Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Yoshio Ohtomo

Hideaki Shimamura

Mitsuaki Kubota

Takeshi Inaba

Hikaru Ikeda

Hiroshi Mizuguchi

Norikazu Shimizu

Yoshihisa Hirose

Hiroshi Watabe

Shigekazu Sakata

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

Outboard engine body is mounted via a swivel shaft to a stern bracket. Angle sensor, provided on the stern bracket, includes a contact having a maximum operating angle set to be not greater than half of a maximum steered angle of the engine body, and it outputs detection information indicative of an operating angle of the contact. Curved member is provided on the engine body and normally held in engagement with the contact, and it has a continuously varying radius of curvature from the central axis of the swivel shaft, so that the contact varies in operating angle while sliding along a curved outer peripheral surface of the curved member in response to steering operation. Thus, a steered angle is determined on the basis of the detection information from the angle sensor.

Outboard engine unit

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.'

Outboard motor

In an outboard motor adapted for mounting on a boat and equipped with an internal combustion engine, an electric motor, a battery for supplying voltage to the engine and electric motor, and a controller for controlling the operation of the electric motor, the controller is disposed near the battery. In other words, the controller is not installed on the outboard motor side where the engine and the like are present but on the boat side where the battery is installed. As a result, the effect of the vibration and heat of the engine on the controller is minimized so that the controller can utilize simpler structural features for vibration and heat resistance and is also advantageous in terms of cost.

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Wako, Japan

Yoshio Ohtomo