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Contents
1. rpm at 2000 to 3000 rpm at 3000 to 4000 rpm at 4000 to 5000 rpm at 5000 to 6000 rpm and at 6000 rpm or above 15 3 The time of operation is classified and stored according to the engine s number of engine revolutions and the engine s load The load on the engine is calibrated based on the degree of the throttle opening the boost etc with relation to the number of engine revolutions Stored example of the time of operation is shown in Table 1 TABLE 1 Number of engine revolutions 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 6000 0 20 20 40 40 60 60 80 80 100 4 The operating time is summed and stored When the total time has reached the set time of maintenance or the set time of replacement of consumable and degraded parts this will be indicated by lighting of a lamp LPD buzzer sound and or on a display device LCD etc 5 For some maintenance items consumable and degraded parts judgement from only the operating time is not enough good so that the operating time is calibrated by giving a weight to respective operating time by multi plying a coefficient based on the number of engine revolutions load the degree of throttle opening boost and or operated temperature When the thus calibrated time has reached the set time the item will be displayed 6 In addition to 5 above for the items which will degrade not only from running but also from being left the p2. etc can be simplified In accordance with the third feature of the invention since the operating time when a warning about the engine occurred the operating time when the warning is cancelled and the various pieces of information about the engine at the occurrence of the warning or from the occurrence of the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 warning to the end of the warning are stored in memory it is possible to estimate the user s action and the duration of the warning from the time of occurrence of the warning and the time of the end of the warning Further from the diverse information about the engine during the occurrence of a warning the judgment of the presence of damage to the engine and the handling repair replacement etc can be improved In accordance with the fourth feature of the invention since the numbers of occurrences of various warnings are stored in memory it is possible to offer advice about the way of manipulating the boat propeller matching maintenance etc if the engine has had certain kinds of warnings many times In accordance with the fifth feature of the invention since various information can be transferred to a display device through communication network so that the stored pieces of information can be displayed on the display device this configuration provides for simplifying the layout of the management unit and the display device in addition to the
3. and cancels the lowering control S40 and S41 In embodiment 3 above the control based on the upper limit of the recommended number of engine revolutions was described but a similar control can be performed based on the upper limit of the recommended load the load calculated from the degree of the throttle opening boost pressure intake air amount etc The preferred examples of the invention have been illus trated in the description of the above embodiments but the present invention should not be limited to these For example the engines applied to the invention include those for water surface boats as well as under water boats As has been described in accordance with the first feature of the invention since the operating time when a warning about the engine occurred and the operating time when the warning was cancelled are stored in memory it is possible to estimate the user s action and the duration of the warning from the time of occurrence of the warning and the time of the end of the warning Accordingly the judgment of the presence of damage to the engine can be made easily and the handling repair replacement etc can be simplified In accordance with the second feature of the invention since the various pieces of information about the engine are 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 stored at the occurrence of a warning or from the occurrence of a warning to the end of the war
4. beam 4 of a hull 3 by means of a bracket 5 Outboard motor 2 has a drive shaft housing 6 which extends vertically in the rear of bracket 5 and is of a hollow body overally having a horizontal section of a fusiform Formed over drive shaft housing 6 is an engine holder 7 on which engine 1 lidded with a cover la is mounted A gear casing 8 is linked under drive shaft housing 6 This gear case 8 rotatably supports a propeller shaft having a propeller 9 directed horizontally to the rear The engine control system in accordance with this embodiment uses an electronically controlled fuel injection system and the engine management system is also config ured of sensors an electronic control unit 11 indicators etc As shown in FIG 2 in order to control fuel injection and perform engine management the rotational speed of engine 1 crank angle sensor 16 the degree of the throttle valve opening throttle valve opening sensor 17 the intake pres sure inside the surge tank intake pressure sensor 18 the atmospheric pressure atmospheric pressure sensor 19 the engine temperature cooling water temperature sensor 20 and the intake temperature intake temperature sensor 21 are detected by corresponding sensors so that the detected results are input to control unit 11 through an input circuit 12 If engine 1 is a two cycle engine signals from an oil flow switch 22a and from an oil level switch 22b are supplied to control unit 11 If engine 1 is
5. control they can be stored in another memory If the cancellation has not been done the indication continues to be output S28 no The indication for the oil changing timing does not need to be done at short intervals so that the indication can be made during the low speed mode or during the CPU operating time such as when the main power is turned on In the above embodiment 2 a specific example of indi cation of the engine oil changing timing was described Other than this supply or replacement of various elements such as gear oil engine oil filter water pump impeller etc can be indicated in a similar manner Next embodiment 3 will be described This embodiment 3 is to indicate and manage the running in process making use of the memory of the total operating time As stated above an outboard motor has no total distance meter so that it needs a record of the use time for achieving a proper running in process Further in general an outboard motor is used with the throttle opened to a high degree or in a high load range more often compared to the two wheel and four wheel vehicles Therefore the outboard motor is liable to be run erroneously in a high load range without making any running in process On the other hand the engine of two wheel or four wheel vehicle has a transmis sion device So if it is run in a high load range the speed of the vehicle becomes higher than required so that there is little chance that
