Marine propulsion control system and a vessel containing such a marine propulsion control system

#The invention relates to a marine propulsion control system. The invention more specifically relates to a marine propulsion control system adapted to control a set of propulsion units each provided with a control unit for control of the delivered thrust by the propulsion unit and selection of gear in the case a gear unit is associated with the propulsion unit. An input command regulator is provided in the marine propulsion control system to generate inputs from a driver of the vessel. The invention particularly relates to a propulsion control system adapted to control three or more propulsion units with a reduced number of control levers.

#Several propulsion control systems adapted to control a plurality of propulsion units with a reduced number of control levers, that is input signals from one control lever should be sufficient to control the delivered thrust in the case the control lever is a throttle lever or to control engagement of gears in the case the control lever is a gear selector of two or more propulsion units. Examples of such propulsion control systems are presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,872,106 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,533.

#U.S. Pat. No. 6,872,106 relates to a propulsion control system having a plurality of propulsion units each being controlled by an associated control unit. The associated control unit receives input command signals from control levers via a remote control central processing unit, which central processing unit is configured to receive lever position data from sensors and correlate the lever position data with motor position data in order to directly control more than one motor from a single lever. All the motors controlled by the same input lever will be controlled in identical manner unless some error prevents correct control of the motors.

#An exemplifying embodiment of the invention will be described in greater detail below together with appended drawings where;

#FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a marine propulsion control system arranged to control three propulsion units,

#FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of a marine propulsion control system arranged to control four propulsion units, and

#FIG. 1 shows a simplified top view of a vessel 1 in which the present invention can be used. Generally, the invention can be used in any type of vessel, such as larger commercial ships, smaller vessel such as leisure boats and other types of water vehicles or vessels. The invention is particularly useful for small leisure boats, but it is nevertheless not limited to such type of water vehicle only.

#As indicated schematically in FIG. 2, the vessel 1 is designed with a hull 2 having a bow 3, a stern 4 and being divided into two symmetrical portions by a centre line C. In the stern 4, three propulsion units 5, 6 and 7 are mounted. More precisely, the vessel 1 is provided with a first propulsion unit 5 arranged at the port side, a second propulsion unit 6 arranged at the starboard side and a third propulsion unit 7 arranged in the centre. The propulsion units 5, 6 and 7 are pivotally arranged in relation to said hull for generating a driving thrust in a desired direction of a generally conventional kind, for example in the form of an outboard drive, an azimuthal drive unit or out board engines. Pivotally arranged propulsion units of different types are known in the art, such as for instance out board engines arranged in the stern of the vessel, out board drive units pivotally arranged in relation to the hull, and which out board drive units are powered from a non rotatably arranged power unit such as for instance of the type described in WO03093105 and azimuthal drive units where the propulsion unit together with its power unit are pivotally arranged in relation to the vessel such as of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,927, an will therefore not be described in further detail. The control of the propulsion units are performed by a marine propulsion control system 9.

#The two propulsion units 5, 6 may advantageously be independently steerable by a steering control system cooperating with and preferably integrated into the propulsion control system 9. With independently steerable is intended that each propulsion unit is connected to and controllable by means of separate steering control units 10, 11 and 12 which are suitably in the form of a computerized unit for receiving commands from steering control instruments 13, 14. The steering control instruments may be provided in the form of a steering wheel 13 or a joy stick 14 or the combination of both.