JPH0314680B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a control device for a horizontal full-circumference thruster used for propulsion of a work boat or the like.

(Prior art) As work ships have come to be equipped with swing-type thrusters, ship maneuverability has been significantly improved. However, the conventional swing-type thruster control device is equipped with thrusters 100a and 100b on the operation panel as shown in Figure 9. A turning operating lever 101 for operating the rudder angle of the engine, and a pair of output operating levers 103a and 1 for operating the rotation speed control levers of the left and right thruster driving engines 102a and 102b, respectively.
03b was provided.

The turning control lever 101 is a so-called two-dimensional tilting lever that stands upright in a neutral position and can be tilted vertically and horizontally.The turning control lever 101 can be used to change the steering angle of the pair of thrusters 100a and 100b according to ship maneuvering requirements. The direction of movement and turning of the ship was determined by adjusting the turning angle or the combination of thrust directions, while the output of each engine was adjusted using the output control levers 103a and 103b. On the other hand, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-2080 describes the following ship control device in which the rotation of the thruster and the output of the thruster are controlled by a single operating lever.

In other words, the inclination angle of one operating lever is set to two orthogonal angles.
This rotation angle is converted into a turning signal by the starter and phase discriminator installed on the two shafts and sent to the turning control device, and the turning angle is sent to the turning direction of both the left and right thrusters. At the same time, by pushing and pulling the operation lever, the amount of pushing and pulling is converted into a speed control command signal by the speed control and clutch engagement/disengagement control starter and sent to the speed regulator of the thruster drive engine, which controls the thruster output. is configured to control.

Moreover, in the above output control, the engine output is controlled so that the engine output is at the lowest speed in the operation range where the control lever is pushed down from near the maximum limit to a predetermined halfway point, and in the operation range where the control lever is pushed down from the predetermined halfway point to the lowest limit, the engine output is The engine output is controlled to increase from the lowest speed to the full speed according to the amount.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, when the swing control lever and two output control levers are provided independently, the swing control lever must be operated with the right hand, and the output control lever must be operated with the left hand. This is all that one pilot needs to do. Therefore, not only is an additional operator required to operate various devices other than the slewing thruster, such as winches, cranes, and fire pumps, but the control panel of the slewing thruster itself also requires swiveling operation. The need to accommodate the lever and two output control levers resulted in a large size, which had the disadvantage of reducing the effective space in the cockpit. In the control device disclosed in the above publication, when the control lever is tilted to an intermediate area between the neutral position and the boundary circular frame, in most cases, both thruster control levers are placed at positions that are not parallel to each other depending on the tilt angle and tilt direction. Become a relationship.

At this time, as the control lever is pushed down beyond the predetermined halfway point toward the lowest limit, the engine output gradually increases, and the propulsion efficiency decreases due to the mutually canceling components of the left and right thruster thrusts. There is a problem.

In addition, the operation of the operating lever becomes complicated because independent lever operations such as tilting and pushing/pulling of the operating lever must be performed simultaneously in parallel to control the rotation and output of the thruster.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a swing-type thruster control device that can control the rotation direction and output of a pair of thrusters by only tilting a single control lever, and can prevent a decrease in propulsion efficiency. .

