JPH0678079B2 - Tilt control device for outboard motors - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an outboard motor tilt angle control device, and more particularly to an outboard motor tilt angle control device equipped with a hydraulic power tilt mechanism.

[Conventional technology]

In general, for large outboard motors, a power tilt mechanism employing hydraulic drive is indispensable in consideration of the increase in weight thereof. This is because by using this power tilt mechanism, the tilt angle (also referred to as the tilt angle) of the outboard motor body with respect to the hull can be easily and freely rotated up and down within the vertical plane. ,
The trim control of the hull during sailing can be accurately performed, fuel consumption can be saved, and the outboard motor body can be raised to a high position, which is necessary for maintenance and inspection or detection of shallow water during sailing. , Because it can be done extremely easily.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

On the other hand, during actual normal cruising, the tilt angle of the outboard motor body is controlled up / down, and the effective range of the tilt angle (hereinafter, (That is simply referred to as the "effective area") T1 is about from the vicinity of the vertical line to the hull of the variable tilt area T shown in FIG.
It is 10 to 15 degrees, and the remaining inclination angle is for shallow water detection or maintenance as described above. This Figure 8 shows "T1 = 15
"Degree". Further, in the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a tilt axis.

On the other hand, regarding the outboard motor main body, if the inclination angle is increased once during traveling to deviate from the effective area T1, the boat speed hardly changes even if the inclination angle is changed from the general characteristics of the hull in FIG. It enters the saturation region T2 shown in. For this reason,
Not only it takes time to control the inclination angle to the optimum value again, but also there is a disadvantage that quick and accurate control is difficult to perform. In particular, in the case of manual operation, the visual value of the speedometer hardly changes.Therefore, in order to deviate from the saturation region T2, there is no choice but to actually observe the inclination angle of the outboard motor body by the operator's feeling, which complicates the operation. And it was annoying.

Furthermore, when the inclination angle is within the saturation region T2, a situation occurs in which the heavy outboard motor body is unnecessarily held at a high angle and continued, and therefore the power tilt mechanism also operates under high load. It has been pointed out that the durability of the motor winding is shortened because the overload current continues to flow for a long period of time, which shortens the life of the motor winding.

[Object of the Invention]

The present invention improves the disadvantages of the conventional example, and particularly effectively reduces the long-time overload state of the power tilt mechanism that occurs when the tilt angle of the outboard motor body is set and controlled to a predetermined angle or more. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tilt angle control device for an outboard motor, which has an increased overall durability.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the present invention, the power tilt mechanism has a direct current motor for driving a hydraulic pump, and is urged by the hydraulic pump to operate so that the inclination angle of the outboard motor body with respect to the hull can be variably set in an up or down direction within a vertical plane. Is equipped with. Further, based on the information from the ship speed sensor installed in advance, it is determined whether the speed of the ship is increased or decreased, and based on the increase or decrease judgment of the ship speed, the DC motor of the power tilt mechanism is controlled to control the power tilt mechanism. The control unit is provided with an optimum tilt angle setting control function for setting the tilt angle of the outboard motor body to an optimum value.

The outboard motor body is equipped with a tilt angle detecting means for detecting the tilt angle of the outboard motor body with respect to the hull described above,
A tilt angle stop means is provided in the control unit to operate when the tilt angle detection unit detects a tilt angle equal to or larger than a preset predetermined value and forcibly cancel the operation of the optimum tilt angle setting control function of the control unit. To do. The control unit is equipped with a manual switching operation means for forcibly switching the DC motor of the power tilt mechanism to the up side or the down side. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned object.

Example of Invention

(First Embodiment) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

First, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 indicates a control unit, and reference numeral 4
Indicates a power tilt mechanism controlled by the control unit 2.
Further, reference numeral 6 indicates a potentiometer as an inclination angle detecting means for detecting an inclination angle with respect to the hull of the outboard cut, and reference numeral 8 indicates a preset inclination angle by the potentiometer 6 as the inclination angle detecting means. The tilt angle stopping means that operates when the operation is performed is shown.

