This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-064062 filed on Mar. 29, 2017, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to a failure prediction system for small boats such as motor boats and other small watercrafts.
While motorboats and other small watercraft are inspected for failures before boarding, the ability to predict failures at an earlier time would be convenient. In this regard, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-89760A proposes a technology for enabling prediction of failures, although for vehicles, not small boats.
The technology of the reference predicts vehicle failure using driving data at time of trouble occurrence collected by many ordinary vehicles driving daily in cities. Namely, the technology is configured to predict failure by comparing with standard values time-series data regarding multiple driving parameters at time of trouble occurrence collected and stored in memory devices of electronic control units of many vehicles at time of trouble occurrence.
Being configured as stated above, the technology of the reference predicts vehicle failure but does not take into account that a particular vehicle may not always be driven by the same driver and is apt to be also driven by another driver or drivers. When two or more drivers are involved, the individual drivers often have different driving habits (idiosyncrasies) that may affect the operating parameters.
An object of this invention is therefore to overcome this issue as it relates to small boats by providing a small boat failure prediction system that achieves accurate failure prediction by identifying individual operator (pilot) idiosyncrasies.
In order to achieve the object, this invention provides a small boat failure prediction system, comprising: a plurality of small boats each mounted with an outboard motor equipped with an internal combustion engine, a steering device and an electronic control unit, the small boats being operable by one of a plurality of operators through manipulation of the steering device such that the electronic control unit controls operation of the outboard motor in response to the manipulation of the steering device; and a computer connected to the electronic control unit equipped on each of the small boats through a communication means; wherein the electronic control unit comprises: an ID acquire unit configured to acquire boat ID assigned to one of the small boats on which one of the operators boards and personal ID of the one of the operators on board; a past manipulation data acquire unit configured to access the computer to acquire past manipulation data associated with the acquired personal ID of the one of the operators for all of the small boats operated by the one of the operators; a manipulation data merge unit configured to acquire manipulation data of the one of the operators on the one of the small boats during current run, merge the manipulation data during the current run with the past manipulation data to generate merged manipulation data, and transmit the generated merged manipulation data to the computer; a normal value range set unit configured to select a parameter based on data having predesignated correlation in the generated merged manipulation data, and set a normal value range based on the selected parameter; a parameter assess unit to assess whether parameter corresponding to the selected parameter in the manipulation data during the current run is within the set normal range; and a failure predict unit configured to determine the outboard motor mounted on the one of the boats is in failure when the parameter is out of the set normal range.
A small boat failure prediction system according to an embodiment of this invention is explained with reference to the attached drawings in the following.
Reference numeral 1 in
In the embodiment, the boat 1 is a plurality of commercial motorboats owned by a taxi-boat company is taken as an example. The taxi-boat company is engaged in a costal area business of offering customers transport service to requested destinations by boat.
The boat 1 has a hull 10, and an outboard motor 12 is mounted on the hull 10. To be more specific, the outboard motor 12 is attached to a stern 10a of the hull 10 by means of stern brackets 14 and a tilting shaft 16.
The outboard motor 12 comprises an engine (internal combustion engine, described later), a propeller 18 driven by the engine, an engine cover 20 enclosing the engine, and an electronic control unit (hereinafter called ECU) 22 installed in an engine room, i.e., a space inside the engine cover 20, for controlling operation of the outboard motor 12. The ECU 22 comprises a microcomputer equipped with a processor (CPU) 22a, memories (ROM, RAM) 22b coupled to the processor 22a, and so on.
A cockpit seat 24 for an operator A (indicated by broken line) is provided at the fore-aft middle of the hull 10, and seats 26 for passengers are provided beside and behind the cockpit seat 24. A steering wheel 30 turnable by the operator is installed in the cockpit 24.
A shift-throttle lever (steering device) 32 operable by the operator is installed near the cockpit seat 24. The shift-throttle lever 32 can be rocked fore and aft from an initial position by the operator to input forward/reverse instructions and engine speed NE regulation instructions, including acceleration/deceleration instructions, to the engine.
A GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 34 for receiving GPS signals is installed at a suitable location on the hull 10. The GPS receiver 34 sends the ECU 22 signals indicating position data of the boat 1 obtained from the GPS signals.
