Method and system of governing a boat or the like having a single motor

Abstract

A method of governing a vessel having a bow thruster and a single steerable motor, or a motor with fixed axis, and a rudder includes maneuvering the transversal translation with activation of the bow thruster with a predetermined number of revolutions and direction of rotation and simultaneously activating the motor with a pre-established number of revolutions and setting of forward gear or reverse gear. The motor and/or the rudder are steered alternately in opposite directions with a predetermined steering angle and/or direction of travel, causing the motor to invert between forward and reverse gear, each steering position of the motor and/or of the rudder, gear setting of the motor, or the switching frequency between two steering directions lasting in the order of magnitude of the duration between setting the steering and/or gear direction of the motor and the actual displacement of the vessel and the motion inertia of the vessel.

1 . A method of governing a vessel, the vessel comprising:
 a bow thruster, provided at a bow area of the vessel;   one single steerable engine and/or an engine with axis oriented in fixed way and with a rudder;   a setting member for setting conditions of displacement of the vessel, said setting member comprising an input element of setting signals movable according to pre-established paths, said setting signals corresponding to movements of only translation, of only rotation, and/or of combinations of a rotation and of a translation of the vessel and also to variations of a speed of displacement of the vessel;   a control unit, which receives said setting signals of the movement and which is configured to generate correlated control signals of said bow thruster and/or said engine in such a way that thrust impulses exerted on the vessel by said bow thruster and/or by said engine generate a resulting impulse that moves the vessel correspondingly to conditions of movement set with said setting member,   said method comprising:   for executing a maneuver of transversal translation that provides a lateral drift, generating control signals that determine an activation of the bow thruster with a pre-established number of revolutions and a pre-established direction of rotation and simultaneously an activation of said engine with a pre-established number of revolutions and a pre-established setting of forward gear or reverse gear, wherein said engine and/or said rudder are steered alternately and in succession in one direction and in an opposite direction with respect to a longitudinal axis of the vessel with a pre-established steering angle and/or the gear direction, so as to cause a gear direction set on the engine is alternately inverted between forward gear and reverse gear, and/or wherein said number of revolutions of the engine of the bow thruster and/or of the engine of the vessel are varied in synchronized way correspondingly to a variation of the steering angle and/or of a gear direction, said succession being defined by a duration of each steering position of the engine of the vessel and/or of the rudder respectively in a first direction and in a second direction and/or of said setting of the gear of the engine in forward gear or in reverse gear and/or of the number of revolutions of the bow thruster and vessel engines, by a frequency of switching between the two steering directions and/or the two gear directions, said succession being in the an order of magnitude of a response time of a movement of the vessel between the an instant of setting of the steering direction and/or the gear and a corresponding actual displacement of the vessel caused by a thrust of the vessel engine in a corresponding steering direction and/or in a corresponding gear condition and being further determined by an inertia of motion of the vessel; and   defining correlation functions between said setting signals of the control signals for the activation separate and/or combined of said bow thruster and of said vessel engine, steerable or having the axis oriented in the fixed way, or of a combination of non-steerable engine and steerable rudder, said correlation functions comprising:   activating the setting member correspondingly to one specific target displacement of the vessel, said specific target displacement being said displacement of transversal translation and/or of the speed of displacement;   having a pilot verify an actual direction and/or speed of displacement of the vessel caused by said activating of the setting member;   manually varying the correlation functions of the control signals generated by the control unit as function of the setting signals generated by activating the setting member for executing a specific displacement until an actual displacement direction and an actual displacement speed of the vessel comes to correspond, within pre-established tolerances, with a displacement direction or displacement speed defined by activating of the setting member; and   storing said correlation functions in a memory of the control unit.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the setting member generates setting signals and correlated control signals configured to generate a displacement of the vessel according to a direction transverse to a hull and with an orientation of the transverse direction perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the hull or with an orientation of a direction of transversal translation according to directions that present at least one directional component perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the hull or alternatively maintaining the vessel in a fixed position when the vessel is not anchored or secured to a fixed point. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the two steering directions opposite to each other of the engine and/or of the rudder are realized so that the steering angle is different or identical for said two opposite steering directions, and wherein optionally the steering angle of the engine and/or of the rudder in at least one of the two opposite steering directions corresponds to a maximum possible steering angle. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein, a single device is provided that generates displacement settings and that is constituted by a joystick comprising a lever inclinable laterally in any radial direction with respect to a central position defined as neutral position, the lever being perfectly perpendicular and a direction of inclination constitutes the of the lever providing an input of the direction of translational displacement of the vessel and a position in which an axis of the lever is perfectly vertical providing an input relative to a speed assumed by the vessel during the displacement in a translational direction, and wherein the inclination of the lever with respect to the vertical orientation can take place according to two opposite directions along one identical radial direction to define a command of variation of the gear direction of at least the engine and/or of the bow thruster, thereby defining a sense of rotation of a propeller of said engine and/or of said bow thruster. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein, in combination with a generation of the setting signals of the translational direction and of the speed or of power delivered in said translational direction, the lever of the joystick can comprise further degrees of freedom including a movement of rotation around an axis of the joystick in the two senses of rotation, and wherein the setting signals of the displacement of the vessel can be correlated to control signals of the bow thruster and/or of the vessel engine due to which the vessel is rotated around a vertical axis. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , further comprising a control unit provided in combination with a control software that comprises a plurality of pre-established routine programs, in which there are integrated and codified command instructions of the steering actuators and/or of actuators of the setting of the gear direction for the engine and/or for the bow thruster and/or of power delivered by the engine and/or by the bow thruster to obtain the displacement of the vessel corresponding to position parameters of the joystick relative to different degrees of freedom of displacement provided for the lever and/or to the switching of one or more push buttons optionally provided on the joystick. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the control software executed by the control unit comprises one or more correlation functions of control signals of the bow thruster and/or of the vessel engine, relatively to the direction of the corresponding propulsion thrust, including of the gear direction or of rotation of propellers, of power of the thrust, of the number of revolutions of said propellers and of the steering angle and such correlation functions are constituted both by linear functions and by non-linear functions, for example combinations of exponential functions that are parameterized and whose variables are constituted by variables that characterize the setting signals of the displacement of the vessel generated by the setting member, said functions being variable only with reference to the parameters of parameterization of said functions and said parameters being defined by executing steps that comprise:
