JPH08284705A - Internal combustion engine cylinder pause controlling method, device and its internal combustion engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To assure a stabilized navigation of a two-propeller carrying marine vessel, which has a specific cylinder, among a plural number of cylinders, paused under a specific operation conditions, by stopping cylinder pausing operation of one engine when the other engine has stopped cylinder pausing operation. CONSTITUTION: When a misfire condition detection means detects that an engine 1 on one side is in a misfiring condition, at the time of double motor operation of two outboard motors 38 of, for example, a six-cylinder V-engine 1, carried on the stern of a small-size marine vessel, the other engine is also caused to make similar misfiring control. When the engine 1 on one side is detected with abnormality and operated under misfire control, such engine 1 is operated under a normal all-cylinder operation and not under cylinder pause operation. When the engine 1 on one side is operated under cylinder pausing, the other engine is also operated under cylinder pausing, matching with the engine 1 on one side. Thus operation of two engines are balanced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control method for an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to a cylinder deactivation control for stopping stable combustion of a predetermined cylinder of the engine to achieve stable combustion of the entire engine in a predetermined operating condition. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Engines mounted on vehicles, including motorcycles,
Motor boats and other engines for small vessels are equipped with a control circuit consisting of a microcomputer, etc., and according to a preset program, the optimum ignition timing, fuel injection amount or injection timing is calculated according to the operating state, and the engine is optimized. It is controlled so as to operate in various driving conditions.

In such an engine (internal combustion engine) control method, it is necessary to perform control suitable for a two-cycle engine, a four-cycle engine, a single-cylinder engine, and a multi-cylinder engine, respectively. Compared to a 4-cycle engine, a 2-cycle engine does not have a valve mechanism, so the structure is simple and compact, and a large output can be obtained at the same displacement and speed, but on the other hand, gas exchange is complete due to the sweeping mechanism. It is difficult to do so, and blow-through loss, fuel consumption, and heat loss of cylinders and the like increase. For this reason, delicate control corresponding to the operating state is difficult in a 2-cycle engine, and engine control using an O2 sensor or the like, which has been put into practical use in a 4-cycle engine, has not reached the stage of practical use in a 2-cycle engine.

When controlling an internal combustion engine, various operating conditions such as engine speed, throttle opening, accelerator position, so-called load such as intake pipe negative pressure, intake temperature, exhaust gas oxygen concentration, shift position, etc. are detected, Based on this detection information, the optimum air-fuel ratio, fuel injection amount, injection timing, ignition timing, etc. at that time are calculated according to a predetermined control program, and the engine is drive-controlled based on the calculated values. In this case, the control program has a detection information reading routine and a main routine in which a plurality of calculation routines for calculating each control amount based on the read detection information are arranged in accordance with a predetermined sequence. Processing is performed. In the calculation routine, based on the latest data read, the calculation is performed in accordance with the necessary read data from the two-dimensional map or the three-dimensional map in which the optimum control amount is stored in advance corresponding to various operating states. ing.

In the case of a multi-cylinder engine, the operating state varies from cylinder to cylinder due to the difference in the arrangement of the cylinders and the influence of the cylinders. Therefore, it is necessary to control each cylinder separately, and the control method is also simple. It is more complicated than a cylinder engine. Therefore, in the map calculation, for example, in the case of ignition timing calculation processing of a multi-cylinder engine, the throttle opening data and the engine speed data are used as vertical and horizontal coordinate axes, and the ignition timing data is three-dimensionally calculated for each predetermined data value. Each cylinder has a recorded ignition map, and the plurality of ignition maps are stored in advance in a non-volatile memory. The read data value, for example, the detected rotation speed data is sequentially compared with the value of the rotation speed data axis of this map from the low rotation side, and proceeds to the high rotation side until it matches the detected data. Similarly, the coincidence point between the map value of the throttle opening data and the detected value is searched, and the ignition timing data recorded on the map of the intersection of both data values is read. In this case, when the detected data is an intermediate position of the data on the coordinate axes of the map, the ignition timing data corresponding to the detected data is calculated from the map data recorded by the proportional calculation processing. This is sequentially performed for all cylinders based on the ignition map for each cylinder, and ignition timing data for all cylinders is calculated.

After performing the map calculation of the ignition timing in this manner, the calculated value is used as the basic ignition timing, and the correction amount is calculated based on various detection data such as the engine temperature and the atmospheric pressure. In addition to the timing calculation value, the final ignition timing for each cylinder is calculated. Similarly, regarding the fuel injection amount, the basic injection amount and the correction amount are calculated by map calculation based on the detection data, and the optimum fuel injection amount for each cylinder according to the operating state is calculated.

In such arithmetic processing, the detection data is read during the execution of the main routine, and the latest data is taken into the volatile memory at a predetermined reading processing time at a predetermined constant time interval. Sequential calculation is performed.

Such a main routine includes an engine misfire control routine. This misfire control routine stops ignition of some cylinders and causes misfire in order to suppress combustion and reduce engine speed when the engine is overheated, over-revoked (over-rotated), or under other predetermined conditions. It is a thing.

Further, in a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, cylinder deactivation control is performed to stop combustion in some cylinders in a predetermined operating state. In this cylinder deactivation control, the initial opening of the throttle valve (opening when fully closed) is increased in advance, and a deactivated cylinder that stops combustion in the low rotation speed region is provided to reduce the number of combustion cylinders. The load is increased to stabilize combustion. As a method of stopping combustion in the deactivated cylinder, there are a method of completely stopping fuel injection to stop combustion, and a method of stopping ignition by stopping ignition.

Particularly in a two-cycle engine, when the engine is running at low or medium speeds or when the load is low, the gas exchange action in the cylinder may be reduced, and fresh air may not be sufficiently sucked in, resulting in irregular combustion and improper combustion. As a result, the rotational stability in the middle and low speed range is deteriorated, vibrations peculiar to the two-cycle engine are generated, and particularly in the outboard motor, a swinging phenomenon occurs in which the engine horizontally vibrates. In addition, the exhaust gas in such illegal combustion contains fuel that is not burned and is exhausted as it is, resulting in unnecessary fuel consumption and reduced fuel efficiency. In order to improve such a point, the cylinder deactivation operation method is particularly effective in a two-cycle engine.

[0011]

However, in the case where two marine vessel propulsion units, such as an outboard motor, an inboard motor, and an inboard / outboard motor, are mounted on a vessel, only one marine vessel propulsion unit is in cylinder deactivation operation,
Alternatively, if a misfire control operation is performed to stop a specific cylinder in order to reduce the number of revolutions due to a specific operating state, the propulsive force of the two marine vessel propulsion units will differ, and the vessel will be able to move straight ahead in a stable manner. There is a problem that can not be done.

Further, when both of the marine vessel propulsion units are in the cylinder deactivated operation state, if only one of them is changed from the cylinder deactivated operation state to the all cylinders operation state or the misfire control operating state, the two marine vessel propulsion machines are similarly operated. There is a problem that the propulsive force will be different, and the ship will not be able to stably go straight.

The present invention is directed to a ship propulsion device that enables stable navigation of a ship that uses two ship propulsion devices, such as an outboard motor, an outboard motor, and an inboard / outboard motor that employ the above-mentioned conventional technique or an improved technique thereof. An object is to provide a cylinder deactivation control method.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cylinder deactivation control method for stopping combustion of a specific cylinder among a plurality of cylinders when a predetermined operating condition is satisfied. The condition of the operating condition is a condition in which the DES signal is not output in the two-engine operation without the predetermined misfire control, and one engine stopped the cylinder deactivation operation in the two-engine operation. In this case, there is provided a cylinder deactivation control method for an internal combustion engine, which is characterized by stopping the cylinder deactivation operation for the other engine.

In a preferred embodiment, the predetermined misfire control is characterized in that oil empty misfire control is being performed, overheat misfire control is being performed, or over-revolution misfire control is being performed.

Further, the present invention comprises an operating condition detecting means and an arithmetic processing unit for controlling the ignition timing and the fuel injection amount of a plurality of cylinders according to the output of the detecting unit, the arithmetic processing unit having a predetermined value. A deactivated cylinder control program for stopping the combustion of a specific cylinder in the operating state, the cylinder deactivation control program is such that the operating state is not a predetermined misfire control D driving
The cylinder deactivation operation is performed when the ES signal is not output, and when one engine stops the cylinder deactivation operation in the two-engine operation, the other engine is also deactivated. And a cylinder deactivation control device for an internal combustion engine.

The present invention further comprises a plurality of cylinders, an operating state detecting means, and an arithmetic processing unit for controlling the ignition timing and the fuel injection amount of the plurality of cylinders according to the output of the detecting means. The arithmetic processing device is a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine having a deactivated cylinder control program for stopping combustion of a specific cylinder in a predetermined operating state, wherein the cylinder deactivation control program has a predetermined misfire control in the operating state. Cylinder deactivation operation is performed when the DES signal is not output in the two-engine operation, and when one engine stops the cylinder deactivation operation in the two-engine operation, the other engine is deactivated. There is provided a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine characterized by being configured to stop operation.

