Jet propelled watercraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9545984-B2
Application number	US-201514814648-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2015
Priority date	Aug 8, 2014
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A jet propelled watercraft includes a prime mover, a jet pump driven by the prime mover and jetting water from a jet port, a reverse gate changing a direction of the jet flow jetted from the jet pump, a shift actuator switching a position of the reverse gate among a plurality of shift positions, a reverse gate position detector detecting the position of the reverse gate, and a controller configured or programmed to execute a shift control of setting a target shift position of the reverse gate and controlling the shift actuator to move the reverse gate to the target shift position and execute an error judgment of judging that an error has occurred when the position detected by the reverse gate position detector differs from a control position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A jet propelled watercraft comprising:
a body;
a prime mover;
a jet pump driven by the prime mover and jetting water from a jet port;
a reverse gate changing a direction of the jet flow jetted from the jet pump;
a shift actuator switching a position of the reverse gate among a plurality of shift positions including a forward drive position, at which the direction of the jet flow is toward the rear of the body, a reverse drive position, at which the direction of the jet flow is toward the front of the body, and a predetermined neutral position between the forward and reverse drive positions;
a reverse gate position detector detecting the position of the reverse gate; and
a controller configured or programmed to execute a shift control of setting a target shift position of the reverse gate and controlling the shift actuator to move the reverse gate to the target shift position and execute an error judgment of judging that an error has occurred when the position detected by the reverse gate position detector differs from a control position.

2. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to execute a movement error process of controlling the shift actuator to stop the movement of the reverse gate by the shift control and move the reverse gate in a direction opposite to a direction of movement of the reverse gate before stoppage when the controller judges that the error has occurred during driving of the shift actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

3. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to execute a movement error process of controlling the shift actuator to stop the movement of the reverse gate by the shift control and move the reverse gate to a position immediately before being moved by the shift control when the controller judges that the error has occurred during driving of the shift actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

4. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to judge whether or not the error has occurred based on a movement amount of the reverse gate per unit time during driving of the shift actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

5. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 2 , wherein
the shift actuator is an electric shift actuator; and
the controller is configured or programmed to judge whether or not the error has occurred based on an electric current flowing through the electric actuator during driving of the electric actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

6. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed so that after the movement error process has been started, movement of the reverse gate by the shift control is prohibited until a power supply of the controller is turned off.

7. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a display; wherein
the controller is configured or programmed to make error occurrence be displayed on the display when the controller judges that the error has occurred during driving of the shift actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

8. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a storage storing a most recent target shift position; wherein
the controller is configured or programmed to judge that the error has occurred if, when the shift actuator is not being driven by the shift control to move the reverse gate, the position detected by the reverse gate position detector differs from the target shift position stored in the storage.

9. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to execute a keep error process of controlling the shift actuator to move the reverse gate to the target shift position stored in the storage if the controller judges that the error has occurred when the shift actuator is not being driven by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

10. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a display; wherein
the controller is configured or programmed so as not to make error occurrence be displayed on the display if the controller judges that the error has occurred when the shift actuator is not being driven by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

11. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 9 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed so that if the target shift position is changed while the keep error process is being executed, the controller cancels the keep error process and causes the reverse gate to be moved by the shift control to the target shift position after the change.

12. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to execute a malfunction determination of determining whether or not a malfunction has occurred in the reverse gate position detector or the shift actuator and to perform the error judgment when the controller determines that a malfunction is not occurring in the reverse gate position detector or the shift actuator.

13. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to execute a malfunction determination of determining whether or not a malfunction has occurred in the reverse gate position detector or the shift actuator and so as not to perform the error judgment when the controller determines that a malfunction has occurred in the reverse gate position detector or the shift actuator.

14. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to control the shift actuator to move the reverse gate to the forward drive position when the controller determines that a malfunction has occurred in the reverse gate position detector.

15. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed to judge whether or not the error has occurred based on a movement amount of the reverse gate per unit time during driving of the shift actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

16. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 3 , wherein
the shift actuator is an electric shift actuator; and
the controller is configured or programmed to judge whether or not the error has occurred based on an electric current flowing through the electric actuator during driving of the electric actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

17. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured or programmed so that after the movement error process has been started, movement of the reverse gate by the shift control is prohibited until a power supply of the controller is turned off.

18. The jet propelled watercraft according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a display; wherein
the controller is configured or programmed to make error occurrence be displayed on the display when the controller judges that the error has occurred during driving of the shift actuator by the shift control to move the reverse gate.

Assignees

• Yamaha Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Okamoto Yukitaka

Classifications

• B63H11/11 Primary

  with bucket or clamshell-type reversing means · CPC title