaged A marine propulsion device that is provided in a marine propulsion device that propels a marine vessel by switching motor propulsion and hybrid propulsion by the motor in a state where the clutch is engaged, and that controls electric power supplied to the motor. In the control device,
A thyristor that rectifies alternating current of the alternating current generator into direct current and supplies the direct current to the motor;
A power load factor meter for detecting the total of power consumed by the ship load and the motor;
A controller that performs power control for reducing the power supplied to the motor by setting the firing angle of the thyristor to 180 degrees when the power consumption detected by the power load factor meter exceeds a predetermined limit value;
It is characterized by having.

The marine propulsion device control device according to claim 2 is the marine propulsion device control device according to claim 1,
The controller further includes a smoothing capacitor provided on the cathode side of the thyristor, and the controller prevents an inrush current to the smoothing capacitor by reducing an ignition angle of the thyristor from 180 degrees to 0 degrees when power is turned on. Inrush current prevention control is performed, and the power control is performed when the voltage of the smoothing capacitor exceeds a predetermined set value.

The marine propulsion device control device according to claim 3 is the marine propulsion device control device according to claim 2,
In the inrush current prevention control at power-on, the controller determines that the smoothing capacitor is abnormally charged when the voltage of the smoothing capacitor does not exceed a predetermined set value.

The control device for a marine propulsion device according to claim 4 is the control device for a marine propulsion device according to claim 3,
A current sensor provided on the anode side of the thyristor for detecting an input current of the thyristor; and the controller is configured to detect the current when the power consumption detected by the power load factor meter does not exceed a predetermined limit value. Slope control is performed to increase the firing angle of the thyristor when the input current detected by the sensor increases, and to decrease the firing angle of the thyristor when the input current detected by the current sensor decreases. .

  According to the control device for a marine propulsion device described in claim 1, when the power consumption detected by the power load factor meter exceeds a predetermined limit value, the controller sets the firing angle of the thyristor to 180 degrees and AC Since the power supplied from the generator to the motor is reduced, it is possible to control so that the power consumption in the ship including the ship load does not exceed the power generated by the AC generator. For this reason, it is possible to prevent blackout of the AC generator and prevent the navigation equipment and the like from stopping unexpectedly. Note that when the inboard load becomes a predetermined value or less, the ignition angle can be returned to automatically return the power supply.

  According to the marine propulsion device control apparatus described in claim 2, when the power is turned on, the controller gradually increases the output voltage of the thyristor by reducing the firing angle of the thyristor from 180 degrees to 0 degrees. Therefore, the smoothing capacitor can be charged while preventing an inrush current to the smoothing capacitor.

  According to the marine propulsion device control device described in claim 3, in the inrush current prevention control at the time of turning on the power, the controller determines that the smoothing capacitor is abnormally charged when the voltage of the smoothing capacitor does not exceed a predetermined set value. And failure of the control device can be detected.

  According to the control device for a marine propulsion device described in claim 4, when the power consumption detected by the power load factor meter does not exceed a predetermined limit value, if the input current detected by the current sensor increases, When the firing angle is increased and the input current detected by the current sensor is reduced, the controller performs slope control to reduce the firing angle of the thyristor. Therefore, when the present control device has a battery or the like as a power supply in addition to the AC generator, the mixing ratio of the power of both power supplies can be adjusted appropriately, and a stable combined output can be obtained.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the ship propulsion apparatus and control apparatus which concern on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the ignition angle of the thyristor utilized for the control apparatus of embodiment, and energization time. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the ignition angle of the thyristor utilized for the control apparatus of embodiment, and an output voltage. It is a flowchart which shows the inrush current prevention control at the time of power activation in the control apparatus of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the electric power control by the thyristor in the control apparatus of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the overload determination of the alternating current generator in the electric power control of the control apparatus of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the input current and output voltage of a thyristor utilized for the control apparatus of embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the azimuth thruster as a hybrid ship propulsion apparatus which is an example of application of the control apparatus of embodiment.