[0018]

Since the cylinder deactivation operation is controlled not to be performed during the misfire control, an extremely low output is prevented and a stable operation state is obtained.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, an outboard motor to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. It should be noted that the basic configuration is the same in each drawing, although details are omitted, differences and scales are different in order to make the drawings easy to understand.

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the outboard motor according to the embodiment of the present invention as seen from the stern side, and FIG. 2 is a plan view. Figure 2
F indicates the forward direction of the ship. 3 is a configuration diagram including a fuel system of the outboard motor engine, and FIG. 4 is an external side view of the outboard motor. In FIG. 3, only one cylinder is shown for simplification of the drawing.

The features of the outboard motor equipped with the ignition control and fuel injection control method and apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be summarized as follows.

In the case of an engine for a small vessel, the structure and function thereof are different from those of an on-vehicle engine mounted on land because of different use conditions such as use on water. Especially, in the case of an outboard engine, the configuration and the function are significantly different.

(1) The crankshaft of the engine is arranged vertically (vertically). Therefore, in the case of a multi-cylinder engine, a plurality of cylinders are vertically arranged in one or two rows.

(2) The cylinder of the engine is placed horizontally. That is, the cylinder is provided horizontally (horizontally) corresponding to the vertically mounted crankshaft of (1) above.

(3) The exhaust pipe forming the exhaust passage is vertically extended, and the end of the exhaust pipe opens into the expansion chamber below the cowling. The main exhaust passage extends further downward from this expansion chamber and communicates with a main exhaust port provided at the rear end of the propeller boss below the water surface or the rear end of the lower casing. With this configuration, the main exhaust port at the rear end of the propeller boss (or the rear end of the lower casing) becomes negative pressure due to the water flow during high-speed forward movement, and the exhaust gas is sucked out. In the case of a cycle engine, exhaust efficiency and scavenging efficiency from the engine are promoted to improve performance. Even in an outboard motor that uses a 4-cycle engine, with an improved exhaust efficiency, and with a valve system in which the end of the exhaust stroke and the early part of the intake stroke overlap, the intake efficiency improves
Performance can be improved.

The ignition timing control, the fuel injection amount control, and the injection timing control according to the ship speed are carried out in accordance with the structure and functional characteristics of the exhaust passage. In this case, if the weight of the ship and the shape of the bottom of the ship are determined, the propeller rotation speed (deceleration at a predetermined ratio with respect to the engine rotation speed) has a substantially constant relationship with the ship speed due to the propeller performance. Therefore, each engine control is performed according to the engine speed and / or the throttle (accelerator) opening. In the outboard motor,
Compared to vehicles such as automobiles, the influence of acceleration and deceleration due to such changes in engine speed and throttle opening is extremely large, so the control method is also fully considered in this regard.

When the vehicle is moving backward, water pressure acts on the main exhaust port to increase the pressure in the expansion chamber. As a result, exhaust efficiency is lower than when the vehicle is moving forward, engine performance is reduced, fuel consumption is reduced, and exhaust emissions are deteriorated. In order to prevent such a problem, the ignition timing control, the fuel injection amount control, and the fuel injection timing control, which are different from those in the forward traveling, are performed in the reverse drive.

Further, during forward traveling, the ship advances while pulling water on the stern side. Therefore, at the time of deceleration such as accelerator closing operation or misfire control, the ship is decelerated first, but the water pulled by the ship is pushed toward the ship from the stern side, and so-called follow wave is generated. As a result, water pressure is applied to the main exhaust port, and exhaust efficiency is reduced. Therefore, also in this case, different control from that at the time of constant speed navigation is required. To this end, it is effective to detect the pressure in the exhaust expansion chamber or detect the forward / reverse switching of the outboard motor to perform each control based on the detected information. are doing.

(4) The outboard motor has a sub-exhaust passage communicating from the expansion chamber to the exhaust port on the water surface. During low-speed operation, the water pressure is larger than the exhaust pressure from the engine, so exhaust from the main exhaust port below the water surface is not possible, so exhaust gas is emitted into the atmosphere from the sub-exhaust port above the water surface. In this case, a maze structure is used for the auxiliary exhaust passage to prevent noise.

(5) Since the engine is vertically installed and the exhaust passage is arranged vertically and the exhaust gas flows from the upper side to the lower side, the temperature of the lower cylinder is likely to rise and the length of the exhaust pipe line is short. Therefore, the lower cylinder is more likely to vaporize the injected fuel,
Further, since the influence of the negative pressure level of the expansion chamber is different between the upper and lower cylinders, the performance improvement by utilizing the exhaust pulsation is not uniform in the upper and lower cylinders. Therefore, the control is performed in consideration of this.

(6) Cooling water is introduced into the expansion chamber in order to lower the temperature of the exhaust gas. This cooling water pump is attached to the propeller shaft, and the amount of cooling water increases according to the engine speed. Therefore, the temperature of the expansion chamber and the temperature of the exhaust pipe change according to the engine speed, which affects the exhaust pulsation. Therefore, it is possible to effectively use the exhaust pulsation by controlling the ignition timing and the like according to the temperature of the expansion chamber and the exhaust pipe temperature.

(7) Cooling water for cooling the exhaust passage may flow backward near the engine due to engine pulsation. Resistance to this backflow is required.

(8) Regarding the resistance characteristics of the hull, particularly in the case of a light ship or a ship with a large engine output, the resistance does not simply increase with the ship speed even if the ship speed increases. This is because the resistance decreases due to the planing phenomenon in which the entire ship floats above the waves at a certain ship speed. Therefore, when the ship speed is detected and controlled, the resistance characteristic of the ship is taken into consideration.

(9) The mounting angle of the outboard motor can be adjusted with respect to the hull. The relative angle of the outboard motor with respect to the vertical line (relative mounting angle with respect to the hull) is called the trim angle. The change in the trim angle changes the direction of the propeller thrust with respect to the hull and changes the ship speed. Due to propeller performance, there is an optimum trim angle according to the ship speed. Further, in the outboard motor having the main exhaust port at the rear end of the propeller boss, the trim angle affects the back pressure, which also affects the engine performance.

In the case of intake pipe injection, the trim angle changes
The attitude of the intake pipe with respect to the horizontal plane changes. On the other hand, since the fuel immediately after injection is not sufficiently vaporized, a part of the fuel flows as a liquid film flow along the intake pipe wall. When the trim angle changes, the flow of the liquid film flow changes, and the air-fuel ratio of the combustion chamber changes. This occurs in a transient response. Therefore, by controlling the ignition timing, the fuel injection amount, and the injection timing according to the trim angle, it is possible to improve or maintain the engine performance, fuel consumption, and exhaust emission.

(10) When the ship sails through the waves at high speed,
May jump above the surface of the water. When the propeller goes out into the air, there is no resistance, and the engine load is extremely reduced, which may cause the engine to overspeed and cause engine trouble. Therefore, it is necessary to detect the relative position between the water surface and the propeller, or to detect the engine speed itself so as to prevent an over-rotation state so as to reduce the output by misfire control or by reducing the fuel injection amount.

Further, the outboard motor is equipped with a device that relieves the impact by jumping up when it collides with driftwood on the water surface. Even in such a driftwood collision, the propellers will fly in the air. When the propeller returns to the water after it jumps up, if the output is large, it will be accelerated rapidly and the engine combustion will become unstable. Fuel injection control is also implemented to deal with this.

(11) Ships are particularly required to have startability. Like the vehicle such as an automobile, the cause of the deterioration of the starting point is a low engine temperature, a shortage of air-fuel mixture (fuel), and a decrease in sparks. In particular, in the case of an outboard motor, the spark current is likely to leak due to the seawater atmosphere and cause a spark drop. In addition, seawater resistance of electrical equipment such as control devices is required.

(12) The engine performance is improved by decreasing the trim angle when the boat speed is slow (when the engine speed is small) and increasing the trim angle after the planing. Therefore, the acceleration performance (acceleration rate per hour) is improved by controlling the trim angle in consideration of this point during acceleration.

(13) Since seawater mist easily enters the intake air, seawater resistance of the injector, fuel supply device, crank chamber pressure sensor, etc. is required.

(14) The main fuel tank is placed inside the ship,
The sub-tank is arranged in the cowling of the outboard motor, and a fuel pump that uses a pressure change in the crank chamber as a drive source is provided between the two fuel tanks.

(15) In the case of an outboard motor of a two-cycle engine, the supply of lubricating oil (engine oil) must also be controlled, and it is carried out at the same time as the ignition control and the fuel injection control.

