KR102558824B1 - Fuel control apparatus and rudder control apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A technique for improving the fuel efficiency of a ship by suppressing engine load fluctuation is proposed.
In order to solve the above problem, the control device 23 includes a prediction unit 27 that predicts the amount of change in load of the engine 19 due to disturbance at a predetermined timing, a steering angle control unit 29 that controls the steering angle according to a target steering angle value, and fuel for the engine 19 when the load of the engine 19 increases by the amount of disturbance load change and the amount of steering angle load change based on the disturbance load change amount, the rudder angle load change amount, and the target rotation speed predicted by the prediction unit 27. A fuel control unit 33 is provided to control the fuel supply amount by increasing the supply amount and reducing the fuel supply amount to the engine 19 when the load of the engine 19 decreases due to the disturbance load variation amount and the rudder load variation amount.

Description

Fuel control device and key control device {FUEL CONTROL APPARATUS AND RUDDER CONTROL APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a fuel control device and a key control device.

Conventionally, various techniques have been proposed to improve the fuel efficiency of ships (for example, Patent Document 1). Patent Literature 1 describes predicting the inflow speed of seawater flowing into a variable pitch propeller and controlling the blade angle of the variable pitch propeller based on the prediction result.

Japanese Patent No. 6047923

An object of the present invention is to propose a technique for improving the fuel efficiency of a ship by suppressing fluctuations in engine load by a method different from that in Patent Document 1.

In order to solve the above problems, the control device is a fuel control device for controlling the amount of fuel injected to the engine of a ship having a propeller, an engine for propulsing a ship by transmitting rotational power to the propeller, and a steering gear for turning the ship, a turn command unit for commanding a target steering angle value of the steering wheel so that the ship navigates a designated route, control of the steering gear according to the target steering angle value at a predetermined timing while the ship navigates the designated route, and the like a prediction unit that predicts a load of the engine generated by the engine and calculates a load variation amount of the predicted engine load relative to a current engine load; a rotation speed acquisition unit that acquires a target rotation speed and an actual rotation speed of the engine; an adjustment unit that adjusts the fuel injection amount at the predetermined timing so as to suppress a change in the engine rotation speed based on the target rotation speed, the actual rotation speed, and the load variation amount; and an engine control unit that injects fuel into the engine based on the adjusted fuel injection amount.

1 is a block diagram of a ship according to a first embodiment.
2 is a graph showing the relationship between the disturbance load variation and the elapsed time.
3 is a graph showing the relationship between the elapsed time and the target angle value.
4 is a graph showing the relationship between the total value and the load fluctuation amount for each elapsed time.
5 is a flowchart showing a series of operations of the control device.
6 is a block diagram of a ship according to a second embodiment.
7 is an example of an equal fuel ratio line.
Fig. 8 shows the change over time of the target rudder angle value for navigating a designated route.
9 shows a change in predicted load over time.
10 shows corrected target angle values.
FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 10 .
Fig. 12 shows the change in the steering angle over time when the correction amount is corrected according to the change amount in the steering angle.
13 is a flowchart showing a series of controls by the control device.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiment of this invention is described. 1 is a block diagram of a ship according to a first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ship 100 includes, for example, a telegraph 11 and a steering unit 13 disposed on a bridge. An output command value of the propulsion generating device 15 is input to the telegraph 11, and the propulsive generating device 15 generates an output according to the command value. A steering angle command value of the steering gear 17 is input to the steering unit 13 by an operator, and the steering angle is changed according to the steering angle command value during manual operation.

The propulsion generating device 15 includes an engine 19 and a propeller 21 fixed to an output shaft of the engine 19 and driven to rotate by rotational power transmitted from the engine 19 . The engine 19 is driven at the number of revolutions according to the output command value input from the telegraph 11. During autopilot control, the engine 19 is driven at the input target engine speed. It is also possible to make the telegraph 11 capable of inputting a command based on ship speed (ship speed on ground or ship speed on a logarithm), and the output command value may be a value representing the number of engine revolutions required to achieve the ship speed.

The ship 100 includes a control device 23 as a key control device and a fuel supply device 25 that supplies fuel to the engine 19 under control by the control device 23 .

The control device 23 includes a prediction unit 27 that predicts a load fluctuation amount of the engine 19 when a disturbance such as tidal current or wind is received, a steering angle control unit 29, an information acquisition unit 31 that acquires information on control conditions of the engine 19, and a fuel control unit 33 that controls the amount of fuel supplied to the engine 19 from the fuel supply device 25.

