Watercraft Turning Control for Low-Speed Collision Damage Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collision avoidance systems for watercrafts are expensive, complex, and ineffective when the watercraft is at anchor or moving at slow speed, and they fail to consider secondary collisions with other obstacles.
Innovation Solution
A collision damage reduction system that includes an information acquiring device, turning device, and control device to turn the watercraft to a parallel state with the target watercraft, minimizing the occupied area and dispersing impact force over the target watercraft's surface, using propulsion devices like outboard motors for turning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing collision avoidance systems are used, then collision detection capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential function needed for collision damage reduction - turning the watercraft to a parallel state with the target watercraft - rather than implementing full collision avoidance systems with multiple sensors and complex navigation commands. This selective extraction reduces device complexity while maintaining effectiveness for the specific purpose of reducing collision damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses inexpensive existing components (outboard motors with basic steering capability) rather than expensive specialized collision avoidance equipment. The solution accepts that the turning mechanism is a simple, readily available component rather than a sophisticated dedicated system, thereby reducing cost and complexity.
2Reliability
If existing collision avoidance systems are used, then collision detection is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates when watercraft is at anchor or moving slowly
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically executes the turning maneuver without requiring user intervention to interpret navigation commands or operate controls. The control device directly controls the outboard motor to turn the watercraft to the parallel state, making the system effective even when the user cannot monitor displays or react quickly, such as when the watercraft is at anchor or moving very slowly.
3Reliability
If existing collision avoidance systems are used, then primary collision avoidance is improved, but risk of secondary collision with other obstacles increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of moving the watercraft away from the target watercraft to avoid collision (conventional approach), the patent turns the watercraft to face parallel to the target watercraft's movement direction. This inverted approach minimizes the watercraft's projected area perpendicular to the target's path, reducing both primary collision risk and the severity of any potential collision, while also reducing the chance of secondary collisions with other obstacles that might be present in the avoidance path.
Data Source
AI summary
[Problem] To provide a collision damage reduction system for watercrafts, which system is usable even when a user watercraft stops or is moving at slow speed.[Solution] A collision damage reduction system for watercrafts comprises: an information acquiring device for acquiring information on a user watercraft 2 and a target watercraft 11; a turning device for turning the user watercraft 2 to change a front-rear direction thereof; and a control device configured to acquire the information from the information acquiring device, and control the turning device based on the acquired information. When detecting a risk of collision between the user watercraft 2 and the target watercraft 11, the control device controls the turning device such that the turning device turns the user watercraft 2 to a state in which the front-rear direction thereof is parallel to a moving direction of the target watercraft 11.