WO1998043144A1

WO1998043144A1 - Control and manoeuvring stick

Info

Publication number: WO1998043144A1
Application number: PCT/NO1998/000090
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hans Petter Hildre
Original assignee: Kvaerner Asa
Priority date: 1997-03-21
Filing date: 1998-03-20
Publication date: 1998-10-01
Also published as: AU6528098A; SE9903342D0; SE9903342L; NO971333D0; NO305009B1; NO971333L

Abstract

A control stick having four rod-like shaft members (4, 5, 6 and 7) can be moved in the plane (X, Y) and turned, that is, three degrees of freedom. Three of the shaft members (4, 5, 6) are spherically supported in the handgrip (1) of the control stick and the base portion (3). A fourth shaft member (7) placed centrally between the three others transmits the stick motion to sensors in the base portion (all three degrees of freedom). This fourth shaft member (7) is spherically supported in the base portion and is attached to the handgrip portion (1) by means of a universal joint (22). The fourth shaft member (7) is advantageously capable of being tension-loaded by means of a tension device (24) so that the force required to operate the control stick can be adjusted.

Description

CONTROL AND MANOEUVRING STICK

The invention relates to a control and manoeuvring stick, comprising a shaft portion and a handgrip portion and supported in a base portion by means of the shaft portion, the shaft portion being designed and supported for motion in a spherical segment surface in the base portion.

It has become more and more common, for example, to equip marine vessels of all kinds with manoeuvring and control means of the stick type, so-called joysticks. First, the actual rudder function was assigned to a single stick capable of being moved sideways. Several sticks are used for manoeuvring, e.g., for effort and for fore or aft steering of propellers, preferably one set for each propulsion unit. In addition, there are sticks to steer thrusters, again often one for each of them. A system of this kind is large and over-complex, it requires the operators to be trained, and thus the danger of operational error increases. A safe manoeuvring in a port or harbour is dependent upon the personal skills of the operators. Consequently, developments have gone in the direction of combining several functions in fewer control means (sticks). Multifunctionality is obtained by means of mechanical couplings, to an increasing extent via electronics and actuators, and also software with different forms of feedback. Software also exists for deferring control pulses in order to obtain desired power vectors from selected or all propulsion means on the basis of a given command. Despite many efforts to simplify the systems with a view to the number of manoeuvring means, it is common practice for at least two means to be used in order to initiate movement and motion with all degrees of freedom.

The object of the invention is to make possible the use of a single manoeuvring means with which any desired movement of the vessel can be initiated, e.g., motion to the sides, turning about any point whatever, astern and ahead operations, and not least forward sailing according to a desired heading and speed. All these motions should be capable of taking place simultaneously in any natural combination.

The manoeuvring means may be connected to an automatic control system which comprises algorithms and programmed data, and also information from sensors such as position and motion sensors, and sensors which give feedback of the position of the control-effort means at all times. An automatic control system of this kind should be such that with increasing stick deflection the desired motion is initiated faster, i.e., with greater power. EP-A 459183 makes known a control stick which comprises a handgrip portion and a shaft portion supported on a base portion by means of the shaft portion, the shaft portion being designed and supported for motion in a spherical segment surface in the base portion.

According to the invention, a control and manoeuvring stick for a vessel is therefore proposed as mentioned above, characterised in that the shaft portion is made of three shaft members which are supported in respective ball joints in the handgrip portion and in the base portion, and that the shaft portion also includes a fourth shaft member which is supported by a ball joint in the base portion and is connected to the handgrip portion by a universal joint, which fourth shaft member is connected to motion sensors in the base portion.

A control and manoeuvring stick of this kind will allow motion in the plane (X,Y) and rotation, that is, three degrees of freedom. The handgrip portion or the handgrip will always remain level as the three shaft portions will function as a "parallelogram". The fourth shaft portion will transmit the motion to the sensors in the base portion, which is in the form of a housing, and this applies in the case of all three degrees of freedom.

The fourth shaft member is preferably arranged so as to be centred relative to the said three shaft members.

In an especially advantageous embodiment, the fourth shaft member may be capable of being adjustably tension-loaded.

In a practical embodiment the fourth shaft member may be capable of being tension- loaded by means of an adjustable spring device in the handgrip portion.

Such a tensile load on the fourth shaft member produces a corresponding pressure in the three other shaft members. By adjusting or setting this tensile force, it will be possible at the same time to adjust the necessary force to operate the stick.

The fourth shaft member, which passes into the base portion, which forms a housing, may advantageously be attached to mechanical position indicators. Thus, the ball joint for the fourth shaft member in the base portion may to advantage be attached to a mechanical position indicator, for example, in that the fourth shaft member in its ball joint has a mark, for example, a hole, for interaction with a position indicator, for example, a spring-loaded ball. Similarly, the fourth shaft member in the end thereof in the base portion can have a ball or a similar element intended for interaction with one or more indication grooves in a spherical segment surface in the base portion.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a control stick according to the invention; and Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section through the control stick shown in Fig. 1.