The prediction unit 27 acquires disturbance information such as tide forecast, wave forecast, and wind forecast. The engine load fluctuation amount predicted by the predictor 27 (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as "disturbed load fluctuation amount") refers to the fluctuation amount of the engine 19 with respect to the reference load. The reference load of the engine 19 refers to the load on the engine 19 when the engine 19 is driven at a constant rotational speed in a state where the steering gear 17 is in a neutral position without being affected by currents, waves, and wind. Therefore, the disturbance load fluctuation amount refers to the fluctuation amount with respect to the reference load when the ship 100 receives a disturbance. In order to predict the disturbance load variation amount, the prediction unit 27 acquires disturbance information including maritime information such as tidal current forecast and wave forecast, and meteorological information such as wind forecast. The disturbance information may be information detected on the ship 100 or information obtained from outside the ship. The prediction unit 27 predicts the disturbance by performing a time-sequential analysis by an autoregressive model based on the disturbance information by a known method, and predicts a load variation amount due to the disturbance of the engine 19 (the disturbance load variation amount as the first load variation amount) from the predicted disturbance. The prediction unit 27 predicts the disturbance load variation for each hour, and calculates a function of the elapsed time and the load variation. Fig. 2 shows the relationship between the disturbance load variation and the elapsed time. The prediction unit 27 outputs the predicted amount of change in disturbance load of the engine 19 to the fuel control unit 33 .

Returning to FIG. 1, the steering angle control part 29 outputs the control value of the steering gear 17. The control value of the steering gear 17 is a signal indicating the actual angle of the steering gear 17. The control value of the steering gear 17 may be a steering angle instruction signal calculated from the difference between the target angle and the actual angle. The rudder angle instruction signal may be calculated for navigating a specified route programmed in advance to perform autopilot control. When the angle of the steering gear 17 is changed from the neutral position by the steering angle controller 29, the resistance received by the propeller 21 increases and the load on the engine 19 increases.

The information acquisition unit 31 calculates a target engine speed, a target engine load, and a target fuel injection amount from the output command value. The information acquisition unit 31 monitors the operating state of the engine 19 and acquires information on the operating state of the engine 19 including the actual number of revolutions of the engine. Therefore, the information acquisition unit 31 functions as a rotation speed acquisition unit.

The fuel control unit 33 controls the amount of fuel to be supplied to the engine 19 based on operating conditions such as a target engine speed, a target engine load, a target fuel injection amount, and an engine compartment speed. During autopilot control, the fuel control unit 33 as an adjustment unit adjusts a target fuel injection amount based on a target engine speed, an engine compartment speed, a disturbance load variation amount, and a steering angle load variation amount to be described later. The fuel control unit 33 controls the amount of fuel to be supplied to the engine 19 based on the adjustment result. The output of the fuel control unit 33 may be a signal indicating the amount of fuel or a signal indicating the control rack position of the fuel supply device 25 .

Control by which the fuel control unit 33 adjusts the target fuel injection amount will be described. Fig. 3 shows the relationship between the elapsed time and the target angle value.

In adjusting the target fuel injection amount, the steering angle controller 29 first calculates the relationship between the elapsed time and the target steering angle value from information on the designated route. The fuel control unit 33 acquires the elapsed time and the target steering angle value from the steering angle control unit 29, and calculates the relationship between the elapsed time and the load variation amount (the steering angle load variation amount as the second load variation amount) according to the target steering angle value from the relationship between the two. The steering angle value is 0 degrees when the steering gear 17 is set to the neutral position, the angle increases when the steering gear 17 is turned to the starboard side, and the angle decreases when the steering gear 17 is turned to the port side. When turning the steering gear 17 to the port side, it is good also as what the angle increased. As shown in Fig. 3, the target steering angle value is set for each elapsed time. The steering angle load fluctuation amount becomes 0 when the neutral position of the steering gear 17 is set to 0 degrees, and when the steering gear 17 is moved by θ degrees and the steering gear 17 by −θ degrees relative to the neutral position, it becomes the same amount when the steering gear 17 is moved. The steering angle load variation increases as the absolute value of the target steering angle value increases. The fuel control unit 33 calculates the sum of the load fluctuations at the same timing from the relationship between the elapsed time and the rudder load fluctuation amount and the relationship between the elapsed time and the disturbance load fluctuation amount.