The control unit 2 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter simply referred to as “CPU”) 14 as a main control unit, and a ship speed sensor 10 for sending ship speed information to the CPU 14 via an A / D converter 12. . As the ship speed sensor 10, in this embodiment, a pitot tube (see FIG. 2) mounted at a predetermined position on the bottom of the ship is used. In addition, as the CPU 14, a C-MOS type one-chip microcomputer in which a predetermined program, memory, etc. are built in at a time,
Miniaturization and power saving have been achieved.

The CPU 14 determines whether the speed of the ship is increased or decreased based on the information from a ship speed sensor installed in advance, and controls the DC motor of the power tilt mechanism based on the increase or decrease judgment of the ship speed to control the power. It is equipped with an optimal tilt angle setting control function that sets the tilt angle of the outboard motor main body by the tilt mechanism to an optimum value.

The output side path of the CPU 14 is branched into two control circuit systems, an up side and a down side of the inclination angle. That is, the up side reaches the buffer 18 via the resistor 16, and this buffer 18
The output side of is connected to the base of a switching NPN transistor 24 via resistors 20 and 22 in series.
The collector of this transistor 24 is the relay 26 on the up side.
Is connected to a predetermined power source V _B via a parallel circuit including a relay coil 26A and a back electromotive force controlling diode 28, and its emitter is grounded.

Similarly, the down side of the CPU 14 is also connected to the base of the switching NPN transistor 36 via the resistor 28, the buffer 30, and the resistors 32 and 34 in series. The collector of the transistor 36 is connected to V _B via the parallel circuit of the relay coil 38A of the down side relay 38 and the diode 40.
It is connected to the power supply and the emitter is grounded.

Further, the power tilt mechanism 4 described above is provided in the control unit 2.
A manual switch 42 as a manual switching operation means for manually operating is connected.

The manual switch 42 is configured such that two switches 42A and 42B are interlocked with each other, and each has two normally open contacts. The common terminal C of the power supply side switch 42A is connected to a predetermined power supply V _D , one contact X is in the middle of the resistances 20 and 22 on the up side, and the remaining contact Y is the resistance on the down side.
It is connected to the middle of 32 and 34 respectively. Further, the common terminal "C '" of the earth side switch 42B is grounded, and of the two contacts X', Y ', "X'" is the down side buffer 30.
, And "Y '" are connected to the input path of the up side buffer 18, respectively.

On the other hand, in the power tilt mechanism 4, reference numeral 44 is a DC motor for driving a hydraulic pump (not shown). The field coil 44A of the DC motor 44 is the midpoint thereof is grounded, and both ends of each of the contact 26B of the relay 26, 38 of the control unit 2 is connected 38B to V _B power supply via respectively. Here, among the power tilt mechanism 4, the hydraulic pump and cylinders and the like are omitted, but these are the same as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-140696 proposed by the present applicant. The method is adopted.

As the tilt angle detecting means, a multi-turn winding type potentiometer 6 is used as a clamp bracket 48 of an outboard motor 46 described later.
Is mounted on the upper surface (see FIGS. 2 to 4).
One end of the potentiometer 6 on the side of the stator winding 6A is connected to a predetermined power supply V _C , and the other end is grounded. Then, the slider 6B that rotates and makes sliding contact with the stator winding 6A rotates to the power supply V _C side when the inclination angle is up and its resistance value increases, and when it is down, it rotates to the ground side. The resistance value is reduced.

The slider 6B is a comparator in the inclination angle stopping means 8.
Connected to 50 inverting inputs. Further, the predetermined power source V _C is grounded via each of the resistors 52 and 54, and the potential divided by these resistors 52 and 54 is connected to the non-inverting input terminal of the comparator 50 as a reference potential. On the other hand, the respective input paths to the buffers 18 and 30 in the control unit 2 are connected to the output terminals of the diode 52 and the 5 comparator 50, and also connected to the V _CC power source via the light emitting diode 57 and the resistor 58. ing. Here, a method in which the light emitting diode 57 is not provided may be adopted.