6. engine continues to be run for more than a certain period of time with the speed or load exceeding the predetermined value In accordance with the twelfth aspect of the invention the engine management system having the above eleventh fea ture is characterized in that when the engine has continued to run at an number of engine revolutions lower than the predetermined rate for canceling the number of engine revolutions lowering control to thereby meet the predeter mined condition the number of engine revolutions lowering control is cancelled In accordance with the first feature of the invention since the operating time when a warning about the engine occurred and the operating time when the warning was cancelled are stored in memory it is possible to estimate the user s action and the duration of the warning from the time of occurrence of the warning and the time of the end of the warning Accordingly the judgment of the presence of damage to the engine can be made easily and the handling repair replacement etc can be simplified In accordance with the second feature of the invention since the various pieces of information about the engine are stored at the occurrence of a warning or from the occurrence of a warning to the end of the warning from the diverse information about the engine during the occurrence of a warning the judgment of the presence of damage to the engine can be made easily and the handling repair replacement
7. operation and effectiveness of the above first through fourth features In accordance with the sixth feature of the invention since the system has a means for storing the operating time classified according to number of engine revolutions and or engine load and manages the engine based on the stored time the timing of maintenance and replacement of con sumable parts which were difficult to manage can be known and hence can be performed easily and without any cost In accordance with the seventh feature of the invention the system includes a storing means whereby the operating time to be stored is given a weight according to the prede termined running condition of the engine and the operating time is summed up separately based on the number of engine revolutions and based on the engine load so that the sum mations are stored In this system when the stored operating time reaches a set value the corresponding management item such as the timing of maintenance the timing of replacement of consumable and or degraded parts is indi cated by lighting of a lamp buzzer sound LCD display etc Thus since the exhaustion and degradation not only depends on the time of operation but also depends on the number of engine revolutions load and temperature this configuration of giving weights enhance the precision of the timing of replacement In accordance with the eighth feature of the invention when either the time obtained by giving weigh
8. predetermined value before said total weighted operating time 11 The means according to claim 7 wherein said prede termined value for said predetermined management item varies depending upon the total weighted operating time of said engine 12 The means according to claim 10 wherein said predetermined value for said predetermined management item varies depending upon the total weighted operating time of said engine 13 An engine management system for an engine com prising means for storing data relating to said engine wherein an upper limit of a recommended number of engine revo lutions or an upper limit of a recommended load are preset in said means for storing for a running in process of said engine based on a total operating time of said engine or based on a distance related value of said engine and whereby the number of engine revolutions or load of said engine is judged to exceed said upper limit means for performing a predetermined indication when said upper limit is exceeded and control means for lowering the number of engine revo lutions when the engine continues to be run for more than a certain period of time with a speed or load exceeding a predetermined value 14 The engine management system according to claim 13 farther including means for canceling said control means for lowering when the engine has continued to run at a number of engine revolutions lower than a predetermined rate
9. system judges that the operator has recognized the running in process and returned the throttle and cancels the number of engine revolutions lowering control BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is an illustrative view showing an engine of the embodiment in accordance with the invention FIG 2 is a block diagram of the control system of an engine of the embodiment FIG 3 is a flowchart for illustrating the control of embodiment 1 FIG 4 is an illustrative diagram showing data storage in embodiment 1 FIG 5 is a flowchart for illustrating the running time accumulation control in accordance with embodiment 2 FIG 6 is a flowchart for illustrating the control of weighted summed time in accordance with embodiment 2 FIG 7 is a chart for illustrating the control during the running in process and FIG 8 is a flowchart for illustrating the control of the running in process DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings FIG 1 is an illustrative view showing an outboard motor 2 having an electronically controlled fuel injection type engine internal combustion engine 1 in accordance with the embodiment FIG 2 is a block diagram showing the control system of the engine 1 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 As shown in FIG 1 outboard motor 2 is mounted to a transom
10. the flowchart shown in FIG 6 That is the summed operating time A to G computed for each number of engine revolutions range in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG 5 is given a weight according to Table 2 above and the thus weighted values are summed up to compute a total X S21 For example X Axa Bxb Cxc Gxg is computed Next by reading the total operating time Y it is deter mined whether this total operating time Y has reached the set time y Based on this result the set value for oil changing is altered S22 That is if the total operating time Y has not reached the set time y the set values x1 and z1 are used S23 and S25 If the total operating time has reached the set values x2 and z2 are used S24 and S26 When the total X reaches x1 or x2 S23 or S24 yes an indication of oil changing is output S27 Even if the total X has not reached x1 or x2 the time Z reaches z1 or z2 S24 or S26 yes an indication of oil changing is output S27 This indication is performed by means of a symbol mark lamp liquid crystal display or the like Subsequently after the output of the indication the user recognizes the timing for changing oil and performs the canceling operation for example turn the cancellation switch on S28 yes the indication output is stopped and the summed time A to G for each number of engine revolutions range and time Z are cleared S28 to S31 If these values need to be used for other