(16) The position of the ship gradually moves due to wind, tidal current, or river flow. In fishing, etc.,
It is necessary to hold the position of the ship stably for a long time so that the ship does not move from the fishing ground or the fishing point. In this case, it is difficult for the anchor to hold the ship's position at a place where the seabed is deep, and it is difficult to deal with the case where it is necessary to move quickly. Therefore, in order to maintain the ship position, the engine does not stop with the accelerator kept at a minimum or an arbitrary intermediate opening, and the engine continues to rotate stably, that is, a slight load is applied to the engine. Low-speed stability (trolling performance) is required to obtain stable engine rotation while the engine is running.

In particular, since the two-cycle engine carries out scavenging and exhausting, the scavenging and exhausting efficiency decreases at low speed and the residual gas amount increases. Moreover, the amount of this gas changes in each cycle, which may cause irregular combustion and cause engine stop. Therefore, for stable rotation at low speed, it is effective to reduce the residual gas amount and suppress variations to improve the scavenging and exhausting efficiency. In this case, as a problem peculiar to the outboard motor, the back pressure changes due to the influence of external waves, and as a result, it causes variations in the scavenging and exhausting efficiency and thus in the residual gas amount.

In a small-sized marine vessel engine equipped with a two-cycle or four-cycle engine onboard, the above (3), (4), (6), (7), (8), (10), (1)
It has the features of 1), 13), 15), and 16). Also,
In a water jet propulsion type small boat that changes the water jet direction (also called the trim angle), the inclination of the hull changes with respect to the water surface, which causes the water pressure or back pressure acting on the underwater exhaust port. Since it changes, it further has the features of (9) and (12).

With respect to the engine mounted on the small vessel, the ignition timing control, the fuel injection amount control, and the injection timing control are performed in view of the points described above.

It is also possible to employ the control method and apparatus of the present embodiment for a two-cycle or four-cycle engine for a small ship mounted on the ship. In this case, the above (3), (4), (6), (7), (8), (10) and (11)
(13) It has the features of (15). In a water jet propulsion type small boat as a small boat, the water jet direction (trim angle)
In this case, the inclination of the hull with respect to the water surface changes greatly due to the trim angle, and the water pressure acting on the underwater exhaust port, that is, the back pressure changes, so the characteristics of (9) and (12) are further improved. I will have it together.

The engine 1 of this outboard motor is a V-type bank type 2-cycle 6-cylinder engine. This engine 1
Have cylinders # 1 to # 6 and are arranged in two rows of three cylinders each in the left bank 2 and the right bank 3. The odd numbered cylinders # 1, # 3 and # 5 are arranged in the left bank 2 and the right bank 3
The even-numbered cylinders # 2, # 4, and # 6 are arranged in the. Each cylinder is provided in the cylinder body 4. A water cooling jacket (not shown) is formed in the cylinder body 4 around each cylinder and around the exhaust passage. The left and right banks 2 and 3 are provided in a V shape with respect to the crankcase 22, as shown in FIG. Cylinder head 2 for each cylinder head
0 is provided and the spark plug 19 is mounted toward the in-cylinder combustion chamber 77 (FIG. 3). A piston 18 connected to a crankshaft 21 via a connecting rod 17 is mounted in each cylinder. The crankshaft 21 is provided in the vertical direction, while the cylinders # 1 to # 6 are provided horizontally. A flywheel magnet 71 is provided on the upper end of the crankshaft 21. The six cylinders # 1 to # 6 are arranged with their heights shifted in the order of # 1 to # 6 so that the connecting rod 17 does not interfere with the same crankshaft 21 (see FIG. 1).

An exhaust port 5 is opened in each cylinder and communicates with an exhaust pipe 6. Further, a scavenging port 29 is opened in each cylinder, and a combustion chamber 77 and a crank chamber 31 are provided through a scavenging passage 30.
And communicate with. The engine 1 is housed in a cowling 7, an upper casing 8 is attached to a lower portion of the cowling 7, and a lower casing 9 is provided below the upper casing 8. The propeller 10 is attached to the lower portion of the lower casing 9. The propeller 10 is mounted on the propeller shaft 35 and is connected to the crankshaft 21 of the engine 1 via a transmission mechanism (not shown).

The end of the exhaust pipe 6 opens into the main expansion chamber 11 in the upper casing 8. The main expansion chamber 11 communicates with a main exhaust port 13 provided on the rear surface of the propeller 10 via an exhaust passage (not shown) provided in the lower casing 9. The main expansion chamber 11 further communicates with the sub expansion chamber 12 in the cowling 7 on the water surface. A sub exhaust port (not shown) is formed in the sub expansion chamber 12.

The cylinder # 1 has an exhaust sensor (O2
A sensor) 14 is provided. In this embodiment, this cylinder # 1 serves as a reference cylinder, and the oxygen concentration and each control amount for this cylinder # 1 are calculated as described later, and with this as the basic control amount, the remaining cylinders # 2 to # 6 are The correction amount for the oxygen concentration or the basic control amount is map-calculated to calculate the control amount for each cylinder.

The outboard motor 38 (FIG. 4) is rotatable around the pivot shaft 41 through the bracket 37 with respect to the hull 36 and is mounted so that the mounting angle (trim angle) can be adjusted. The bracket 37 is provided with a trim angle sensor 39 for detecting the trim angle. A shift sensor 40, which will be described later, is provided inside the cowling 7.

Each cylinder is provided with a knock sensor 34 (FIG. 3) and an engine temperature sensor 301 (FIG. 1). Like the exhaust sensor 14, the knock sensor and the engine temperature sensor are provided only in the reference cylinder # 1, and the other cylinders # 2 to # 6 are used for calculating the control amount by correcting the detection data of the reference cylinder # 1. May be calculated. Further, the crankshaft 21 is provided with a crank angle sensor 33 which emits a pulse in response to rotation of a ring gear (not shown) to detect a crank angle.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the crank chamber 22,
The intake port 80 communicating with the intake manifold 24 opens. The intake port 80 is provided with the reed valve 23. The intake manifold 24 is provided with an injector 26 and a throttle valve 25. Intake manifold 24
An intake air temperature sensor 32 is provided in the. Further, on the outside of the intake manifold 24, the throttle valve 25 is provided with a throttle opening sensor 15 (see FIG. 7).

The fuel supplied to the injector 26 is stored in the fuel tank 63. This fuel tank 63
The fuel inside is sent to the sub tank 67 by the low-pressure fuel pump 64 through the water separation and dust removal filter 66. The fuel in the sub-tank 67 is sent to the injector 26 by the high-pressure fuel pump 65, and the fuel is injected into the intake manifold 24 at a controlled injection amount and injection timing as described later to form an air-fuel mixture having a predetermined air-fuel ratio. The high-pressure fuel that has not been injected by the injector 26 is recovered in the sub tank 67 through the return pipe 70. A pressure regulator 69 is provided on the return pipe 70 to keep the injection pressure of the injector 26 constant. Thereby, the fuel injection amount can be controlled by controlling the injection time by opening the injector 26.

FIG. 5 is a detailed diagram of an in-line three-cylinder engine. Similar to the above-mentioned V-6 engine, each cylinder # 1,
Scavenging ports 29 and exhaust ports 5 are formed on the cylinder walls of # 2 and # 3, and each exhaust port 5 communicates with an exhaust pipe 6. A water cooling jacket 75 is formed on the cylinder body 4 around each cylinder.

An exhaust gas detection port 78 is opened in the cylinder wall of the reference cylinder # 1 and communicates with a pressure accumulating chamber (not shown) of the exhaust sensor 14 through the guide passage 73. on the other hand,
The pressure accumulating chamber of the exhaust sensor 14 communicates with an auxiliary port opening to the crank chamber of another cylinder or the # 1 cylinder via another guide passage (not shown). By setting the opening position of the auxiliary port, only the combustion gas of the reference cylinder # 1 is introduced into the accumulator of the exhaust sensor 14 according to the pressure fluctuation in each cylinder due to the cyclic motion of the piston, and the combustion of the other cylinders is performed. It is possible to prevent the introduction of gas or fresh air during scavenging. This makes it possible to reliably detect the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas of the reference cylinder # 1.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of the exhaust passages in the upper casing 8 and the lower casing 9 of the outboard motor equipped with the in-line three-cylinder engine. The end of the exhaust pipe 6 opens into the main expansion chamber 11. The main expansion chamber 11 communicates with the main exhaust port (similar to 13 in FIG. 1) through the propeller shaft 35 via the exhaust passage 73 in the lower casing 9. The exhaust gas in the main expansion chamber 11 is discharged into the water from the main exhaust port through the exhaust passage 73 together with the cooling water in the water cooling jacket 72.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the intake portion of the engine. An intake manifold 24 is provided in the crank chamber 22.
The intake port 80 communicating with is opened. Outside air (intake air) from an air cleaner (not shown) is introduced into the intake manifold 24 through an intake passage 79 as indicated by a dotted arrow G. The silencer 28 is provided in the middle of the intake passage 79. 81 indicates an oil tank, and 76 indicates a starter. The oil tank 81 is provided with an oil level detection sensor (not shown). The oil supply system has a main tank inside the ship, and replenishes from the main tank when the amount in the oil tank 81 becomes small, like the fuel supply system described in FIG. Further, when the amount of oil in the main tank becomes empty, the engine is controlled not to operate under high load. A starter detection sensor (not shown) is connected to the starter 76. The oil in the oil tank 81 is the oil pump 30 driven by the crankshaft 21.
2 is sent to the lubrication required part of the engine (not shown). The oil supply amount increases as the engine speed increases, and the movement of the throttle valve lever 304 is changed by the connecting link 3.
It is transmitted to the oil pump 302 by 03, and increases as the throttle opening increases. The figure shows the exhaust sensor 1
4 shows the reference cylinder # 1 to which 4 is attached. FIG. 8 is a detailed view of the exhaust sensor 14. The exhaust sensor 14 of this embodiment has a cylindrical metallic protective sleeve 104, and a fastener 105 is attached to one end of the protective sleeve 104. A detection element 106 made of zirconia is housed in the protective sleeve 104. This detection element 10
6 projects from the protective sleeve 104 and further the fastener 10
It also projects from 5. The end of the detection element 106 protruding from the fastener 105 is covered with a detachable protector 109 having a plurality of holes 111. A lead wire 107 is connected to the end portion on the opposite side of the detection element 106 and connected to an arithmetic processing unit described later. A cavity 108 is formed inside the tip of the detection element 106, and a ceramic heater 112 is provided inside the detection element near the tip.