(Means for Solving the Problems) A swing thruster control device of the present invention is a control device for operating at least one pair of swing thrusters arranged symmetrically in parallel on a ship's hull, and which operates upright in a neutral position. a two-dimensional tilting control lever, and a vertical tilting angle detector and a lateral tilting angle detector that respectively detect the longitudinal tilting angle and the lateral tilting angle of the operating lever with respect to the hull and output the detected values to each thruster rotation control device. When the operating lever is in a neutral position, both thrusters are oriented laterally and oppositely to each other, and when the operating lever is tilted vertically and laterally, both thrusters rotate in opposite directions and in the same direction. Furthermore, when operating the control lever in the bow and stern directions, and in the port and starboard directions, the turning direction is reversed from the neutral position. In a control device for a swing type thruster configured to be able to adjust the output of the thruster via a control device, the detection signals from the longitudinal tilt angle detector and the lateral tilt angle detector are transmitted to the control device of each thruster driving engine. The control lever is tilted vertically from the neutral position to the bow and stern sides, so that both thrusters are oriented vertically and the thrust becomes forward and backward, respectively, and the control lever is tilted vertically from the neutral position to the bow and stern sides. The thruster is tilted to the port and starboard sides so that both thrusters are oriented in the vertical direction, and the thrust of one is forward and the thrust of the other is backward;
When the operating lever is tilted from the neutral position to four diagonal directions between the vertical and horizontal directions, the boundary line obtained by connecting a total of 8 points, including the point where both thrusters are oriented in the same horizontal direction, is the operating lever. The turning angle of the thruster is controlled according to the tilt angle of the control lever in the area from the neutral position to the boundary line above, where the components of thrust of both thrusters cancel each other out are relatively large. At the same time, the output of the engine is controlled so as to be approximately at idle output, and the turning angle of the thruster is maintained without fluctuation in the region outside the boundary line, where the component of the thrust of both thrusters canceling each other out is relatively small. In addition, the output of the engine is controlled to increase in accordance with an increase in the tilt angle of the operating lever outward from the vicinity of the boundary line.

(Function) Since the present invention is configured as described above, a detection signal corresponding to the tilting direction and tilting angle of the operating lever is output to the thruster rotation control device, thereby fixing the pair of left and right thrusters. These directions can be adjusted in any combination.

The detection signal of the tilt angle of the control lever is also output to the control device of the thruster drive engine, and the output of the thruster drive engine is adjusted in relation to the tilt angle of the control lever from the neutral position. .

In this way, the steering angle, steering force, and thrust of the thruster are controlled through one operating lever.

In other words, the magnitude of each individual thrust of the starboard and starboard rotating thrusters is determined by the output of the engine that drives the thruster, and the direction of this thrust is determined by the turning angle. The vector sum of the magnitude and direction of is the thruster output and the direction of the output (rudder angle) of the thruster device attached to the hull. In this case, a boundary line is marked within the operating area of the operating lever, and in the area from the neutral position of the operating lever to the boundary line, the components of both thruster thrusts that cancel each other out are relatively large, so the left and right thruster drive engines In the area outside the boundary line, both thrusters are in the same direction or in opposite directions, and the canceling component of the thrust forces of both thrusters is relatively small, so that the rotation of both thrusters is maintained at a substantially idle state. The engine output increases as the tilt angle of the operating lever increases outward from near the boundary line while maintaining the angle.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the thrust forces of both thrusters from canceling out as much as possible, thereby preventing maneuvers that would cause a decrease in propulsion efficiency.

In addition, the rotating direction and output of the pair of thrusters can be controlled simply by tilting the operating lever, resulting in excellent operability.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, a pair of swivel thrusters 2a and 2b are installed symmetrically on the lower side of the stern of the hull 1, and the swivel devices 3a and 3b enable the ship to rotate in all directions of 360 degrees. The propellers of the first and second thrusters 2a and 2b are respectively connected to the first engine 4.
a. Driven by the second engine 4b. Here, numerals 3A and 3B are the first and second swing control devices, respectively, and numerals 4A and 4B are the first and second engine 4, respectively.
These are first and second engine control devices that control the rotational speed and output of engines a and 4b.

In the cockpit on the hull 1 there are rotating thrusters 2a and 2.
A control panel 5 is provided for controlling the thrusters 2a and 2b, and one control lever 6 for controlling the turning angle and direction of the thrusters 2a and 2b and the output of the engine is provided on the control panel 5, as shown in FIG. It is provided via a gimbal 6a.

