Control system for a jet propulsion boat

Abstract

A control system for jet-powered boats includes a water jet propulsion group; an ejection nozzle of the water jet oriented to direct the water jet at least in a longitudinal direction; a jet deflector changing flow direction of at least part of the water relative to the longitudinal axis of the boat, the deflector being controllable to progressively adjust the part of the diverted water jet and set a neutral thrust condition, in which the boat is stationary, thrusting forward with variable speed and thrusting backward with a predetermined or variable speed; a control member of the deflector position; a setting member of the deflector that adjusts the deflector to achieve a neutral thrust condition, the deflector being adapted for a predetermined and pre-set neutral thrust position; and a control member of the deflector in the preset position of neutral thrust, canceling any subsequent customization settings.

Claims

1. A nozzle comprising: a body defining a longitudinal axis, the body having a base at a proximal end and one or more lateral walls; a longitudinal bore defined within the body, the longitudinal bore having an open first end at the base of the body and a dead second end; a recess defined within the one or more lateral walls, the recess having a bottom and side walls extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the body; and a lateral bore defined within the body, the lateral bore fluidly connecting the longitudinal bore to an opening in the recess, the lateral bore having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the longitudinal bore, wherein the opening is positioned at an apical end of a triangular slit within the bottom of the recess, the triangular slit being perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body, the triangular slit further having a base end disposed between the side walls of the recess.

2. The nozzle of claim 1, wherein the longitudinal bore has a proximal portion extending from the open first end and a distal portion joined to the lateral bore, the proximal portion having a larger diameter than the distal portion, a frusto-conical portion connecting the proximal portion to the distal portion.

3. The nozzle of claim 2, further comprising a side bore coaxial with the lateral bore, the side bore extending from the distal portion of the longitudinal bore to an aperture in one of the one or more lateral walls of the body opposite to the recess.

4. The nozzle of claim 3, wherein the side bore is threaded.

5. The nozzle of claim 3, wherein the side bore is configured to receive a plug closing the side bore.

6. The nozzle of claim 1, wherein the bottom of the recess is convex and has a plurality of faces, the triangular slit being defined in a central position within the bottom.

7. The nozzle of claim 1, wherein the body has a multilateral distal portion defined by a plurality of sides and a proximal portion adapted to engage an opening in a nozzle bar.

8. The nozzle of claim 7, wherein the plurality of sides extends from the proximal portion to a distal end of the body.

9. The nozzle of claim 7, wherein the proximal portion is configured to provide a threaded, flanged, quick-connect, or bayonet connection.

10. The nozzle of claim 1, further comprising a notch defined in the one or more lateral walls of the body, the notch extending from a middle portion of the body to a distal end of the body, the recess being defined within the notch.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following description of an executive example schematically illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 1.

[0030] FIG. 2 shows an execution variant of the example of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0031] With reference to FIG. 1, the block diagram refers to a control system of jet propulsion boats according to the present invention.

[0032] Said system comprises in its more general form, at least one water jet propulsion unit, such as a turbine or the like;

[0033] a water jet ejection nozzle connected to the outlet of said water jet propulsion unit, which nozzle is oriented in such a way as to direct the water jet essentially at least in the longitudinal direction of the boat;

[0034] a jet deflector to change the flow direction of at least part of the jet of water leaving the nozzle with respect to the direction essentially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the boat and along a direction from the bow to the stern of the boat;

[0035] said deflector being controllable in such a way as to progressively adjust said part of the water jet deviated from the said direction essentially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the boat and along a direction from the bow to the stern of the boat, to determine a neutral thrust condition in which the boat is stationary, thrust forward with variable speed and thrust backward with at least a predetermined speed or with variable speed;

[0036] a control member for the position of the deflector to alternatively bring one of said conditions;

[0037] a member for setting said deflector so as to adjust the deflector to obtain the neutral thrust condition, said deflector being provided with a predetermined and preset neutral thrust position.

[0038] Systems of this type according to one or more executive variants are known and are described for example in the documents: US2001029134, US2008233811, US2008233811, U.S. Pat. No. 9,682,757B1, US2002028615A1 or US2004144293A1. The system according to the present invention is applied to any of the devices described in the aforementioned documents and the descriptions of these devices are to be considered part of the present description, in particular as regards the construction of the water jet thrusters, the nozzles and the deflectors, as well as the command and control systems for the position of the deflectors with reference to the forward, reverse, neutral shift and trim settings.

[0039] As also appears from the cited documents, the boat can be equipped with one or more engines, it can be a traditional boat, or even a so-called jet ski or other boats belonging to different types.

[0040] The embodiment in FIG. 1 shows a system in which it is provided a separate control element indicated with 100 and with 110 respectively for the forward, backward, and acceleration forward and/or rearward movement commands as indicated with 111, 112, 113.

[0041] There are also control elements for adjusting the boat's trim and with which it is possible to set a customized position of the deflector.

[0042] The trim control member comprises commands for moving the position of the deflector in a condition in which the deflector is brought into a condition to unbalance the flows forward and backward with respect to each other respectively with the controls 101, 102.

[0043] The trim control member 100 also has a command 103 to reset the position of the deflector modified with the buttons 101 and/or 102 and bring it to a predetermined default position of the same in which the forward and backward flows are balanced during a factory setting or installation of the engine on a boat.

[0044] Control elements 100 and 110 send the commands in the form of electrical signals to a control unit 120. The unit can be of any type, only hardware, in which the hardware is configured to perform the functions foreseen for the unit and which it will be described below, comprising a generic hardware that runs a software consisting of a program in which the instructions are configured to treat the signals received from the control elements 100 and 110 so as to perform the aforementioned functions.

[0045] Control unit 120 generates control signals as a function of the input signals provided by the control elements 110, 100 which are sent to the jet ejection nozzles indicated with 160 to adjust, for example, the flow rate of the jet and to a driver 130 generating in turn, the supply or activation and deactivation signal of a motor 140 acting on the deflector 150, for example in the form of a flow deflection or inversion tile thanks to which the flow leaving the nozzle is at least partially deflected in opposite directions to generate a condition of neutral position of the boat, that is in the stationary condition of the boat or in the forward or reverse shift.

[0046] As already indicated in the foregoing description and claimed below, it is possible to provide various embodiments with respect to the electromechanical system described herein.

[0047] In addition to the possible electro-pneumatic or electro-hydraulic options in which the motor does not directly operate a mechanical actuator, but a hydraulic or pneumatic pump that supplies pressure fluid to a corresponding actuator and which is generally provided in combination with reverse flow valve systems or its adjustment, solutions with manual operation are also possible in which the mechanical and/or hydraulic and/or pneumatic force is generated manually thanks to a mechanical member for applying the muscular force and/or a manual pump.

[0048] The different solutions are either used in parallel fields as in the directional control of boats or in fields such as the control of motor vehicles or the like.

[0049] The embodiment in FIG. 2 provides that the command interface of the steering and running conditions of the device is not separate from the command interface for the boat's trim conditions.

[0050] In this case, the control element indicated with 200 comprises acceleration commands 213, deflector movement commands so as to generate an imbalance of the flow in the forward direction of travel 201, commands for backward movement 202 and the reset command of the initial position of the deflector 203.

[0051] The remaining configuration follows what was previously described with a control unit 220, nozzle 260, driver of engine 230, engine 240 and deflector 250.

[0052] It is clear that in this configuration, the function of controls 201 and 202 can be modified by steering commands to control the boat forward and backward and trim commands to change the boat's trim thanks to a selector (not shown) transferring the control signals to a hardware software unit of control unit 220 which therefore operates alternately for steering the boat or for adjusting the trim.