The exhaust gas freely flows through the hole 111 of the protector 109 and comes into contact with the internal detection element 106. Platinum electrodes are plated on both the inner and outer surfaces of the detection element 106, and the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas is detected by the electromotive force generated according to the difference in the oxygen concentration inside and outside the detection element 106. Further, by appropriately heating the detection element 106 with the ceramic heater 112, it can be activated regardless of the operating state, and stable detection can be performed. Such an exhaust sensor 14, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7,
It communicates with the combustion chamber of the reference cylinder # 1 and other cylinders as required through the combustion gas guide passage 73, and detects the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas of this cylinder # 1 as described above.
Also in the V-type 6-cylinder engine, the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas of the reference cylinder # 1 is detected as shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 shows a structural example in which the exhaust sensor 14 is attached at another position. In this example, a port 83 is opened in the middle of the exhaust pipe 6, and exhaust gas is introduced to the exhaust sensor 14 side through the port 83. The exhaust sensor 14 is held on the side surface of the exhaust pipe 6 via the fixed support portion 82. The port 83 is a reference cylinder (# 1 in this embodiment).
It is arranged so as to be provided at a position close to, and to detect the exhaust gas oxygen concentration from the reference cylinder, and for the other cylinders, the oxygen concentration data or the control amount is obtained by correcting the detected value. In addition, the port 83 is connected to the exhaust pipe 6
The oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas is detected as a representative value by installing it at an appropriate position above, and in the in-line three-cylinder engine, this is determined for each cylinder # 1.
~ # 3, in the V-type 6-cylinder engine, correction calculation may be performed for each cylinder # 1 to # 6 to obtain the oxygen concentration for each cylinder. In addition, in order to prevent fresh air in the scavenging cycle from being introduced to the sensor side, the detection part of this exhaust sensor is further communicated with the downstream side of the exhaust passage, and the pressure fluctuation associated with the piston cycle is used to exhaust the air. Port 8 only during travel
It may be configured to introduce the exhaust gas through 3.

FIG. 10 is a detailed view of the power transmission mechanism to the propeller shaft. As described above, the drive shaft 42 is connected to the crank shaft 21 whose shaft is arranged in the vertical direction, and the pinion 43 is fixed to the lower end portion thereof. This pinion 43
The forward gear 44 and the reverse gear 45 mesh with each other and rotate in the opposite directions. A dog clutch 46 is provided between the forward gear 44 and the reverse gear 45. The dog clutch 46 is slidable along the shaft of the propeller shaft 35 and can be selectively meshed with either the forward gear 44 or the reverse gear 45. The figure shows a neutral position in which none of the gears meshes. The dog clutch 46 is spline-coupled to the front shaft 35b of the front shaft 35b and the rear shaft 35a that form the propeller shaft 35, is slidable in the front-rear direction, and is integrated with the front shaft 35b in the rotation direction. And a slider 48 that is slidable in the axial direction of the propeller shaft 35 via a cross pin 47. A front end head portion of the slider 48 is rotatably connected to a cam follower 49. The cam follower 49 is driven by a cam 51 provided at the lower end of the shift lever 50. That is, the shift lever 50
Is rotated about its axis to rotate the cam 51, and the cam follower 49 is moved forward (F) or backward (R) accordingly. As a result, the slider 48 slides back and forth, the dog clutch 46 meshes with either the forward gear 44 or the reverse gear 45, and the rotation of the pinion 43 is transmitted to the front shaft 35b as a rotational force in the forward or reverse direction. It is transmitted to the rear shaft 35a which is integrated with the front shaft 35b by friction welding.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 73 denotes an exhaust passage at the lower portion of the lower casing, in which exhaust gas flows together with the cooling water as shown by arrow C and is discharged from the main exhaust port 13 into water as shown by arrow D.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the drive operation system for the gear shift. As described above, the outboard motor 38 is attached to the hull 36 via the bracket 37a and the clamp bracket 37b so that the trim angle θ can be changed around the tilt shaft 305. Reference numeral 306 represents a variable trim angle actuator, and 39 represents a trim angle sensor.

Shift lever 50 having a cam 51 at its end
Is connected to the link bar 53 in the cowling via a pivot piece 52. A pin 55 is provided at the end of the link bar 53.
Is provided so as to project. The pin 55 is slidably mounted as shown by an arrow A in the long hole guide 54 fixed in the cowling.

On the other hand, a remote control box 56 for gear shift and throttle operation is provided inside the ship. The remote control box 56 is connected to the outboard motor 38 via three cables: a shift cable 57, a throttle cable 58, and an electric signal cable 59. The shift cable 57 is connected to the link bar 53 in the cowling.
Is connected to the pin 55 of the. The remote control box 56 is provided with an operating lever 60, which is operated to drive the shift cable 57 from the neutral position (N) to the forward or reverse side.
The pin 55 is slid in the long hole ring 54 via the. As a result, the link bar 53 moves in parallel, and the pivot piece 52 at the base portion thereof is rotated as shown by arrow B. As a result, the shift lever 50 rotates about its axis and the cam 51 rotates, and as described above, the crankshaft and the forward gear or the reverse gear are connected via the dog clutch. The operation lever 60 is further moved in the F direction (during forward travel) or the R direction (during reverse travel) from the forward or backward shift operation completion position, that is, the throttle valve fully closed position, so that the outboard motor 3 is moved through the throttle cable 58.
The throttle valve of the engine in 8 operates in the fully open direction.
The shift cable 57 is provided with a shift cut switch (not shown). This is because the dog clutch 46 (FIG. 10) is engaged with the gear 44 or 4 during high load operation.
When trying to disconnect from 5, the meshing surface pressure between the clutch and the gear becomes very large, so a large load is applied to the cable. The shift cut switch is for detecting an excessive clutch engagement pressure by detecting the amount of elastic deformation of the cable due to this load, and lowering the engine rotation to facilitate clutch switching.
Such a shift cut switch may be provided inside the cowling or inside the remote control box.

The remote control box 56 is further provided with a falling water detection switch (not shown). This water drop detection switch is for connecting the switch to a wire tied to the body of an occupant, for example, and operates the switch in an emergency such as a water drop accident to stop the engine and immediately stop the ship. The remote control box 56 is also provided with an independent engine stop operation switch (not shown).

Next, general control of the outboard motor having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 12 is a system block diagram showing the entire control system of this embodiment.
Each detection means such as a sensor for detecting various operating states of the engine is connected to an input side (left side in the drawing) of an arithmetic processing device including a microcomputer storing a control program. These detecting means will be sequentially described below.

Six cylinder detecting means # 1 to # 6 are arranged around the crankshaft and generate a trigger signal for executing an event interrupt (TDC interrupt described later) when executing the control calculation for each cylinder. To do. This is configured so that, for example, a signal is emitted at the moment when the piston of each cylinder is located at the top dead center or before this by a predetermined angle (crank angle). Therefore, in this embodiment, 6 times during one rotation of the crankshaft.
One cylinder detection signal is sent from the cylinders # 1 to # 6 in sequence to the arithmetic processing unit every 0 degree.

The crank angle detecting means 202 emits an angle pulse which serves as a base for ignition timing control, and emits a pulse signal corresponding to the number of teeth of the ring gear engaged with the crankshaft. For example, if the configuration is such that 448 pulses are emitted during one rotation corresponding to 112 gear teeth, the crankshaft will rotate by 0.8 degrees for each pulse.

The throttle opening detection means emits an analog voltage signal according to the opening of the throttle valve provided in the intake manifold. The arithmetic processing unit converts this analog signal into an A / D signal.
Conversion is performed and arithmetic processing such as map reading is performed.

