DE102023105687A1 - MOWER - Google Patents

Abstract

A lawn mower (1) has a first blade (21) that mows grass, a power generation unit (5) that generates a driving force for rotating the first blade (21), a housing (7) that holds the first blade (21). clad, and a receiving unit (8) which receives grass cut by the first blade (21) and ejected from the housing (7). The receiving unit (8) has a heating unit (41) which heats the mown grass.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of invention

The present invention relates to a lawnmower.

Description of the prior art

Conventionally, a lawn mower is known which has a blade mounted to be rotatable, a body having a housing which houses a cutting blade, and a grass bag, and which discharges the grass cut by the blade from the housing (open filed Japanese patent number 2020-156447).

However, in the configuration in which the cut grass is collected in the grass bag, the grass bag becomes full in a short time and it is troublesome for a user to dispose of the cut grass collected in the grass bag. In addition, composting is carried out by combustion or natural decomposition as post-processing of the mown grass, but when the moisture content of the mown gas is high, the combustion takes a certain time and greenhouse gas emissions increase or a foul smell is generated during composting.

OVERVIEW OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the background described above, and realizes a lawn mower that can reduce the volume and weight of the cut grass and shorten the time required for post-processing for the cut grass to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the production of to reduce foul smells.

In order to solve the above-described background, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lawn mower (1) comprising: a first blade (21) that mows grass, a power generation unit (5) that provides a driving force for rotating the first Blade (21), a housing (7) which covers the first blade (21), and a receiving unit (8) which receives the grass mown by the first blade (21) and output from the housing (7), whereby the receiving unit (8) has a heating unit (41) which heats the mown grass.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect the power generation unit (5) has a power supply unit (9) which supplies energy to the heating unit (41).

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the power generation unit (5) has an internal combustion engine (10), and the lawn mower (1) further has an exhaust gas supply means (24) for feeding an exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine (10) into a path ( 11) to initiate the mown grass from the housing (7) to the heating unit (41).

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second or third aspects, the heating unit (41) heats the cut grass to 200°C or higher.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, the heating unit (41) has opening and closing means (40) for moving the heating unit (41) between a sealed state and an opened state at a connection (11a) on a path (11 ) to transport the mown grass out of the housing (7).

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, the heating unit (31) has opening and closing means (40) for moving the heating unit (41) between a sealed state and an opened state at a connection (11a) on a path ( 11) to switch for transporting the mown grass out of the housing (7), and a temperature (T1) in a state in which the heating unit (41) is sealed is higher than the temperature (T2) in a state in which the Heating unit (41) is open.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, in one of the first to sixth aspects, the lawn mower (1) further comprises a second blade (22) that cuts the grass cut by the first blade (21) and generates a transport air flow to the cut Transport grass towards the heating unit (41).

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, in one of the first to seventh aspects, the lawn mower (1) further comprises crushing means (30) for crushing the cut grass before introducing the cut grass into the heating unit (41).

In particular, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the weight of the receiving unit (8) which receives the mown grass by removing the moisture from the mown grass by heating. In addition, it is possible to vary the moisture content of the mown grass during mowing work wrestle, it is possible to reduce the amount of emissions of greenhouse gases due to the reduction in energy consumption through combustion or it is possible to prevent the appearance of foul smell due to the decomposition of the mown grass when left in nature.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, power is supplied to the heating unit (41) through the power supply unit (9) using the power generation unit (5) which generally drives the first blade (21), so that there is no need to have a dedicated power generation unit in the Heating unit (41) must be provided, which can reduce the number of parts.

Furthermore, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the mown grass is heated and dehydrated by the exhaust gas, so that the energy consumption at the time of heating can be reduced.

Further, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reuse the mown grass charred after mowing as a soil improver.

Furthermore, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, efficient heating can be achieved by sealing the heating unit (41).

Furthermore, according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the heating unit (41) is left open during mowing to promote the reception of the mown grass in the heating unit (41) and the pre-charring of the mown grass in the heating unit (41), and the heating unit (41) is kept closed after mowing, so that it is possible to shorten the heating time required for the charring process, preventing ignition of the mown grass.

Furthermore, according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the second blade (22) can cut and finely chop the grass cut by the first blade (21), the volume and weight of the cut grass can be reduced.

