Portable Marine Instrument Mounting With Transducer Orientation Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing marine data instruments, such as fishfinders and chartplotters, are cumbersome and difficult to transport due to large and inefficient carrier designs, and transducer orientations are hard to determine and adjust, leading to challenging sonar image interpretation.
Innovation Solution
A marine data instrument mounting apparatus with a base frame and pivot frame that supports the display unit, sonar module, and battery in a compact and portable manner, and includes a transducer mounting assembly with adjustable orientations and an indicator for easy orientation determination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a rectangular housing carrier is used to enclose the battery and sonar module with a mounting surface for the display unit, then all components can be transported together on a common carrier, but the resulting arrangement is large and cumbersome for a user to transport
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nesting by placing the battery and sonar module inside a recessed cavity within the display unit housing itself. The battery is positioned in a battery recess and the sonar module in a sonar module recess, both integrated into the display unit structure. This nested arrangement eliminates the need for a separate external carrier, reducing overall volume while maintaining the capability to transport all components together as a single integrated unit.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the pole is rotatably supported on the mounting frame to allow adjustment of transducer head direction, then the transducer head orientation can be adjusted, but it is difficult to determine both the orientation of the transducer head relative to the pole and the angular position about the pole axis
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback through visual indicators that provide real-time information about the transducer head's angular position. A first set of indicators on the pole indicates the angular position about the pole axis, while a second set of indicators on the mounting frame indicates the orientation of the transducer head relative to the pole. These visual feedback mechanisms allow the user to accurately determine and control the transducer orientation without loss of positional information.
3Reliability
If the transducer head is submerged through an ice fishing hole for sonar imaging, then sonar signals can be transmitted and received, but the sonar image is very difficult to interpret by the user if the orientation and angular position are not apparent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent provides visual feedback through indicator systems that display the transducer head's angular position and orientation. The first indicators on the pole show the angular position about the pole axis, and the second indicators on the mounting frame show the transducer orientation relative to the pole. This feedback mechanism allows the user to accurately interpret sonar images by knowing the exact orientation of the transducer head, eliminating the difficulty of image interpretation caused by unknown orientation.
Data Source
AI summary
A marine data instrument mounting apparatus supports various components of a marine data instrument, for example a fishfinder or a chartplotter, on a portable frame for use in different environments. The apparatus has a frame that adjustably supports a display screen of the marine data instrument thereon so that height and/or angle of the screen is adjustable and that also supports a battery for powering the instrument. When the instrument is capable of sonar imaging, a sonar module for communicating sonar signals from a transducer head can also be supported on the frame together with the display unit and battery. A separate transducer mounting assembly suspends the transducer head from a pole in several different modes in cooperation with an indicator at an opposing end of the pole to indicate the selected mode of the transducer head.