JPS6226318Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an improvement of the invention of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-191191, and aims to smoothly implement the invention of the earlier application.

This will be explained in order below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus in which the present invention is utilized.

1 is a course setting device for setting the destination position; 2 is a direction detector for detecting the heading direction of the ship; for example, a magnetic compass is used.

The set course of the course setter 1 and the detected direction of the direction detector 2 are compared in a comparator circuit 3. The comparison circuit 3 detects how much the ship's heading deviates from the set heading. Note that the course setter 1, the azimuth detector 2, and the comparator circuit 3 form a azimuth difference signal generator 4. The orientation difference signal is applied to a control circuit 6 via an adder circuit 5. The control circuit 6 controls the rudder angle of the rudder 7 to match the detected heading with the set course, and sends a control output to the drive unit 8 that drives the rudder 7. Reference numeral 9 denotes a rudder angle detector which sends the detected rudder angle output to the control circuit 6 to prevent the hunting phenomenon of rudder angle control and to perform smooth rudder angle control.

The adding circuit 5 is supplied with a voltage corresponding to the course deviation from the course deviation amount calculation circuit 10 .

The course deviation calculation circuit 10 receives navigation signals from different transmitting stations, such as a Loran receiver, measures the time difference or phase difference between the received navigation signals of each station, and uses this time difference etc. The length of the perpendicular line drawn perpendicularly from the own ship's position to the straight line route that connects the navigation device that knows the own ship's position on the Loran chart, and the ship's departure position and destination position on the Loran chart. By measuring this, the amount of deviation from the own ship's set course is calculated. By adding this amount of deviation to the heading difference signal in the adding circuit 5, the rudder is controlled so that the own ship's heading matches the set course (the normal operation of an autopilot), but instead of The bow is directed in a direction that is shifted by a certain amount in a way that brings the ship closer to the set course than the course. This relationship can be explained using electrical signals as shown in FIG. That is, when the horizontal axis represents the azimuth error and the vertical axis represents the steering voltage, the output of the azimuth difference signal generator 4 is shown as a solid line. As can be understood from this, the steering voltage changes proportionally from +E ₁ to -E ₂ during the azimuth difference between +L ₁ and -L ₁ , but
It exhibits a characteristic of saturation for orientation differences greater than that.

For example, if the heading of the boat is to the right relative to the set heading, the rudder will be tilted to the port side, causing the bow to turn to the left. Conversely, if the bow is to the left with respect to the set heading, a negative voltage will be generated, causing the bow to turn to the right. However, in either case, if the bow of the ship matches the set heading, the voltage becomes zero and the rudder is maintained in a straight line. If the ship is drifted while maintaining a predetermined heading due to the influence of tidal currents, etc., it will deviate from the course, but the heading will remain in line with the set heading and no voltage will be generated.

Therefore, in order to return to the original course, the set heading must be corrected. However, now the voltage Ex= corresponding to the deviation from the course in the adding circuit 5
If Eo is added externally, the characteristic curve will be lifted by Eo from the reference position as shown by the dotted line _P1 .
As a result, a steering signal is generated to further turn the bow of the ship to left by -Lo depending on the set heading. As a result, the course is controlled to approach the set course.

In this case, if the steering signal is too large, the ship will continue turning to the left. For this reason, the prior invention is configured to limit the course deviation amount signal so that it does not exceed the maximum value of the azimuth difference signal.

The purpose of this proposal is to prevent the angle at which the ship approaches the original route from changing when changing the maximum value of the heading difference signal.

The maximum output value of the azimuth difference signal, that is, the autopilot, is determined by the weather adjustment, that is, the sensitivity is determined by the volume. This is shown in FIG. As is clear from this characteristic diagram, by adjusting the sensitivity volume, not only the maximum value but also the slope of the linear characteristic portion is changed at the same time. Therefore, as shown in Figure 4, when the maximum value is set to the minimum volume value,
Assuming that the ship approaches the planned route C by the approach route A, if the weather adjustment is set to the maximum sensitivity direction, the steering signal will become larger even if the amount of deviation from the planned route is the same. Therefore, the approach angle to the planned route becomes deep as shown in B, and there is a drawback that a sudden steering action is performed.

The present invention detects the maximum value of the autopilot output, determines the position of the weather adjustment volume based on this, and adjusts the sensitivity of the route deviation amount signal output.

This will be explained below using examples.

In FIG. 5, numeral 11 is a peak detection hold circuit to which the autopilot output is applied as an input, and outputs + _E1 or _-E2 as shown in FIG. These outputs are outputted to the output end via reverse polarity diodes D ₁ and D ₂ . On the other hand, among these outputs, the positive output is inputted to the reference voltage input terminal of the DA converter ₁₃ via the diode D3, and the negative output is inputted to the reference voltage input terminal of the DA converter 13 via the polarity inverting circuit 12. A course deviation amount signal is input from the navigation device 10 to the input end of the DA converter 13 in the form of a digital signal. The output of the DA converter 13 is outputted to an output terminal via an integrator 14.

In the above circuit, the peak voltage of the autopilot output 4 is detected by the peak detection and hold circuit 11, and this is used as the reference voltage of the DA converter 13, so that the output characteristics of the DA converter are changed. Therefore, even if the autopilot changes the weather adjustment, it is possible to return to the course at approximately the same approach angle.

Note that the diodes D ₁ and D ₂ limit the value of the course deviation signal from the integrator 14 so that it does not exceed the maximum value of the autopilot output 4. Further, the integrator 14 is provided to prevent sudden changes in the deviation signal value.

The same effect can be obtained by controlling the deviation signal by using a DA converter or by changing the resistance value using a photocoupler tube.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the return course to the planned route is not affected by changes in the autopilot's weather adjustment, so it has the advantage that automatic navigation operations can be performed safely and reliably.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a conventional device that implements the present invention, Figure 2 is its electrical characteristic curve diagram, Figure 3 is its electrical characteristic curve diagram when weather adjustment changes, and Figure 4 is its electrical characteristic curve diagram.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for returning to the planned route corresponding to the figure, and FIG. 5 is a circuit system diagram of the main part of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A bearing setter that sets the destination position of own ship, a bearing detector that detects the heading direction of own ship, and a bearing difference signal generation that obtains a bearing difference signal from the output of the bearing setter and the output of the bearing detector. a control device that matches the heading of the own ship with the heading set by the heading setting device based on the heading difference signal; and a time difference between the received navigation signals of each station by receiving navigation signals from different transmitting stations. Alternatively, a navigation device that measures the phase difference and uses the time difference or phase difference between the navigation signals of each station to determine the own ship's position on the map, and the departure position and destination position of the own ship on the map. a calculation means for calculating the amount of deviation of the current position on the map measured by the navigation device with respect to the set route of the own ship; and a set azimuth of the azimuth setting device based on the amount of deviation calculated by the calculation means. means for reducing the amount of deviation by equivalently slightly changing the amount of deviation; means for suppressing the amount of deviation representative signal so that the signal representing the amount of deviation does not exceed the maximum value of the azimuth difference signal; An automatic navigation system comprising means for detecting a maximum value of a signal, and means for adjusting the sensitivity of the deviation amount calculating means based on the detected output.