As shown in
A power tilt-trim unit 50 installed near the swivel case 40 enables adjustment of tilt angle or trim angle of the outboard motor 12 relative to the hull 10 by tilting up/down or trimming up/down.
The power tilt-trim unit 50 integrally comprises a hydraulic cylinder mechanism 50a for tilt angle adjustment and a hydraulic cylinder mechanism 50b for trim angle adjustment, and the hydraulic cylinder mechanisms 50a and 50b extend and retract to raise and lower the swivel case 40 around the tilting shaft 16 as an axis of rotation, thereby tilting or trimming the outboard motor 12 up and down. The hydraulic cylinder mechanisms 50a and 50b are connected to a hydraulic circuit (not shown) installed in the outboard motor 12 and are extended and retracted by hydraulic pressure received therefrom.
The outboard motor 12 is fitted with the engine (now assigned with reference numeral 52) at its upper portion. The engine 52 is a spark-ignition, water-cooled gasoline engine. The engine 52 is positioned above the water surface and enclosed by the engine cover 20.
A throttle body 56 is connected to an air intake pipe 54 of the engine 52. The throttle body 56 has an internal throttle valve 58 and an integrally attached electric throttle motor 60 for open-close driving the throttle valve 58.
An output shaft of the electric throttle motor 60 is connected through a reduction gear mechanism (not shown) to the throttle valve 58, and the electric throttle motor 60 is operated to open and close the throttle valve 58 so as to meter air intake of the engine 52 and thereby regulate engine speed NE.
The outboard motor 12 is supported to be rotatable around a horizontal shaft and is equipped with a propeller shaft 64 connected at one end to the propeller 18 for transmitting power to the propeller 18 from the engine 52 and a transmission 66 interposed between the engine 52 and propeller shaft 64 and having first, second and optionally additional gear positions.
An axis 64a of the propeller shaft 64 is oriented to lie substantially parallel to the water surface when the power tilt-trim unit 50 is in initial state (state when trim angle is initial angle). The transmission 66 comprises a speed-change mechanism 68 shiftable among multiple speeds and a shift mechanism 70 whose shift position can be changed among a forward position, a reverse position and a neutral position.
The speed-change mechanism 68 is constituted as a parallel-shaft stepped speed-change mechanism having, arranged in parallel, an input shaft 72 connected to a crankshaft (not shown) of the engine 52, a countershaft 74 connected to the input shaft 72 through gears, and an output shaft 76 connected to the countershaft 74 through multiple gears.
A hydraulic pump 78 for pumping hydraulic oil (lubricating oil) to a hydraulic clutch for gear shifting and lubrication points is connected to the countershaft 74. The input shaft 72, countershaft 74, output shaft 76 and hydraulic pump 78 are housed in a case 80, and a lower part of the case 80 constitutes an oilpan 80a for receiving hydraulic oil.
The shift mechanism 70 is connected to the output shaft 76 of the speed-change mechanism 68 and comprises a drive shaft 70a rotatably supported to lie parallel to the vertical axis, a forward bevel gear 70b and a reverse bevel gear 70c that are connected to and rotated by the drive shaft 70a, and a clutch 70d capable of engaging the propeller shaft 64 with either the forward bevel gear 70b or the reverse bevel gear 70c.
A shift electric motor 82 for driving the shift mechanism 70 is installed inside the engine cover 20, and its output shaft is adapted to be connectable via a reduction gear mechanism 84 to an upper end of a shift rod 70e of the shift mechanism 70. Therefore, when the shift electric motor 82 is driven to suitably displace the shift rod 70e and a shift slider 70f, the clutch 70d operates to change the shift position among forward position, reverse position and neutral position.
When the shift position is forward position or reverse position, rotation of the output shaft 76 of the speed-change mechanism 68 is transmitted through the shift mechanism 70 to the propeller shaft 64, whereby the propeller 18 is rotated to produce propulsion (propelling force) in the forward or reverse direction of the hull 10. The outboard motor 12 is further equipped with an electric power supply, such as a battery, attached to the engine 52, and operating power is supplied to the motors 44, 60 and 82 and other destinations from this power supply.
As shown in
A throttle position sensor 90 installed near the throttle valve 58 as shown in
An engine temperature sensor 94 disposed on a cylinder wall surface of the engine 52 produces an output indicating engine temperature of the engine 52, and an intake air pressure sensor 96 disposed at a suitable location on the air intake pipe 54 of the engine 52 outputs a signal indicating absolute pressure inside the air intake pipe 54 (engine load).