 the activating the setting member correspondingly to one specific target displacement of the vessel, corresponding to a transversal translational displacement and/or of the displacement speed,   the verifying by the pilot of the actual direction and/or displacement speed of the vessel caused by said activating of the setting member;   the manually varying of the correlation functions of the control signals generated by the control unit as function of the setting signals generated by the activating of the setting member for the execution of the specific displacement until the actual displacement direction and the actual displacement speed of the vessel come to correspond, within pre-established tolerances, with that defined by said activation of the setting member;   the storing the correlation functions in a memory of the control unit.   
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the correlation functions can be configured to automatically generate control signals of the bow thruster and of the engine that provide an alternative variations of the steering direction and/or of the direction of rotation of propellers and/or of neutral condition to execute transversal translational displacements of the vessel, parameters of the correlation functions further comprising parameters correlated to the setting of the frequency of switching of the direction and of the steering angle and/or of the direction of rotation of the propellers and of the number of revolutions of said propellers or of a neutral gear condition and/or of the setting of the duration of maintaining between different steering directions and/or two different steering angles and/or two different directions of rotation of the propellers and/or the number of revolutions of the propellers and which parameters are settable manually by the pilot as function of the verification by the pilot of the actual direction and/or displacement speed of the vessel caused by said activation of the setting member. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising an automatic detection using sensors of one or more different parameters provided in the following list:
 coordinates of position of the vessel relative to a GPS system and/or relative to surveys of a morphology of a coast or of stationary installations or other references that can be considered stationary and that can be taken in frames of a video camera;   distance of the vessel from one or more stationary references;   presence and distance of the vessel from one or more floating obstacles stationary or in movement;   variations of acceleration of the vessel both relative to intensity and both relative to the direction;   orientation of the bow of the vessel with respect to a terrestrial magnetic field, corresponding to a compass angle;   direction and speed of wind;   direction and speed of a current;   variations of trim of the vessel, such as inclinations of the same, optionally all or at least some of these parameters and/or the results of measurements and/or of the parameters extracted from these measurements being displayed for the pilot governing the vessel and in which   the measuring parameters or parameters obtained from processing of the measuring parameters are automatically processed by the control unit that executes a software of automatic, temporary correction of the correlation functions between setting signals of the displacement of the vessel and control signals of the bow thruster and/or of the vessel engine or temporary correction signals of the control signals of the bow thruster and/or of the vessel engine,   said software of automatic generation of said temporary correction signals comprising instructions to generate automatically signals of direct correction or by means of temporary correction of the correlation functions of the control signals of steering actuators of the engine and/or of the rudder and/or of setting of the gear direction of the engine and/or of the bow thruster or of neutral and/or of power of the engine and/or of the bow thruster in such a way as to generate resulting forces of propulsion of the vessel to compensate involuntary displacements of the same and/or to control the displacements of the vessel in the executions of maneuvers corresponding to environmental conditions and to a relative position of the vessel with respect to a target position.   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the setting of the parameters of the correlation functions between setting signals of the target displacement of the vessel and control signals is executed by an interface of setup of said correlation functions comprising a setup software and at least one input channel of one setup parameter or of one combination of setup parameters of said correlation functions or a plurality of channels for respectively each of one or more setup parameters, which channels are activable and associated to a member of input of a value of the corresponding parameter or of the values of the combination of parameters, said correlation function(s) being modified as function of input values,
 further comprising a step of providing a command of validation of said values by the pilot and of storing of the correlation functions modified with said values of a parameter validated by said validation command.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the software for setting of the value of said parameters provides instructions that when executed by the control unit display on a screen a virtual interface of setting of said parameters, which interface comprises at least one cursor for each parameter or for a pre-established combination of parameters, which virtual cursor is movable in a displayed graphic interface along a scale of values that extends parallel to a stroke of displacement of the corresponding cursor; and
 wherein the displacement of the virtual cursor in a displayed image of the virtual graphic interface of setting can take place by point and click device, or the display of visualization is a touchscreen and the displacement can take place by touching the cursors with a hand.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein, in case of a displacement of the vessel along a specific trajectory caused by a combination of different operative conditions of the steerable engine or of the engine oriented in the fixed way in combination with a steerable rudder and also of the bow thruster, and in which the actual displacement is caused by said combination of two or more of said parameters, to a combination of variable parameters there is associated a variation cursor that is configured so as to vary in combination with each other the values of said two or more of said parameters of said combination in such a way as to cause a precise effect on the variation of the displacement of the vessel, while
 to said cursor there is associated an alphanumeric and/or graphic indication of a type of displacement of the vessel that is caused by the displacement of said cursor, 
 being optionally provided a regulation or variation of a ratio between the values of the a single parameters of said combination. 
 