As can be see from the figures, the control and manoeuvring stick includes a handgrip portion 1, a shaft portion 2 and a base portion 3.

The stick shaft portion 2 includes four shaft members 4, 5, 6 and 7. In the section in Fig. 2 only three shaft members 4, 6 and 7 are shown.

Three of the shaft members, namely the shaft members 4, 6 and 7 are supported in the handgrip portion 1 by means of respective ball joints 8, 9 (only two are shown in the section in Fig. 2) and are supported in the base portion by means of respective ball joints 10, 11 and 12 (see Fig. 1). The ball joints 8, 9, 10,11, 12 are mounted in respectively the handgrip portion 1 and the base portion 3, as shown in Fig. 2, where it can be seen that the handgrip portion 1 consists of an upper plate 13 and a lower plate 1 secured thereto, whilst the lower ball joints 10, 11, 12 are supported in a similar manner in the base portion 3, in whose housing there is provided a ball socket completing plate 15.

The three shaft members 4, 5 and 6 are arranged in the corners of an isosceles triangle in plan view. The fourth shaft member 7 is placed centrally between these, as can be seen clearly from the figures, and by means of a ball joint 16 is pivotally supported in the base portion 3. The plate 15 has a conical recess which allows motion of the extension 17 of the fourth shaft member 6 inside the base portion 3, against a spherical segment surface 18, where there is provided a groove 19 for interaction with a spring-loaded ball 20 which is secured in the end of shaft member 6, 17. In its upper end, the shaft member 6 is coupled by means of a universal joint 22 to the handgrip portion 1, said universal joint 22 having in its upper end a washer 23 slidably arranged in a bore in the handgrip portion 1, positioned slightly eccentrically relative to the shaft member 6. From the washer 23 there rises a threaded pin 24 on which there is a jamb nut 25 which with the aid of an intermediate washer 26 actuates a tension spring 27, whose lower end rests against the bottom of the illustrated depression is the upper plate 13 of the handgrip portion. By means of the screw and the nut 24, 25, the spring can be adjusted, whereby the tensile force which is to act on the fourth shaft member 6, can be adjusted. In this way, the force necessary to operate the stick can be adjusted, the tension in the central shaft member giving a corresponding compressive force in the three other shaft members.

The fourth shaft member 6 is attached inside the housing by means of its extension 17 to non-illustrated sensors which can detect the motions made by the central shaft member 6 when the handgrip portion 1 is operated, i.e., moved in accordance with its three degrees of freedom. When the handgrip portion is moved towards the right or the left in the paper plane, the shaft member 6 will follow this motion as a consequence of the mounting/support. When the shaft portion 1 is turned about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the turning motions will be transmitted to the central shaft member 6 by means of the universal joint 22.

In Fig. 2 a machined hole 28 is indicated in the ball in the ball joint 16. A non- illustrated spring-loaded ball can interact with this hole and, for example, give an indication of when the turning motion or the rotation of the fourth shaft member 6 is zero. Similarly, the interaction between the ball 20 and one or more grooves 19 in the spherical segment surface 18 in the base portion 3 gives the possibility of mechanical indication of, for example, when Y is equal to zero.

Claims

P t e n t c l a i m s

1.

A control and manoeuvring stick, comprising a handgrip portion (1) and a shaft portion (2), and supported by means of the shaft portion (2) in a base portion (3), the shaft portion (2) being designed and supported for motion in a spherical segment surface in the base portion (3), characterised in that the shaft portion (2) is made having three shaft members (4, 5, 6) which are supported in respective ball joints (8, 9, 10, 11, 12) in the handgrip portion (1) and in the base portion (3), and that the shaft portion (2) also includes a fourth shaft member (6) which is supported by means of a ball joint (16) in the base portion (3) and is connected to the handgrip portion (1) by a universal joint (22), which fourth shaft member (6, 17) is attached to motion sensors in the base portion (3).

2.

A control and manoeuvring stick according to Claim 1, characterised in that the fourth shaft member (6) is arranged so as to be centred relative to the said three shaft members (4, 5, 6).

3.

A control and manoeuvring stick according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the fourth shaft member (7) is capable of being adjustably tension-loaded.

4. A control and manoeuvring stick according to Claim 3, characterised in that the fourth shaft member (7) is capable of being tension-loaded with the aid of an adjustable spring device (24-27) in the handgrip portion (1).

5. A control and manoeuvring stick according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the ball joint (16) for the fourth shaft member (7) is attached to a mechanical position indicator (28, 19 and 20).

6 A control and manoeuvring stick according Claim 5, characterised in that the ball joint (16) for the fourth shaft member (7) has a mark (28), for example, a hole, for interaction with a position indicator, for example, a spring-loaded ball.

7.

A control and manoeuvring stick according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the fourth shaft member (7) in its end in the base portion (3) supports a ball (20) or the like intended for interaction with one or more indication grooves (19) in a spherical segment surface (18) in the base portion (3).