This operating lever 6 is a two-dimensional tilting operating lever that stands upright in a neutral position, and the two axes of the gimbal 6a of this operating lever 6 are perpendicular to each other, and each has a longitudinal component (parallel to the longitudinal direction of the hull) with respect to the hull 1. and a vertical tilt angle detector 7a (hereinafter referred to as vertical tilt detector) and a horizontal tilt angle detector 7b (hereinafter referred to as lateral tilt detector) that respectively detect the tilt angle of the horizontal component. The detection signals from the vertical tilt detector 7a and the horizontal tilt detector 7b are transmitted to each turning control device 3A, 3B and each engine control device 4.
It is designed to be output to A and 4B.

If the above explanation is shown in a block diagram, the second
It will look like the figure.

Next, regarding the operation panel 5 and the operation lever 6,
This will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 1, a square ABCDEFGH is marked as the turning limit boundary line L, centered on the axis of the lever 6a of the control lever 6 in the center of the control panel 5, and AE is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the hull 1. CG is parallel to the lateral direction of the hull 1, and the common intersection of these AE, CG, and diagonals BF and DH is point O, which indicates the neutral position.

Here, assuming that point O is the origin, EA is the Y axis, and GC is the X axis, the direction from point O to point A and the direction from point O to point C are positive directions, and from point O to point E. For example, if the direction from point O to point G is a negative direction, then point B is (2,
2), and similarly, the coordinates of each point are O(0,
0), A(0,2), B(2,2), C(2,0), D
(2,-2), E(0,-2), F(-2,-2), G
(−
2,0)H(-2,2).

When tilting the operating lever 6 in each direction from the neutral position O point, move the upper end of the operating lever 6 directly above each of the above points or directly above each intermediate position from point O to each point. The directions and orientations of the thrusters 2a and 2b when the thrusters 2a and 2b are rotated are shown together with the above coordinates in FIGS. Marks 2a and 2b consisting of radial lines are thrusters, and the position of the operating lever 6 is marked with a black circle.

That is, when the operating lever 6 is operated to each position shown in FIG.
Through the thrusters A and 3B, the thrusters 2a and 2b are controlled to rotate so as to face each direction shown in the figure.

As is clear from FIG. 5 above, when the operating lever 6 is at the neutral position O point, both thrusters 2
When the thrusters a and 2b turn laterally outward and in opposite directions to cancel out the propulsion, and the operating lever 6 is tilted in the vertical direction (direction A or direction E), both thrusters 2a and 2b are opposed to each other in proportion to this. Rotate the same angle in the direction of rotation, and move the operating lever 6 in the horizontal direction (C
When the thrusters 2a and 2b are rotated in the same direction (direction or G direction), both thrusters 2a and 2b are rotated at the same angle in the same rotational direction in proportion to the rotation.

In addition, the turning direction when operating from neutral position O point to A point and the turning direction when operating from neutral position O point to E point are opposite to each other, and the turning direction when operating from neutral position O point to port side G The turning direction when operating from the neutral position O point to the starboard side point C is opposite to the turning direction when operating from the neutral position O point to the starboard side point C.

Furthermore, when the operating lever 6 is operated in the direction of point A and point A is reached, both thrusters 2a and 2b are completely oriented in the vertical direction and the thrust of both becomes a forward thrust, and the operating lever 6 is moved in the direction of point E. When you reach point E, both thrusters 2a and 2b are completely oriented in the vertical direction, and the thrust of both becomes a backward thrust, and when you operate the control lever 6 in the direction of point C or point G, you reach point C. Or when the point G is reached, both thrusters 2a and 2b are completely oriented vertically,
One thrust is forward thrust and the other thrust is backward thrust.

Furthermore, when the operating lever 6 is operated to the B point or the F point, both thrusters 2a and 2b are completely turned in the lateral direction, and the thrust of both becomes a leftward thrust, and when the operating lever 6 is operated to the D point or the H point. At times, both thrusters 2a and 2b are oriented laterally, and both thrusters provide rightward thrust.

Since the operating lever 6 can be operated to any point within the turning limit boundary line L defined by the square ABCDEFGH, all necessary turning operations can be realized.