     
     
         13 . A system for implementing the method according to  claim 1 , the system being provided in combination with a vessel comprising at least one bow thruster, provided at least in correspondence with the bow area of the vessel and a single steerable engine and/or an engine with axis oriented in fixed way and with at least one rudder, which system comprises:
 a steering actuator that commands a steering mechanism of an engine and/or of a rudder; and/or   a switching actuator of the gear direction of the engine that commands a switching mechanism of the gear direction of the engine such as the rotation direction of a propeller and/or the direction of a propulsion jet of a jet engine; and/or   a command actuator of power delivered by the engine and that commands a regulation mechanism of power delivered by the engine;   optionally a switching actuator of the rotation direction of the bow thruster and/or a command actuator of the power delivered by the bow thruster;   members of setting of a target displacement of the vessel comprising:   members of regulation of the steering direction of said engine and/or of said rudder;   and/or command members of switching of the gear direction and/or of setting of a neutral condition of the engine;   and/or members of variation of the power delivered by the engine;   optionally command members of switching of a gear direction and/or organs of variation of the power delivered of the bow thruster;   a control unit in which is loaded a control program that comprises instructions of processing of signals generated by said setting members and that generates corresponding control signals of one or more of said actuators;   said setting members being constituted by a single unified command device that comprises a command member that is movable according to different degrees of freedom relative to a neutral position, which is inactive of command, and each corresponding to one direction of displacement of the vessel with a power of execution of said displacement and which unified command device generates command signals in which are codified the command information of said one or more actuators,   said control program comprising the instructions for the execution of the steps of the method according to  claim 1 .   
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 13 , further comprising at least one input/output interface comprising a MMI interface, said interface comprising members of variation of at least one part of the parameters provided for a configuration of the correlation functions or for combinations of two or more parameters, the activation of which members varies a setting value of the corresponding parameter and/or of a combination of parameters and/or of a ratio between the values of parameters of said combination of parameters, said variation members being associated to a scale of values of said parameters or of said combinations of parameters or of the ratio between the values of the parameters of said combinations between a pre-defined minimum value and a pre-defined maximum value. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 13 , further comprising one or more detection sensors activable manually or automatically to a measurement or to the detection of one or more different parameters characterizing different functional conditions of the vessel and/or different environmental conditions, said one or more detection sensors being:
 sensors of detection of coordinates of position of the vessel relative to a GPS system and/or relative to topographic surveys, such as for example the detection of a morphology of a coast or of stationary installations or other references that can be considered stationary and that can be taken in a frames of a video camera;   sensors of measurement of a distance of the vessel from one or more stationary references;   sensors of presence and distance of the vessel from one or more floating obstacles stationary or in movement;   sensors of acceleration of the vessel in one or more directions in space, both relative to intensity and both relative to the direction;   one or more magnetic and/or gyroscopic compasses;   sensors of the direction and of the speed of wind;   sensors of the direction and speed of a current; or   sensors of the variations of trim of the vessel, such as inclinations of the same;   said control unit being provided with at least one or more inputs for said one or more sensors and in said control unit being loaded the programs that contain the instructions to manage the functionalities of said one or more sensors and/or to receive the signals generated by said sensors;   in said control unit being loaded or loadable and said control unit executing a program that comprises the instructions for the processing of measurement signals of said one or more sensors and the generation, as function of the signals generated by said one or more sensors and/or of temporal variations of the signals of said one or more sensors, of signals of temporary correction of the control signals of said one or more actuators of the system and/or of the correlation functions of the signals of the setting members of the target displacement of the vessel with the control signals;   said functions of generation of the signals of temporary correction being combined with each other according to a plurality of different combinations that are selectable alternatively with each other and each of which combinations comprises specific switching signals between different types of navigation conditions of the vessel that are selectable and executable on manual command of an operator or automatically and to which navigation conditions are associated pre-defined displacement modes of the vessel admissible with said navigation conditions.