Patent ID: 7052341
Filing Date: 2006-05-30
Classification: B63H

Abstract:
1. A propulsive force controlling apparatus for controlling a propulsion system that is attached to a hull of a marine vessel and includes a motor and a propulsive force generating member which receives a torque from the motor to generate a propulsive force, the propulsive force controlling apparatus comprising: a clutch mechanism which operates only in either a coupling state which permits transmission of the torque from the motor to the propulsive force generating member with virtually no slippage and a decoupling state which prohibits the transmission of the torque from the motor to the propulsive force generating member; a clutch actuator which actuates the clutch mechanism; a target propulsive force acquiring section which acquires a target propulsive force to be generated by the propulsion system, the target propulsive force acquiring section includes a target rotational speed acquiring section which acquires a target rotational speed of the motor; and a clutch controlling section including a rotational speed comparing section which compares the target rotational speed acquired by the target rotational speed acquiring section with a predetermined lower limit to judge whether to perform an intermittent coupling control operation to intermittently maintain the clutch mechanism in the coupling state, and which performs the intermittent coupling control operation if the target rotational speed is lower than the lower limit.