Device for monitoring a boat drive

Abstract

A device for monitoring a boat drive, preferably for monitoring a drive battery of a boat drive, includes a first water sensor configured to switch off the boat drive when a first water level is reached, and a second water sensor configured so as to output a water level warning when a second water level is reached.

Claims

1. A device for monitoring a drive battery of a boat drive, comprising: a first water sensor configured to switch off the boat drive when a first water level is reached; and a second water sensor configured to output a water level warning when a second water level is reached, wherein the second water sensor communicates by means of a system bus with a control system of the boat drive, such that the control system, in response to receiving the water level warning, operates the boat drive in a decelerated or pulsed continued operation.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first water sensor is arranged above the second water sensor and the first water level is above the second water level.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the first water sensor is connected by means of a hardware connection to the drive battery of the boat drive, so as to switch off the boat drive directly when the first water level is reached.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first water sensor is connected by means of a hardware connection to the drive battery of the boat drive, so as to switch off the boat drive directly when the first water level is reached.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the first water sensor is arranged in the drive battery of the boat drive.

6. The device according to claim 4, wherein the first water sensor is arranged outside the drive battery of the boat drive and is directly connected by means of the hardware connection to an operating switch of the drive battery.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the control system of the boat drive is configured to reduce the power of the boat drive upon reception of the water level warning.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the control system is configured so that, upon reception of the water level warning, a sequence for switching off the boat drive is initiated, after the expiration of a predetermined time period.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the control system is configured so that, upon reception of the water level warning, a sequence for switching off the boat drive is initiated, after the expiration of a predetermined time period.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first water sensor communicates by means of a system bus with a control system of the boat drive, and the control system is configured to switch off the boat drive upon reception of a switch-off message from the first water sensor.

11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that the control system is configured to output a warning upon reception of the message about the switching off of the boat drive from the first water sensor.

12. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first water sensor is connected in series to an emergency off switch of the boat drive.

13. The device according to claim 1, further comprising: a control system configured so that, upon reception of a water level warning from the second water sensor and/or upon reception of a message about the switching off of the boat drive from the first water sensor, the control system switches on a bilge pump to remove the water from the boat.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Preferred further embodiments of the invention are explained in greater detail by the following description of the drawing. In the drawing:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a possible exemplary embodiment of a device for monitoring a boat drive.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(3) Preferred exemplary embodiments are described below with reference to the drawing.

(4) FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a device 1 for monitoring a boat drive.

(5) The boat drive is indicated by way of example by means of the control system 10. The boat drive can for example comprise a drive battery, a battery control, a drive control, a power electronics unit and/or an electric motor for the boat. These and other components for driving a boat with an electric motor should be understood as a boat drive.

(6) The control system 10 can either be provided as a higher-level control system, which controls and monitors some or all of the components of the boat drive, or only one specific component of the boat drive can also be provided as the control system. A typical example of a control system of the boat drive is a battery management system which takes on the control and monitoring of one, several or all drive batteries of the boat drive. Amongst other things, a battery management system can switch on and switch off the drive battery or batteries, in order to prepare the drive battery or batteries for use and/or in order to switch off the drive battery or batteries after use and thus to put it or them into a safe state.

(7) In the device 1 a first water sensor 2 is provided, which directly switches off the boat drive when a schematically indicated first water level 20 is reached.

(8) The first water sensor 2 is shown here in the form of a hardware-based switch. The first water sensor 2 can also act directly on a hardware-based switch, by which the boat drive can be directly switched off. For example, the first water sensor 2 can directly switch off a drive battery or several or all drive batteries by actuation of the hardware-based switch.

(9) The first water sensor 2 can also be provided for example in a drive battery or in a plurality of or all drive batteries and can act directly on an operating switch of the respective drive battery, in order in this way to achieve direct switching off of the drive battery as soon as the first water level 20 is reached and accordingly a dangerous state for the drive battery has been reached.

(10) In other words, the first water sensor 2 acts directly on the boat drive and accordingly the communication of sensor signals by means of a system bus to a control system, as well as the evaluation of the sensor signal and the conversion into a switch-off signal and also the communication of the switch-off signal to a switch of the boat drive, are not necessary here. In fact, without these intermediate steps the hardware-based switch which forms the first water sensor 2 can achieve direct switching off of the boat drive. Thus, delays or errors in the communication and/or in the evaluation are ruled out and safe and fast switching off can be achieved.

(11) The hardware-based switch of the first water sensor 2 is preferably series-connected to an emergency off switch 22 of the boat drive and thus is at the same hierarchical level as the emergency off switch 22 and has the same immediacy of the protective mechanism.

(12) The first water sensor 2 can be formed for example by a float system or by the above-mentioned system of measurement of a capacitance between two poles or between two electrodes of a battery which jointly form a capacitor of a resonant circuit.

(13) Accordingly, the first water sensor 2 can be provided for example to immediately directly switch off a drive battery of the boat drive as soon as the poles of the battery are immersed in water or are at risk of immersion. This is absolutely necessary in order to avoid destruction of the boat drive and in particular of the drive battery. Furthermore, the risk of explosion on the boat associated with the submersion of the battery can be reduced by switching off of the battery, since the occurrence of electrolysis of the (salt) water is avoided and accordingly also no oxyhydrogen gas is produced.

