JPS61108099A - Control method and device for slant angle of outboard motor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve controllability and make suppression accurate by realizing performance of both slant angle control action at low speed and tilt pulling up action at high speed at all times. CONSTITUTION:A clamp bracket 56 is bolted on a transom 54A of a hull 54. The transom 54A is equipped with a freely rotatable swivel bracket 60 through a tilt shaft 58 of said clamp bracket. The swivel bracket 60 is equipped with an outboard motor main body 53A on its back side, and further equipped with a cylinder group forming a power tilt mechanism on its inner side. The clamp bracket 56 is equipped with a power unit 62, with a built-in a.c. motor and an oil pressure pump, on its side. The outboard motor 52 puts a propeller 64 in regular or reverse rotation by driving force of an engine to put the hull 54 in advance or retreat.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method and device for controlling the inclination angle of an outboard motor, and in particular, to an inclination angle control method of an outboard motor equipped with a hydraulically driven power tilt a mechanism. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus thereof.

[Conventional technology]

In general, for relatively large outboard motors, a power-tilt a mechanism employing hydraulic drive is indispensable in consideration of increased weight.

By using this power tilt mechanism,
Angle of inclination of the outboard motor with respect to the hull (also called tilt angle)
This is because the trim of the hull can be accurately controlled during cruising, as it becomes possible to easily and freely rotate the boat up and down in a vertical plane.

This situation is illustrated as shown in FIG. 5 (1) or 2). Figure (1) shows a case in which the outside al is raised relative to the hull 2 and the trim angle (θ1) of the hull relative to the water surface 3 is made relatively large. Also, (2) in the same figure shows the outboard motor 2.
This is a case where the trim angle (θ2) is made small and made almost parallel to the water surface 3. Here, the power tilt mechanism 4 is installed at a predetermined position between the outboard motor main body IA and the rear part of the hull 2.

Therefore, the driver can reduce the sailing resistance by determining the environmental conditions such as waves and wind, and the cargo situation, and controlling the trim of the hull 2 as described above.

This makes it possible to save on fuel consumption, etc., and also makes it extremely easy to raise the outboard motor body to a high position, which is necessary for maintenance inspections or for detecting shallow waters during cruising.

On the other hand, a method and device for controlling the inclination angle of an outboard motor equipped with the power tilt mechanism 4 have already been proposed by the present applicant in Patent Application No. 59-133866 of 1981.

In this proposal, the control unit automatically controls the outboard motor in the direction of increasing or decreasing the heel angle based on the output information from the accelerator sensor and boat speed sensor installed at predetermined positions. , and a method is adopted in which the delay in control response is compensated for by increasing or decreasing the inclination angle corresponding to this, and thereby the optimum value of the inclination angle of the outboard motor body can be automatically obtained. This is a possible configuration. and,
According to this, the operability and control accuracy are further improved.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the above conventional technology, after changing the heel angle, the resulting ship speed is judged through each control system and the next control is determined, so there is a delay in the hull trim operation and control Considering the response delay of the system, it was necessary to operate the power tilt mechanism relatively slowly and at low speed. Therefore, in this state, even if it is necessary to immediately raise the outboard motor to a high angle (hereinafter simply referred to as "tilt-up") in case of danger such as shallow water, the tilt-up will not be possible in time due to the low speed. There was a possibility of the ship running aground.

Additionally, setting the power tilt mechanism to high-speed operation so that it can operate quickly is effective in preventing groundings, etc.
Automatic control of the tilt angle has the contradictory disadvantage that precise control cannot be performed due to hunting phenomena and the like.

The present invention is an outboard motor tilt angle control method that improves the disadvantages of the conventional example and can perform both a low-speed tilt angle control ff1l operation and a high-speed tilt raising operation as needed. Its purpose is to provide such equipment.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, in the present invention, an outboard motor having a power tilt a mechanism is installed in the hull, and when the hull speed and the accelerator position of the outboard motor engine are maintained at constant values while the hull is sailing, The control unit detects this and, in accordance with a program pre-wired into the control unit, sets a predetermined signal pause time every time a control signal for increasing or decreasing the inclination angle of the outboard motor is output for a predetermined period of time. A control loop is repeated a predetermined number of times as necessary to determine whether the hull speed increases or decreases due to an increase or decrease in the inclination angle, so that the hull speed reaches approximately the maximum value at the constant accelerator position. In order to achieve the above object, a technique such as driving and controlling the power tilt mechanism is adopted.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 shows the circuit configuration. This circuit configuration relates to an inclination angle control device that controls up and down the outboard motor, as shown in FIG. 2, which will be described later.

