Electro-mechanical steering device, especially for boats

Details Electro-mechanical steering device, especially for boats Electro-mechanical steering device, especially for boats

1992-07-23

1993-10-19

Le, Mark T.

Ships

Steering mechanism

Remote control steering excluding manual operation

114144R, 745024, 745025, B63H 2520

Patent

active

052536041

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electro-mechanical steering device comprising a manual steering means, mechanical transmission means acting between the steering means and a steered element, said transmission means being in the form of a control cable consisting of a cable jacket and an operating cable displaceable in the jacket, an electrical servo motor coupled to the steered element, and means cooperating with the manual steering means arranged to send a steering signal to the servo motor upon actuation of the manual steering means.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An electro-mechanical steering device, especially intended for boats, of this type is known by SE-A-392 083, for example. The steering means consists of a common steering wheel and the steered element consists of a steering arm on a steering shaft to a rudder or a steerable propeller drive unit. The mechanical transmission consists of a steering gear coupled to the steering wheel and a cable rotationally driven thereby, which is connected to a ball bearing screw, where the rotational movement is converted into a linear movement which is coupled to a servo motor. The steering wheel is joined to the steering wheel shaft via a gap connection with a pole reversing switch which, within the gap range, if the steering wheel is turned, turns the switch on or off to start or stop the servo motor.
The advantage of such an electro-mechanical system is that it is simpler and less expensive than the more widely used hydraulic servo systems. It is simple to arrange for emergency steering in event of power failure. One disadvantage of the known system described here is, however, that it lacks an electrical feedback circuit which means that it is not suitable for dual command steering, for example, i.e. with a main steering station and an extra steering station, on the flybridge, for example. There is thus no information at the extra steering station concerning the rudder setting, and this means that the steering wheel position on the flybridge will never reflect the deflection of the rudder. The slightest movement of the steering wheel from a neutral position will deflect the rudder regardless of whether or not the rudder, when it is coupled over from the main steering station to the extra steering station, already has an extreme deflection. Thus, the steering wheel at the extra steering station in practice only functions as a switch.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is in general to provide a simple and inexpensive electro-mechanical steering device of the type described by way of introduction, which eliminates the disadvantage of the above described known steering device.
This is achieved according to the invention by virtue of the fact that the manual steering means is coupled to a command value sender, arranged to send a signal dependent on the position of the steering means relative to a predetermined position to an electronic control unit, that the steered element is coupled to an actual value sensor, disposed to send a signal, dependent on the position of the steered element relative to a predetermined position, to the control unit, which is disposed to compare said signals and send a control signal dependent on the difference to the servo motor, and that the jacket and the operating cable are so joined to the steering means and the steered element that an initial operating movement of the steering means does not cause a relative displacement between the cable and the jacket.
The invention achieves a steering device with feedback which is simple and inexpensive and can be used at multiple operating stations. If the rudder has a steering deflection and the steering wheel at the extra operating station is in a neutral position when the switch-over is made from the main operating station, the initial turning of the steering wheel at the extra operating station will not result in any additional rudder deflection as in the known system. Only when the steering wheel has been turned enough so that the

REFERENCES:
patent: 4004537 (1977-01-01), Nilsson
patent: 4495881 (1985-01-01), Teraura
patent: 4595867 (1986-06-01), Cognevich
patent: 4610214 (1986-09-01), Kodera
patent: 4872367 (1989-10-01), Spease
patent: 4895041 (1990-01-01), Cunningham

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