Methods for temporarily elevating the speed of a marine propulsion system's engine

A method for temporarily elevating a speed of an engine in a marine propulsion system in response to a decrease in helm demand, the method comprising:

• receiving, with a controller, a command to decrease the helm demand from a first helm demand to a second helm demand;
• comparing a demand difference between the second helm demand and the first helm demand to a threshold demand delta;
• and
• determining if the marine propulsion system is operating in a given mode;
• in response to the demand difference exceeding the threshold demand delta and the marine propulsion system operating in the given mode:
• tabulating a time since the demand difference exceeded the threshold demand delta;
• determining an engine speed offset based upon the second helm demand and the time;
• determining a non-elevated engine speed setpoint corresponding to the second helm demand;
• calculating an elevated engine speed setpoint based on the non-elevated engine speed setpoint and the engine speed offset;
• and
• decreasing the engine speed to the elevated engine speed setpoint.

A method for temporarily elevating a speed of an engine in a marine propulsion system in response to a decrease in helm demand, the method comprising:

• receiving, with a controller, a command to decrease the helm demand from a first helm demand to a second helm demand;
• comparing a demand difference between the second helm demand and the first helm demand to a threshold demand delta;
• and
• in response to the demand difference exceeding the threshold demand delta:
• tabulating a time since the demand difference exceeded the threshold demand delta;
• determining an engine speed offset based upon the second helm demand and the time;
• determining a non-elevated engine speed setpoint corresponding to the second helm demand;
• calculating an elevated engine speed setpoint based on the non-elevated engine speed setpoint and the engine speed offset;
• decreasing the engine speed to the elevated engine speed setpoint;
• subsequently determining if the helm demand remains at the second helm demand;
• and
• as long as the helm demand remains at the second helm demand, filtering the engine speed offset and re-calculating the elevated engine speed setpoint based on the non-elevated engine speed setpoint and the filtered engine speed offset;
• wherein in response to a command to increase the helm demand to a subsequent helm demand, the controller determines when to transition from setting the engine speed to the elevated engine speed setpoint to setting the engine speed to the non-elevated engine speed setpoint based on whether the second helm demand is above or below an idle threshold.