The following trim angle detecting means to intake air temperature detecting means are for correcting the control amount according to the change in the environment with respect to the operating condition of the engine. The trim angle detecting means detects the mounting angle of the outboard motor as described above. The E / G temperature detecting means attaches a temperature sensor to the cylinder block of each cylinder (or reference cylinder) to detect the temperature of that cylinder. The atmospheric pressure detecting means is provided at an appropriate position in the cowling. The intake air temperature detecting means is provided at an appropriate position on the intake passage. The atmospheric pressure and the intake air temperature directly affect the volume of air, and the arithmetic processing unit performs a correction operation for the control amount such as the air-fuel ratio according to the detected values of the atmospheric pressure and the intake air temperature.

The burnt gas detecting means is the exhaust sensor 14 described above. Feedback control of the fuel injection amount and the like is performed according to the detected oxygen concentration.

The knock detecting means is for detecting abnormal combustion in each cylinder. When knocking occurs, ignition is shifted to the retard side or fuel is set to the rich side to eliminate knocking, Prevent damage from occurring.

The oil level detecting means is provided with level sensors in both the sub tank in the cowling and the main tank in the ship.

The thermoswitch is composed of a sensor having a high responsiveness such as a bimetal type temperature sensor and the like, and detects a temperature rise of the engine due to an abnormality of the cooling system or the like and performs misfire control for preventing seizure. The engine temperature detecting means described above is provided in the cylinder block and is used for correcting the control amount of the fuel injection. However, this thermoswitch is required to have a quick response in order to immediately cope with the temperature rise of the engine. .

The shift cut switch, as described above,
This is for detecting the tension of the shift cable 57 (FIG. 11) and facilitating the switching of the dog clutch 46 (FIG. 10).

The DES detecting means is used in the case where the engine of one of the outboard motors performs misfire control due to oil shortage, temperature rise, etc. in a ship of the type having two outboard motors arranged in parallel at the stern. The misfire operation state is detected. By detecting this DES, the other engine is similarly subjected to misfire control so that the operating states of both engines are the same and the traveling balance is maintained.

The battery voltage detecting means detects the battery voltage and controls the injection amount based on this voltage because the opening / closing speed of the valve changes and the discharge amount changes due to the change of the driving power supply voltage of the injector. Used for.

The starter switch detecting means is for detecting whether the engine is in the starting operation. If the engine is in the starting state, the fuel is made rich and the control for the starting operation is performed.

The two types of E / G stop switch detection means are an engine stop operation switch and a water fall detection switch. Of these, the water fall detection switch detects an emergency state such as a water fall accident. Control to stop immediately.

Based on the input signals from the respective detecting means as described above, each control amount is calculated in the arithmetic processing unit, and based on the calculation result, the fuel injection means # 1 on the output side (right side in FIG. 12). To # 6, ignition means # 1 to # 6, a fuel pump and an oil pump are drive-controlled. It should be noted that the fuel injection means and the ignition means are the above-mentioned injectors and spark plugs, respectively, and are controlled individually and sequentially for each cylinder.

In order to execute the arithmetic operation in such an arithmetic processing unit, as shown in the figure, the arithmetic processing unit includes a nonvolatile memory including a ROM storing a control program, a map and the like and respective detection signals and the detection signals. A volatile memory such as a RAM for storing temporary data for calculation based on

Next, the ignition timing control and the fuel injection control of the outboard motor engine to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration for executing such a control flow. Each block is incorporated as an arithmetic processing circuit in the arithmetic processing device shown in FIG.

The cylinder discriminating means 201 is a cylinder detecting means # 1.
To # 6 (FIG. 12), the cylinder number is determined based on the input signal from each cylinder. The cycle measuring means 1000 measures the time interval of the input signal from each cylinder based on the detection signal from this cylinder detecting means, and multiplies this by 6 to calculate the time (cycle) of one rotation. The engine rotation speed calculation means 203 calculates the reciprocal of this cycle to obtain the rotation speed. The throttle opening reading means 204 reads the opening with an analog voltage signal corresponding to the throttle opening.

The throttle opening signal from the throttle opening reading means 204 is A / D converted, and together with the rotation speed signal from the E / G rotation speed calculation means 203, the basic ignition timing calculation means 210 and the basic fuel injection calculation means 211. And the ignition timing and the fuel injection amount of the reference cylinder # 1 are calculated using the three-dimensional map. The engine speed signal and the throttle opening signal are further sent to the cylinder-by-cylinder ignition timing correction value calculating means 208 and the cylinder-by-cylinder fuel injection amount correction value calculating means 209, and the basic ignition timings for the remaining cylinders # 2 to # 6. And a correction value for the basic injection amount is calculated by map calculation for each cylinder.

On the other hand, trim angle reading means 205, engine temperature reading means 206 and atmospheric pressure reading means 2
Reference numeral 07 reads the detection signals from the respective detection means (FIG. 12) and sends them to the ignition timing correction value calculation means 212 and the fuel injection amount correction value calculation means 213 to calculate correction values according to each operating state. . In this case, as for the ignition timing correction value, the number of angles of the correction advance angle (or the retard angle) to be added to the value of the basic ignition advance angle is obtained from a map stored in advance for each type of read data. Further, the correction value of the fuel injection amount is obtained by multiplying the basic injection amount by a predetermined proportional coefficient.

Although not shown, the ignition timing correction and the fuel injection amount correction may be performed by inputting the intake temperature detection data to the respective calculation means 212, 213 to perform the correction based on the intake temperature.

The calculated outputs of the ignition timing correction value calculation means 212 and the fuel injection amount correction value calculation means 213 are the ignition timing correction means 214 and the fuel injection amount correction means 215, respectively.
Is input to the calculated values of the basic ignition timing and the basic fuel injection, and the ignition timing of the # 1 cylinder and the control amount of the fuel injection are calculated.

The ignition timing and fuel injection control amount of the reference cylinder # 1 are input to the cylinder-specific ignition timing correction means 216 and the cylinder-specific fuel injection amount correction means 217, where the corrected basic ignition of the # 1 cylinder is performed. By adding the control correction amount by the cylinder-by-cylinder ignition timing correction amount calculation means 208 and the cylinder-by-cylinder fuel injection amount correction value calculation means 209 to the timing and the fuel injection amount, # 2 is obtained.
The ignition timing of the cylinders up to # 6 and the control amount of the fuel injection amount are calculated.

On the basis of the ignition timing and the fuel injection control amount for each of the cylinders # 1 to # 6 calculated in this way, the ignition output means 218 determines the value of the angle of ignition advance for each cylinder. Set the calculated control amount with a timer,
The fuel output means 219 sets a crank angle corresponding to the valve opening time with a timer.

Next, with reference to FIG. 14, an overall flow of control of the outboard motor according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a main routine showing a sequence of the entire control processing process of the outboard motor engine.

When the main switch is turned on and the power is turned on to start the engine operation, each processing circuit in the control processing device is initialized after a predetermined reset time (step S11). Next, in step S12, the operating state is judged and the result is held in the memory. Here, the starter determination by the starter SW detection means of FIG. 12, the determination as to whether or not the cylinder deactivating operation in which the specific cylinder is deactivated, and the determination as to whether or not to perform feedback control of oxygen concentration,
Under specific control conditions, determine whether to learn and store control data, engine overspeed for misfire control,
Judgment of overheat, oil shortage, etc., judgment of whether to perform pre-engine stop control when the engine is stopped, judgment of whether the shift lever is in the neutral position, failure judgment when there is a pulsar signal missing, two-engine running In this case, the DES detection means determines the operating state, whether or not the vehicle is in rapid acceleration or deceleration, and whether or not to perform shift cut when switching the clutch. Such a determination is initially made as the starting state, and after the information is read in the following routine, it is made based on various information such as the detected information from the read sensor and the calculation result.

Next, in step S13, it is determined whether or not the routine work of loop 1 is performed. YE
If it is S, the process proceeds to step S14 and the switch information is read. Here, information from the E / G stop switch, main switch and starter switch is read. Then, in step S15, the information from the knock sensor and the throttle sensor is read.
After the end of the information reading by this loop 1, step S1
In step 6, it is determined whether or not the routine work of loop 2 is performed.

The arithmetic processing unit sets the processing flag 1 of loop 1 to 1 at intervals of 4 ms and sets the processing flag 2 of loop 2 to 1 at intervals of 8 ms in terms of hardware or software.

In step S13, flag 1 is checked, and if it is 1, steps S14 and S15 are executed. At the same time as the step S14, the flag 1
Is cleared to 0. When it is confirmed that the flag 1 is 0 in step S13, the process proceeds to step S16, and it is checked whether the flag 2 is 1. Flag 2
Is 1, the flag 2 is cleared and becomes 0 at the same time when the process proceeds to step S17. If the flag 2 is 0 in step S16, the process returns to step S12.