11. when the engine failure is repaired at the checkup site such as automobile dealer etc whereby it is to provide the following effects and advantages Actually from the operating time at the occurrence of a warning and the cancellation of the warning the duration of the warning can be known so that it is possible to determine whether the user took a quick action to the warning or continued to run the engine at a low speed without taking any action Further since the sites in the engine which might possibly be damaged can be located from the types of warnings and the engine information recorded during the running of the engine it is possible to offer advice about the user s action written in the user s manual etc upon the warning or whether the user s action was proper or not as well as to facilitate early detection and replacement of consumable and or degraded parts As a practical example if a warning of overheat occurred when the total operating time was at 30 hrs 12 min and was canceled at 30 hrs 14 min the record can be understood as a temporal about two minutes in this case cooling perfor mance degradation due to air suction by excessive rise of the PTT Power Trim and Tilt due to temporal clogging of the water inlet port with a polyvinyl film or other object or due to other reasons or as that the user took a proper action upon the warning In the case where a warning of overheat occurs at 500 hrs 12 min and i
12. Engine information 2 S S Memor block 2 1 Casa a Asta SaNa pt oveweney akal operatingtime I I T Engine information ooo Engine information L o ae eee a 1 Engine information Jo do do do Warning n e g over heat U S Patent Sep 25 2001 Sheet 5 of 8 US 6 294 988 B1 FIGS si Effect the algorithm at regular intervals Add a unit time to a time Z L_ s12 and store the result S13 lt a ee YES any rotationa input 7 314 NO lt VES Store Z at the start of use gt ste Sum up the total operating time Y S17 for storage Detect the number of engine revolutions and add the time to the storage for S18 the detected speed range U S Patent Sep 25 2001 Sheet 6 of 8 US 6 294 988 B1 FIG 6 Compute X X AXa Bxb Cxe S2 Dxd EXxe Fxf Gxg Read the total operating time Y S22 S22 lt S24 NO S26 Output indication an or 28 YES Stop indication S29 Clear the summed time A to 6 classified according to number of S30 engine revolutions Clear time Z S31 U S Patent Sep 25 2001 Sheet 7 of 8 US 6 294 988 B1 FIG 7 2 e s d gt C lt a gt k ze S b ao w o V SA d Lit A B C D Time U S Patent Sep 25 2001 Sheet 8 of 8 US 6 294 988 B1 FIG 8 Read the total operdting time Y S31 Select a set value for number of 32 engine rev
13. US006294988B1 a2 United States Patent 10 Patent No US 6 294 988 B1 Shomura 45 Date of Patent Sep 25 2001 54 ENGINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 56 References Cited 75 Inventor Nobuyuki Shomura Hamamatsu JP U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 73 Assignee Suzuki Motor Corporation 5 160 926 11 1992 Schweitzer II aaaa 340 538 Shizuoka Ken JP 5 329 273 7 1994 Patton oossoo 340 517 i i 5 463 567 10 1995 Boen et al llasa 701 35 Notice oat e e l Sanes 5 642 284 6 1997 Parupalli et al a 73 117 3 t 1 5 650 930 7 1997 Hagenbuch a aa 701 35 1 53 d and is subject to the twenty year 5 754 964 5 1998 Rettig et al 701 35 patent term provisions of 35 U S C 5 890 080 3 1999 Coverdill et al vee 701 29 154 a 2 5 941 915 8 1999 Federic et al J asas 701 1 4 5 968 107 10 1999 W tall RESA 701 102 Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 601 200 4 nas Nae as 133 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 ek S eee U S C 154 b by 0 days i cited by examiner 21 Appl No 09 249 584 22 Filed Feb 11 1999 Primary Examiner Donnie L Crosland 30 Foreign Application Priority Data 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Darby amp Darby 57 ABSTRACT Apr 28 1998 IP sisirin wo tisssg CP RA Sl Int CII J aaa B60Q 1 00 GO1L 3 26 An engine management system stores the operating time 52 U S o aaa 340 438 340 441 73 117 2 When a warning about the engine occurs an
14. al weighted operating time 5 The method according to claim 1 wherein said prede termined value for said predetermined management item varies depending upon the total weighted operating time of said engine 6 The method according to claim 4 wherein said prede termined value for said predetermined management item varies depending upon the total weighted operating time of said engine 7 A system for providing a predetermined management item relating to an engine comprising means for storing a weighted operating time for each of a plurality of running conditions of said engine said weighted operating times being a product of a respec tive predetermined weighting coefficient and a respec tive operating time means for summing said weighting operating times to produce a total weighted operating time and means for indicating a corresponding predetermined man agement item when said total weighting operating time reaches a predetermined value 8 The means according to claim 7 wherein the running condition includes the number of revolutions of said engine 9 The means according to claim 7 wherein the running condition of said engine includes one or more of the fol lowing the number of engine revolutions the throttle open ing of said engine and the operating temperature of said engine 10 The means according to claim 7 wherein the prede termined management item is indicated if a total non weighted operating reaches said
15. assage of time in addition to the operating time also needs to be considered for the time calibration When either of the two has first reached the set time the item related should be displayed 7 When the interval for maintenance and the interval for replacement change depending upon the total operating time the set value is varied depending upon the operating time Next an example of the engine management system in accordance with embodiment 2 will be described with reference to the application to indication of the timing of oil changing FIGS 5 and 6 shows the operation flow of this engine management In this case as shown in Table 2 below the summed time A to G for each range of number of engine revolutions is multiplied by a weighting coefficient which is previously determined and the weighted time is summed up to com pute a summation X 40 45 50 60 65 US 6 294 988 B1 11 TABLE 2 Number of engine revolutions range Summed time Coefficient 0 1000 rpm A a Axa 1000 2000 B b Bxb 2000 3000 C c Cxc 3000 4000 D d Dxd 4000 5000 E e Exe 5000 6000 F f Fxf 6000 G g Gxg Total x In this embodiment 2 when the above summation X reaches the set value or more the user is informed of the timing of the engine oil to be changed by lighting an oil change sign or displaying it on a liquid crystal display in a stepwise manner When the user recognizes the indication and performs the canceling operation an
16. d or replacement the system detects the completion of this process and clears the display and storage and restart summing the time for the next indication about the timing for changing oil Since the degradation of the oil even with the same total operating time varies depending upon the frequency of use load use temperature and use time the timing of oil changing is indicated also taking into account the following a to c This configuration allows the user to manage oil changing without memorizing the previous time of changing oil in a more reliable and exact manner compared to the conven tional configuration a Giving weights based on the used number of engine revolutions range b The interval for the first oil changing is set shorter c Taking into account the degradation from a prolonged time of being left the display of oil changing is indicated by selecting the earlier one from the operating time and the time of being left It should be noted that the indication of the oil changing timing does not need to be made at short intervals so that the indication can be made during the low speed mode or during the CPU operating time such as when the main power is turned on Next the operation flows will be described As shown in the flowchart in FIG 5 computation of the total time for each number of engine revolutions range is commenced after the activation of the power source such as battery S11 In this case a variabl