A hybrid marine propulsion device 1 and its control device 2 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.
First, the structure of the marine propulsion device 1 and its control device 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, a marine propulsion device 1 includes a motor 5 that drives a propeller 4 of an azimuth thruster 3 via a linkage mechanism (not shown in detail), and a main engine that drives the propeller 4 via a clutch 6 and a linkage mechanism. 7 and an alternator 8 for supplying an alternating current to the ship load and the motor 5. According to the above configuration, motor propulsion performed by the motor 5 alone with the clutch 6 disengaged, main engine 7 propulsion performed by the main engine 7 alone with the clutch 6 engaged, and the clutch 6 engaged. The ship can be propelled by arbitrarily switching between the main engine 7 and the hybrid propulsion by the motor 5 performed in the state. In the case of main engine propulsion, the motor 5 may be driven as a generator. The mechanisms such as the main engine 7, the motor 5, the azimuth thruster 3, and the clutch 6 are merely examples, and any structure may be used as long as each propulsion and hybrid propulsion of the motor 5 and the main engine 7 can be arbitrarily selected. Is not to be done.

As shown in FIG. 1, the marine propulsion device is provided with a control device 2 that controls each part of the marine propulsion device.
The anode side of a thyristor 9, which is a semiconductor element for rectifying alternating current into direct current, is connected to the output side of the alternating current generator 8. Here, the thyristor 9 is a three-terminal semiconductor element that can conduct between the anode and the cathode mainly by flowing a gate current from the gate to the cathode, and is an SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier, silicon controlled). It is also called a commutator. The firing angle of the thyristor 9 can be arbitrarily adjusted by the controller 10, and as shown in FIG. 2, the alternating current input to the thyristor 9 is rectified by changing the firing angle and output from the thyristor 9. The direct current value to be adjusted can be arbitrarily adjusted. For example, when the firing angle is set to 180 degrees, the voltage value output from the thyristor 9 can be almost zero, and when the firing angle is set to 0 degrees, the thyristor 9 is equivalent to a diode, DC voltage can be output without loss. Therefore, the relationship as shown in FIG. 3 is established between the firing angle of the thyristor 9 and the output voltage.

  As shown in FIG. 1, on the cathode side of the thyristor 9, a smoothing capacitor 11 is connected between the thyristor 9 and the ground as means for smoothing the power waveform output from the thyristor 9. Further, a control inverter 12 is connected between the cathode side of the thyristor 9 and the motor 5 so as to be controlled by the controller 10. This inverter 12 is a bidirectional type, and is also connected to a battery 14 via a voltage converter 13 controlled by the controller 10. Accordingly, when the motor is propelled, the motor 5 is driven by the direct current supplied from the thyristor 9 and the battery 14 by the inverter 12 under the control of the controller 10. Further, during propulsion of the main engine, alternating current from the motor 5 driven as a generator is converted into direct current by the voltage converter 13 and stored in the battery 14.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a power load factor sensor 15 is connected to the output side of the AC generator 8, and the power consumed by the inboard load (voyage equipment, electric pump, etc.) and the motor 5 are consumed. The total power (total power consumption) can be detected. The detection signal of the power load factor sensor 15 is sent to the controller 10, and when the total power consumption exceeds a predetermined limit value, the controller 10 supplies the thyristor 9 with an ignition angle of 180 degrees to the motor 5. It is configured to perform power control for reducing the power to be generated.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a current sensor 16 is provided between the power load factor sensor 15 and the anode side of the thyristor 9. Between the inverter 12 and the junction point of the electric power from the thyristor 9 and the battery 14 and the inverter 12, a voltage sensor 17 that detects a combined voltage of the electric current from the thyristor 9 and the electric current from the battery 14 is provided. Each detection signal from the current sensor 16 and the voltage sensor 17 is sent to the controller 10. When the power consumption detected by the power load factor sensor 15 does not exceed a predetermined limit value, the controller 10 increases the input current detected by the current sensor 16 while referring to the composite voltage detected by the voltage sensor 17. In this case, the firing angle of the thyristor 9 is increased, and when the input current detected by the current sensor 16 decreases, the firing angle of the thyristor 9 is decreased, and the adjustment of the mixing ratio of the power of both power sources is appropriately set. Thus, it is configured to perform slope control to obtain a stable combined output.