Fig. 4 shows the relationship with the total value of the load fluctuation amount for each elapsed time. As shown in Fig. 4, the total value of the load variation is a function of the sum of the function of the elapsed time and the rudder load variation and the function of the elapsed time and the disturbance load variation. The fuel control unit 33 calculates the total value of the load variation amount, and based on the calculated value corrects the fuel injection amount so as to maintain the rotation speed of the engine 19 at the target rotation speed.

Specifically, the fuel control unit 33 refers to the total value of the load change amount after Δt seconds, and increases the fuel injection amount when the load of the engine 19 is higher than the current load of the engine 19 . In this case, the fuel control unit 33 gradually increases the fuel injection amount so that the operating state of the engine 19 gradually approaches the target operating state. The fuel control unit 33 refers to the total value of the change in load after Δt seconds, and reduces the fuel injection amount when the load of the engine 19 is lower than the load of the engine 19 at present. In this case, the fuel control unit 33 gradually reduces the fuel injection amount so that the operating state of the engine 19 gradually approaches the target operating state. The fuel control unit 33 derives a fuel injection amount and fuel injection timing capable of transitioning the current operating state of the engine 19 to a target operating state using simulation based on the digital twin. The fuel control unit 33 corrects the fuel injection form, that is, the fuel injection amount and timing, according to the derived timing. As a result, even if the load on the engine 19 increases or decreases after Δt seconds, the target rotational speed can be maintained. Even if the load of the engine 19 increases or decreases, by maintaining the target number of revolutions, the fuel consumption of the engine 19 can be reduced, that is, the amount of fuel consumption can be reduced.

5 is a flowchart showing a series of operations of the control device. In step S1, the controller 23 calculates the disturbance load variation amount based on the predicted disturbance. In step S2, the control device 23 calculates the steering angle load variation amount from the control value of the steering gear 17. The order of performing steps S1 and S2 may be opposite or simultaneous. In step S3, the controller 23 corrects the target fuel injection amount based on the disturbance load variation amount and the steering angle load variation amount. In step S4, the control device 23 controls the fuel supply device 25 based on the corrected target fuel injection amount. The control device 23 repeatedly executes the control of steps S1 to S4 during navigation.

As another aspect, the disturbance information and the target steering angle are input to the prediction unit 27, and the prediction unit 27 calculates the disturbance load variation amount. The fuel control unit 33 adjusts the fuel injection amount based on the disturbance load variation amount, the actual rotational speed, and the target rotational speed. It is not necessary to separately calculate the load based on the disturbance and the load based on the target steering angle.

According to the control device 23, the target fuel injection amount can be corrected so as to maintain the engine 19 rotational speed at the target rotational speed. As a result, fuel economy can be improved. In particular, when the load of the engine 19 is reduced due to a decrease in the amount of water flowing into the propeller 21 or the like, the fuel injection amount is reduced, so that fuel consumption can be suppressed. Here, the fuel economy refers to the fuel consumption rate [g/kW·h] of the engine expressed as the fuel consumption per unit output in unit time.

6 is a block diagram of a ship according to the second embodiment. In 1st Embodiment, the same code|symbol as 1st Embodiment is attached|subjected to the part already demonstrated, and detailed description is abbreviate|omitted.

The control device 223 of the ship 200 includes a fuel consumption calculator 201, a second predictor 203, a steering angle corrector 205, and a displacement amount calculator 209. The first prediction unit 27 in FIG. 6 has the same configuration as the above-described prediction unit, but is labeled “first” in order to distinguish it from the second prediction unit 203 .

The fuel economy calculation unit 201 calculates the fuel economy of the engine 19 based on the constant fuel ratio line of the engine 19 mounted on the vessel 200 . 7 shows an example of an equal fuel ratio line. In Fig. 7, the vertical axis represents the engine load, and the horizontal axis represents the engine speed.