Among these, especially on the turning limit boundary line L,
When on ABDEFH, both thrusters 2a, 2b
are parallel to each other and facing in the same direction, and there is no component of both thrusts canceling each other out, making it the point where propulsion efficiency is highest.

By the way, in this control device, since the turning angle (rudder angle) and turning direction of the thrusters 2a and 2b and the thruster output are adjusted with one operating lever 6, the operation panel 5 has a square surface.
A further enlarged square A′B′C′D′E′F′G′H′ corresponding to each point of ABCDEFGH is marked as the output limit boundary line M of thrusters 2a and 2b, and the thruster output is as follows. Adjustments are made to the

First, when the operating lever 6 is within the turning limit boundary line L, the outputs of both engines 4a and 4b are controlled to be idle output, and the operating lever 6 is moved beyond the turning limit boundary line L to the output limit boundary line M. The engine output decreases from the idle output as you approach the
Controlled to increase to 100% output.

FIG. 3 illustrates the above by taking the vertical direction as an example.

Since the thruster output is the vector sum of the thrusts of both thrusters, when the directions of both thrusts are not parallel, that is, until the control lever 6 reaches point A, only the cosine component of the thrust of both thrusters 2a and 2b is effectively utilized for forward movement. Since the sine components of the thrust cancel each other out and are wasted, the engine output is kept at idle output until the operating lever 6 reaches point A and both thrusters 2a and 2b are aligned vertically. do.

The same holds true for other operating directions of the operating lever 6.

In other words, move the operating lever 6 from the neutral position O point to A
When operating the control lever 6 from point A to point A', the thrust direction of both thrusters 2a and 2b only changes according to the inclination angle as described above, but the engine output is kept at the idle state. When operating, both thrusters 2a and 2b do not rotate and maintain the state at point A, and the engine output changes from the idle state to 100% depending on the tilt angle of the operating lever 6 from point A.
output (maximum output).

Note that the same applies to directions other than the directions from point O to point A and point A'. However, in the above, when the operating lever 6 is operated near point A (that is, near the turning limit boundary line L), the sine component of the thrust becomes small to about several percent. It is also possible to make the engine output increase before reaching . FIG. 4 illustrates this.

That is, the turning angles of the thrusters 2a and 2b are operated within the boundary line L, and the engine output increases from near the inside of the boundary line L, and when it reaches the boundary line M, it increases to 100%.
Full output.

Next, the vertical tilt detector 7a and the horizontal tilt detector 7b
For example, the vertical tilt detector 7a and the horizontal tilt detector 7b can be constructed of a vertical potentiometer and a horizontal potentiometer as shown in FIG. It may also consist of a pair of potentiometers.

That is, the first semicircular resistor 13 is rotatably supported, the second semicircular resistor 14 perpendicular thereto is fixed, and the first semicircular resistor 13 and the second semicircular resistor body 1
4, and the lower end of the lower part 6b of the operating lever 6 is brought into sliding contact with the first semicircular resistor 13, and the V terminal and W
The vertical tilt angle is detected from the resistance between the terminals, and the horizontal tilt angle is detected from this resistance and the resistance between the X terminal and the Y terminal.

When the detector shown in FIG. 7 is used, it is desirable to mark a circular turning limit boundary line L and an output limit boundary line M on the surface of the operation panel 5 as shown in FIG.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the thrusters 2a, 2
Although the explanation has been made on the assumption that the propeller in b is a fixed pitch propeller, in the case of a rotating thruster with a variable pitch propeller, the detection signals from the vertical tilt detector 7a and the horizontal tilt detector 7b are output to the propeller pitch control device. By doing so, the propeller pitch can also be adjusted using the operating lever 6.