Further, FIG. 2 shows a bonding state between the outboard motor 46 and the hull 60 according to this embodiment, and the above-mentioned tilt angle control device is mounted at these predetermined positions. Then, in the transom 60A of the hull 60, at the two locations, the above-mentioned clamp bracket 4
8 and 48 are bolted, and a swivel bracket 64 which is rotatable via a tilt shaft 62 of these clamp brackets 48 and 48 is provided. This swivel bracket
The outboard motor body 46A is fixedly installed on the rear side of the 64, and
A cylinder group and the like (not shown) that constitute the power tilt mechanism 4 described above are equipped inside.

Then, due to the expansion and contraction of this cylinder group, as shown in FIG. 2, the outboard motor main body 46A has a predetermined angle (inclination angle variable region).
It is configured to go up or down within. Here, reference numeral 66 is a power unit mounted on the side surface of one clamp bracket 48, in which the aforementioned DC motor 44 and a hydraulic pump (not shown) are incorporated.

On the other hand, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 68 is a cover for protecting the potentiometer 6 described above. The potentiometer 6 is fixed to the upper surface of the one clamp bracket 48 described above by the stoppers 70, 70 as shown in FIG. A gear 6D having a predetermined number of teeth is attached to the tip of the shaft 6C of the potentiometer 6. This gear 6D is further provided with a swivel surface A on one side of the swivel bracket 64.
Located in the notch 72 provided along the
The notched portion 72 is configured to come into contact with and mesh with a substantially arcuate spur gear 74 formed on the side surface of the hull on the side of the hull (fourth portion).
See figure).

Therefore, as shown by the arrow B in FIG. 4, when the swivel bracket 64 mutually rotates from the down position to the up position, the gear 6D makes a predetermined rotation as shown by the arrow C. That is, the above-mentioned slider 6B (see FIG. 1) connected to this gear 6D is slidably rotated around the stator winding 6A, and the inclination angle is detected from the continuous change of its resistance value. ing.

The outboard motor 46 equipped with the control device configured in this way is
A propeller 76 (see FIG. 2) is normally or reversely rotated by a driving force of an engine (not shown) so that the hull 60 can be moved forward or backward. Lead wires and the like are omitted in the drawings.

Next, the overall operation of this embodiment will be described focusing on the flowchart of FIG.

Here, the effective angle is set within a range where the inclination angle of the outboard motor body 46A with respect to the hull is within 15 °, and the inclination angle within this area is referred to as the effective inclination angle (see FIG. 8). Further, the automatic control of this embodiment relates to the try end error method, and the control program is set in advance by the CPU1.
It is stored in ROM 4.

First, when the manual switch 42 and the automatic trim stop switch 56 are turned off, the engine of the outboard motor 46 is started and the automatic control of the device is started. Then, when the cruise starts, the sensor signal of the boat speed sensor 10 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 12 and output to the CPU 14. The CPU 14 outputs a TTL level tilt angle up signal for a predetermined time according to a predetermined control program (FIG. 80 in FIG. 5). This control signal is amplified to a predetermined level by the buffer 18 and output, so that the base potential of the transistor 24 rises and the outer transistor 24 is turned on. When this is turned on, the relay coil 26A of the relay 26 is excited, the relay contact 26B in the power tilt mechanism 4 is closed, and the upside field coil of the DC motor 44 is energized and excited. Therefore, the motor 44 rotates in the normal direction, and the hydraulic pump interlocked with the motor rotates in the normal direction. As a result, the cylinder group expands to a predetermined extent, and the outboard motor 46 is rotationally controlled in the up direction as shown in FIG.

Then, the hull 60 sails with the trim by the new tilt angle controlled as described above. At this time, the potentiometer 6
The change in the tilt angle is monitored by and it is judged whether or not it is in the effective area (Fig. 5 (82)).