The second predictor 203 predicts the amount of change in the load of the engine 19 due to the change in the steering angle according to the target steering angle value. The target steering angle value is a steering angle value when navigating along a designated route. It is known that when the rudder angle is changed from the neutral position, water resistance applied to the steering gear 17 or the entire ship 200 increases, and the load on the engine 19 increases according to the amount of change in the rudder angle. In order to predict the amount of change in the load of the engine 19 due to the change in the steering angle, past information relating the steering angle value and the measurement result obtained from an engine load measuring instrument such as a main machine output meter can be used. The second predictor 203 has information relating to the relationship between the amount of change in steering angle and the amount of change in engine load in advance, predicts the amount of change in engine load from this information, and outputs the prediction result to the steering angle corrector 205 as the amount of change in steering angle load.

The steering angle correction unit 205 corrects the target steering angle value based on the fuel consumption, the predicted result of the first predictor 27, that is, the disturbance load variation amount, and the prediction result of the second predictor unit 203, that is, the steering angle load variation amount, plus the deviation amount.

The steering angle control unit 29 controls the steering gear 17 based on the target steering angle value corrected by the steering angle correction unit 205 in addition to the above configuration.

The ship 200 according to the second embodiment corrects the fuel injection amount as described in the first embodiment, and controls the steering gear 17 based on the target steering angle value corrected by the steering angle correction unit 205. The correction by the steering angle correction unit 205 will be described below.

The fuel economy calculation unit 201 calculates the current fuel economy based on the current engine torque, the number of revolutions in the engine compartment, and the fuel injection amount to the engine 19 . Further, the fuel economy calculator 201 predicts the fuel economy at a predetermined timing when the engine compartment rotational speed is maintained based on the disturbance load variation amount. The fuel economy calculator 201 corresponds to a fuel economy calculator and a fuel economy predictor.

The deviation amount calculation section 209 functions as a deviation amount prediction section or a deviation amount calculation section, and obtains positional information such as GPS to calculate the deviation amount between the route being navigated and the designated route. As the deviation amount, for example, the distance from the straight route constituting the designated route is output to the steering angle correction unit 205 as the deviation amount.

The steering angle correction unit 205 corrects the target steering angle value based on the fuel consumption, disturbance load variation amount, steering angle load variation amount, and deviation amount. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the first prediction unit 27, the second prediction unit 203, and the steering angle correction unit 205 function as a prediction unit and a correction unit. The steering angle correction unit 205 corrects the target steering angle value based on the constant fuel consumption line of the engine 19 .

The vessel 200 includes a key control unit 35 that controls the steering angle based on the target steering angle value corrected by the steering angle correction unit 205 and a steering angle command input unit 37 that receives a command from the steering unit 13. The key control unit 35 controls the steering angle based on an input from the steering angle correction unit 205 or the steering angle command input unit 37 . For example, when the steering unit 13 is operated during autopilot control to perform emergency avoidance or the like, the steering angle command input unit 37 detects the operation of the steering unit 13, and inputs a steering angle command value according to the amount of operation of the steering unit 13 to the key control unit 35. In this case, the key control unit 35 controls the steering angle based on the steering angle command value from the steering angle command input unit 37 regardless of the output from the steering angle correction unit 205 .

The correction process by the steering angle corrector 205 will be described below.

[Target Angle Correction Based on Disturbance]

In one embodiment, the steering angle correction unit 205 corrects the target steering angle value based on the disturbance load variation amount predicted by the first prediction unit 27 . Fig. 8 shows the change over time of the target rudder angle value for navigating a designated route. In the illustrated example, the rudder angle is increased or decreased in one direction (for example, the right turn direction), and the origin of the vertical axis represents the neutral position of the steering gear 17. 9 shows the change over time of the disturbance load variation amount predicted by the first predictor 27. The disturbance load variation includes a load that increases the engine load (positive load) and a load that decreases the engine load (negative load). The steering angle correction unit 205 calculates a correction function that decreases the engine load at timing when a load increasing the engine load is predicted, and increases the engine load at a timing when a load reducing the engine load is predicted. In other words, the steering angle correction unit 205 calculates a correction function of the waveform of the disturbance load variation amount and the reverse phase. In this aspect, the magnitude of the correction function at each time is equal to the magnitude of the disturbance load variation at the same time. Accordingly, the correction function has a waveform in which the disturbance load fluctuation amount is line-symmetrical with respect to the abscissa axis (indicated by a broken line in the figure), thereby eliminating the disturbance load fluctuation amount. The steering angle correction unit 205 applies the correction function to the target steering angle value to obtain a target steering angle value that eliminates the disturbance load variation. In this case, it is not necessary to make the disturbance load fluctuation amount disappear 100%, and it is only necessary to make the disturbance load fluctuation amount small enough to fall within a predetermined range.

