Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hikaru Ikeda

Koji Kuriyagawa

Hajime Yoshimura

Yoshiyuki Matsuda

Hideaki Shimamura

Mitsuaki Kubota

Takeshi Inaba

Yoshio Ohtomo

Norikazu Shimizu

Makoto Yazaki

Toru Kimura

Tsuyoshi Harada

Naoki Aikawa

Yasukata Kohashi

A shift mechanism of an outboard motor has an electric actuator having a movable rod, and a guide structure for guiding a linear motion of a sliding body connected to the movable rod. In addition, the shift mechanism includes a link rod connected to the sliding body and bent to extend in a direction different from the direction of the linear motion of the sliding body. Furthermore, the shift mechanism includes a shift shaft part which is connected to the link rod, performs a rotational motion on the basis of a displacement of the link rod, and switches a range of a transmission mechanism provided below on the basis of the rotational motion.

Shift mechanism of outboard motor, and mount structure of shift mechanism

In an outboard motor having a prime mover, a gear mechanism transmitting a driving force of the prime mover to a propeller, and a gear case housing the gear mechanism, it is configured to have a drain bolt fastened to a drain hole bored at the gear case and constituted as a magnetic member; a stacked portion provided at an exposed part of the drain bolt in an inside of the gear case and having a conductor, an insulator and a resistive element partially making contact with the conductor that are stacked in a gravitational direction; a current detector detecting a current value conducted from the conductor to the drain bolt under a condition where voltage is applied to the conductor; and a wear debris amount detector adapted to detect an amount of wear debris of the gear mechanism deposited at the drain bolt based on the conducted current value.

Outboard motor

In an apparatus for controlling a speed of an internal combustion engine installed in an outboard motor and having an actuator connected to a throttle valve of the engine to open and close the throttle valve, and up/down command signal outputting devices that output an up/down command signal to increase/decrease the engine speed when manipulated by an operator, the engine speed is controlled to change in response to the up or down command signal with an engine speed change amount per unit time made different depending on whether the detected engine speed exceeds a reference speed or not, thereby enabling to finely and precisely control the engine speed in the low speed range, while facilitating speed regulation.

Engine speed control apparatus for outboard motor

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller, and a torque converter interposed between the engine and a drive shaft and equipped with a lockup clutch, it is configured to have a throttle opening detector that detects throttle opening of a throttle valve of the engine, a throttle opening change amount calculator that calculates a change amount of the calculated throttle opening, and a clutch ON unit that makes the lockup clutch ON when the calculated change amount is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and keeps the lockup clutch ON during a predetermined time period. With this, it becomes possible to improve acceleration performance immediately after the engine speed is accelerated.

Outboard motor control apparatus

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller and a torque converter interposed between the engine and a drive shaft and equipped with a lockup clutch, it is configured to, based on input rotation speed and output rotation speed of the torque converter, calculate a speed ratio of the torque converter and a change amount of the input rotation speed, and make the lockup clutch ON/OFF based on the calculated speed ratio and change amount. With this, it becomes possible to appropriately make the lockup clutch ON/OFF, thereby improving speed performance.

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor mounted on a stern of a boat and having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller, a drive shaft that connects the engine and the propeller, a torque converter that is interposed between the engine and the drive shaft and is equipped with a lockup clutch, a water pump connected to the drive shaft to be driven by the drive shaft, and a shift mechanism interposed between the drive shaft and the propeller, comprising a neutral position detector that detects the shift mechanism being set in a neutral position; and a clutch ON unit that makes the lockup clutch ON to increase operation speed of the water pump when it is detected that the shift mechanism is set in the neutral position. With this, it becomes possible to improve cooling performance, thereby preventing a defect such as overheat of the engine.

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor mounted on a stern of a boat and having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller, a drive shaft that connects the engine and the propeller, and a torque converter that is interposed between the engine and the drive shaft and is equipped with a lockup clutch, it is configured to have a planing determiner that determines whether the boat is planning and a clutch ON unit that makes the lockup clutch ON when the boat is determined to be planing. With this, it becomes possible to appropriately make the lockup clutch ON after completing acceleration, thereby improving speed performance.

An operating handle of an outboard motor is provided with a rotatable grip and a low-speed mode switch unit. A controller performs control so that when the low-speed mode switch unit is 'on,' the ratio at which the target speed varies with the manipulated variable of the grip is reduced in comparison with when the low-speed mode switch unit is 'off.'

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Hikaru Ikeda