A trim angle sensor 98 disposed near the tilting shaft 16 produces an output proportional to trim angle of the outboard motor 12 (rotation angle around a pitch axis of the outboard motor 12 relative to the hull 10).
Returning to
The computer 2 is a personal computer located in an office 8 of the taxi-boat company or a smartphone or other mobile terminal that can be carried by an owner/manager or employee of the boat-taxi company (i.e., is located at a position other than the boat 1), or by an operator introduced later. Alternatively, the computer 2 can be one installed at a remote location and connected through a cloud.
Each of the five boats 1 is operable by one of a plurality of operators, namely, one of seven operators A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Which of the seven operators is in charge of which boat is not fixed, and when a customer (passenger) requests service, any of the five boats 1 that is available for use is suitably selected.
The operator boards the selected boat 1, guides the customer to the seat 26 while taking the operator's seat 24, starts the engine 52 of the outboard motor 12 of the boarded boat 1, and navigates away from the dock 4 toward a destination a relatively short distance across the sea 6.
As was explained mainly with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In actual operation, the flowchart of
Now to explain, in S10, when one of operators boards one of the boat 1 (the subject boat), the ECU 22 acquires (reads) the boat ID assigned to the subject boat and the personal ID of the onboard operator. For the purpose of the processing shown in
Each operator is given a specific operator key having the operator's personal ID stored in memory, and by requiring the operator to use the operator key upon boarding, the personal ID of the operator who boards can be acquired in S10 from the use of the operator key. Alternatively, if an immobilizer is used, the personal ID of the boarding pilot can be obtained from that instead of from an operator key.
Next, in S12, the ECU 22 accesses the computer 2 and acquires past manipulation data associated with the acquired personal ID of the onboard pilot A, for all of the five boats 1 operated by operator A, i.e., not only for the subject boat 1d but also for the boats 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1e, if operated by A in the past.
These manipulation data include all data related to manipulating and running of the boat 1, including, inter alia, operation of the outboard motor 12 occurring in response to the onboard operator's manipulation of the shift-throttle lever 32, as well as behavior of the hull 10 owing to operation of the outboard motor 12, and additionally include at least engine speed NE of the engine 52 of the outboard motor 12, and temperature TE of the engine 52, specifically, its change per unit time period (temperature rise rate).
Next, in S14, new manipulation data are freshly acquired (detected) from manipulation of the boat 1d by the onboard operator (A) during the current run, and the fresh data acquired and the past manipulation data acquired from the computer 2 in S12 are merged to generate merged manipulation data, whereafter the generated merged manipulation data are transmitted to the computer 2.
Next, in S16, a parameter is selected based on data having predesignated correlation in the generated merged manipulation data, and a normal value range is set based on the selected parameter.
Explaining this with reference to
In this embodiment, the normal value range for operator A is designated by symbol a and that for operator B symbol b in
Next, in S18, in which it is assessed whether parameter (corresponding to selected based on data having the predesignated correlation) in fresh manipulation data (engine temperature rise rate per predetermined period relative to engine speed) is within the normal value range a.
When the parameter in the fresh manipulation data is determined to be in the normal value range a in S18, the program goes to S20, in which it is determined that the outboard motor 12 of the boat 1d is normal, and when determined to be out of the normal value range a, the program goes to S22, in which it is predicted that the outboard motor 12 of the boat 1d is in failure, in its engine 52 or in its cooling mechanism, temperature sensor 94 or the like. This is simultaneously displayed on the display 86 as necessary.
Now to explain this with reference to
Therefore, with the prior art, when different operators, e.g. operators A and B, all (both) operators using the outboard motors 12 of the five different boats 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d and 1e, and should the parameters become as indicated by the manipulation data d1, d2 and d3 in
This is because the conventional technology defines the normal value range assuming not only all sorts of use environments but also all sorts of operator's use patterns, so that the normal value range comes to be broadly defined.
However, to the best of the inventor's knowledge, operation of the outboard motor 12 is, with the exception of steering, simple, because it is done mainly by manipulating the shift-throttle lever 32, and as a result of this, operators tend to run constantly at full throttle, or sometimes alternately with moderate acceleration, and are thus apt to display their individual operating habits (idiosyncrasies).