10 shows corrected target angle values. As shown in Fig. 10, the corrected target steering angle value is a value obtained by applying the same waveform as the correction function to the target steering angle value before correction.

9 and 10, the disturbance load variation at time t1 is greater than the disturbance load variation at time t2. In contrast, as shown in Fig. 10, the corrected steering angle at time t1 is smaller than the corrected steering angle at time t2. In this way, the engine load is reduced by reducing the rudder angle at the timing when the disturbance load variation is large, and the engine load is increased by increasing the rudder angle at the timing when the disturbance load variation is small. This makes it possible to eliminate the amount of disturbance load fluctuation, to reduce the fluctuation in the load of the engine 19 by bringing the fluctuation in the load of the engine 19 closer to zero (i.e., closer to the reference load) when the disturbance is received. By reducing the variation of the load of the engine 19, the fuel consumption of the engine 19 can be reduced, that is, the amount of fuel consumption can be reduced.

Steering may be performed using the corrected target steering angle value obtained above as it is, or the corrected target steering angle value may be further corrected based on information obtained from the fuel economy, the second predicted load, and the amount of deviation.

(Control based on Equitable Proportion Line)

In one embodiment, the steering angle correction unit 205 further corrects the corrected target steering angle value based on the fuel economy calculated by the fuel economy calculation unit 201 . In this case, the steering angle correction unit 205 increases the correction amount to improve the fuel economy when the fuel economy deteriorates, and sets the corrected amount to 0 or decreases it when the fuel economy does not deteriorate or is slight. Setting the correction amount to 0 means returning the target steering angle value corrected based on the disturbance load variation amount to the target steering angle value before correction. Making the correction amount smaller means that the target steering angle value is an arbitrary value between the target steering angle value corrected based on the disturbance load variation and the target steering angle value before correction.

Referring to Fig. 7, point A represents the current engine condition. Points B and C indicate states of the engine 19 at predetermined timings when the target steering angle value is corrected for the disturbance load variation amount. Point A and point B represent the same fuel economy on the equal fuel ratio line. Even if the disturbance load variation amount is applied to the engine 19, when the fuel efficiency does not deteriorate from the current value (when the engine state transitions from point A to point B), the steering angle correction unit 205 corrects the correction amount to 0 or to a value smaller than the correction value for the predicted load. On the other hand, when the fuel efficiency deteriorates from the current value when the disturbance load variation amount is added (transition from point A to point C), the steering angle correction unit 205 corrects the engine torque so that the fuel efficiency does not deteriorate.

[Control based on route deviation amount]

In one embodiment, the steering angle correction unit 205 further corrects the corrected target steering angle value based on the displacement amount calculated by the displacement amount calculation unit 209 . In this case, the steering angle correction unit 205 refers to the current position, and when the amount of deviation from the designated route is equal to or greater than the first deviation threshold, the correction amount is reduced to give priority to returning to the designated route, and when the amount of deviation from the designated route is less than the first deviation threshold, the disturbance load variation is eliminated based on the correction amount. The corrected target steering angle value is smaller or larger than the target steering angle value depending on the value of the disturbance load variation. Therefore, it is conceivable that, if the ship continues to navigate based on the corrected target rudder angle value, it may significantly deviate from the designated route. The steering angle correcting unit 205 sets the correction amount to 0 by making the correction amount smaller when the deviation is equal to or more than a predetermined distance (displacement amount threshold) from the designated route, or is set to a value smaller than the correction amount when the deviation amount is less than the deviation amount threshold.

Further, the steering angle correcting unit 205 may further correct the corrected amount of the target steering angle value based on the predicted deviation amount of the route. Based on the positional information, the deviation amount calculating section 209 calculates the amount of deviation between the route being navigated and the specified route, and predicts the position of the vessel when navigating with the corrected target steering angle value at a predetermined timing. The displacement amount calculation unit predicts the displacement amount of the predicted ship position with respect to the specified route. When the deviation amount is equal to or greater than the second deviation amount threshold, the steering angle correcting unit 205 prioritizes returning to the specified route, reduces the correction amount of the target steering angle value, and sets the correction amount to 0, or sets the correction amount to a value smaller than the correction amount when the deviation amount is less than the second deviation amount threshold.