In step S17, oil level detection, shift cable tension detection, and D
It is detected by ES detection whether the engine on one side is operating abnormally in the two-engine operating state. Further, in step S18, atmospheric pressure information, intake air temperature information, trim angle information, engine temperature information, and battery voltage information are read.

Next, in step S19, misfire control is performed. This is to control the fuel so that the specific cylinder is misfired when an abnormal state such as over-rotation, overheat, oil empty, DES or the like is detected in the operation state determination in step S12 from the read information. is there. Next, the fuel pump and the oil pump are drive-controlled based on the determination whether the engine is rotating and the information from the oil tank level sensor (step S20). For fuel, drive the fuel pump when the engine is rotating, stop the fuel pump when the engine is stopped, and for oil, drive the pump when the amount in the oil tank is small. It is something to replenish.

Next, in step S21, the cylinder deactivation operation is determined. This is a determination step for selecting a map for arithmetic processing when it is determined in the above-described operating state determination step S12 that the cylinder deactivation operation is performed in the predetermined low load and low rotation state. If it is not the cylinder deactivation operation, the basic operation map of the normal all cylinder operation is used to perform the basic calculation of the ignition timing and the injection time and the correction calculation for each cylinder (step S22). In the cylinder deactivated operation state, the ignition timing and the injection time are calculated and the correction calculation for each cylinder is performed using the cylinder deactivation map for the cylinder deactivated operation in which a specific cylinder is deactivated (step S24).

Next, in step S23, a basic ignition timing and a correction value for fuel injection are calculated according to operating conditions such as atmospheric pressure and trim angle. Then, step S
At 25, a correction value associated with the feedback control of the oxygen concentration is calculated. At this time, the learning judgment of the calculation information and O
2 Sensor activation is determined. Further, in step S26, a correction value of the control amount is calculated based on the detection signal from the knock sensor to prevent the engine from burning.

Next, in step S27, the optimum ignition timing, injection time and injection timing are calculated by adding a correction value to the basic ignition timing and fuel injection control amount. After that, in step S290, calculation of the engine pre-stop control is performed. This is a control for stopping the ignition and continuing the fuel injection for a predetermined time in consideration of restart when the engine is determined to be in the stopped state by turning off the main switch or the engine stop switch in step S12. It is a routine. With the above, the routine of the loop 2 is ended, and the process returns to the original operation state determination step S12.

FIG. 15 shows the flow of the TDC interrupt routine. A marker is fixed to the crankshaft, which causes each cylinder detecting means to output a signal notifying that the piston is at the top dead center in each cylinder when sequentially passing near each cylinder detecting means. The TDC interrupt is a routine interrupted by the main routine at any time based on the input of the TDC signal from each cylinder by the cylinder detecting means # 1 to # 6.

First, the number of the cylinder to which the signal is input is determined (step S28). Next, by comparing the cylinder number with the cylinder number of the previous input signal, it is determined whether the engine is rotating normally or reversely with respect to the rotation direction to be operated (step S29). If it is reversed, the engine is immediately stopped (step S33). If the engine is running in the normal direction, for example, the time interval between the cylinders # 1 and # 2 is counted and multiplied by 6 to calculate the cycle of engine rotation (step S30). Subsequently, the reciprocal of this cycle is calculated to calculate the rotation speed (step S31). When this rotation speed is lower than a predetermined rotation speed,
The engine is stopped (steps S32, 33).

Next, at step S34, it is judged if the input TDC interrupt signal is from a specific reference cylinder # 1. If the signal is from the reference cylinder # 1, it is determined whether or not the cylinder deactivation operation is being performed (step S3).
5) If the cylinder deactivation operation is in progress, it is determined whether or not the pattern of cylinders to be deactivated should be changed (step S37),
The pattern is switched (step S38) or the process proceeds to step S39 as it is without switching, and the cylinder deactivation operation information by ignition control is set. When the interrupt signal is not from # 1 (step S34) or when the cylinder deactivation operation is not in progress (step S35), the cylinder deactivation information is left as it is or the cylinder deactivation information is cleared (step S36) and the process proceeds to step S39 to deactivate the cylinder by ignition control. Set the driving information. The ignition pulse of the cylinder to be ignited is set based on this ignition cut-off cylinder information (step S40).

The details of this ignition pulse set are shown in FIG. The ignition timing obtained by the calculation is converted into the crank angle 60 degrees before TDC, that is, how many times it becomes a reference in the V-type 6-cylinder engine, and divided by 0.8 to be rounded to the pulse number. T of the cylinder that becomes TDC 60 degrees before
When the DC signal is input, the data of the rounded pulse number is held in the timer that constitutes the ignition output means 218, and at the same time, the number of pulses that is held each time the pulse from the crank angle detecting means reaches the timer. When the number of held pulses becomes 0, the ignition output means 218
Sparks the spark plug 19.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present embodiment is intended for a 6-cylinder V-type 2-bank engine, in which odd-numbered cylinders (# 1, 3, 5) are arranged in the left bank, Even-numbered cylinders (# 2, 4, 6) are arranged in the right bank. A separate timer is provided for each bank in order to control these cylinders for each bank. When setting the number of crank angle pulses corresponding to the ignition timing in these timers, as shown in the figure, first determine whether the cylinder number is an even number or an odd number,
Depending on whether it is an even number or an odd number, the ignition timing data is set in the timer of the corresponding bank (in the figure, the odd bank is timer 3 and the even bank is timer 4), and the ignition cylinder number is set.

After that, the cylinders whose fuel injection amount is reduced in the fuel injection control are set as cylinder deactivation information in the fuel injection control for the deactivated cylinders to be misfired in the ignition control (step S41), and the cylinders to be misfied in the ignition control are calculated. The injection pulse corresponding to each cylinder is set to the injection time corresponding to the fuel injection amount reduced from the fuel injection control amount and the injection time corresponding to the fuel injection control amount calculated for other cylinders. Yes (step S42).

When measuring the aforementioned engine cycle, if there is an input signal (TDC signal) from one cylinder, the TDC interrupt shown in FIG.
The C period measurement timer starts counting the number of constant frequency pulses at the time of input of the TDC signal, and the T of the next cylinder is counted.
When the DC signal is input, it is reset and the counting of the next cylinder is started. In this case, when the count value exceeds a predetermined value, an overflow occurs and the count is reset. The timer overflow interrupt is executed at the time when this overflow occurs, that is, when it is detected that the cycle of the crank angle of 60 degrees is the low speed rotation for a predetermined time or longer.

FIG. 17 shows this overflow interrupt. When an overflow occurs, the number of times is first stored and it is determined whether the engine is in the starting operation state. If the operating mode is the starting state, the engine rotation is low due to the overflow, and the operation is continued.
If it is not in the start mode, it is determined whether or not the TDC signal pulse has been missed, that is, the TDC signal pulse has not been transmitted due to some trouble, and whether the overflow is detected by normal signal transmission without pulse omission. If the engine is running at low speed, stop the engine. If there is a missing pulse, it is determined whether or not the overflow detection is the second time, and if it is the second time, the engine is stopped because the rotation speed is too low. As a result, the engine is always stopped when there is an abnormality in the signal transmission system at low speed.

FIG. 18 shows an interrupt routine of the timers 3 and 4 corresponding to each bank for setting the ignition timing of each cylinder. When an engine rotation signal (TDC signal) is input from each cylinder, the timers 3 and 4 are interrupted. First, the cylinder deactivation information indicating whether the engine is in the cylinder deactivation operation for a predetermined low rotation speed or less and the misfire information indicating whether the ignition is misfired by detecting overheat or overrevolution (overspeed) are read. After this, a timer value corresponding to the ignition timing is set in the timer 3 or 4 corresponding to the cylinder number. After that, when the misfire is performed based on the cylinder deactivation information or the misfire information, the ignition processing routine is not performed, so that the spark plug is not discharged even at the timing set by the timer, and the cylinder with the 120 ° phase delay The ignition timing of is read from the memory, the timing is set in the timer, and the process directly returns to the main flow. When not causing misfire, the number of the cylinder to be ignited is read, and a pulse (HI) is output from the ignition output port of the ignition drive circuit of the cylinder at the timing set by the timer to discharge the spark plug. The ignition time corresponds to the pulse width and is set by a timer, or a loop that requires a predetermined number of times for execution is executed to obtain the required pulse width. After this predetermined ignition time has passed, the signal from the ignition output port is set to LOW.
The spark plug discharge is completed.

The above is the mechanical structure of the outboard motor engine to which the present invention is applied, the system structure of the entire control system, and the flow of its operation.

As described above, the present invention provides a control method for achieving stable cylinder deactivation operation by setting the condition determination for performing the cylinder deactivation control, particularly in the outboard motor, when performing the deactivation cylinder operation. It is an object.

FIG. 1 shows such an embodiment of the present invention.
Further description is provided below with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, with respect to the cylinders # 1 to # 6 of the two-cycle engine of the above-mentioned 6-cylinder V-type bank for outboard motors, an O2 sensor is provided with the # 1 cylinder as a reference cylinder, and O2 feedback control of this # 1 cylinder is performed. Done and based on this another cylinder # 2
The following is an example of the deactivated cylinder control when the O2 feedback control of # 6 to # 6 is performed.