In FIG. 1, 12 indicates a control section, and 14 indicates a power tilt mechanism controlled by this control section 12. Further, 16 indicates an automatic control stop section for canceling automatic control of the power chill l-1m structure 14.

First, the configuration of the control section 12 will be explained. The output side of the pitot tube 16 (see Figure 2) as a speed sensor installed at a predetermined position on the bottom of the ship is connected to a central processing unit (hereinafter simply rCPUJ) as a main control unit via a Δ/D converter F. ) reaches 20. In addition, the output of the potentiometer type accelerator position sensor 18 that detects the opening degree of the accelerator is also A.
It reaches the CPU 20 via the /D converter 19. This CPU 20 employs a C-MOS type one-chip microcomputer in which predetermined programs, memory, etc. are integrated, and is designed to be compact and power efficient.

The output path from the CPU 20 is branched into two circuits, one on the amplifier side and the other on the down side.

That is, the amplifier side is connected to a buffer 24 via a resistor 22, and the output side of this buffer 24 is connected to the base of a switching NPN transistor 30 via each of resistors 26 and 28 in series. .

The collector of this transistor 30 is connected to a predetermined V power supply through a parallel circuit consisting of the relay coil 32A of the up-side relay 32 and a back electromotive force suppressing diode 34, and the remaining emitter is grounded. has been done.

Similarly, on the down side of the CPU 20, a resistor 34, a buffer 36 . and resistors 38 and 40 are connected in series to the base of the switching NPN transistor 42. The collector of this transistor 42 is connected to the V[l power supply through a parallel circuit of the relay coil 44A of the down side relay 44 and the diode 46, and the emitter is grounded.

Further, the power tilt mechanism 14 is provided in the control section 12.
A manual switch 47 for manually operating the is connected. This manual switch 47 is constructed so that two switches 47A and 47B are interlocked, and each switch has two normally open contacts. The common terminal C of the power supply side switch 47A is connected to a predetermined type ivo, and one contact X is connected between the up-side resistors 26 and 28, and the remaining contact Y
are connected between the down side resistors 38 and 40, respectively. Further, the common terminal C' of the earth side switch 47B is grounded, and of the two contacts X' and Y', X' is connected to the input path of the down side buffer 36, and Y' is connected to the input path of the down side buffer 36, and Y' is connected to the input path of the down side buffer 36. Each is connected to an input path of the buffer 24.

On the other hand, in the power tilt mechanism 14, 51 is a DC motor for driving a hydraulic pump (not shown). The field coil 5LA of the motor 51 is grounded at its midpoint, and both ends are connected to a VB type power source via contacts 32B and 44B of the relay 32.44 in the control unit 12, respectively. In addition, although illustrations of the hydraulic pump, cylinders, etc. of the power tilt mechanism 14 are omitted here, the illustrations of the cylinders and the like in the power tilt mechanism 14 are omitted;
The same one as that described in Publication No. 96 is adopted.

Further, the input terminals of the up-side buffer 24 and the down-side buffer 36 in the control section 12 are connected to the anodes of diodes 48 and 49 in the automatic control stop section 15, respectively. The cathodes of these diodes 48 and 49 are grounded via an automatic trim stop switch 50, thereby forming an automatic control stop section 15.

Furthermore, FIG. 2 shows the outboard [52 and 110 bodies 5] according to this embodiment.
4, and the above-mentioned tilt angle control device is installed at these predetermined positions.

The two clamp brackets 56 and 56 are bolted to the transom 54A of the hull 54,
These clamps Brakeso I-56.