Further, according to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the cut grass can be crushed and finely chopped, the volume and weight of the cut grass can be reduced.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the appended drawings).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

• 1 is an external view of a lawn mower according to the first and second embodiments;
• 2 Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the configuration of the lawn mower according to the first embodiment;
• 3 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing mown grass by the lawn mower according to the first embodiment;
• 4 Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the configuration of the lawn mower according to the second embodiment; and
• 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing mown grass by the lawn mower according to the second embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the appended drawings. It should be emphasized that the following embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention, and the limitation is not imposed by an invention requiring all combinations of the features described in the embodiments. Two or more of the multiple features described in the embodiments may be combined as appropriate. In addition, the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar designs and a redundant description thereof is omitted.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the lawn mower of the present invention is applied to a lawn mower for cutting weeds, lawns and the like will be described. It should be noted that the present embodiment is not limited to a lawn mower but is also applicable to an outdoor cleaner that vacuums fallen leaves and the like.

In the following description, the front, rear, left, right, up and down directions of the lawn mower are respectively F, R, L, R, U and D according to the direction viewed by the user.

[First Embodiment]

1 is an external view of a lawn mower according to the first and second embodiments.

A lawn mower 1 according to the present embodiment includes a body 2, left and right front wheels 3 provided at both front ends of the body 2 so as to be rotatable, left and right rear wheels 4 provided at both rear ends of the body 2 are provided so as to be rotatable, a power generating unit 5 provided at the top of the body 2, and a handle 6 extending rearward and upward from a rear end of the body 2. The lawn mower 1 is a push lawn mower that can be moved to any location by a user by operating the handle 6. The power generation unit 5 is a motor or an electric motor or a combination (hybrid) of a motor and an electric motor. Furthermore, the power generation unit 5 has a battery (not shown) as a power supply unit. When the power generating unit 5 is an engine, the battery is charged with power generated by an alternator driven by the engine. Furthermore, when the power generation unit 5 is an electric motor, the battery is charged with power supplied from an external power source.

The body 2 has a disc shape opening downward and has an outer shape formed by a housing 7 housing a blade (not shown). A mown grass processing unit 8 is connected to the rear end of the body 2. The mown grass processing unit 8 may be designed to be removable from the body 2. The mown grass processing unit 8 forms a receiving unit that receives the grass mown by the blade. It should be emphasized that in 1 no detailed design of the processing unit 8 for mown grass is shown.

2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of the lawn mower according to the first embodiment.

In the lawn mower 1, the housing 7 of the body 2 and the cut grass processing unit 8 are connected in a state of communicating with each other. The body 2 forms a grass cutting unit for cutting grass, and the cut grass processing unit 8 forms a transport path 11 for transporting the cut grass from the housing 7 of the body 2 and performs fine crushing, dehumidification (evaporation), crushing and a pre-charring and the charring process of the mown grass, which will be described later. The grass cut by the body 2 is transported from the housing 7 of the body 2 to the cut grass processing unit 8.

It should be noted that in the following description, regarding a direction in which the mown grass moves from the body 2 to the mown grass processing unit 8, a direction toward a mown grass processing unit 8 as a downstream direction or a downstream side is defined, and a direction towards the body 2 is defined as an upstream direction or an upstream side.

The body 2 includes a main blade 21 and a sub-blade 22 provided in the case 7, a battery 9 provided outside the case 7, and a motor 10 as an internal combustion engine.

The main blade 21 and the sub-blade 22 are rotatably driven by an output shaft 10a of the motor 10. In the main blade 21, a rotation shaft 21a is disposed in a vertical direction (up and down direction) so as to face the ground. In the sub-blade 22, the rotation shaft 22a is arranged in a horizontal direction (front-back direction) orthogonally to the rotation shaft 21a of the main blade 21 through a pair of bevel gears 23.

The main blade 21 mows grass and generates a transport air stream to transport the mown grass to a downstream position by an eddy current generated by rotation of the main shaft 21.

The sub-blade 22 cuts and finely shreds the grass mown by the main blade 21 and generates a transport air stream to transport the finely shredded mown grass to a downstream position.

The body 2 has an exhaust gas supply mechanism 24. The exhaust supply mechanism 24 is connected to the engine 10 via an exhaust pipe 25 and supplies the exhaust gas output from the engine 10 to the transport path 11 of the cut grass processing unit 8.

The mown grass processing unit 8 includes a crushing unit 30, an opening/closing unit 40, a heating unit 41 and a shutter 42 arranged in order from the body 2 side to the downstream side.