[Control based on change amount of target steering angle value]

In one embodiment, the steering angle correction unit 205 further corrects the corrected target steering angle value based on the amount of change in the target steering angle value. When the change in the target steering angle value along the designated route is large (more than the steering angle threshold value), it is considered that the priority along the designated route is high because a quick turn is requested for the ship 200. The steering angle correction unit 205 reduces the correction amount of the corrected target steering angle value when the change amount of the target steering angle value is greater than or equal to the steering angle threshold. Also, the value of the rudder angle threshold can be appropriately determined based on the turning performance of the ship and the like. Further, when the target steering angle value is large, the correction amount may be small.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 10 . In Fig. 10, it is assumed that the change amount of the target steering angle value is large at times t3 and t4, and this change amount is greater than or equal to the steering angle threshold value. In this case, the steering angle correction unit 205 reduces the correction amount immediately after time t3 and time t4 to approximate the target steering angle value. After the steering angle has greatly changed, the correction amount may be returned to the original value after a lapse of a predetermined time.

[Control based on predicted change amount of steering angle]

In one embodiment, the steering angle correction unit 205 further corrects the corrected target steering angle value based on the predicted result of the second prediction unit 203 . In this case, the steering angle correction unit 205 further corrects the target steering angle value by taking into account the disturbance load variation predicted by the first predictor 27 and the steering angle load variation predicted by the second predictor 203.

Fig. 12 shows the change over time of the steering angle when the correction amount is corrected according to the steering angle amount. In FIG. 12 , the solid line represents the corrected target steering angle value described in relation to FIG. 10 , and the broken line indicates the steering angle value obtained by further correcting the corrected target steering angle value according to the steering angle. By making the corrected target steering angle value smaller based on the predicted result of the second prediction unit 203, the change in engine load is reduced.

13 is a flowchart showing a series of controls by the control device 223. The control device 223 starts a series of processes when the autopilot control is turned on. In step S11, the control device 223 determines whether or not the current engine output is less than the output threshold. The output of the engine 19 can be obtained from the measurement results of the fuel input amount, engine speed, and main machine output meter. When the output of the engine 19 is low, the turnability of the vessel 200 for controlling the rudder angle is low. On the other hand, if the engine output is more than a certain amount, the turning ability of the ship 200 for controlling the rudder angle increases. The load threshold is determined in advance in consideration of the turnability of the vessel 200 . When the output of the engine 19 is less than the load threshold (YES in step S11), the target steering angle value is not corrected, and the controller 223 controls the steering angle according to the target steering angle value in step S12.

When the output of the engine 19 is equal to or greater than the threshold value (NO in step S11), the controller 223 predicts the disturbance load variation amount based on the prediction result of the first predictor 27 in step S13. In step S14, the control unit 223 corrects the target steering angle value based on the predicted result of step S11. In step S14, either the corrected target steering angle value obtained based on the prediction result of the first prediction unit 27 or the target steering angle value further corrected based on the information obtained from the fuel economy calculation unit 201 or the like may be employed. In step S15, the control device 223 controls the steering angle according to the corrected target steering angle value.

If there is an input from the steering command input unit 37 during the above series of processing, steering is controlled based on the steering command input value. In addition, the process in step S11 may be performed at any timing.

In this way, the control device 223 can correct the target steering angle value based on the disturbance load variation amount by the first prediction unit 27 . In this way, it is possible to suppress fluctuations in the load of the engine 19 due to the influence of external disturbances, maintain the load of the engine 19 constant, and improve fuel efficiency.

Further, the load fluctuation of the engine 19 can be minimized or zero by using a correction function that eliminates the disturbance load fluctuation amount.

Further, when the disturbance load variation is less than the load threshold value, the deviation from the specified route can be reduced by controlling the steering angle according to the target steering angle value without correcting the target steering angle value.

In addition, by further correcting the correction amount according to the amount of change in the target steering angle value, when a quick turn is requested, the turn of the ship 200 can be prioritized.

In addition, fuel economy can be further improved by using the calculation result of the fuel economy calculation unit 201 .

Further, by using the calculation result of the deviation amount calculation section 209, deviation from the specified route can be reduced.

In addition, by using the prediction result of the second prediction unit 203, the number of revolutions of the engine 19 can be kept more constant, so fuel efficiency can be further improved.