A swivel bracket 60 is provided which is rotatable via a tilt shaft 58 of 56. This swivel bracket 6
An outboard motor main body 52A is fixedly installed on the rear side of the engine 0, and a cylinder group (not shown) constituting the aforementioned power tilt mechanism 14 is installed inside. As shown in the figure, the outboard motor main body 52A is configured to amp up or down within a predetermined angle due to the expansion and contraction of this cylinder group. Here, 62 is a power unit attached to the side surface of one of the clamp brackets 56, and includes the above-mentioned DC motor 51 and a hydraulic pump (not shown) built therein.

Furthermore, the predetermined angle of the amplifier down is about 70 degrees, of which 1 is from near the vertical line during normal automatic tilt angle control.
The tilt angle is variably controlled within about 5 degrees, and the remaining tilt angle is necessary when raising the tilt.

The outboard motor 5 is equipped with a control device configured as described above.
2 is a propeller 6 driven by the driving force of an engine (not shown).
4 (see FIG. 2) is rotated forward or reverse, and the hull 54 can be moved forward or backward.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The automatic control in this embodiment is related to a try-end-error method, and the control program is set in advance and the control program is set in advance.
It is stored in the ROM of LI20.

Further, the operating speed of each component (DC motor, hydraulic pump, cylinder, etc.) of the power tilt mechanism 14 is set for high speed during the tilting operation.

First, only the up and down operations of the power tilt mechanism 14 will be explained.

In the case of up, the control signal from the CPU 20 is sent to the buffer 2.
4 is amplified to a predetermined level and output, the base potential of the transistor 300 rises, and the transistor 30
is turned on. By turning on, the relay coil 32A of the relay 32 is excited, the relay contact 32B in the power tilt mechanism 14 is closed, and the up-side field coil of the DC motor 51 is energized and excited. Therefore, the motor 51
rotates in the normal direction, causing the hydraulic pump linked to this motor to rotate in the normal direction. As a result, the cylinder group extends a predetermined amount, and the outboard motor main body 52A is controlled to move in the direction of the amplifier at high speed, as shown in FIG. Then, the hull 54 travels with a trim based on the new inclination angle subjected to the above-mentioned inching control.

In addition, even in the case of down, the control signal of the CPU 20 is output to the buffer 36, and in the same manner as described above, the DC motor 5
1 is reversed to reverse the hydraulic pump, the cylinder rods of the cylinder group are contracted and the angle of inclination is reduced.

Furthermore, the overall operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, when the engine of the outboard motor 52 is started, the automatic control is also started. Then, with the start of sailing, the speed sensor 1
The speed signal from 6 is converted into a digital signal by an A/D converter 17 and output to the CPU 20. Further, the accelerator signal from the accelerator position sensor 18 is also transferred to the A/D converter 19.
The signal is constantly output to the CPU 20 as a digital signal. Therefore, the CPU 20 waits while checking the sensor signals of the speed and the accelerator position until a steady state is reached, according to the control timing of a predetermined control program.

That is, an accelerator signal is input (70 in FIG. 3), and it is determined whether the accelerator position is constant (72 in the same figure).

If the determination 72 is NO (if the accelerator position is not yet constant), the accelerator signal is input again (70 in FIG. 7), and the above-described control is repeated.

If the above judgment 72 is YES (if the accelerator position has become constant), the speed signal should be input (74 in the same figure).
, it is determined whether the ship speed is constant (76 in the same figure). This judgment 7
If the answer is NO in step 6 (if the ship speed is not constant due to the influence of waves, wind, etc.), input the speed signal again.
4) Repeat the above control.

If the above judgment 76 is YES (if the ship speed becomes constant), it is judged that a steady state has been reached, and the CP
U20 outputs a TTL level tilt angle up signal to the amplifier side circuit for a predetermined period of time according to a predetermined control program (78 in the same figure). The predetermined time for this output is 1. as shown by Ul in FIG. Seconds. This t1 second is shorter than the conventional one, and is used to move the power tilt mechanism 14 in increments as described later. And C.P.
U20 performs a signal pause for <tz seconds as shown in Figure 4 (
Figure 3 80). During this signal pause, the tilt angle amplifier signal output activates the power tilt mechanism 14 as described above, and a new speed is determined.

Then, the CPU 20 inputs the speed signal in the new state (82 in the same figure) and determines whether or not the speed has been increased (84 in the same figure).