  In the control device 2 shown in FIG. 1, the voltage of the smoothing capacitor 11 is detected by the voltage sensor 17. In order to limit the inrush current flowing into the smoothing capacitor 11 when the power is turned on, the controller 10 gradually decreases the firing angle of the thyristor 9 from 180 degrees to 0 degrees by the ramp function when the power is turned on. Inrush current prevention control is performed to gradually increase the voltage. When the voltage of the smoothing capacitor 11 detected by the voltage sensor 17 exceeds a predetermined set value, it is determined that the charging of the smoothing capacitor 11 has been completed, and the power control described above is performed. When the voltage does not exceed a predetermined set value, it is determined that the smoothing capacitor 11 is abnormally charged.

  The controller 10 not only controls the motor 5 as described above, but is also connected to the clutch 6 and the main engine 7, and is configured to control them. Upon receiving the signal, as described above, the ship can be propelled by arbitrarily switching between motor propulsion, main engine propulsion, and hybrid propulsion.

Next, the control procedure of the marine propulsion device 1 by the controller 10 of the control device 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 4 shows the procedure of the inrush current prevention control when the power is turned on in the control device 2 of the embodiment. When power is first turned on, a reset operation is first performed (S41). Next, the firing angle of the thyristor 9 is set to 180 degrees to prevent an inrush current to the smoothing capacitor 11 (S42), and then the firing angle of the thyristor 9 is gradually decreased from 180 degrees to 0 degrees by a ramp function. The output voltage of the thyristor 9 is gradually increased (S43). As a result, the capacitor is charged without inrush current flowing into the smoothing capacitor 11. Then, in order to confirm the state of charge of the capacitor, it is determined whether or not the voltage of the capacitor is equal to or lower than a predetermined set value (S44). If the voltage is equal to or lower than the set value (S44, YES), capacitor charging abnormality processing is performed. (S45) and the process is terminated (S46). If it is not less than the set value (S44, NO), it is determined that charging of the capacitor has been completed (S47), and upon completion of charging of the capacitor (S48), the routine proceeds to normal processing (S49).

  FIG. 5 shows a power control procedure that is a normal process (S49) using the thyristor 9 in the control device 2 of the embodiment. In the normal process (S49), first, the power load factor determination process (determination procedure in FIG. 6) is performed.

  FIG. 6 shows an overload determination procedure of the AC generator 8 in the power control of the control device 2 of the embodiment. Based on the detection signal from the power load factor sensor 15, it is determined whether or not the sum of the power consumption in the ship and the power consumption of the motor 5 is equal to or greater than a predetermined limit value (S61). When the sum of the power consumption in the ship and the power consumption of the motor 5 is equal to or greater than the predetermined limit value (S61, YES), the alternator 8 is overloaded (S62), and there is a risk that the alternator 8 will stop. There is a state.

  Here, the control procedure returns to FIG. 5, and the determination of whether or not the AC generator 8 is in an overload state (S52) is YES upon receiving the determination in the control procedure of FIG. Is set to 180 degrees (S53). As a result, as can be seen from FIG. 3, the output voltage of the thyristor 9 becomes 0 V, the power supplied to the motor 5 is reduced, and the overload state of the AC generator 8 is improved. Thereby, the occurrence of blackout (stop of the onboard generator) is avoided.

