Marine steering system and method
AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorsMatthew E. Derginer, John O. Scherer, III, Roger W. Schreiber
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of controlling steering of a marine vessel includes receiving a steering input from an operator-controlled steering input device, determining a desired turn rate for the marine vessel and a desired roll angle for the marine vessel based on the steering input, and controlling a steering angle of at least one trimmable propulsion device based on the desired turn rate and controlling a trim deployment of a pair of trim tabs and/or the trimmable propulsion device based on the desired roll angle so as to steer the marine vessel according to the steering input.
Claims21
A steering system on a marine vessel, the steering system comprising:
- at least one trimmable propulsion device configured to propel the marine vessel;
- for each of the at least one trimmable propulsion device, a steering actuator configured to rotate the at least one trimmable propulsion device to a steering position and a propulsion device trim actuator configured to move the propulsion device about a trim axis to a propulsion trim position;
- a pair of trim tabs each configured to be actuatable by a pair of trim tab actuators to first and second trim tab positions;
- a control system configured to:
- receive a steering instruction;
- determine a desired roll angle and at least one of a desired turn rate and desired turn angle for the marine vessel based on the steering instruction;
- determine the steering position, the propulsion trim position, and the first and second trim tab positions based on the desired roll angle and the at least one of the desired turn rate and/or the desired turn angle;
- and
- control the steering actuator to effectuate the steering position, control the propulsion device trim actuator to effectuate the propulsion trim position, and control the pair of trim tab actuators to effectuate the first and second trim tab positions so as to effectuate the steering instruction.
A method of controlling steering of a marine vessel, the method comprising:
- receiving a steering input from an operator-controlled steering input device;
- determining a desired turn rate for the marine vessel and a desired roll angle for the marine vessel based on the steering input;
- and
- controlling a steering angle of at least one trimmable propulsion device based on the desired turn rate and controlling a trim deployment of a pair of trim tabs and/or the trimmable propulsion device based on the desired roll angle to steer the marine vessel according to the steering input.
A method of controlling steering of a marine vessel, the method comprising:
- based on a desired turn rate, calculating a desired roll angle for the marine vessel;
- determining a trim deployment of each of a pair of trim tabs and a propulsion trim position of at least one trimmable propulsion device based on the desired roll angle;
- and
- controlling a steering angle of the at least one trimmable propulsion device based on the desired turn rate and controlling a plurality of trim actuators to move each of the pair of trim tabs to the trim deployment and to move the trimmable propulsion device to the propulsion trim position to effectuate the desired turn rate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.