Vessel characteristic estimation device and automatic steering device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10137972-B2
Application number	US-201515329728-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2015
Priority date	Jul 28, 2014
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

To easily grasp a relationship of parameter values which influence a log velocity of a ship, with the log velocity of the ship caused by the parameters, a ship characteristic estimating device is provided, which includes a data outputter configured to output a plurality of parameter data respectively including rotational speed data of a propeller of a ship, and wind velocity vector data of wind force that may act on the ship, and an estimator configured to receive the plurality of parameter data outputted from the data outputter, estimate values corresponding to the respective parameter data to be log velocity vectors of the ship, and output them as first output values. The rotational speed data are same as each other and the wind velocity vector data are different from each other.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ship characteristic estimating device, comprising:
a data outputter configured to output a plurality of parameter data respectively including rotational speed data indicating a rotational speed of a propeller of a ship, and wind velocity vector data indicating a wind velocity vector of wind force that may act on the ship; and
a processor programmed to at least receive the plurality of parameter data outputted from the data outputter, estimate values corresponding to the respective parameter data to be log velocity vectors of the ship, and output the log velocity vectors as first output values,
wherein the rotational speed data included in the plurality of parameter data indicate the same rotational speed,
wherein the wind velocity vector data included in the plurality of parameter data indicate different wind velocity vectors, and
wherein each of the first output values is estimated and outputted as the log velocity vector of the ship when the ship travels at the rotational speed indicated by the rotational speed data.

2. The ship characteristic estimating device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured by using a neural network,
wherein the processor has:
at least two input gates, respectively configured to receive one of the rotational speed data and the wind velocity vector data; and
an output gate configured to output the first output value, and

wherein values outputted from the input gates of the neural network are multiplied by a coupling coefficient and then transmitted to the output gate.

3. The ship characteristic estimating device of claim 2 , further comprising:
a ground velocity calculator configured to calculate a ground velocity vector of the ship traveling on water;
a propeller speed detector configured to detect the rotational speed of the propeller; and
a vane anemometer equipped in the ship and configured to measure the wind velocity vector of the wind force against the ship,
wherein each of the input gates receives one of the rotational speed of the propeller detected by the propeller speed detector, and the wind velocity vector measured by the vane anemometer,
wherein the output gate estimates, as the log velocity vector of the ship, a value corresponding to a condition defined by a combination of the rotational speed of the propeller detected by the propeller speed detector and the wind velocity vector measured by the vane anemometer, and outputs the value as a second output value, and further comprising an updater configured to
compare the second output value with the ground velocity vector calculated as a teaching signal by the ground velocity calculator, and
update the coupling coefficient to reduce an error between the second output value and the teaching signal.

4. The ship characteristic estimating device of claim 3 , further comprising a display configured to display a range where the ship is predicted to be located therein after a particular period of time from a current time point, based on the first output value outputted from the processor.

5. An autopilot system, comprising:
a GNSS signal receiver equipped in a ship and configured to receive GNSS signals, and
a controller configured to control a rudder angle of the ship based on positional information of the ship that is calculated based on GNSS signals received by the GNSS signal receiver,
further comprising the ship characteristic estimating device of claim 3 ,
wherein the controller controls the rudder angle of the ship based also on the first output value outputted from the processor of the ship characteristic estimating device.

6. The ship characteristic estimating device of claim 1 , wherein the processor has a memory including a plurality of cells respectively configured to store a ground velocity vector of the ship under one of a plurality of conditions defined by a combination of the rotational speed of the propeller of the ship and the wind velocity vector of the wind force against the ship for every one of the plurality of conditions, and the processor outputs, as the first output value, an average value of the ground velocity vectors stored in the cells specified by the condition corresponding to the combination of the rotational speed data and the wind velocity vector data included in the received parameter data.

7. The ship characteristic estimating device of claim 6 , further comprising:
a ground velocity calculator configured to calculate a ground velocity vector of the ship traveling on water;
a propeller speed detector configured to detect the rotational speed of the propeller; and
a vane anemometer equipped in the ship and configured to measure the wind velocity vector of the wind force against the ship,
wherein the processor further programmed to store the ground velocity vector calculated by the ground velocity calculator in the cell specified by a combination of the rotational speed detected by the propeller speed detector and the wind velocity vector measured by the vane anemometer when data required for calculating the ground velocity vector is acquired.

8. The ship characteristic estimating device of claim 7 , further comprising a display configured to display a range where the ship is predicted to be located therein after a particular period of time from a current time point, based on the first output value outputted from the processor.

9. An autopilot system, comprising:
a GNSS signal receiver equipped in a ship and configured to receive GNSS signals, and
a controller configured to control a rudder angle of the ship based on positional information of the ship that is calculated based on GNSS signals received by the GNSS signal receiver,
further comprising the ship characteristic estimating device of claim 7 ,
wherein the controller controls the rudder angle of the ship based also on the first output value outputted from the processor of the ship characteristic estimating device.

10. An autopilot system, comprising:
a GNSS signal receiver equipped in a ship and configured to receive GNSS signals; and
a controller configured to control a rudder angle of the ship based on positional information of the ship that is calculated based on GNSS signals received by the GNSS signal receiver,
further comprising the ship characteristic estimating device of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller controls the rudder angle of the ship based also on the first output value outputted from the processor of the ship characteristic estimating device.

11. A ship characteristic estimating device, comprising:
a data outputter configured to output a plurality of parameter data respectively including rotational speed data indicating a rotational speed of a propeller of a ship, and wind velocity vector data indicating a wind velocity vector of wind force that may act on the ship; and
a processor programmed to at least receive the plurality of parameter data outputted from the data outputter, estimate values corresponding to the respective parameter data to be log velocity vectors of the ship, and output the log velocity vectors as first output values,
wherein the rotational speed data included in the plurality of parameter data indicate different rotational speeds,
wherein the wind velocity vector data included in the plurality of parameter data indicate the same wind velocity vector, and
wherein each of the first output values is estimated and outputted as the log velocity vector of the ship when the wind velocity vector indicated by the wind velocity vector data acts on the ship.

12. The ship characteristic estimating device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured using a neural network,
wherein the p

Assignees

• Furuno Electric Co

Inventors

• Kawasaki Chizu
• Imasaka Masashi
• Maeno Hitoshi

Classifications

• B63H25/382

  movable otherwise than for steering purposes; Changing geometry · CPC title

• G01P5/00

  Measuring speed of fluids, e.g. of air stream; Measuring speed of bodies relative to fluids, e.g. of ship, of aircraft (application of speed-measuring devices for measuring volume of fluid G01F) · CPC title

• B63H25/04 Primary

  automatic, e.g. reacting to compass · CPC title

• B63H2025/045

  making use of satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. the Global Positioning System [GPS] · CPC title

• B63B2213/02

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. the Global Positioning System GPS · CPC title