Marine Joystick Constraint for Single Rear Drive Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Single rear marine drives are limited in propulsion directions, making it difficult for traditional joysticks to effectively control vessel movements, leading to user confusion and frustration due to unresponsive control systems.
Innovation Solution
A joystick system is designed to restrict lateral movement and allow only forward, backward, and twistable motions, correlating with feasible propulsion directions of single rear marine drives, using a plate to confine joystick handle movement and a control system to manage steering and thrust.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a traditional joystick is used for controlling a single rear marine drive, then the joystick can move in multiple directions including lateral movement, but the control system becomes unresponsive and causes user confusion because single rear drives cannot move laterally
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of allowing the joystick to move freely in all directions and trying to make the system respond to all movements, the patent inverts the approach by physically constraining the joystick to only those movements that the marine drive can execute (forward, backward, and twisting). This ensures every joystick movement translates to a valid drive command, eliminating unresponsive control situations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different movement constraints to different directions of joystick movement. Lateral movement is completely restricted, while forward/backward linear movement and rotational twisting are permitted. This selective constraint approach matches the actual capabilities of the single rear marine drive, allowing full control versatility within feasible operational boundaries.
2Device complexity
If the joystick allows lateral movement, then the joystick structure remains simple and flexible, but the control system cannot effectively translate lateral joystick movements into feasible propulsion directions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary physical constraint of the joystick's lateral movement through the plate structure before the control system processes the input signals. This prevents invalid lateral movement commands from reaching the control system, ensuring that only feasible propulsion directions are commanded and eliminating the need for complex software validation or correction of invalid inputs.
3Ease of operation
If the joystick is constrained to only forward, backward, and twisting movements, then control responsiveness matches drive capabilities, but the joystick structure becomes more complex with added restriction mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the lateral movement capability from the joystick system by using a plate with an elongated hole that physically removes the possibility of lateral displacement. This separation of feasible (forward/backward/twisting) and infeasible (lateral) movements simplifies the control logic, as the joystick structure itself enforces the valid movement envelope without requiring complex electronic validation.
Data Source
AI summary
A marine propulsion system for a marine vessel includes a single rear marine drive configured to be positioned near a stern of the marine vessel, a joystick comprising a joystick handle configured to be movable by a user to provide steering demand input, wherein the joystick is configured such that the joystick handle is movable in a forward direction to demand a forward motion of the marine vessel, in a backward direction to demand backward motion of the marine vessel, and twistable to demand rotational motion of the marine vessel, wherein the joystick is configured to restrict movement of the joystick handle in a lateral direction, and a control system configured to control steering and/or thrust of the single rear marine drive based on the steering demand input to generate the demanded forward motion, the backward motion, and the rotational motion of the marine vessel.