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US 7,441,528 B2Granted
Outboard motor
AssigneeYamaha Marine Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakayuki Osakabe, Yoshibumi Iwata
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AssigneeYamaha Marine Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakayuki Osakabe, Yoshibumi Iwata
Estimating the term…
An outboard motor mounted to a hull of a watercraft includes a V-type engine having right and left cylinder banks positioned in a cowling and having a crankshaft generally vertically disposed when the watercraft is under a running condition. A surge tank is disposed in the cowling. Right and left side long intake conduits and right and left side short intake conduits both connect the surge tank to intake ports of respective right and left banks of cylinders. The associated long intake conduits and short intake conduits can be selectively established depending on information about operational conditions of the hull and/or the outboard motor. The outboard motor includes right and left shut-off valves interchanging the long intake conduits and the short intake conduits. Right and left actuators individually actuate the right and left shut-off valves in accordance with information about operational conditions. A control means individually controls operations of the respective actuators.
An outboard motor adapted to be mounted on a hull of a watercraft, the outboard motor including a cowling and a V-type engine generally enclosed within the cowling, the engine comprising right and left banks of cylinders, a crankshaft arranged to extend generally vertically when an attached watercraft hull is in an operating condition, a surge tank disposed within the cowling, right and left side intake conduits for connecting the surge tank to intake ports of respective cylinders of the right and left banks, the right and left side intake conduits each having first and second openings into the surge tank, each intake conduit having a valve for selectively closing the second opening so as to place the conduit in a long effective intake conduit condition, the conduit being in a short effective intake conduit condition when the valve is open, right and left actuators for actuating valves on the right side and left side, respectively, and a controller for controlling operation of the actuators in accordance with information about engine and/or watercraft operational conditions, wherein the controller controls the right actuator independently from the left actuator.
An outboard motor adapted to be mounted on a hull of a watercraft, the outboard motor including a cowling and an engine generally enclosed within the cowling, the engine comprising a plurality of cylinders, a crankshaft arranged to extend generally vertically when an attached watercraft hull is in an operating condition, a surge tank disposed within the cowling, intake conduits for connecting the surge tank to intake ports of respective cylinders, the intake conduits each having first and second openings into the surge tank, each intake conduit having a valve for selectively closing the second opening so as to place the conduit in a long effective intake conduit condition, the conduit being in a short effective intake conduit condition when the valve is open, a valve actuator for actuating the valves, and a controller for controlling operation of the actuator in accordance with information about engine and/or watercraft operational conditions, wherein the controller is adapted to control the valves so as to vary the valve operation speed during opening and/or closure of the valve and/or to operate the valve in a step-by-step manner in which the valve is moved step-by-step through a plurality of discrete valve positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.