Specifically, the potential of the slider 6B of the potentiometer 6,
Reference potential by dividing resistors 52 and 54 (maximum effective tilt angle 1
(Corresponding to 5 °) is compared by the comparator 50 of the inclination angle stopping means. If the non-inverting input terminal of the comparator 50 has a higher potential, that is, if the inclination angle is 15 ° or less, the output of the comparator 50 becomes a predetermined "high" level and the diodes 52 and 54 are reverse biased. Therefore, the up and down paths of the CPU 14 are not blocked. On the contrary, when the potential at the inverting input terminal of the comparator 50 is higher, that is, when the inclination angle is equal to or more than the effective range (15 ° or more), the output of the comparator 50 becomes a predetermined “low” level and the ground state. Becomes Therefore, the diodes 52 and 54 conduct, and the CPU 14
The output side of is also almost grounded and the automatic control is forcibly stopped at this point as will be described later. At this time, since the light emitting diode 57 is turned on, the driver is notified of the forced stop (102).

If the result of the above determination (Fig. 5 82) is YES (if it is determined that the region is still within the valid area), the CPU 14 checks the velocity signal from the boat speed sensor (Fig. 5 84),
It is determined whether or not the speed has been increased (Fig. 86).

In the case of this determination (Fig. 86, Fig. 86), if the result is yes (when the ship speed has increased), the optimum value of the effective tilt angle is still on the up direction side, and therefore the tilt angle up signal is output again (the same). 80), the same control is repeated until the speed is reduced.

If the result of the above determination (Fig. 5 86) is NO (when the boat speed has decreased), the inclination angle has passed the optimum value within the effective range, so the CPU 14 outputs the inclination angle down control signal for a predetermined time. Output to the down route (Fig. 88). This output signal operates in the same manner as when the tilt angle is increased, and the DC motor 44 is rotated in the reverse direction to rotate the hydraulic pump in the reverse direction, so that the cylinder rod of the cylinder group is reduced and the inclination angle is decreased.

Then, the CPU 14 checks the boat speed again (Fig. 90, 90),
It is determined whether the speed is increased (Fig. 92). Then, in the case of yes (in the case of increasing the boat speed), the inclination angle down signal is output again for the predetermined time (FIG. 88), and the same processing is repeated until deceleration. Here, the control interval in the case of decreasing the inclination angle is set to be shorter than that in the case of increasing the inclination angle, so that the optimum value can be found.

Further, in the case of the above judgment (Fig. 92, Fig. 92), if the result is NO (in the case of deceleration), the CPU 14 follows the control program.
A tilt angle up signal for compensating the response delay of the control system and the drive system is output to the up side (Fig. 94). As a result, the outboard motor 46 is set to the optimum value, and the trim of the hull 60 is also maintained at the optimum value, so that economical traveling is possible.

After that, the check is performed at regular intervals (fifth
(Fig. 96), it is judged whether the ship speed is constant (Fig. 98).
In other words, in the case of Yes (when the boat speed is unchanged), the process returns to the above boat speed check (Fig. 96), and the same control is repeated during running. If the result of this determination 98 is NO (if the boat speed has changed due to surrounding environmental conditions or the accelerator opening of the engine), the routine returns to the first loop and the above-mentioned processing is repeated.

Further, the inclination angle stopping means 8 during the automatic control operation described above.
Will be described.

In the judgment of "whether it is in the effective area" (Fig. 5 82), if the answer is NO (when it goes out of the effective area and rises), the inclination angle stopping means 8 operates as described above (Fig. 5). 100), the automatic control of the tilt angle ends (Fig. 10).
2). Therefore, in this state, the light emitting diode 57 is turned on, so that the driver turns on the manual switch 42 (see FIG. 1) to the down side (contacts Y, Y ′ side) to manually adjust the inclination angle to the saturation region. Can be down to the effective area.

Specifically, when the manual switch 42 is turned to the down side,
Although the up-side output of the CPU 14 is grounded, a predetermined power supply V _D is applied to the base of the transistor 36
36 is turned on, and the down operation is possible as in the case of the automatic control described above. When the tilt angle returns to the effective range, the output of the comparator 50 returns to the “high” level, the light emitting diode 57 is turned off, and the automatic control can be performed again.