  In the procedure for determining the overload of the alternator 8 shown in FIG. 6, when the sum of the inboard power consumption and the motor 5 power consumption is not equal to or greater than the predetermined limit value (S61, NO), the load on the alternator 8 is normally It is a load state (S63).

  Here, the control procedure returns to FIG. 5, and the determination of whether or not the AC generator 8 is in an overload state (S52) is NO in response to the determination in the control procedure of FIG. 6, and the slope control is performed ( S54). That is, a determination is made based on the detection signal from the current sensor 16 and the detection signal from the voltage sensor 17, and when the input current detected by the current sensor 16 increases, the firing angle of the thyristor 9 is increased and the thyristor 9 is increased. The output voltage of 9 is dropped as shown in the graph of FIG. When the input current detected by the current sensor 16 decreases, the firing angle of the thyristor 9 is reduced and the output voltage of the thyristor 9 is increased as shown in the graph of FIG. Thereby, the mixing ratio of the electric power of the AC generator 8 and the battery 14 is appropriately adjusted, and a stable combined output is obtained. Such control is called slope control.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a device such as a breaker is unnecessary to prevent blackout, the size of the control panel can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced. Further, since the current flowing through the thyristor 9 is monitored, even when the capacity of the smoothing capacitor 11 is changed to a different one, it is possible to cope with the change only by the parameter of the controller 10, and the inrush current. There is no need to provide a separate circuit for preventing this. Furthermore, by controlling the firing angle of the thyristor 9, the relationship between the input current and the output voltage of the thyristor 9 can be changed as shown in FIG. 7, and different power sources ( In the embodiment, the voltage can be stabilized even when the AC generator 8 and the battery 14) are abutted.

  The marine propulsion device control device according to the embodiment described above includes a motor that drives a propeller, a main engine that drives the propeller via a clutch, an inboard load, and an AC generator that supplies an AC current to the motor. Although it is applied to a marine propulsion device that propels a ship by switching between motor propulsion and hybrid propulsion, the mechanism of the drive system is not limited to that shown in FIG. 1 and is applicable to hybrid marine propulsion devices of any structure. For example, the present invention can also be suitably applied to a so-called azimuth thruster type hybrid marine propulsion device.

Therefore, as another example of the application target of the control device of the embodiment, an example of an azimuth thruster type hybrid marine propulsion device will be described with reference to FIG.
The marine propulsion device shown in FIG. 8 is an azimuth thruster that sets a propulsion direction by turning a horizontal propeller shaft around a vertical shaft that transmits power, and in particular, a main engine at both ends of the horizontal input shaft of the azimuth thruster. By connecting the motor generator and the motor generator, the propulsion by the motor generator alone, the propulsion by the main engine alone, and the hybrid propulsion in which the assist of the motor generator is added to the output of the main engine are made possible.

  As shown in FIG. 8, at the stern of a ship 51 equipped with this marine propulsion device 50, a platform 53 serving as a base portion of the azimuth thruster 52 of the marine propulsion device 50 is fixed to the bottom. A gear case 54 is attached to the upper surface side of the platform 53, and a horizontal transmission shaft 56 that is connected to the main engine 55 and transmits a driving force and a transmission shaft 56 are connected to the gear case 54. A clutch 57 connected to the input side, a horizontal input shaft 58 having one end connected to the output side of the clutch 57, and an upper bevel gear 59 that is a first turning mechanism provided at a substantially central portion of the input shaft 58. Is stored.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a strut 58 and a casing 59 are attached to the lower surface side of the bed 53 so as to be able to turn below the ship 51. The strut 58 and the casing 59 can be turned by a turning drive mechanism (not shown). One end side (upper end side) of the vertical shaft 60 is connected to the upper bevel gear 59 in the gear case 54 provided on the upper surface of the platform 53, and the vertical shaft 60 is connected to the platform 53 and the ship 51. Are disposed in the strut 58 and the casing 59. The other end side (lower end side) of the vertical shaft 60 is connected to one end side of a horizontal propeller shaft 62 via a lower bevel gear 61 that is a second turning mechanism. The other end side of the propeller shaft 62 protrudes outside the casing 59, and a propeller 63 is attached to the other end side of the propeller shaft 62 protruding outside the casing 59. The propeller 63 is a fixed pitch propeller. In addition, a substantially cylindrical duct 64 is attached to the casing 59 so as to surround the propeller 63.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a motor generator 65 that acts as a motor when supplied with electric power and generates electric power as a generator (generator) when driven by external force is provided on the platform 53. On the upper surface side, it is attached integrally with the platform 53. The motor generator 65 is directly connected to the other end side of the input shaft 58 via a coupling.