17. d stores the 701 29 701 35 701 99 702 187 operating time when the warning is cancelled and stores 58 Field of Search aaa 340 438 439 Various engine information at the occurrence of a warning or 340 440 459 460 462 525 825 15 825 16 from the occurrence of a warning to the end of the warning 309 15 441 701 29 35 32 30 99 33 101 115 702 184 187 73 117 2 117 3 14 Claims 8 Drawing Sheets 22 __ Ol flow switch__ J 27 ukmi cae as are E A R WpS n Ss CNS a er 1 Communication n 22c Oil pressure switch 7 device Number of engine injector 6 L revolutions detector crank angle sensor VF 17 Throttle opening sensor cu eer ened Mae buzzer tachometer 18 1 Intake pressure sensor R 19 Atmospheric pressure sensor Engine temperature 20 sensor cooling water temperature 21 Intake air temperature sensor Shift position sensor Engine tilt angle sensor for 24 Air amount adjusting actuator stepping motor solenoid valve etc Fuel pump relay 25 Ignition coil 26a US 6 294 988 B1 Sheet 1 of 8 Sep 25 2001 U S Patent F G 1 US 6 294 988 B1 Sheet 2 of 8 Sep 25 2001 U S Patent DAO W Josuas ajun n4 u 6uj D9 09 uol IUBy JOSUIS UOI ISOd 1JIUS x JOSUdS 9 J0101J dul GZ Ap a4 dwnd yan ppt 12 a1 9101DJ9d119 J9 DA BU 1002 Josuas aA DA plouajos 1030W Buld
18. da s 02 OLDNIID Bu sn pD yunou Jy a i gin pseduia aulbuy NO0Ud33 AKON josuas aunsseid Weydsowyy T 6l Me ynan l n3419 i 1nd1nQ Indu Josuas aunssasd ayD UT T 9 __ Jaz woy n 19zznq a Eg dwp JO IUOW S40 D3IpU Josuas Suuado AOL 1 W J0SU9S 8 6UD YUD19 4 1 f 99 ap SUOINIOA 1 ma aL I NTO hoez PERG g sss A UAS yaneryo HAZ le L O P22 US 6 294 988 B1 Sheet 3 of 8 Sep 25 2001 U S Patent l IX ly ia 5 9391109290 3U A q S S y SD 1 uuDuu UJDS au ul 2 90 g AJOU9U 0 ut DIDP 9103S X pun YIM ug sp awos ug l 10390 u BUIUJDA pig lt 0 X gt ON L 10990 lt ie Way lt BUIUIDM a gt D91015 SDM D DP YOIYM Ut 320 ALOWAU ay J0 Jaquinu 34 p10331 V Sp J UUDUI UUDS 3y Ul Y20 q AsoWaus 01U DYDP 91015 2X PUD 3N UIN lig sb aus gl SS pal0 s S D1DD AINM U UN W W S330 q AJOWaW 40 1 qtunu ay pray TUOTDAT OD JOMOd JO aW 3y YD O UX O X 0 X 19S U S Patent Sep 25 2001 Sheet 4 of 8 US 6 294 988 B1 FIG 4 Warning 1 e g overrev Memory block 1 1 Memory block 1 2 Memory block 1 3 At the time At the time oflAt the time jAt the time off At the time jAt the time of of occurence cancellation ofoccurencel cancellation of occurence cancellation operatingtime S S Engine information
19. e H is initialized at zero H 0 For storing the time after the power activation a unit time is added to time Z at regular intervals S12 Then based on the presence or absence of the input from the number of engine revolutions detector it is determined whether there is a rotational input from the engine s running S13 If there is no rotational input the engine remains unoperated so that the operation returns to 12 On the other hand if the engine is operated there is a rotational input S13 yes it is judged whether H is equal to 0 that is whether the operation is at starting stage S14 If the engine has is just started operating the time Z when the operation is started is stored at the beginning S15 and variable H is set into 1 S16 That is the use starting time after shipment start is recorded When the engine is in operation S13 yes and when the engine has been already started at that time S14 no the total operating time Y is summed up and the sum is stored S17 Then the number of engine revolutions is detected and the time is added up for each detected number of engine 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 revolutions range computing the summed time A to G for each number of engine revolutions range see Table 2 and the results are stored S18 Then the operation returns to S12 The indication of the timing of oil changing is performed following
20. eactivation of the power source As shown in the flowchart in FIG 3 in the warning management of embodiment 1 when the power is activated x1 to xn are initialized x1 0 x2 0 xn 0 so as that no warning is given The process of storing the information of warnings such as time of the occurrence and cancellation of each of warnings 0 through n is effected following the flow partial flow within each of the regions B1 to Bn in FIG 3 In the determining process of the partial flow B1 it is determined whether warning 1 of for example overrev is occurring Step S 1 If warning 1 is occurring S1 yes it is checked which memory block M1 M2 or M3 the data is to be written in S2a S25 If the data should be written into memory block M1 S2a yes the partial flow process A in the flowchart of FIG 3 is effected On the other hand if the data should not be written into memory block M1 but should be written into memory block M2 S2b yes or should be written into memory block M3 S2b no the same process as in A is performed and the data is stored into memory block M2 or M3 respectively Here in the partial flow A it is checked first whether x1 is equal to 0 x1 0 S3 If x1 0 and a warning occurs S3 yes each piece of information is written into the cell at the time of occurrence in FIG 4 Specifically the total operating time is stored as the time of occurrence S3a and each piece of
21. engine information is stored as the information at the time of occurrence S35 and then x1 is incremented by 1 xl x1 1 S3c On the other hand if S3 no x 1 which means that a warning is occurring that is the warning once occurred has not been cancelled yet so that the total operating time is stored overwritten as the time of cancellation S3d Then the engine information is stored overwritten as the infor mation at the time of cancellation S3e This storing is repeated or updated overwritten until the warning is can celled so that the latest information can be stored Accordingly since the latest information is overwritten and stored until the warning is cancelled the latest infor mation data will remain as the data at the time of cancella US 6 294 988 B1 9 tion even if the power is abruptly shut down Here the deactivation of the power is determined as the cancellation Next the memory block number at which the data was stored is stored into the memory S4 Since the memory block number is stored at S4 even if an abrupt power shutdown occurs x1 to xn will be set into the cancelled state x1 to xn 0 when the power is activated next Every time the operation is started the memory number is loaded S5 so that the memory locations in the memory block next to the loaded memory block are set to be 10 accessible for storage S6 Here in this embodiment since three memory blocks for each warning are prov