That is, in this way, it is possible to prevent accurate and quick control from being performed without the conventional tilt angle becoming too high and entering a saturated state and re-correction of control taking too long. Furthermore, because of this quick control,
Since the burden on the power tilt mechanism 4 for maintaining a high inclination angle for a long time is significantly reduced, it is possible to effectively prevent the heating state of the motor winding, and thus to extend the life of the motor winding. It has the advantage of contributing to the improvement of durability. Further, it can naturally save energy such as a battery.

In the above embodiment, the automatic trim stop switch 56 is for forcibly switching between automatic control and manual control. That is, when the switch 56 is turned on, the output of the CPU 14 becomes almost in the grounded state, which is the same as the operation of the tilt angle stopping means 8, and thus the manual control becomes possible. Furthermore,
The manual switch 42 is doubled and the ground side switch 42B is provided to prevent simultaneous driving of the up side and the down side when the automatic trim stop switch 56 is forgotten to be turned off and the switch 42 is operated. Is.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 7. Here, the same components as those in the above-described first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals.

First, FIG. 6 is equipped with tilt angle up stop means 110 in place of the tilt angle stop means 8 in FIG. 1 described above, and operates after the tilt angle up stop means 110 operates to operate the outboard motor main body. The control unit 2 is additionally provided with an automatic return means for forcibly controlling the descent angle (automatic return) within a predetermined value (in the effective area). Other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment.

This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Also in FIG. 7, the automatic control and the manual control at the time of normal running are the same as those in the first embodiment, and are shown by the same reference numerals.

Therefore, as the control peculiar to the second embodiment, the judgment of FIG.
In the case of "whether the area is valid or not" in 82, the case of no (when it is the effective area or more) corresponds to this. That is, since the comparator 50 in the tilt angle up stop means 110 outputs a predetermined “low” level, the output path on the up side from the CPU 14 becomes substantially grounded via the diode 114, forcing only the up side. And, it will be automatically stopped (Fig. 7 116). At this time, the automatic trim stop switch 56
Is turned off in advance.

Then, being urged by this stopping operation, the above-mentioned automatic return means 112 operates. Specifically, with the forward bias of the diode 114, the base potential of the transistor 118 is biased to the “low” level of the comparator 50, and is switched from the on state to the off state. Therefore, the collector potential of the transistor 118 rises. Therefore, the diode 120 becomes forward biased (this diode 120
When is on, the collector potential becomes almost ground level and reverse bias). Therefore, the tilt angle down signal is output to the down side path of the CPU 14 via the resistor 122 from the power supply V _C until the tilt angle is reduced to an effective region and the transistor 118 is turned on again ( Fig.7 124,12
6). In FIG. 6, reference numeral 123 indicates an adjusting resistor.

In other words, the output of this signal automatically and forcibly reduces the inclination angle, enabling automatic recovery. Then, after this return, the stop of the automatic control is also released, and the process returns to the automatic control loop called ship speed check (reference numeral 84 in FIG. 7).

That is, according to the second embodiment, the function and effect are the same as those of the first embodiment.
In addition to being equivalent to the embodiment, even if the inclination angle deviates to the saturation region, it automatically returns to the effective region,
The operability is improved and the certainty of control is increased. In addition, the load on the power tilt mechanism 4 is reduced by that amount.

Although the potentiometer 6 is used as the inclination angle detecting means in the above embodiment, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and may be, for example, multiple rotary switches, and a limit switch can also be used. .
Further, the mounting method of this potentiometer is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but the tilt shaft 62 is used, a gear is mounted on this tilt shaft, and the potentiometer 6 is mounted through another idle gear.
May be rotated. Further, the potentiometer 6 can be installed so as to be embedded in the clamp bracket 48.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the present invention is configured and functions as described above, according to this, when the outboard motor body is tilted with respect to the hull by a predetermined value or more, the control of the controller is optimized by the action of the tilt angle stopping means. Since the operation of the tilt angle setting control function is forcibly released, the power tilt mechanism can be reliably set to the descending operation mode by the manual switching operation means, and the tilt angle becomes too high as in the conventional case and the saturation region is reached. There is no longer a need to go in and re-correction of the control takes too long, and it is possible to perform accurate and speedy descent control.
Furthermore, by executing this rapid lowering control, it is possible to significantly reduce the load of the power tilt mechanism, which is required to maintain a high tilt angle for a long time, which has been conventionally caused. Therefore, the overheated state of the motor winding can be effectively made. It is possible to improve the durability of the entire device by reducing the life of the motor winding, and it is possible to save energy such as a battery. A tilt angle control device for an external machine can be provided.