In addition, by using the input of the steering angle command input unit 37, emergency avoidance or the like can be executed reliably.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and each configuration of the embodiments can be appropriately changed within a range not departing from the gist of the present invention.

In the embodiment, the control device 223 reduces the fuel consumption rate [g/kW·h] to perform control not to deteriorate fuel consumption. However, the control device 223 may perform control not to deteriorate fuel consumption by reducing the fuel consumption amount based on the fuel consumption amount [m 3 /h] representing the fuel consumption amount per unit time instead of the fuel consumption rate.

The predicted change amount of the steering angle may be combined when calculating the correction function of the steering angle correction based on the disturbance in advance.

Claims (20)

A fuel control device for controlling the amount of fuel injected into the engine of the ship, including a propeller, an engine for propelling the ship by transmitting rotational power to the propeller, and a steering gear for turning the ship,
A turn command unit for commanding a target steering angle value of the steering gear so that the ship navigates a designated route;
At a predetermined timing while the ship is navigating the designated route, a prediction unit for predicting the load of the engine caused by control of the steering gear and disturbance according to the target steering angle value, and calculating a load variation of the predicted load of the engine;
a rotational speed acquisition unit for obtaining a target rotational speed and an actual rotational speed of the engine;
an adjustment unit that adjusts the fuel injection amount at the predetermined timing to suppress a fluctuation in the engine speed based on the target engine speed, the actual engine speed, and the load fluctuation amount;
and an engine control unit for injecting fuel to the engine based on the adjusted fuel injection amount. According to claim 1,
Wherein the prediction unit predicts the load of the engine based on the target steering angle value calculated according to the current direction of the hull and the target position at a predetermined timing. According to claim 1,
Wherein the prediction unit predicts the load of the engine based on the target steering angle value calculated according to the current direction and disturbance of the hull and the target position at a predetermined timing. According to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The adjustment unit increases the fuel injection amount when the load of the engine is predicted to increase with respect to the reference load, and decreases the fuel injection amount when the load of the engine is predicted to decrease with respect to the reference load. Fuel control device. A control device for controlling the ship having a propeller, an engine for propelling the ship by transmitting rotational power to the propeller, and a steering gear for turning the ship,
A turn command unit for commanding a target steering angle value of the steering gear so that the ship navigates a designated route;
A first predictor for predicting a load of the engine caused by a disturbance at a predetermined timing while the ship is navigating the designated route, and calculating a disturbance load variation amount of the predicted load of the engine with respect to a reference load;
A second predictor for predicting the load of the engine generated by control of the steering gear according to the target steering angle value at the predetermined timing while the ship is navigating the designated route, and calculating a steering angle load variation amount of the predicted load of the engine with respect to the current engine load;
a rotational speed acquisition unit for obtaining a target rotational speed and an actual rotational speed of the engine;
an adjustment unit that adjusts a fuel injection amount at the predetermined timing to suppress a change in the engine speed based on the target speed, the actual speed, the disturbance load change amount, and the steering angle load change amount;
an engine controller for injecting fuel into the engine based on the adjusted fuel injection amount;
a correction unit correcting the target steering angle value to reduce the fuel efficiency of the engine based on the disturbance load variation amount;
A key control device comprising a key control unit for controlling the steering gear according to the corrected target steering angle value. A control device for controlling the ship having a propeller, an engine for propelling the ship by transmitting rotational power to the propeller, and a steering gear for turning the ship,
A turn command unit for commanding a target steering angle value of the steering gear so that the ship navigates a designated route;
A first predictor for predicting a load of the engine caused by a disturbance at a predetermined timing while the ship is navigating the designated route, and calculating a disturbance load variation amount of the predicted load of the engine with respect to a reference load;
A second predictor for predicting the load of the engine generated by control of the steering gear according to the target steering angle value at the predetermined timing while the ship is navigating the designated route, and calculating a steering angle load variation amount of the predicted load of the engine with respect to the current engine load;
a rotational speed acquisition unit for obtaining a target rotational speed and an actual rotational speed of the engine;
an adjustment unit that adjusts a fuel injection amount at the predetermined timing to suppress a change in the engine speed based on the target speed, the actual speed, the disturbance load change amount, and the steering angle load change amount;
an engine controller for injecting fuel into the engine based on the adjusted fuel injection amount;
a correction unit correcting the target steering angle value to reduce fuel consumption of the engine based on the disturbance load variation amount;