22. es of engine information at the occurrence of a warning or from the occurrence of a warning to the end of the warning In accordance with the fourth aspect of the invention an engine management system comprises an occurrence frequency storing means for storing the numbers of occurrences of various warnings In accordance with the fifth aspect of the invention the engine management system having any one of the above first to fourth feature further comprises a means for transferring the various stored information to a display device by a communication network wherein the stored pieces of infor mation can be displayed on the display device In accordance with the sixth aspect of the invention an engine management system comprises a means for storing the operating time classified according to number of engine revolutions and or engine load and is characterized in that the engine is managed based on the stored time In accordance with the seventh aspect of the invention an engine management system comprises US 6 294 988 B1 3 a storing means whereby the operating time to be stored is given a weight according to the predetermined run ning condition of the engine and the operating time is summed up separately based on the number of engine revolutions and based on the engine load so that the summations are stored and is characterized in that when the stored operating time reaches a set value the corresponding management item i
23. g of replacement In accordance with the eighth feature of the invention when either the time obtained by giving weights to the operating time classified according to number of engine revolutions and engine load or the engine s use time including the time of being left other than the operating time first reaches the set value the predetermined man agement item the timing of replacement is indicated Thus the timing of replacement can be changed taking into account not only the operating time but also the time of being left As a result this configuration provides enhance ment of the precision of the timing of replacement in addition to the above operation and effects of the seventh configuration US 6 294 988 B1 15 In accordance with the ninth feature of the invention concerning management items of which the interval for maintenance or replacement varies depending upon the total operating time the set value is switched based on the total operating time Accordingly it is possible to vary the timing of replacement of items of which the interval for replace ment varies such as engine oil etc based on the total operating time Because for example engine oil needs to be changed after a shorter interval for the first time Thus this configuration provides the above effect in addition to the above operation and effects of the seventh or eighth con figuration In accordance with the tenth feature of the invention the s
24. his configuration provides for simplifying the layout of the management unit and the display device in addition to the operation and effectiveness of the above first through fourth features In accordance with the sixth feature of the invention since the system has a means for storing the operating time classified according to number of engine revolutions and or engine load and manages the engine based on the stored time the timing of maintenance and replacement of con sumable parts which were difficult to manage can be known and hence can be performed easily and without any cost In accordance with the seventh feature of the invention the system includes a storing means whereby the operating time to be stored is given a weight according to the prede termined running condition of the engine and the operating time is summed up separately based on the number of engine revolutions and based on the engine load so that the sum mations are stored In this system when the stored operating time reaches a set value the corresponding management item such as the timing of maintenance the timing of replacement of consumable and or degraded parts is indi cated by lighting of a lamp buzzer sound LCD display etc Thus since the exhaustion and degradation not only depends on the time of operation but also depends on the number of engine revolutions load and temperature this configuration of giving weights enhance the precision of the timin
25. ided the data is stored into block M1 after the storage into block M3 S7 That is the memory block is switched in the sequential order of 1 gt 2 gt 3 gt 1 On the other hand if the judgment is negative at S1 it is judged whether x1 is equal to 0 x1 0 S9 When x1 1 S9 no this indicates that the warning had occurred up to the previous judgment and is cancelled at this time In this case x1 is initialized so that x1 0 S10 and M1 is Throttle opening Opening incremented by 1 M1 M1 1 so that the memory block number is varied S11 to 13 That is the memory block is switched in the sequential order of 1 gt 2 gt 3 gt 1 Accordingly until the warning is canceled the data is overwritten into the same memory block The above description is made as to the process for warning 1 after the partial flow B1 is finished a similar partial flow B2 of the process of storing the information as to occurrence and cancellation of warning 2 is effected in the same manner as the processing of the above partial flow B1 When this process is completed the process for warning 3 is effected by the partial flow B3 In this way a similar flow is effected for each warning 1 to n while variables xn and Mn are varied Thus as shown in FIG 4 the warning information at the latest the second to the last and the third to last can remain for each warning Next embodiment 2 will be described In this embodiment 2 the opera
26. ing upon the pressure detecting position the hull shape forward backward movement and turning and other factors so that it cannot measure the total distance of movement Therefore in general an hour meter is used in place However the information obtained from an hour meter depends upon user s utility or how the user used the vehicle For example use of the hour meter only gives the informa tion of time so the same result will be obtained when the vehicle sails for one hour at 1000 rpm and when it sails for one hour at 6000 rpm despite the fact that the distance of movement and exhaustion and deterioration of parts and oils differ manifold Because of the above fact that the time measurement cannot provide exact information and because the conven 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 tional hour meter is costly and other reasons outboard motors mostly had no hour meter and hence it was difficult to maintain them needing high cost for exact management Moreover outboard motors from their product s nature are driven continuously under high load at high number of engine revolutions more frequently compared to the engines for two or four wheel vehicles having a transmission device Despite such use conditions it was difficult to grasp the exact time exact distance of sailing and perform exact maintenance from the reasons described above so that it was impossible to manage and perform the