Further, as described in claim 2, a tilt angle up stop means is provided instead of the tilt angle stop means, and
If an automatic return means that operates after the operation of the tilt angle up stopping means is operated to forcibly control the tilt angle of the outboard motor main body to fall within a predetermined value, is attached to the control unit, while maintaining the above-described operational effect, Furthermore, the timing of the descent control of the power tilt mechanism can be set quickly, and therefore, the operability of the entire apparatus can be improved, and at the same time, the descent control can be executed quickly and reliably. Further, the above-mentioned load on the power tilt mechanism can be reduced by that much, and since the descending control is forcibly performed, it is possible to manually cope with the failure of the automatic resetting means. It is possible to obtain the effect that the reliability of the device can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially block diagram of a circuit configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially omitted view showing a mounting state of an outboard motor and a hull to which the first embodiment is applied. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the device position of the tilt angle detecting means, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the operation of the tilt angle detecting means, and FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a partially block diagram of the circuit configuration according to the second embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing the movable region of the inclination angle. 2 ... Control unit, 4 ... Power tilt mechanism, 6 ... Potentiometer as tilt angle detecting means, 8 ... Tilt angle stopping means, 10 ... Ship speed sensor, 14 ... Main control unit CPU, 4
2 ... Manual switch as manual switching operation means, 44 ...
… DC motor, 46A… Outboard motor body, 66… Power unit that forms part of the power tilt mechanism, 110… Inclination angle up stop means, 112… Automatic return means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A power having a direct-current motor for driving a hydraulic pump, which is operated by being biased by the hydraulic pump so that the inclination angle of the outboard motor body with respect to the hull can be variably set up or down within a vertical plane. Based on the information from the tilt mechanism and the ship speed sensor that is installed in advance, it is determined whether the speed of the ship is increased or decreased, and the direct current motor of the power tilt mechanism is controlled based on the judgment of the increase or decrease of the ship speed. A tilt angle control device for an outboard motor, comprising: a controller having an optimum tilt angle setting control function for setting the tilt angle of the outboard motor main body by a tilt mechanism to an optimum value. Equipped with a tilt angle detecting means for detecting the tilt angle of the main body of the machine with respect to the hull,
The tilt angle stop means that operates when the tilt angle detection means detects a tilt angle equal to or greater than a preset predetermined value and forcibly cancels the operation of the optimum tilt angle setting control function of the control unit, An outboard motor tilt angle control device characterized in that the control unit is equipped with a manual switching operation means for forcibly switching the DC motor of the power tilt mechanism to the up side or the down side. . 2. A power having a direct current motor for driving a hydraulic pump, which is operated by being urged by the hydraulic pump to variably set an inclination angle of the outboard motor body with respect to the hull in an up or down direction within a vertical plane. Based on the information from the tilt mechanism and the ship speed sensor that is installed in advance, it is determined whether the speed of the ship is increased or decreased, and the direct current motor of the power tilt mechanism is controlled based on the judgment of the increase or decrease of the ship speed. A tilt angle control device for an outboard motor, comprising: a controller having an optimum tilt angle setting control function for setting the tilt angle of the outboard motor main body by a tilt mechanism to an optimum value. Equipped with a tilt angle detecting means for detecting the tilt angle of the main body of the machine with respect to the hull,
An inclination angle increasing stop means for operating when the inclination angle detecting means detects an inclination angle equal to or larger than a preset predetermined value and forcibly canceling the up control operation by the optimum inclination angle setting control function of the control unit. The control section is provided with an automatic resetting means that operates after the operation of the tilt angle increasing stop means to forcibly lower the tilt angle of the outboard motor body within the predetermined value. At the same time, the control unit is equipped with a manual switching operation means for forcibly switching the DC motor of the power tilt mechanism to the up side or the down side.