Claims
- 1. A system for assisting shifting of a fuel injected marine engine that recognizes an open circuit or short circuit faults and automatically reduces the engine speed comprising:a shift force detection unit including a switch responsive to an excessive force applied to a shift lever that is involved with shifting the marine engine, an electronic control unit coupled to the engine to control the timing and duration of the fuel injection cycle of said engine and the ignition timing of said engine, a current detector within said electronic control unit for detecting an amount of current from said shift force detection unit and automatically reducing the engine RPM when said amount of current is greater than or less than a value of N, said shift force detection unit including a current generator comprising a resistor in parallel with said switch, an amount of current of value N being produced when the battery voltage is across the resistor and the switch is open, an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch closed, an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch is abnormally short circuited, and an amount of current less than N being produced when the shift detection unit has an open circuit or is disconnected from the electronic control unit.
- 2. A system for assisting shifting of a fuel injected engine, the system comprising:a shift force detection unit including a switch responsive to an excessive force applied to a shift lever that is involved with shifting the engine, an electronic control unit coupled to the engine to control at least one of the timing and duration of the fuel injection cycle of said engine and the ignition timing of said engine, a current detector within said electronic control unit for detecting an amount of current from said shift force detection unit and automatically reducing the engine RPM when the said current is greater than or less than a value of N, said shift force detection unit including a current generator comprising a resistor in parallel with said switch, an amount of current of value N being produced when the battery voltage is across the resistor and the switch is open, an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch closed, and an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch is abnormally short circuited.
- 3. A system for assisting shifting of an engine, the system comprising:a shift force detection unit including a switch responsive to an excessive force applied to a shift lever that is involved with shifting the engine, an electronic control unit coupled to the engine to control the engine output power, a current detector within said electronic control unit for detecting an amount of current from said shift force detection unit and automatically reducing the engine output power when said amount of current is greater than or less than a value of N, said shift force detection unit including a current generator comprising a resistor in parallel with said switch, an amount of current of value N being produced when the battery voltage is across the resistor and the switch is open, an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch closed, an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch is abnormally short circuited, and an amount of current less than N being produced when the shift detection unit has an open circuit or is disconnected from the electronic control unit.
- 4. The system of claim 3 including an alarm coupled to said electronic control unit, said electronic control unit including a timer for activating said alarm when an amount of current greater than N flows for a predetermined period of time.
- 5. The system of claim 4 when said predetermined period is greater than a normal shift occurrence during which said switch is closed.
- 6. A system for assisting shifting through a shift lever of an engine, the system comprising:a shift force detection unit including a switch responsive to an excessive force applied to the shift lever, an electronic control unit coupled to the engine to control the engine output power, a current detector within said electronic control unit for detecting an amount of current from said shift force detection unit, said electronic control unit automatically reducing the engine output power when said amount of current is greater than or less than a value of N, said shift force detection unit including a current generator comprising a resistor in parallel with said switch, an amount of current of value N being produced when the battery voltage is across the resistor and the switch is open, an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch closed, an amount of current greater than N being produced when the switch is abnormally short circuited, an amount of current less than N being produced when the shift detection unit has an open circuit or is disconnected, and an amount of current less than N being produced when the battery voltage falls below a predetermined value.
- 7. An outboard motor having a transmission unit, an electronic control unit, and a shift assist arrangement, said motor including an internal combustion engine having an engine block, a crankshaft, and a driveshaft communicating with the transmission unit, a shift assist control system including a force detecting unit comprising a shift force detecting switch and a parallel resistor circuit.
- 8. The outboard motor of claim 7, wherein the shift force detecting switch is connected to a portion of a shift mechanism, the force detecting unit being in communication through a communication means with the electronic control unit.
- 9. The outboard motor of claim 8, wherein the shift mechanism is connected to a dog clutch in the transmission unit.
- 10. The outboard motor of claim 8, wherein the electronic control unit lowers the engine torque dependent on the value of the current traveling through the force detecting unit.
- 11. The outboard motor of claim 8, wherein the shift mechanism includes a neutral detection switch.
- 12. The outboard motor of claim 8, wherein the force detecting unit and the electronic control unit communicate through an easily accessible connector.
- 13. The outboard motor of claim 10, wherein the electronic control unit lowers the engine torque by varying the fuel injection duration, the fuel injection timing, the ignition timing, and the air flow through an air bypass valve.
- 14. A method of assisting shifting of an engine having an electronic control unit which is not adversely affected by electrical short circuit or an electrical disconnect of a shift force detection unit comprising:supplying a normal amount of current N to the electronic control unit, detecting when the amount of current exceeds or is less than the amount of current N by a predetermined amount of current, and automatically reducing the engine RPM when the amount of current exceeds or is less than the amount of current N by the predetermined amount of current.
- 15. The method of claim 14 wherein said amount of current N is produced by supplying the battery voltage across a resistor within the shift force detection unit.
- 16. The method of claim 15 wherein said amount of current is increased above N by the predetermined amount of current by closing a switch, which is electrically connected in parallel with said resistor, upon application of a force on a shift lever greater than a predetermined force value, so that said resistor is shorted when said switch is closed.
- 17. The method of claim 14 wherein a low battery voltage causes said amount of current to be lower than the amount of current N automatically resulting in the electronic control unit decreasing the engine RPM.
- 18. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting when the amount of current exceeds the amount of current N by a predetermined amount of current involves detecting when the amount of current is substantially equal to an amount of current indicative of a short circuited condition.
- 19. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting when the amount of current is less than the amount of current N by a predetermined amount of current involves detecting when the amount of current is substantially equal to an amount of current indicative of an open circuit condition.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2000-361067 |
Nov 2000 |
JP |
|
PRIORITY INFORMATION
This application is based on and claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-361067, filed Nov. 28, 2000 and to the Provisional Application No. 60/322192, filed Sep. 13, 2001, the entire contents of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
US Referenced Citations (20)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
02-216391 |
Aug 1990 |
JP |
2759475 |
Mar 1998 |
JP |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/322192 |
Sep 2001 |
US |