If this judgment 84 is YES (ship speed has increased), the optimum value of the inclination angle is still on the amplifier direction side, so the inclination angle amplifier signal is output again (see Fig. 7).
8) Repeat the same control until the speed is N.

If the above judgment 84 is NO (ship speed has decreased), the heel angle has passed the optimum value, so
The CPU 20 outputs a control signal for decreasing the tilt angle to the down path for a predetermined period of time (86 in the same figure). The output time of this down control signal is 1 second as shown by DI in FIG. 4, and the signal is paused for t2 seconds after being output similarly to the up time (FIG. 3 88). Then, the CPU 20 inputs the speed signal again (90 in the same figure) and determines whether or not to increase the speed (
Figure 92). And if yes (in case of ship speed increase)
, once again change the tilt angle down signal to 1. output for seconds (86 in the same figure)
), similar control is repeated until the N speed is reached.

If the determination 92 is no (in the case of deceleration), C
In accordance with the control program, the PU 20 outputs a tilt angle A knob signal to the up side for compensating for the response delay of the control system (FIG. 4, 94). This output is small for t3 seconds, as shown by U2 in FIG. As a result, the outboard motor main body 52A is set at a substantially optimum value, and therefore the trim of the hull 54° is also maintained at a substantially optimum value, making economical cruising possible.

Thereafter, an accelerator signal is input at regular intervals (96 in FIG. 3), and it is determined whether the accelerator position is held constant (98 in the same figure). If this determination is no (if the accelerator position has changed), the driver has changed the accelerator position, and the control from the beginning to the above is repeated again.

Further, if the judgment 98 is YES (the accelerator position remains unchanged), the speed signal can be manually changed to 100 in the same figure.
), it is determined whether the ship speed is constant (102 in the same figure). If the determination 102 is YES (vessel speed is constant), the vessel is still sailing at the optimum value of the heel angle, so the accelerator signal is input (FIG. 96), and the above-mentioned steady state control is repeated.

If the determination 102 is NO (ship speed has changed), the accelerator position remains unchanged, but the ship speed has changed due to surrounding external conditions. In this case, the slope angle amplifier signal is changed to 1. This will return to the above-mentioned automatic control of outputting for only a second (78 in the same figure).

Next, a specific example of the above-mentioned overall operation will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The CPU 20 determines the ship speed ■ after tA seconds from the start of the cruise.

When it becomes constant, the first tilt angle up signal 3U1 is set to 1. 78) in FIG. 3, and move the power tilt a mechanism 14 in the A-7 direction as described in p. after that,
The CPU 20 suspends signal output for t2 seconds (80 in the same figure)
. This L2 is t2>tX, and this LX is the response delay of the control system including the response delay of the speed sensor. Then, when the signal stop time t2 has elapsed and the time 1B arrives, the speed signal is inputted (82 in FIG. 82), and the speed 8 at this time is determined.

That is, since y<v, the determination as to whether or not to increase the speed (84 in the same figure) is made in the negative direction, and after tXX, the rear inclination angle down signal D+ is output for t8 seconds (86 in the same figure). After that, the signal is paused for t2 seconds again (88 in the same figure), and the speed signal is input and checked (90 in the same figure. Said judgment 9
2, the result is YES, and after tXX, the rear tilt angle down signal D2 is output again for t1 seconds (86 in the same figure).

Such control is performed in a cycle of (1++t2) seconds through tX seconds until the decision 92 is negative (in the case of deceleration). That is, in FIG. 4, the velocity V is t seconds after the start of the control.

When y becomes <v, the CPU 20 outputs the compensating tilt angle amplifier signal U2 for t3 seconds (FIG. 3, 94), and sets the tilt angle to a substantially optimal value. Therefore, the ship speed is also 1. After a second, it becomes vF, and the maximum speed becomes approximately 4AX.

In this way, when automatically controlling the tilt angle, the control period is (t++tz), and by providing this signal pause time t2, the operating speed of the power tilt mechanism 14 is set to a high-speed operation for raising the tilt. Even if the angle of inclination is maintained, automatic control of the inclination angle can be performed, making it possible to achieve both.