The crushing unit 30 includes a piston 31 and a crank mechanism 32 that drives the piston 31. In the crank mechanism 32, the drive shaft 32a is arranged in the horizontal direction (forward and rearward direction) orthogonally to the output shaft 10a of the engine 10 by a pair of bevel gears 33. The piston 31 is driven to reciprocate in the vertical direction (up and down direction) by a crank mechanism 32 operated by the driving force of the motor 10. The piston 31 crushes the mown grass transported along the transport path 11 between the piston and a bottom surface 8a of the transport path 11, and the crushed mown grass is introduced into the heating unit 41 by the transport air flow.

The opening/closing unit 40 is provided at a connection 11a between the upstream side transport path 11 and the heating unit 41, and can be manually or automatically opened and closed by the user in the vertical direction (up and down direction) to switch between an open state in which the heating unit 41 is in communication with the transport path 11 and a closed state in which the heating unit 41 is separated from the transport path 11. The opening/closing unit 40 brings the inside of the heating unit 41 into an opened state in which the inside communicates with the transport path 11 in the opened state, and keeps the inside of the heating unit 41 in a sealed state in which the inside is separated from the transport path 11 locked when closed.

The heating unit 41 has a heater 43 arranged to surround the housing of the mown grass processing unit 8. The heater 43 is powered by power from the battery 9 or an alternator (not shown) to heat the inside of the heating unit 41 to a predetermined temperature (for example, 200 ° C or higher). The heater 43 is switched between a heated state and an unheated state by turning a power supply on or off via a heater switch (SW) 44.

The shutter 42 is disposed downstream of the heating unit 41 and at the most downstream end of the housing of the mown grass processing unit 8. The shutter 42 can be manually or automatically opened and closed by the user in the vertical direction (up and down direction) to switch between an open state in which the heating unit 41 communicates with the outside and a closed state in which the heating unit 41 is separated from the outside to switch. The shutter 42 is a filter element having a slit or opening of a predetermined roughness through which exhaust gas and water vapor in the heating unit 41 can pass, but mown grass cannot pass through. The shutter 42 forms an exhaust port for exhausting the exhaust gas and water vapor in the heating unit 41 to the outside in the opened state, and keeps the inside of the heating unit 41 in a sealed state in which the inside is separated from the outside in the closed state.

It should be noted that when the mown grass processing unit 8 is designed to be removable from the body 2, the opening/closing unit 40 is opened, and the mown grass that has completed charring can be released via the opening/closing unit 40 and the crushing unit 30 can be taken out. Alternatively, the heating unit 41 may also be provided with a cover member so that the user can directly take out the mown grass from the heating unit 41 that has completed the charring. At this time, waste material other than the grass cut by the main blade 21, such as weeds, cut branches and broken fruits picked up by the user, can also be subjected to dehydration and charring directly by the user by opening the lid member and Place the waste material into the heating unit 41. In addition, operability can be improved by preventing the lid member from being opened until the heating unit 41 drops to a certain temperature after carbonization is completed. It should be emphasized that the cover element can also serve as a closure 42.

3 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing mown grass by the lawn mower according to the first embodiment;

The method for processing the mown grass according to the first embodiment includes the following steps: mowing the grass by the main blade 21; finely shredding the mown grass by the lower blade 22; removing moisture (evaporation) through the exhaust gas supply mechanism 24; crushing the mown grass by the crushing unit 30; and the pre-charring and charring process of the mown grass by the heating unit 41.

I grass mowing step

The driving force of the motor 10 rotates the main blade 21 to mow the lawn start (S1, S2) and stop mowing the lawn (S3).

The following processes II to V are performed while mowing the lawn (during operation of the engine 10).

II Cutting the mown grass (fine shredding by cutting the mown grass)

The mown grass is cut and finely chopped by the lower blade 22 driven by the motor 10 (S9, S10).

III Removal of moisture (fine shredding through dehydration (evaporation) of the mown grass)

The exhaust gas is supplied from the exhaust gas supply mechanism 24 to extract moisture from the finely chopped mown grass (S11, S12). It should be emphasized that in the state of exhaust gas, the temperature is about 600 ° C and the oxygen concentration is 1% or less. In this step, since the cut grass is heated and dehydrated by the exhaust gas, the energy consumption during the carbonization process can be reduced.

IV Crushing the mown grass (fine crushing by crushing the mown grass)

The piston 31 and the crank mechanism 32 driven by the motor 10 crush the cut grass from which the moisture has been extracted and introduce the cut grass into the heating unit 41 (S13, S14).