(14) The first water sensor 2 can be directly connected by means of a hardware connection to an operating switch of the drive battery, so that when the first water level is reached a direct switching off of the drive battery takes place by the actuation of the operating switch of the drive battery. Accordingly, in a first step the drive battery is substantially autonomous with respect to the switching off by the first water sensor 2 and is not tied to the other components of the boat drive. In particular, the power required for operation of the first water sensor 2 can also be provided by the drive battery.

(15) However, the first water sensor 2 can preferably also be arranged outside a drive battery of the boat drive and can be directly connected by means of a hardware connection to an operating switch of the drive battery or the operating switches of a plurality of drive batteries. Thus, it is possible to arrange the first water sensor 2 at a height in the compartment of the boat which houses the drive batteries or other components of the boat drive at which there can still be risk of damage to the components. In particular, the first water sensor 2 can also be arranged at a height below the poles of the drive battery.

(16) Nevertheless, in an arrangement outside the drive battery the first water sensor 2 can be supplied with power by the drive battery, so that switching off of the drive battery when the first water level 20 is reached can also take place autonomously without other systems of the boat drive being required for this purpose.

(17) In this case a first water sensor 2 arranged outside the drive battery can be directly connected by means of a hardware connection to the operating switch of the drive battery. The first water sensor 2 can also be connected to the operating switches of a plurality of drive batteries.

(18) Furthermore, the device 1 comprises a second water sensor 3, which communicates a water level warning to the control system 10 of the boat drive when a schematically illustrated second water level 30 is reached. As shown schematically in FIG. 1, the second water sensor 3 is arranged in a lower position relative to the first water sensor 2, so that when a water level warning is output by the second water sensor 3 first of all a water level is reached which still does not lead to immediate damage to the boat drive, but represents a warning level for the water level in the boat at which the user or driver of the boat must be warned about the presence of water in the region of the boat drive and thus about any water ingress.

(19) Thus, accordingly the first water sensor 2 is arranged at a higher level inside the boat, which corresponds to a level at which damage to the boat drive is to be expected or specifically is not yet to be expected. As just described, this level of the first water sensor 2 can be predetermined for example by the arrangement of the poles of the drive battery of the boat drive, since submersion of the poles can lead to safety problems.

(20) The second water sensor 3 is provided in the form of a water sensor 3 which communicates with a system bus 12, in particular a CAN bus of the boat drive.

(21) The system bus 12 communicates with the second water sensor 3 by means of a correspondingly configured microprocessor 32, which on the one hand performs continuous monitoring of the second water sensor 3 and which on the other hand performs the communication between the water sensor 3 and the system bus 12.

(22) When water is present at the water level 30 at which the second water sensor 3 reacts, a water level warning is correspondingly output to the system bus 12, for example by means of the microprocessor 32, wherein the water level warning is then relayed by means of the system bus 12 to the control system 10.

(23) Thus, it can be ensured that a water level warning is already output when a specific water level occurs inside a section of the boat in which relevant parts of the boat drive, in particular the drive batteries of the boat drive, are arranged. In this case the water level warning can be output even if there is not yet an immediate danger to the operation of the boat due to water but a corresponding water level has already been reached.

(24) On the basis of the water level warning which the second water sensor 3 communicates to a control system 10 of the boat drive a corresponding notification can then be output to the user of the boat. This notification can be in the form of a warning displayed for example on a display, in the form of an acoustic or visual warning or also in the form of a characteristic behavior of the boat drive, for example deceleration or pulsed operation of the boat drive. In this way the user of the boat drive is prompted to carry out an intervention so that the penetration of water is reduced and the water is removed from the relevant region of the boat, so that the boat drive remains in a safe state.

(25) Furthermore, the control system 10 of the boat drive, to which the second water sensor 3 communicates the water level warning, can initiate measures which further protect the boat drive against damage by water. For example, the control system 10 can automatically start a bilge pump, by means of which the water which has exceeded the water level defined by the second water sensor 3 can be conveyed out of this region of the boat.

(26) Furthermore, the control system 10 can be configured so as to carry out an automatic deceleration of the running of the boat drive in order to reduce the current consumption overall and thus to reduce possible heat evolution of the individual components of the boat drive, so that damage can be reduced in the event of a possible encounter with water. However, this automatic deceleration of the running can be manually overridden again by the driver of the boat, in order to keep the boat maneuverable for as long as possible in dangerous situations.

(27) In a further embodiment the control system 10 can be configured so that already, if the water level corresponds to the second water level 30 of the second water sensor 3, it initiates a sequence for switching off the boat drive, for example by gradually reducing the running speed of the boat drive to zero after the expiration of a predetermined specific time period and then switching off the boat drive and in particular a drive battery.

(28) The first water sensor 2, which has a hardware connection to the boat drive in such a way that faults possibly occurring on the system bus 12 do not influence switching off, is intended to safeguard the boat drive so that the boat drive switches off as soon as safety-critical parts of the boat drive are immersed in water, for example the poles of the drive battery.

(29) If applicable, all individual features which are set out in the exemplary embodiments can be combined with one another and/or exchanged for one another, without departing from the scope of the invention.

(30) List of references

(31) 1 device for monitoring a boat drive

(32) 10 control system

(33) 12 system bus

(34) 2 first water sensor

(35) 20 first water level

(36) 22 emergency off switch

(37) 3 second water sensor

(38) 30 second water level

(39) 32 microprocessor