A key control device comprising a key control unit for controlling the steering gear according to the corrected target steering angle value. According to claim 5 or 6,
wherein the correction unit corrects the steering angle so that the engine load fluctuation amount predicted by the first prediction unit disappears. According to claim 5 or 6,
wherein the correction unit corrects the target steering angle value at the predetermined timing to decrease based on the steering angle load variation amount when the load of the engine is predicted to increase with respect to the reference load at the predetermined timing. According to claim 5 or 6,
wherein the correction unit corrects the target steering angle value at the predetermined timing to increase based on the disturbance load variation amount when the engine load is predicted to decrease at the predetermined timing. According to claim 5 or 6,
The key control device according to claim 1 , wherein the reference load is a current engine load. According to claim 6,
wherein the correction unit corrects the steering angle so that the engine load fluctuation amount predicted by the first prediction unit is within a predetermined range. According to claim 5 or 6,
wherein the correction unit reduces a correction amount of the target steering angle value when the change amount of the target steering angle value with respect to the current steering angle value is greater than or equal to the steering angle threshold value, compared to a case where the target steering angle value is less than the steering angle value. According to claim 5 or 6,
and the key control unit controls a steering angle according to the uncorrected target steering angle value when the load of the engine is less than a load threshold. According to claim 5 or 6,
a fuel economy calculation unit that calculates current fuel economy based on current engine torque, current engine speed, and fuel injection amount for the engine;
a fuel economy prediction unit for predicting fuel economy at the predetermined timing when the current engine speed is maintained based on the disturbance load variation amount;
wherein the correcting unit corrects the target steering angle value based on the current fuel efficiency and a predicted result of the fuel efficiency predicting unit. According to claim 5 or 6,
a location acquisition unit that acquires the current location of the vessel;
A deviation amount calculation unit for calculating a deviation amount of the current position of the vessel with respect to the specified route;
The key control device according to claim 1 , wherein the correction unit reduces a correction amount of the target steering angle value when the amount of deviation is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. According to claim 5 or 6,
At the predetermined timing, a position predictor for predicting the position of the ship when the steering gear is controlled with the corrected target steering angle value;
A deviation amount prediction unit for predicting a deviation amount of the predicted position of the vessel with respect to the designated route;
The key control device according to claim 1 , wherein the correction unit reduces a correction amount of the target steering angle value when the amount of deviation is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. According to claim 5 or 6,
The first prediction unit predicts the load of the engine caused by controlling the steering gear based on the target steering angle value at the predetermined timing, and calculates the disturbance load variation amount based on the load of the engine generated by disturbance and the load of the engine generated by controlling the steering gear. According to claim 5 or 6,
wherein the first predictor predicts an engine load due to the disturbance based on at least one of marine information and meteorological information. According to claim 5 or 6,
The ship has a rudder command input unit into which a rudder command value from an operator is input,
The key control unit controls the steering gear according to the steering command when a steering command is input to the steering command input unit, and controls the steering gear according to the corrected target steering angle value when the steering command is not input to the steering angle command input unit. A control device for controlling the ship having a propeller, an engine for propelling the ship by transmitting rotational power to the propeller, and a steering gear for turning the ship,
A turning command unit for commanding a target steering angle value of the steering gear so that the ship navigates a designated route;
A first predictor for predicting a load of the engine caused by a disturbance at a predetermined timing while the ship is navigating the designated route, and calculating a disturbance load variation amount of the predicted load of the engine with respect to a reference load;
A second predictor for predicting the load of the engine generated by control of the steering gear according to the target steering angle value at the predetermined timing while the ship is navigating the designated route, and calculating a steering angle load variation amount of the predicted load of the engine with respect to the current engine load;
a rotational speed acquisition unit for obtaining a target rotational speed and an actual rotational speed of the engine;
an adjustment unit that adjusts a fuel injection amount at the predetermined timing to suppress a change in the engine speed based on the target engine speed, the actual engine speed, and the rudder angle load variation amount;
an engine control unit for injecting fuel into the engine based on the adjusted fuel injection amount;
a correction unit configured to perform at least one of: correcting at the predetermined timing to make the target steering angle value smaller based on the disturbance load variation amount when the load of the engine is predicted to increase with respect to the reference load at the predetermined timing;
A key control device comprising a key control unit for controlling the steering gear according to the corrected target steering angle value.

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