V Pre-charring of the mown grass

When the opening/closing unit 40 and the shutter 42 are opened, pre-charring of the cut grass is performed in the heating unit 41 using heat from the exhaust gas and an oxygen concentration among the outside air (S15).

In processes II to IV, the size of the mown grass can be reduced during mowing and the moisture can be removed. In addition, in process V, the mown grass can be partially charred and the charring time can be shortened.

VI Charring process for the mown grass

At the end of mowing the lawn (S3), the user closes the opening/closing unit 40 and the shutter 42 manually or with a switch or the like (S4, S5), turns on the heater switch 44 (S6), supplies energy to the heater 43, etc to heat the heating unit 41 to a first temperature T1 and carries out a charring process for the mown grass (S7, S8). It should be emphasized that the first temperature T1 is approximately 300 °C. In this step, carbonization can be performed efficiently by sealing the heating unit 41. The engine 10 is stopped after the end of lawn mowing (S3), and thus the engine 10 is stopped during the charring process.

It should be noted that the opening/closing unit 40 and the shutter 42 may be designed to be automatically opened at the start of lawn mowing and to be automatically closed after the end of lawn mowing.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to reduce the volume and weight of the cut grass and shorten the time required for post-processing of the cut grass, thereby reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and the generation of foul smell.

The charring process produces a charred dried product by heating in the absence of oxygen. After the charring process, the volume is reduced to about 1/5 to 1/30. It is worth emphasizing that the cut grass subjected to the charring process can be reused as a soil conditioner, and foul smell will not become strong due to moisture absorption.

Furthermore, the heating unit 41 is left open during mowing to promote the absorption of the mown grass in the heating unit 41 and the pre-charring of the mown grass in the heating unit 41, and the heating unit 41 is kept closed after mowing, so that it is possible to shorten the heating time required for the charring process, thereby preventing ignition of the mown grass.

Furthermore, the heater 43 of the heating unit 41 is supplied with power by the battery 9 or a generator using the power generation unit 5 which generally drives the main blade 21, so there is no need to provide a dedicated power generation unit in the heating unit 41, which can reduce the number of parts .

Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, the following effects are obtained in addition to shortening the charring time.

• The engine cannot be operated during the carbonization process.

• Since the cut grass is finely chopped, a large amount of grass can be charred.

• Lawn mowing is possible even in a condition where coal is accumulating (with the opening/closing unit open).

• Since the mowed grass is finely chopped, in a case where mulching is performed during lawn mowing, it is possible to prevent straw when mowing the grass with the opening/closing unit closed.

[Second Embodiment]

In the second embodiment, the power generation unit 5 is an electric motor 15 driven by the energy of the battery 9.

The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the power generating unit 5 is not the engine 10 but the electric motor 15, and the exhaust gas supply mechanism 24 is not provided. Therefore, the external design of the lawn mower according to the second embodiment is similar to that of 1 .

In the following, for easier description, the same reference numbers are used for the same designs as those in 2 of the first embodiment and the description is presented with focus on the differences.

4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of the lawn mower according to the second embodiment.

The main blade 21 and the sub-blade 22 are rotatably driven by an output shaft 15a of the motor 15.

The crank mechanism 32 is operated by the driving force of the motor 15. The piston 31 is driven to reciprocate in the vertical direction (up and down direction) by a crank mechanism 32 operated by the driving force of the motor 15.

5 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing mown grass by the lawn mower according to the second embodiment.

The method for processing the mown grass according to the second embodiment includes the following steps: mowing the grass by the main blade 21; finely shredding the mown grass by the lower blade 22; crushing the mown grass by the crushing unit 30; and pre-charring and charring process of the mown grass by the heating unit 41.

It should be emphasized that in 5 the same reference numbers for the same process as in 3 the first embodiment can be given.

I grass mowing step

The driving force of the electric motor 15 rotates the main blade 21 to start mowing the lawn (S1, S2) and finish mowing the lawn (S3).

The following processes II to IV are carried out while mowing the lawn.

II Cutting the mown grass (fine shredding by cutting the mown grass)

The mown grass is cut and finely chopped by the lower blade 22 driven by the electric motor 15 (S9, S10).

III Crushing the mown grass (fine crushing by crushing the grass)

The piston 31 and the crank mechanism 32 driven by the electric motor 15 crush the cut grass and introduce the cut grass into the heating unit 41 (S13, S14).