27. lowering control will be performed again In the management control of embodiment 3 as shown in the flowchart in FIG 8 variable Z is set into 0 Z 0 when the operation is started First the total operating time Y at present is read out S31 so as to select the set value X X a b c or d see FIG 7 for number of engine revolutions in order to perform indication and the number of engine revolutions lowering control S32 If the number of engine revolutions is greater than the set value X S33 yes an indication lamp LCD etc indicates that the number of engine revolutions exceeds the recommended number of engine revolutions S34 On the other hand if the number of engine revolutions is equal to or lower than the set value S33 no the indication is cancelled S35 If the number of engine revolutions exceeds the set value variable Z is incremented by 1 i e Z Z 1 S36 When Z has become greater than Z1 Z gt Z1 after the number of engine revolutions was judged to exceed the set value in succession the number of engine revolutions lowering con trol is performed S37 to S38 When the speed is lower than the set value variable Z is initialized into zero Z 0 S39 When the number of engine revolutions becomes lower by e than the set value X for number of engine revolutions lowering control the system judges that the pilot has recognized the number of engine revolutions lowering control and returned the throttle
28. memory 30 which stores data without being affected by the battery power source This memory 30 may be a storage capable of retaining data by virtue of a backup power source after removable of the power source The examples of such memory include an EEPROM electrically erasable pro grammable ROM which may have the program content erased and new information implanted therein and can retain data during the power being off Now overall scheme of the control of the engine man agement system in accordance with embodiment 1 will be described 1 The system stores the operating time at the occurrence of a warning and the operating time at the cancellation of the warning US 6 294 988 B1 7 2 The system stores a variety of information about the engine number of engine revolutions degree of the throttle opening boost pressure wall temperature intake temperature atmospheric pressure etc from the occur rence of a warning to the end of the warning 3 The system overwrites the information concerning 1 and 2 so that the latest multiple number of data depending upon the storage capacity of warnings can always be stored The system also changes the storing interval sampling time of the diverse information of 2 depend ing upon the storage capacity 4 The system stores the number of occurrences of warnings The above stored contents can be displayed on the service tool personal computer etc through communication net work
29. ning from the diverse information about the engine during the occurrence of a warning the judgment of the presence of damage to the engine can be made easily and the handling repair replacement etc can be simplified In accordance with the third feature of the invention since the operating time when a warning about the engine occurred the operating time when the warning is cancelled and the various pieces of information about the engine at the occurrence of the warning or from the occurrence of the warning to the end of the warning are stored in memory it is possible to estimate the user s action and the duration of the warning from the time of occurrence of the warning and the time of the end of the warning Further from the diverse information about the engine during the occurrence of a warning the judgment of the presence of damage to the engine and the handling repair replacement etc can be improved In accordance with the fourth feature of the invention since the numbers of occurrences of various warnings are stored in memory it is possible to offer advice about the way of manipulating the boat propeller matching maintenance etc if the engine has had certain kinds of warnings many times In accordance with the fifth feature of the invention since various information can be transferred to a display device through communication network so that the stored pieces of information can be displayed on the display device t
30. of a four cycle type a signal from oil pressure switch 22c is input into control unit 11 In control unit 11 a CPU central processing unit 13 including a microcomputer RAM and ROM calculates the intake amount based on the data and performs additional compensations for the intake amount thereafter calculates the optimal injected amount of fuel which is in turn output to a fuel injector 10 via an output circuit 14 Fuel injector 10 injects an optimal amount of fuel corresponding to the intake amount by duty control Control unit 11 in addition to the above fuel injection control performs warning detection storage of the operating time and control of the running in process Other outputs from control unit 11 are supplied to indicators 23 such as monitor lamps buzzer tachometer etc an air amount adjusting actuators 24 such as stepping motors solenoid valves etc a fuel pump relay 25 and an ignition device 26 including an ignition coil 26a etc Control unit 11 also has a communication interface 28 through which signals such as operating instructions etc are transferred via a transceiver 27 from the helm arranged in front of the operator and thereby the signals are input into CPU 13 Power from the battery and or the magneto is supplied to a power circuit 29 Control unit 11 in addition to ROM read only memory and RAM random access memory for storing the programs to be effected by CPU 13 and the determined data may have a
31. olutions from time Y a b c 33 Number of ngine revolutions gt ES gt X1 NO S35 Cancel indication S34 36 Number of engine revolutions lt gt YES lt X e S i N 0 Cancel the number of engine revolutions lowering control Start the number of engine revolutions lowering control US 6 294 988 B1 1 ENGINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an engine management system which is suitable for appropriately and precisely performing maintenance failure management running in process and other management of outboard motors multi purpose engines engines for jet skis and other various engines 2 Description of the Prior Art Conventional outboard motors have had a warning system of informing the user of an anomaly mentioned below when it occurred by a warning buzzer a warning lamp LEDs etc or by lowering the number of engine revolutions so as to promote the user to manage it the dealer s checkup replacement of consumables and or supplying of oils The examples of anomalies include overrev oil pressure lowering reduction of oil for two cycle oil oil flow from clogging in the 2 cycle oil piping overheat battery s undervoltage and so on In this conventional art the system is adapted to promote the user to take a quick action by lowering the number of engine revolutions or any othe
32. ommended load are preset for the running in process based on the total operating time or based on a distance related value and whereby the number of engine revolutions or load is judged to exceed the upper limit and a means for performing the predetermined indication with a lamp or buzzer when the upper limit is exceeded As a result the running in process of the engine which was difficult to manage can be simply and exactly effected without any cost thus making it possible to improve the durability of the product In accordance with the eleventh feature of the invention the system having the above tenth feature further includes a control means for lowering the number of engine revolu tions when the engine continues to be run for more than a certain period of time with the speed or load exceeding the predetermined value Therefore in addition to the action and effect of the above tenth configuration this control means can gradually lower the number of engine revolutions by performing the ignition cutting controlling the phase lag and or injection In accordance with the twelfth feature of the invention in the system having the above eleventh when the engine has continued to run at an number of engine revolutions lower than the predetermined rate for canceling the number of engine revolutions lowering control to thereby meet the predetermined condition for example when the engine is has been run for a time longer the set time the
