Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

Sperry Marine Inc.

Ronald K Richey

Eldon John Thompson

Rebecca A Bird

Gregory Schluge

Albert L Coleman

John F Yancey, Jr

Jeffrey C Johnson

David A Bennett

Hayo Steiger

Steven E Schubert

Johann-Peter Hoelting

Uwe Gerhard Oldekop

A rudder control system having adjustable rudder drive turn off and 'turn on,' and component wear monitoring. The rudder drive 'turn off' being adjusted in accordance with the rudder stop position relative to the rudder order stop position, thereby improving position accuracy. Frequency of system &#x201c;turn on&#x201d; is compared to an acceptable &#x201c;turn on&#x201d; frequency for solenoid operation. Should the &#x201c;turn on&#x201d; frequency exceed the acceptable &#x201c;turn on&#x201d; frequency, the rudder angle at which &#x201c;turn on&#x201d; is implemented is adjusted to protect solenoids in the system from burnout. The rate of change of the rudder repeatback signal is monitored. A slow rate of change providing an indication of some component problem.

Rudder control system with adjustable solenoid on/off settings, solenoid burnout protection, and hydraulic system monitoring

A marine vessel steering system having a bus to which an autopilot interface unit (AIU) containing an autopilot function is coupled. The system having at least one steering location at which autopilot function controls are positioned and coupled through a cable (bus) interface unit (CIU) to the bus for communication with the AIU. In the event that more than one steering location seeks access to the bus, priority is established by an arbitration procedure between data frames transmitted from each steering location. A manual steering unit, such as a helm, is positioned at the main steering location and directly coupled to the AIU, wherein a switch selects between autopilot function rudder control and helm rudder control. Miniwheels, which operate in a manner similar to that of a helm, are positioned at steering locations remote to the main steering location which communicate with the AIU to switch between autopilot function control to miniwheel control. A multiplicity of AIUs may be utilized to maintain operation with a minimum of disruption should an AIU fail by switching from the failed unit to one of the other AIUs. Marine vessels containing more than one rudder have an AIU respectively associated with each rudder. Through a master/slave arbitration procedure one AIU is established as the master and the others as the slaves. After the master/slave relationship is establish, the master provides all data for rudder control.

Flexible and fault tolerant networked steering system

A ship steering system has a multiplicity of selectable steering stations. A continuously rotating helm at each steering station generates digital rudder control signals which cause a predetermined rudder movement for each 360.degree. of helm rotation. Steering stations are selected through a multiplexer controlled at a command steering station. The steering system is operable from the command steering station in a plurality of modes, which includes auto-pilot, helm (full-follow-up), and tiller (non-follow-up). Helm and/or tiller modes of operation are available at steering stations remote from the command steering station. The system provides for an emergency takeover from the helm or autopilot modes by automatically establishing the tiller mode when the tiller stick is moved. When in the autopilot mode an alarm system provides an alert should the course deviate from a selected course tolerance.

Configurable marine steering system

Growing community of inventors

Charlottesville, VA, United States of America

Ronald K Richey