IV Pre-charring of the mown grass

When the opening/closing unit 40 is open and the shutter 42 is open, the heating switch 44 is turned on (S21), the heater 43 is supplied with energy in order to heat the temperature of the heating unit 41 to a second temperature T2 (<first temperature T1) and the pre-charring of the mown grass is carried out in the heating unit 41 (S 22, S 23). It should be emphasized that the second temperature T2 is around 200 ° C, at which the mown grass does not ignite in an oxygen atmosphere.

In processes II to IV, the size of the mown grass can be reduced during mowing and the moisture can be removed. In addition, in process V, the mown grass can be partially charred and the charring time can be shortened.

V Charring process for the mown grass

After finishing mowing the lawn (S3), the user closes the opening/closing unit 40 and the shutter 42 manually or with a switch or the like (S4, S5), supplies energy to the heater 43 to bring the heating unit 41 to a first temperature T1 ( > second temperature T2) and carries out a charring process for the mown grass (S7, S8). In this step, charring can be carried out efficiently by sealing the heating unit 41. The electric motor 15 is stopped after the end of lawn mowing (S3), and thus the electric motor 15 is stopped during the charring process.

It should be noted that the opening/closing unit 40 and the shutter 42 may be designed to be automatically opened at the start of lawn mowing and to be automatically closed after the end of lawn mowing.

The charring process produces a charred dried product by heating in the absence of oxygen. After the charring process, the volume is reduced to about 1/5 to 1/30. It is worth emphasizing that the cut grass subjected to the charring process can be reused as a soil conditioner, and foul smell will not become strong due to moisture absorption.

Furthermore, the heating unit 41 is left open during mowing to promote the absorption of the mown grass in the heating unit 41 and the pre-charring of the mown grass in the heating unit 41, and the heating unit 41 is kept closed after mowing, so that it is possible to shorten the heating time required for the charring process, thereby preventing ignition of the mown grass.

In addition, power is supplied to the power generation unit 5, which drives the main blade 21, which is generally done using the battery 9, which supplies power to the heater 43 of the heating unit 41, so there is no need to have a dedicated power generation unit in the main blade 21 and the heating unit 41 which can reduce the number of parts.

Furthermore, according to the second embodiment, the following effects are obtained in addition to shortening the charring time.

• The blade cannot be operated during the charring process.

Because the cut grass is finely chopped, a large amount of grass can be charred.

Lawn mowing is possible even in a state where coal is piled up (with the opening/closing unit 40 opened).

Since the mowed grass is finely chopped, in a case where mulching is performed during lawn mowing, it is possible to prevent straw when mowing the grass by the closed opening/closing unit 40.

The invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various variations and changes can be made within the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a push lawn mower has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can also be applied to a robot lawn mower (lawn mower) and a riding lawn mower (lawn mower ) be applied.

Claims (8)

Lawn mower that has: a first blade that mows grass; a power generation unit that generates a driving force for rotating the first blade; a housing that covers the first blade; and a pickup unit that picks up grass cut by the first blade and discharged from the housing; wherein the receiving unit has a heating unit that heats the mown grass. Lawnmower after Claim 1 , wherein the power generation unit has a power supply unit that supplies the heating unit with energy. Lawnmower after Claim 1 , wherein the power generation unit comprises an internal combustion engine, and the lawn mower further comprises an exhaust gas supply means for introducing exhaust gas to the internal combustion engine into a path to transport the mown grass from the housing to the heating unit. Lawnmower according to one of the Claims 1 until 3 , whereby the heating unit heats the mown grass to 200°C or higher. Lawnmower after Claim 4 , wherein the heating unit has opening and closing means for switching the heating unit between a sealed state and an opened state at a connection to a path for transporting the mown grass out of the housing. Lawnmower after Claim 4 , wherein the heating unit has opening and closing means for switching the heating unit between a sealed state and an opened state at a connection on a path for transporting the mown grass out of the housing, and a temperature in a state in which the heating unit is sealed , is higher than a temperature in a state in which the heating unit is opened. Lawnmower according to one of the Claims 1 until 6 , which further comprises a second blade that cuts grass cut by the first blade and generates a transport air flow to transport the cut grass towards the heating unit. Lawnmower according to one of the Claims 1 until 7 , which further comprises crushing means for crushing the mown grass before introducing the mown grass into the heating unit.

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