33. r way but as the product s nature of outboard motors the engine is enabled to continue running at a low speed high speed running is prohibited by revolution regulation in case of emergency such as being drifted However in some cases continuation of operating the engine during overheat warning or oil flow warning may cause damage to the engine depending upon the degree of the overheat degree of reduction of the amount of cooling water and or the time of running in the state When an engine which was used to sail for emergency under warning conditions not limited only to overheat or oil flow warning needs to be checked up or when a defective engine is checked up if information about under what kind of warn ings the engine was used and in what conditions time temperature etc it was used to sail under the warning state is known it is possible to perform efficient and exact maintenance of it However in the conventional configurations only the alarms of warnings by lamp indication buzzing sound lowering the number of engine revolutions was provided as stated above An outboard motor for jet ski and multi purpose engines etc differing from motorcycle or four wheel vehicles because it has no wheels has no means for detecting absolute distance of movement Though it has a speed meter which is operated making use of water pressure during forward movement this speed meter produces fluctuations in measurement depend
34. reby meet the predetermined condition for example when the engine is has been run for a time longer the set time the system judges that the operator has recognized the running in process and returned the throttle and cancels the number of engine revolutions lowering control What is claimed is 1 A method for providing a predetermined management item relating to an engine comprising the steps of storing a weighted operating time for each of a plurality of running conditions of said engine said weighted operating times being a product of a respective prede termined weighting coefficient and a respective oper ating time summing said weighting operating times to produce a total weighted operating time and indicating a corresponding predetermined management item when said total weighting operating time reaches a predetermined value 2 The method according to claim 1 wherein the running condition includes the number of revolutions of said engine 3 The method according to claim 1 wherein the running condition of said engine includes one or more of the fol lowing the number of engine revolutions the throttle open ing of said engine and the operating temperature of said engine 4 The method according to claim 1 wherein the prede termined management item is indicated if a total non 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 60 65 16 weighted operating reaches said predetermined value before said tot
35. running in process in a good enough manner SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised in order to elimi nate the above problems and it is therefore an object of the invention to provide an engine management system which can manage an engine by grasping exact running states such as warnings sailing distance running in management and the like In order to achieve the above object the present invention is configured as follows In accordance with the first aspect of the invention an engine management system comprises a warning occurrence information storing means for stor ing the operating time when a warning about the engine occurs and a warning cancellation information storing means for storing the operating time when the warning is can celled In accordance with the second aspect of the invention an engine management system comprises an engine information storing means for storing various pieces of engine information at the occurrence of a warning or from the occurrence of a warning to the end of the warning In accordance with the third aspect of the invention an engine management system comprises a warning occurrence information storing means for stor ing the operating time when a warning about the engine occurs a warning cancellation information storing means for storing the operating time when the warning is can celled and an engine information storing means for storing various piec
36. s cancelled at 501 hrs 32 min this situation indicates that the engine was operated at a low speed for a long time about 1 5 hours in this case Therefore it is highly probable that the engine has been damaged In addition in view of the occurrence of the warning after a long use this situation should be recognized such that clogging of the cooling water path with salt etc degradation of water pump thermostat piston cylinder harness and other parts should be checked for replacement Moreover since the diverse pieces of information about the engine have been stored from the occurrence of the warning to the end of it it is also possible to predict whether the engine has been damaged from the highest wall temperature and the number of engine revolutions during the above 1 5 hours The dealer can offer advice to the user about the usage and maintenance based on the types of warnings with their numbers of occurrence For example if an engine is found to have had many overrev it is possible for the dealer to advise the user about whether a proper propeller is selected and or whether the engine is operated in a right manner about the way of raising the PTT and other operation If the engine is found to have had an increased number of over warnings it is determined that there is a chance of degradation of the cooling system performance so that checkup as well as replacement of consumable and degraded parts can be performed Other
37. s indicated In accordance with the eighth aspect of the invention the engine management system having the above seventh fea ture is characterized in that when either the time obtained by giving weights to the operating time classified according to number of engine revolutions and engine load or the engine s operating time first reaches the set value the predetermined management item is indicated In accordance with the ninth aspect of the invention the engine management system having the above seventh or eighth feature is characterized in that concerning manage ment items of which the interval for maintenance or replace ment varies depending upon the total operating time the set value is switched based on the total operating time In accordance with the tenth aspect of the invention an engine management system comprises a means wherein upper limits of the recommended num ber of engine revolutions or upper limits of the recom mended load are preset for the running in process based on the total operating time or based on a distance related value and whereby the number of engine revo lutions or load is judged to exceed the upper limit and a means for performing the predetermined indication when the upper limit is exceeded In accordance with the eleventh aspect of the invention the engine management system having the above tenth feature further comprises a control means for lowering the number of engine revolutions when the
