JP2020182413A - Wire rat proof method and autonomous control type mowing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide technology that settles wire by the inexpensive normal sheathed wire and can make countermeasures against rats thereto, in the wire for surrounding a grassland.SOLUTION: A mowing machine 10 as a traveling machine 50 is made to travel along a wire 46 during a non-work period. In traveling, sound is emitted, light is emitted and vibration is made, and thereby a small animal is threatened. As a result, the small animal is avoided far from the wire 46.EFFECT: A normal sheathed wire works as the wire. Accordingly, the present invention provides technology in which the wire is settled by the inexpensive normal sheathed wire, and can make countermeasures against rats thereto.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for preventing the wire from being damaged by a small animal such as a mouse.

Mowing (including lawn mowing; the same applies hereinafter) is a heavy labor and requires mechanization. As part of this, a self-propelled mower has been proposed.
Some self-propelled mowers mow unmanned while autonomously traveling within a working range surrounded by looped wires (see, for example, Patent Document 1 (FIG. 12)).

That is, since the self-propelled mower according to Patent Document 1 autonomously changes its direction when it detects a wire, the self-propelled mower does not go out of the working range surrounded by the wire. The grass in the work area is cut unmanned.

Generally, the wire is placed on the ground and fixed with pegs. However, there is a concern that small animals (rats, etc.) living in the grassland will bite them off.
Therefore, various techniques for taking measures against rats in electric wires have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

The technique of Patent Document 2 is a technique of taking anti-corrosion measures by applying a paint obtained by adding and dissolving at least 0.1% by weight of a metal salt of aryl phosphate to a coated electric wire. According to Table 1 described in Patent Document 2, as shown in Paint Type 3, by increasing the content of the metal (Na) salt of aryl phosphate to 0.5% by weight, after 3 years. It was confirmed that the rate of feeding damage by rats was 2.8%, which was extremely high in the rodency prevention performance.

However, when the technique of Patent Document 2 is applied to the wire surrounding the grassland, the following problems occur.
First, rodent-proof coating is expensive, and the initial cost (initial cost) of the equipment is high. Next, since the rodent-proof effect weakens over time, it is necessary to repaint (or replace with a new rodent-proof coated wire) on a regular basis, which increases the running cost (operating cost) of the equipment.

In addition, the rodent-proof coating deteriorates and falls as fine pieces, and the falling objects adhere to the surrounding grass. Due to the toxicity of rodent-proof coatings, the surrounding grass cannot be used or its use is limited. Due to its toxicity, it is difficult to incinerate.
As described above, the technique of Patent Document 2 cannot be said to be environmentally friendly and is not suitable for the wire surrounding the grassland.

Therefore, an electric wire having environmentally friendly rodent-proof measures has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 3 (Fig.)).
In the technique of Patent Document 3, a conductor is surrounded by an insulator, the insulator is surrounded by a sheath, for example, 12 metal wires are arranged at equal pitches on the outer peripheral surface of the sheath, and these metal wires are coated with rubber or resin. We provide a rubber-proof cable. Each of the twelve metal wires is coated with a semiconductor coating layer. By passing electricity through the metal wire, it exerts a rat-proofing effect.

The rodent-proof cable disclosed in Patent Document 3 is compared with a normal coated electric wire because a metal wire, a semiconductor coating layer, a rubber or a resin coating layer is further added to the ordinary coated electric wire composed of a conductor and an insulator. , Large diameter and expensive.
The mouse-proof cable of Patent Document 3 is too expensive as a wire for surrounding grassland.

Considering that it will be used in grasslands, the wire needs to be an inexpensive ordinary covered wire, and a technology that can take anti-rat measures is required.

JP-A-2018-164425 JP-A-58-215465 Jikken Sho 55-18889

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for a wire surrounding a grassland, in which the wire can be an inexpensive ordinary covered electric wire and a rat-proofing measure can be taken.

