Outboard Motor Shift Actuator External Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing outboard motors have a shift actuator that is difficult to access for maintenance and occupy space, making it challenging for downsizing and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
The shift actuator is positioned outside the cowl and lower case, with a second drive source located outside the drive shaft housing, allowing easier access and reducing the motor's height by eliminating the need for removing upper or lower cases during maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the shift actuator is disposed inside the casing (upper case, cowl, or gear case), then the structural integration is improved, but the maintainability deteriorates because it becomes difficult to access the shift actuator from the outside
Solution Approach 1:
The shift actuator is segmented from the main casing structure and positioned in a separate location (outside the cowl and lower case, outside the drive shaft housing). This segmentation allows the shift actuator to be accessed independently without removing the entire casing, thus improving maintainability while preserving structural integration through proper positioning and connection mechanisms.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the shift actuator is disposed inside the casing, then the structural integration is improved, but the device complexity increases for downsizing because the space in the casing is occupied
Solution Approach 1:
The shift actuator is extracted from the interior space of the casing and positioned externally (outside the cowl and lower case). This extraction eliminates the space occupation issue that hindered downsizing, while the actuator remains functionally integrated through its positioning and connection to the drive shaft housing, enabling compact design without sacrificing structural integrity.
3Ease of repair
If the shift actuator is disposed outside the casing, then the maintainability is improved because it becomes easy to access from the outside, but the structural integration deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The shift actuator is positioned in a different spatial dimension relative to the casing - specifically outside the cowl and lower case but outside the drive shaft housing. This dimensional repositioning allows external access for maintenance while maintaining functional integration through strategic placement and connection mechanisms, resolving the contradiction between accessibility and structural unity.
Data Source
AI summary
An outboard motor includes a first drive source, a drive shaft to transmit power from the first drive source, an upper case accommodating a drive shaft housing that accommodates a portion of the drive shaft, a propeller shaft rotationally drivable by power transmitted from the drive shaft, a shift actuator including a second drive source, and a forward-reverse switching mechanism to switch a rotation direction of the power transmitted from the drive shaft to the propeller shaft by an output from the shift actuator. The second drive source is located outside a cowl accommodating the first drive source, outside a lower case accommodating the forward-reverse switching mechanism, and outside the drive shaft housing.