38. than the above upon troubles such as engine burn etc it is possible to confirm that the engine has been 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 unoperated for a long period of time after a warning of oil level oil pressure and or overheat and hence offer a proper advice based on the aforementioned diverse pieces of data Next FIG 3 shows a control flowchart for a specific warning management of embodiment 1 and FIG 4 shows an example of information storage scheme As shown in FIG 4 warnings 1 to n correspond to overrev oil pressure oil level oil flow battery undervoltage overheat and the like respectively Variables x1 to xn M1 to Mn are defined as follows x1 to xn correspond to warnings 1 to n and take a value of 0 xi 0 i 1 n before the corresponding event occurs and a value of 1 xi 1 during the event is occurring M1 to Mn correspond to memory blocks for storing warning information There are a plural number of for example three memory blocks for storing each kind of information and the information of each warning is stored or overwritten into the cell in the next block when the warning is cancelled so that the latest plural number of data can remain In preparation for a sudden shutdown of the power source whenever each warning is stored the memory block is stored into the aforementioned memory 30 see FIG 2 which is able to keep the data even after the d
39. the engine is continued to be run in the high load range As shown in FIG 7 depending upon the running time A to D from the start of use of the engine the upper limit of the recommended number of engine revolutions and the upper limit of the recommended engine load substituted by or calibrated from the degree of the throttle opening boost pressure air amount or the like are set and if the engine is US 6 294 988 B1 13 run exceeding the predetermined value an indicator lamp LCD etc and or buzzer is used for warning Alternatively if the engine continues to run exceeding the set value for a time longer than the set period of time the ignition and injection are controlled so as to gradually lower the number of engine revolutions to thereby promote the user running in process Further when the number of engine revolutions is gradu ally decreased so as to remind the user of the running in process and the user recognizes the running in process and returns the throttle so that the engine continues to run at a lower speed than the set value without the necessity of the speed lowering control ignition cutting phase lag injection cutting etc the speed lowering control will be cancelled This configuration is to prevent engine s inability to avoid emergency due to the running in process In this case however if the engine of the boat continues to be driven for sailing exceeding the set value for a certain time the speed
40. ting time is stored so as to inform the user or others of the timing of maintenance and the timing of replacement of consumable and degraded elements Differing from the two wheel and four wheel vehicles an outboard motor has no wheel and hence has no way to detect the absolute distance of movement Though it has a speed meter which is operated making use of water pressure during movement this speed meter produces fluctuations in measurement depending upon the pressure detecting position the hull shape forward backward movement and turning and other factors so that it cannot measure the total distance of movement Therefore in general an hour meter is used in place This hour meter typically computes the sum of the time during which the main power source the ignition switch is turned on and sums the time when the hour meter is energized even if engine 1 produces no rotation 10 In contrast to this embodiment 2 of the invention com putes the total operating time in the following manner 1 The system computes the sum of the time during which engine 1 runs The system is one shown in FIG 3 In this case time is summed up when the signal is input from the number of engine revolutions detector during running 2 In parallel the sum of time classified according to the engine s speed during running is recorded For example the time is classified according to number of engine revolutions at 0 to 1000 rpm at 1000 to 2000
41. ts to the operating time classified according to number of engine revolutions and engine load or the engine s use time including the time of being left other than the operating time first reaches the set value the predetermined man agement item the timing of replacement is indicated Thus the timing of replacement can be changed taking into account not only the operating time but also the time of being left As a result this configuration provides enhance ment of the precision of the timing of replacement in addition to the above operation and effects of the seventh configuration In accordance with the ninth feature of the invention concerning management items of which the interval for maintenance or replacement varies depending upon the total operating time the set value is switched based on the total operating time Accordingly it is possible to vary the timing of replacement of items of which the interval for replace ment varies such as engine oil etc based on the total operating time Because for example engine oil needs to be changed after a shorter interval for the first time Thus this US 6 294 988 B1 5 configuration provides the above effect in addition to the above operation and effects of the seventh or eighth con figuration In accordance with the tenth feature of the invention the system includes a means wherein upper limits of the recommended number of engine revolutions or upper limits of the rec
42. ystem includes a means wherein upper limits of the recommended number of engine revolutions or upper limits of the recommended load are preset for the running in process based on the total operating time or based on a distance related value and whereby the number of engine revolutions or load is judged to exceed the upper limit and a means for performing the predetermined indication with a lamp or buzzer when the upper limit is exceeded As a result the running in process of the engine which was difficult to mange can be simply and exactly effected without any cost thus making it possible to improve the durability of the product In accordance with the eleventh feature of the invention the system having the above tenth feature further includes a control means for lowering the number of engine revolu tions when the engine continues to be run for more than a certain period of time with the speed or load exceeding the predetermined value Therefore in addition to the action and effect of the above tenth configuration this control means can gradually lower the number of engine revolutions by performing the ignition cutting controlling the phase lag and or injection In accordance with the twelfth feature of the invention in the system having the above eleventh when the engine has continued to run at an number of engine revolutions lower than the predetermined rate for canceling the number of engine revolutions lowering control to the
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