In the above embodiment, the operating lever 6 is used to operate the pair of rotating thrusters 2a and 2b, but the operating lever 6 may be configured to operate a plurality of pairs of rotating thrusters based on the same technical concept. I can do it.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the operating device of the present invention, the direction and direction of the left and right thrusters as well as the thruster output can be controlled only by tilting a single operating lever. This eliminates the complexity of simultaneously performing the tilting operation and push/pull operation of the operating lever as in the case of a control device, making the operation of the swing type thruster extremely simple, and also making it easier to learn the operation.

In addition, depending on the turning angle of both thrusters, when there is a large canceling component of the thrust of both thrusters, the engine is held at approximately idle output, and when there is a small canceling component, the output is output from the vicinity of the boundary line of the operating lever to the outside. Since the engine output increases as the tilt angle increases, it is possible to prevent maneuvers that would cause the thrust forces of both thrusters to cancel each other out unnecessarily.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Among the drawings, FIGS. 1 to 8 show embodiments of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the operating device of the rotating thruster and related equipment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the same, and FIG. Figures 5 and 4 are diagrams showing the control characteristics of the steering angle and thruster output, Figures 5 to 4 are explanatory diagrams showing the direction and direction of the thruster when the control lever is operated to each position, and Figure 6 is a diagram showing the control characteristics of the steering angle and thruster output. A perspective view of a potentiometer as a longitudinal tilt angle detector and a lateral tilt angle detector; FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of a variant of the potentiometer as a longitudinal tilt angle detector and a lateral tilt angle detector 8 is a plan view of a modified operation panel, and FIG. 9 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 of the conventional device. 2a, 2b...Swivel thruster, 2A, 2B...
...First and second swing control devices, 4A, 4B...First and second engine control devices, 5...Operation panel, 6...
...Operation lever, 6a...Ball joint part, 6
b...Legs, 6c...Operation unit, 7a...Vertical tilt angle detector, 7b...Horizontal tilt angle detector, L...
...Turning limit boundary line.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A control device for controlling at least one pair of swing thrusters arranged symmetrically in parallel on a ship's hull,
A two-dimensional tilting control lever that stands upright in the neutral position,
A vertical tilting angle detector and a lateral tilting angle detector each detect a vertical tilting angle and a lateral tilting angle of the operating lever with respect to the hull and output the detected values to each thruster rotation control device, and the operating lever is in the neutral position. When in position, both thrusters are oriented laterally and in opposite directions, and when the control lever is tilted longitudinally and laterally, both thrusters rotate in opposite directions and in the same direction, respectively, and the control lever is tilted in the bow direction and in the same direction. When operating in the stern direction, port direction, and starboard direction, the turning direction is reversed from the neutral position, and the thruster output is controlled by the control lever of each thruster drive engine. In a control device for a swing thruster configured to be adjustable, detection signals from the longitudinal tilt angle detector and lateral tilt angle detector are output to the control device of each thruster drive engine, and the control lever is moved to the neutral position. By tilting the control lever vertically from the neutral position to the bow and stern sides, both thrusters are oriented vertically and their thrusts are forward and backward, respectively, and by tilting the control lever laterally from the neutral position to the port and starboard sides. Both thrusters are oriented vertically, and the thrust of one is forward and the thrust of the other is backward, and by tilting the control lever from the neutral position to four diagonal directions between the vertical and horizontal directions, both thrusters are aligned. Mark the boundary line obtained by connecting a total of 8 points with points that are in the same direction in the horizontal direction on the surface of the control panel where the control lever is attached, and mark it from the neutral position where the canceling component of both thruster thrusts is relatively large. In the region up to the above boundary line, the turning angle of the thruster is controlled according to the tilt angle of the control lever, and the output of the engine is controlled to be approximately the idle output, and the components of the thrust of both thrusters cancel each other out. In the region outside the boundary line, where the thruster becomes relatively small, the turning angle of the thruster is held unchanged, and the output of the engine increases as the tilt angle of the operating lever increases outward from the vicinity of the boundary line. 1. A control device for a turning thruster, characterized in that it is configured to be controlled so as to increase the number of thrusters.