Furthermore, even if the response speed of the speed sensor 16 is somewhat slow,
By setting L2 large, matching can be easily achieved to ensure sufficient sensor capability.

On the other hand, when raising the tilt, the automatic trim stop switch 50 is turned on. By turning on, the up-side and down-side output paths of the CPU 20 become substantially grounded, and the automatic control is stopped.

Therefore, at this time, when the manual switch notch 47 is turned upward, the contact X' is grounded and the contact X is at V.

Power will be supplied from the power supply. In other words, the down side path is stopped, but the transistor 3 in the up example
Since 0 is turned on, the tilt raising operation is performed only while the manual switch is turned on, as described above.

Also, when raising the tilt, the above-mentioned 1. Since this continues for the time that the manual switch 47 is turned on, the operating speed becomes faster by approximately (t+ +tz)/l+ for a predetermined angle setting compared to the automatic control. In other words, it becomes possible to operate the power tilt mechanism 14 originally provided at high speed, so that grounding avoidance and the like can be quickly performed.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, as a try-end-erra automatic control, the tilt angle is first tried to increase and the result is judged, but this is exactly the same even if the tilt angle is decreased.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, an outboard motor having a power tilt mechanism is mounted on the hull, and the hull speed and the accelerator position of the outboard motor engine are maintained at constant values when the hull is traveling. If this occurs, the control unit immediately detects this and outputs a predetermined signal every time a control signal is output for a predetermined period of time to increase or decrease the inclination angle of the outboard motor, according to a program that is pre-wired into the control unit. Set up downtime,
A control loop for determining whether the hull speed increases or decreases due to an increase or decrease in the inclination angle is repeated a predetermined number of times as necessary, so that the hull speed reaches approximately the maximum value at the constant accelerator position. Since a method such as drive control of the power tilt mechanism is adopted, by outputting a control signal at a predetermined signal pause time, comparison can be made even if the power tilt mechanism is set to a high operating speed when raising the tilt. Therefore, it is possible to provide an unprecedented and excellent method for controlling the tilt angle of an outboard motor, which is capable of automatically controlling the tilt angle, which is a low-speed operation.

Furthermore, it is possible to provide an excellent inclination angle control device for an outboard motor that is equipped with an automatic control stop section and can quickly and accurately perform a tilt-up operation that is immediately necessary when detecting shallow water.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially omitted side view showing how the outboard motor is attached to the hull, and FIG.
4 is a flowchart showing the overall operation, FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing a specific example of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the inclination angle of the outboard motor and the trim of the hull. 12--Control unit, 14--Power tilt mechanism, 15--1--Automatic control stop unit, 16--
---Pitot tube as a speed sensor, IL----
---Accelerator position sensor, 20-------1 Main control section, 52-------1 Outboard motor, 52 A, ----1.
-Outboard motor main body, 54...-hull, 62...111-Power unit as a power tilt mechanism. Patent applicant Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. Figure 2 62: JZ7-Unit [7One] Figure 3

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) When an outboard motor with a power tilt mechanism is installed in the hull, and the hull speed and the accelerator position of the outboard motor engine are maintained at a constant value while the hull is running, the control unit is immediately activated. detecting this, and setting a predetermined signal pause time every time a control signal for increasing or decreasing the inclination angle of the outboard motor is output for a predetermined period of time according to a program pre-wired into the control unit; A control loop for determining whether the hull speed increases or decreases due to an increase or decrease in the inclination angle is repeated a predetermined number of times as necessary, so that the hull speed reaches approximately the maximum value at the constant accelerator position. A method for controlling the tilt angle of an outboard motor, characterized by driving and controlling a power tilt mechanism. (2) The predetermined signal pause time is longer than the response time of the control unit.
Method for controlling the inclination angle of an outboard motor as described in . (3) A power tilt mechanism that can change the inclination angle of the outboard motor body with respect to the hull in the vertical plane up or down by hydraulic drive, and a power tilt mechanism that is connected to this power tilt mechanism and that is based on a judgment of increase or decrease in boat speed. A tilt angle control device for an outboard motor, comprising: a control unit that automatically controls the tilt angle to a substantially optimum value; A tilt angle control device for an outboard motor, comprising an automatic control stop section for stopping the outboard motor.