  According to the marine propulsion device 50, the propulsion 63 can be driven to propel the marine vessel 51 by driving the motor generator 65 as a motor while the clutch 57 is disengaged. The hybrid propulsion using the motor generator 65 as a motor or a generator can be performed while being driven by the main engine 55. In any propulsion mode, the propulsion direction of the ship 51 can be arbitrarily set by turning the casing 59 provided with the propeller shaft 62 and the propeller 63 around the vertical shaft 60.

  In this hybrid propulsion system, by using the motor generator 65 as a motor, the outputs of both the main engine 55 and the motor can be used. Therefore, the main engine 55 may have a smaller output than the conventional propulsion system. Further, if the output of the main engine 55 is smaller than that of the conventional propulsion system, the outer diameter of the transmission shaft 56 and the like to which the output from the main engine 55 is applied can be made smaller, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost. Can be made.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,50 ... Ship propulsion apparatus 2 ... Control apparatus 3 ... Azimuth thruster 4 ... Propeller 5 ... Motor 6 ... Clutch 7 ... Main engine 8 ... Alternator 9 ... Thyristor 10 ... Controller 11 ... Smoothing capacitor 12 ... Inverter 14 ... Battery 15 Power load factor sensor 16 Current sensor 17 Voltage sensor 51 Ship

Claims (4)

A motor that drives a propeller, a main engine that drives the propeller via a clutch, an onboard load, and an AC generator that supplies an AC current to the motor, and the motor that is operated with the clutch disengaged A marine propulsion device that is provided in a marine propulsion device that propels a marine vessel by switching motor propulsion and hybrid propulsion by the motor in a state where the clutch is engaged, and that controls electric power supplied to the motor. In the control device,
A thyristor that rectifies alternating current of the alternating current generator into direct current and supplies the direct current to the motor;
A power load factor meter for detecting the total of power consumed by the ship load and the motor;
A controller that performs power control for reducing the power supplied to the motor by setting the firing angle of the thyristor to 180 degrees when the power consumption detected by the power load factor meter exceeds a predetermined limit value;
A control device for a marine propulsion device. The controller further includes a smoothing capacitor provided on the cathode side of the thyristor, and the controller prevents an inrush current to the smoothing capacitor by reducing an ignition angle of the thyristor from 180 degrees to 0 degrees when power is turned on. 2. The marine propulsion device control device according to claim 1, wherein inrush current prevention control is performed and the power control is performed when the voltage of the smoothing capacitor exceeds a predetermined set value. 3. The controller according to claim 2, wherein the controller determines that the smoothing capacitor is abnormally charged when the voltage of the smoothing capacitor does not exceed a predetermined setting value in the inrush current prevention control at power-on. 4. Control device for marine propulsion devices. A current sensor provided on the anode side of the thyristor for detecting an input current of the thyristor; and the controller is configured to detect the current when the power consumption detected by the power load factor meter does not exceed a predetermined limit value. Slope control is performed to increase the firing angle of the thyristor when the input current detected by the sensor increases, and to decrease the firing angle of the thyristor when the input current detected by the current sensor decreases. The marine propulsion device control device according to claim 3.

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