FIG. 19 is a throttle opening diagram of the two-cycle engine according to this embodiment. K1 is the throttle opening of this embodiment, and K2 is the throttle opening of the conventional engine in which the cylinder deactivation operation is not performed. As shown,
In the engine of this embodiment, the initial opening degree (fully closed position) at which the accelerator is not stepped on is about 5.5 ° to 7 °,
Normal outboard engine is large compared to 3 ° -4 °. By increasing the initial opening degree in this way, air easily flows, particularly in the medium to low speed range, the air flow becomes smooth, and gas exchange in the cylinder is favorably performed. When all such cylinders having a large initial opening degree are combusted during the medium-low speed region or the medium-load low-load operation, the output becomes too large. Therefore, the idle cylinders are provided under a predetermined condition to reduce the number of cylinders to be combusted. This allows
The load on the combustion cylinder is increased, the gas exchange is smoothed, and irregular combustion is prevented.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart of a cylinder deactivation determination routine for determining various conditions as to whether or not to perform the cylinder deactivation operation in this embodiment. This cylinder deactivation determination routine is a detailed flowchart of the cylinder deactivation determination step S21 in the main routine (FIG. 14) described above. First, it is determined whether the throttle opening is within a predetermined medium opening or low opening range (step S401). This is to determine by reading the opening information of the throttle sensor recorded in the sensor information reading step S15 of the main routine. This predetermined range is a range of medium to low speed where there is a high possibility that the engine will cause irregular combustion. If it is not within such a range, normal all cylinder operation is performed. Next, the engine speed is equal to or lower than a predetermined medium to low speed (eg, 2000 rp
m) is determined (step S40).
2) If it is out of the range, all cylinders are operated. This engine speed is determined by reading the data stored in the memory calculated based on the TDC signal from each cylinder as described above. Next, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is in rapid acceleration or deceleration (step S403). The judgment of such rapid acceleration / deceleration is
For example, the acceleration or deceleration state is determined by detecting a change in the opening of the throttle sensor, a change in the number of revolutions, a change in the accelerator opening, or the like. During rapid acceleration / deceleration with a large rate of change, all cylinder operation is performed in order to improve responsiveness. Further, especially during rapid deceleration, all cylinder operation is performed to prevent engine stall.

Next, it is determined whether or not the engine is operating at the time of start-up or after start-up (before warm-up) (step S404). This is to determine by reading the read data of the operation of the starter switch (switch information reading step S14 of the main routine). In such a starting state, normal operation is performed with all cylinders in order to increase the number of explosions and achieve a quick start. Next, it is determined whether or not the warm-up operation is being performed (step S405). this is,
It is determined by whether the engine temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, or whether a predetermined time has elapsed after starting. During warm-up operation, all cylinders are operated without cylinder deactivation in order to quickly raise the engine temperature.

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the misfire control is in progress (steps S406 to S407), and it is further determined whether or not the other engine is in the cylinder deactivation operation during the two-machine running operation (step S409).

The misfire control conditions are as follows: (a) overheat condition, (b) over-revoked condition, (c) oil empty condition, and (d) when one engine is in the above two conditions (a) to (c). This is the case where one of the states is detected and the DES is detected. The misfire control in the overheat state of (a) is, for example, when the engine overheat is detected by the bimetal switch provided in the cylinder head, the rotation speed is set to, for example, 2 in order to suppress the combustion and lower the temperature.
The ignition of a specific cylinder is stopped for the purpose of suppressing it to 000 rpm or less. The over-revoked state (b) is a case where the engine speed is a high speed of, for example, 6000 rpm or more, and in this case as well, the misfire of a specific cylinder is performed in order to suppress the rotation. The oil empty state (c) is a state in which the rotational speed is reduced in order to suppress the oil consumption when the oil level in the oil tank in the cowling is reduced by the oil level switch. Even in the case of such an oil empty, the specific cylinder is misfired and the number of revolutions is suppressed to, for example, 2000 rpm or less, so that oil consumption is suppressed, and particularly in the case of an outboard motor, a small amount of oil is used to reliably return to port.

Further, in the case of the two outboard motors operating, if it is detected that one of the engines is in the misfire state of any one of the above (a) to (c), The state is detected by the DES detecting means (see FIG. 12) and a detection signal is sent to the arithmetic processing unit. In such cases,
The other engine similarly performs misfire control to balance the operation of both engines. Therefore, when one engine abnormality is detected by the DES signal and misfire control is being performed (NO in step S409), when the cylinder deactivation operation is further performed, the misfiring cylinder by the misfire control and the deactivation by the cylinder deactivation control are performed. Since the consistency with the cylinders becomes distorted and causes an abnormal decrease in output and a control error, the cylinder deactivation operation 501 is not performed, and the normal all-cylinder operation control 500 is performed. However, the all-cylinder operation control referred to here is that the control amount is calculated for all cylinders, and ignition and fuel injection are actually performed for all cylinders based on the control amount of the calculation result, and combustion is performed for all cylinders. Although all cylinder operation to be performed and control amount calculation are performed for all cylinders, both of misfire control operation for causing a predetermined cylinder to misfire as a predetermined abnormality response are included.

When one engine is in the cylinder deactivation operation in the two-engine operation, the other engine also performs the cylinder deactivation operation in accordance with this, and when one engine is in the normal operation, the other engine is in operation. Will also perform normal operation accordingly. As a result, the outputs of the two engines are kept balanced and a stable operating state is obtained. If they are not balanced, the propeller thrusts of the two outboard motors will differ and the ship will turn as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 23, making it difficult to go straight.

It should be noted that in the flowchart, the misfire control condition is not judged by over-revolution, but this is because the idle cylinder control in the low revolution range is not executed at a high revolution speed that would result in over-revolution. Is. That is, the over-revolution state is naturally excluded from the condition of the engine speed range of step S402.

FIG. 21 is a time chart showing the ignition timing and the injection timing of each cylinder when the deactivated cylinder operation is performed by satisfying the various judgment conditions described above. P is #
The pulsar signal (TDC signal) from each cylinder of 1- # 6 is shown. The phase spacing between each pulse is 60 °. The range indicated by E indicates the entire cylinder operating range, the deactivated cylinder condition is set by the TDC signal of the # 1 cylinder of A, and then the deactivated cylinder control is performed in the range indicated by F. In this example, # 3 and # 6 are set to be idle cylinders. By setting the cylinders with the same phase interval as the idle cylinders in this way, the balance of vibration is improved and a stable operating state is obtained. As an example of other deactivated cylinders, a combination of # 2 and # 5 is set, or as an example of deactivated three cylinders, a combination of # 2, # 4, and # 6 is set. The number of such a deactivated cylinder is recorded in advance in the memory, and when performing the correction for each cylinder, the correction calculation is performed using the map for the deactivated cylinder control, and the reduced fuel is injected.

The fuel injection amount for the deactivated cylinders (# 3, # 6) is represented by V1 in the all cylinder operating range E, and in the deactivated cylinder control range F, only the G range is injected intermittently. In this intermittent range G, the correction amount is added as a negative value only for Y1 by the cylinder-specific correction map. The interval and correction amount of such intermittent injection are set by a predetermined program.

On the other hand, for the remaining cylinders (# 1, 2, 4, 5), the full cylinder operating range E and the idle cylinder operating range F
However, the injection amount V2 calculated by the normal operation map remains unchanged. The values of V1 and V2 differ depending on each cylinder.

J1 to J6 represent ignition pulses for the # 1 to # 6 cylinders. When the deactivated cylinder operation is started, the ignition pulse is not output for the # 3 and # 6 cylinders. As described above with reference to the flowchart of the ignition pulse control shown in FIG. 18, this is to read the ignition deactivated cylinder information and stop the output to the ignition output port, that is, regarding the ignition timing and the ignition pulse width. Is calculated by a map calculation, but the output of this ignition pulse is stopped based on the cylinder deactivation information. As a result, during idle cylinder control #
The spark plugs of the 3 and # 6 cylinders did not spark and no combustion occurred.

L1 to L6 represent fuel injection outputs of the # 1 to # 6 cylinders. As for the # 3 and # 6 cylinders, the fuel amount is reduced during the idle cylinder operation, as indicated by the injection amount G described above. Therefore, the width of the injection pulse is shorter than that of the other cylinders. Moreover, for example, at each time point of the first TDC signal B1 of the # 3 cylinder and the subsequent TDC signal B2, the injection pulse is not output as shown by the dotted line of L3 because it is outside the timing of the fuel injection permission range G. Since the time point of the third TDC signal B3 of the # 3 cylinder is included in the fuel injection permission range G, the reduced amount of fuel (fuel having a short injection time) is injected. Similarly, for the # 6 cylinder, TDC of C1
Since the time point of the signal is included in the fuel injection permission range G, the reduced amount of fuel is injected, and the time points of C2 and C3 deviate from the fuel injection range G, so the fuel is not injected as indicated by the dotted line. In this way, the fuel reduced in amount is intermittently injected at predetermined intervals in the # 3 and # 6 cylinders.