Against this backdrop, the inventor's attention was caught by the fact that rise rate (change per unit time) of engine temperature TE with respect engine speed NE is a parameter whose value is generally high during full-throttle running and low during moderate acceleration running.
So focusing on rise rate per unit time of engine temperature TE with respect engine speed NE as a parameter that facilitates apprehension of such operator idiosyncrasies, the inventor learned that failure of the outboard motor 12 can be predicted by defining a normal value range based thereon, and achieved this invention as a result.
Specifically, the normal value range in
From this it is possible to infer problems of the engine 52 such as deficient cooling water or temperature sensor 94 malfunction. On the other hand, when the rise rate of engine temperature TE is a negative value falling below the normal value range of the pilot concerned, failure of the cooling water circulating pump of the engine 52 (pump illustration omitted in
In addition, teaching capability such as for advising the operator to constrain temperature increase can be incorporated, in the computer 2, for example.
As stated above, the embodiment is configured to have a small boat failure prediction system (method) comprising: a plurality of small boats (1, e.g., 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e) each mounted with an outboard motor (12) equipped with an internal combustion engine (52), a steering device (32) and an electronic control unit (22), the small boats (1) being operable by one of a plurality of operators (e.g., A, B, C, D, E, F, G) through manipulation of the steering device (32) such that the electronic control unit (22) controls operation of the outboard motor (12) in response to the manipulation of the steering device (32); and a computer (2) connected to the electronic control unit (22) equipped on each of the small boats (1) through a communication means (100, 104); wherein the electronic control unit (22) comprises: an ID acquire unit (22a1; S10) configured to acquire boat ID assigned to one of the small boats (1; e.g., 1d) on which one of the operators (e.g., A) boards and personal ID of the one of the operators on board; a past manipulation data acquire unit (22a2; S12) configured to access the computer (2) to acquire past manipulation data associated with the acquired personal ID of the one of the operators (e.g., A) for all of the small boats (1; e.g., 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e) operated by the one of the operators (e.g., A); a manipulation data merge unit (22a3; S14) configured to acquire manipulation data of the one of the operators (e.g., A) on the one of the small boats (1; e.g., 1d) during current run, merge the manipulation data during the current run with the past manipulation data to generate merged manipulation data, and transmit the generated merged manipulation data to the computer (2); a normal value range set unit (22a4; S16) configured to select a parameter based on data having predesignated correlation in the generated merged manipulation data, and set a normal value range based on the selected parameter; a parameter assess unit (22a5; S18) to assess whether parameter corresponding to the selected parameter in the manipulation data during the current run is within the set normal range; and a failure predict unit (22a6; S22) configured to determine the outboard motor (12) mounted on the one of the boats (1; e.g., 1d) is in failure when the parameter is out of the set normal range.
With this, it becomes possible to achieve accurate failure prediction by identifying individual operator idiosyncrasies.
In the system, the normal value range set unit (22a4; S16) is configured to select engine temperature rise rate relative to engine speed as the parameter based on the data of speed and temperature of the internal combustion engine (52) of the outboard motor (12). With this, it becomes possible to achieve more accurate failure prediction. a
In the system, the normal value range set unit (22a4; S16) is configured to set the normal value range for each of the small boats (1) and for each of the operators. With this, it becomes possible to achieve more accurate failure prediction.
In the system, a key storing the personal ID in memory is prepared for each of the operators to be used for operating the outboard motor (12) on the small boats (1) such that the personal ID of the one of the operators on board is acquired from the key. With this, it becomes possible to achieve more accurate failure prediction.
In the system, the computer (2) is located at a position other than the small boat (1). With this, in addition to the effects and advantages mentioned above, the result can be easily utilized in office management.
Although the foregoing explanation is made taking a commercial motorboat of a taxi-boat company as an example, the boat is not limited to this and, for example, can instead be a private motorboat or a fishing boat.
Moreover, while the information communication terminal is a smartphone, it is not limited to a smartphone and can instead be a personal computer or tablet terminal having image taking capability, preferably video image taking capability, or be a mobile telephone having image taking capability, preferably video image taking capability. In addition, these can be connected to and used together with the display 86 at the cockpit seat 24 of the boat 1.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood, by those skilled in the art, that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
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