Instead of the method of further intermittently injecting the fuel reduced in amount in this way to reduce the fuel injection amount, the reduced injection amount may be calculated from the correction map and continuously injected. Further, the injection amount may be changed so as to be periodically reduced at regular intervals as it is as continuous injection. Further, the injection may be performed with the injection amount G without setting the fuel injection permission range.

The embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the threshold values of the throttle opening and the engine speed at the time of switching between the idle cylinder operation and the all cylinder operation have hysteresis. That is, the throttle opening determination step S4 in FIG.
In step S402 of discriminating between 01 and engine speed, the threshold value is changed depending on whether the read data value is increasing or decreasing. As a result, chatter is prevented when switching the idle cylinder operation, a smooth switching operation is achieved, and control reliability is improved.

FIG. 22 is a time chart of a control method for changing the number of idle cylinders according to the throttle opening in the embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a method of changing the operating cylinders to 5 cylinders or 4 cylinders in the cylinder deactivated operation, and (B) is a number of operating cylinders in the deactivated cylinder operation is 4
This is a method of performing program control so that the cylinders are fixed and five cylinders are operated at the time of switching. Further, in this embodiment, the cylinder deactivation control is performed based on the pulser signal (TDC signal) of the # 1 cylinder.

As shown in FIG. (A), when the throttle opening degree decreases from the throttle opening degree in the all-cylinder operation state to reach the threshold voltage B, the all-cylinder (6-cylinder) operation is switched to the 5-cylinder idle cylinder operation. Switch. When the opening degree further decreases and exceeds the threshold voltage D, the 5-cylinder operation is switched to the 4-cylinder operation. Conversely, when the throttle opening increases and reaches the threshold voltage C which is slightly higher than the voltage D, the 4-cylinder operation is switched to the 5-cylinder operation. When the opening degree further increases and exceeds the threshold voltage A which is slightly higher than the voltage B, the deactivated cylinder operation of 5 cylinders is switched to the all cylinder operation.

In the diagram (B), when the Stottle opening is reduced from the full cylinder operation to reach the threshold voltage B, the 4-cylinder idle cylinder operation is started. In this case, a program is preliminarily formed so that when the two cylinders out of the six cylinders are deactivated, there is a slight time difference, that is, the four cylinder operation is performed through the five cylinder operation state. On the other hand, when the throttle opening increases and exceeds the threshold voltage A which is slightly higher than the threshold voltage B, the 4-cylinder operation is switched to the 6-cylinder operation. Also in this case, when resuming the combustion of the two cylinders that have been suspended, the program control is performed so as to perform all-cylinder operation with a time difference, that is, through the five-cylinder operation state.

As described above, by interposing the 5-cylinder operating state between the 6-cylinder operation and the 4-cylinder operation, the output fluctuation is suppressed and stable idle cylinder control is achieved. Further, by making the threshold voltage different between the increasing direction and the decreasing direction of the throttle opening, that is, by providing a hysteresis, chattering around the switching time point is prevented and a smooth switching operation is achieved.

The above-described embodiment is particularly applicable to a two-engine operation type ship in which two marine vessel propulsion units such as an outboard motor, an inboard motor or an inboard / outboard motor are arranged side by side at the stern, and two engines are installed in the traveling direction. The cylinder deactivation control is performed to prevent a difference in propulsive force of the vehicle and achieve stable straight traveling. The condition of such a cylinder deactivation operation is a case where the predetermined misfire control is not being performed and the DES signal is not output in the two-machine operation. In this case, in the above embodiment, the predetermined misfire control is the misfire control due to the oil empty, overheat, or overrev as described above. Since the engine speed decreases during such misfire control, the cylinder deactivation operation of the present invention is required not to be under such misfire control in order to avoid duplicate cylinder deactivation. Also, when one engine is detected to be under misfire control by the DES signal, cylinder deactivation is not performed in order to secure stable rotation and maintain the balance of propulsive forces of the two engines. That is, the cylinder deactivation operation of the present invention is conditioned on the fact that no abnormality is detected by the DES signal. Further, in the two-machine operation, the cylinder deactivation operation of the present invention is always performed at the same time, and when one cylinder stops the cylinder deactivation, the other machine is also simultaneously stopped. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 23, the E / G control devices of the two outboard motors are connected by a connecting line. Further, details of the communication line and the E / G control device are shown in FIG. The E / G control device is connected by a communication line including a two-machine operating signal, a cylinder deactivation state signal, and a DES signal, and can mutually recognize the presence or absence of the two-machine operating and the operating state. That is, the CPU determines whether or not two aircraft are being mounted as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 20 (S408).
24 is performed by detecting the state of the boat C in FIG. 24, and then it is determined whether the DES signal is normal (S409), and on the other hand, it is determined whether the E / G cylinder is inactive (S410). Is detected. By performing the cylinder deactivation operation based on these determinations, the cylinder deactivation operation when two engines are mounted can be synchronized with each other. This gives 2
The object of the present invention is to achieve a stable straight-ahead navigation by maintaining the balance of propulsion power of the aircraft engine.

[0134]

As described above, according to the present invention, the misfire control and the cylinder deactivation control are overlapped because the misfire control and the DES condition are taken into consideration especially when the outboard motor is operated in the idle cylinder operation. It is possible to achieve a stable cylinder deactivation operation by preventing an extreme decrease in output due to, and to maintain a good balance in the two-engine operation and obtain a stable operation state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of essential parts of an outboard motor to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a plan view of the engine of FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a configuration diagram including a fuel system of the outboard motor of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the outboard motor of FIG.

5 is a detailed view of the left bank of the engine of FIG.

6 is an explanatory view of an exhaust passage of the engine of FIG. 1. FIG.

7 is a configuration diagram including an intake system of the engine of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of an exhaust sensor used for controlling the engine of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of another mounting example of the exhaust sensor.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a transmission mechanism to an outboard motor propeller shaft.

FIG. 11 is a main part configuration diagram of a shift mechanism of an outboard motor.

FIG. 12 is a system block diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of control means according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a main routine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart of a TDC interrupt in the main routine of FIG.

16 is a detailed flow chart of the ignition pulse set of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a detailed flowchart of timer overflow in the routine of FIG.

FIG. 18 is an interrupt flow chart of the ignition timing control timer in the routine of FIG.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of a throttle opening degree during deactivated cylinder operation.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart for determining conditions for idle cylinder operation.

FIG. 21 is a time chart of idle cylinder operation.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of a threshold value when switching the deactivated cylinder operation.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of mounting two outboard motors.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of a two-engine engine control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Engine 2: Left bank 3: Right bank 4: Cylinder body 5: Exhaust port 6: Exhaust pipe 7: Cowling 8: Upper casing 9: Lower casing 13: Main exhaust port 14: Exhaust sensor 21: Crankshaft 25: Throttle Valve 26: Injector

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cylinder deactivation control method for stopping combustion of a specific cylinder among a plurality of cylinders when a predetermined operating condition is satisfied, wherein the operating condition is a predetermined misfire control. No, 2
In a case where the DES signal is not output in the running-on operation, and when one engine stops the cylinder deactivating operation in the two-running operation, the other engine is also stopped the cylinder deactivating operation. A cylinder deactivation control method for an internal combustion engine. 2. The internal combustion engine according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined misfire control is during oil empty misfire control, overheat misfire control, or over-revolution misfire control. Cylinder deactivation control method. 3. An operating condition detecting means, and an arithmetic processing device for controlling ignition timings and fuel injection amounts of a plurality of cylinders according to outputs of the detecting device, wherein the arithmetic processing device has a predetermined operating condition. A cylinder deactivation control device having a deactivation cylinder control program for stopping the combustion of a specific cylinder when,
The cylinder deactivation control program performs the cylinder deactivation operation when the operating state is not the predetermined misfire control and the DES signal is not output in the two-engine operation, and one engine is operated in the two-engine operation. A cylinder deactivation control device for an internal combustion engine, characterized in that, when the cylinder deactivation operation is stopped, the cylinder deactivation operation is also stopped for the other engine. 4. A plurality of cylinders, an operating state detecting means, and an arithmetic processing unit for controlling ignition timing and fuel injection amount of the plurality of cylinders according to outputs of the detecting unit, the arithmetic processing unit comprising: A multi-cylinder internal combustion engine having a deactivated cylinder control program for stopping the combustion of a specific cylinder in a predetermined operating state, wherein the cylinder deactivation control program is such that the operating state is not under a predetermined misfire control, Two-engine operation DE
When the S signal is not output, perform cylinder deactivation operation,
A multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, characterized in that when one engine stops the cylinder deactivation operation in a two-engine operation, the other engine also stops the cylinder deactivation operation.