The invention according to claim 1 is a wire rat-proofing method for preventing a wire defining a working range of an autonomously controlled mower from being damaged by a small animal such as a mouse.
When the time zone during which the autonomously controlled mowing machine is autonomously running and mowing is called a working period, and the time zone outside this working time is called a non-working period,
During the non-working period, a traveling machine that generates at least one of sound, light, and vibration is continuously or intermittently run along the wire to avoid the small animal from the wire. And.

In the present invention, "rat protection" refers to protecting the wire from rats and also protecting it from small animals. Small animals can be of any kind, such as moles, wild squirrels, raccoon dogs, crows, and wild birds, as long as they damage the wire.

The invention according to claim 2 is the wire rat-proofing method according to claim 1.
The traveling body is characterized by being the autonomously controlled mower.

The invention according to claim 3 provides the machine body with a swivel cutting blade, a front wheel arranged before the cutting blade, a rear wheel arranged after the cutting blade, steering control, and a rotation speed of a driving wheel. In an autonomously controlled mower that is equipped with a control unit to control and autonomously travels in a work range surrounded by wires.
The control unit
When the time zone during which the autonomously controlled mowing machine is autonomously running and mowing is called a working period, and the time zone outside this working time is called a non-working period,
During the non-working period, the autonomously controlled mower is controlled to continuously or intermittently run along the wire.

The invention according to claim 4 is the autonomously controlled mower according to claim 3.
The airframe is provided with at least one of a speaker that emits sound, a light that emits light, and a vibration generator that emits vibration.

In the invention according to claim 1, a traveling machine is run along the wire to avoid small animals such as mice from the wire. The wire may be an ordinary covered wire.
Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a technique capable of using an inexpensive ordinary covered electric wire for the wire and taking a rodent-proof measure against the wire.

In the invention according to claim 2, the traveling machine is also used as an autonomously controlled mower.
If both the autonomously controlled mower and the patrol machine are provided, the cost will increase, but in the present invention, the cost can be suppressed because they are also used.

In the invention according to claim 3, as in claim 1, the traveling machine is run along the wire to avoid small animals such as mice from the wire. The wire may be an ordinary covered wire.
Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a technique capable of using an inexpensive ordinary covered electric wire for the wire and taking a rodent-proof measure against the wire.

In the invention of claim 4, the aircraft is provided with at least one of a speaker that emits sound, a light that emits light, and a vibration generator that emits vibration, and threatens a small animal with at least one of sound, light, and vibration. it can.

It is a front view of the autonomous control type mower which concerns on this invention. It is a right side view of the autonomous control type mower which concerns on this invention. It is a bottom view of the autonomous control type mower which concerns on this invention. It is a plan view block diagram of the autonomous control type mower which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the operation of the mower in the working period. It is an operation explanatory diagram of the mower in a non-working period. It is a top view of a patrol machine.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an autonomously controlled mower (hereinafter referred to as a mower) 10 as a traveling machine 50 includes a front wheel 11, a left rear wheel 12L, and a right rear wheel 12R. Further, the mower 10 has a horizontally long rectangular opening 14 in the center of the front surface of the cover 13. A V-shaped component (FIG. 4, reference numeral 36) is arranged behind the opening 14.

As shown in FIG. 2, a cutter housing 16 is provided between the front wheel 11 and the rear wheel axle 15. The airframe is provided with a speaker 41 that emits sound and a light 42 that emits light.
The sound emitted from the speaker 41 is a sound that small animals such as mice living in the grassland dislike (for example, a sound that imitates the voice of a cat or a crow). The sound may be either an intermittent sound or a continuous sound. The sound may be an inaudible sound as well as an audible sound. Inaudible sounds are also said to be useful for exterminating pests.
Further, the light 42 may be continuously lit or intermittently lit, but a rotary red light is preferable.

As shown in FIG. 3, when viewed from the bottom, the swivel cutting blade 19, the front wheel 11 arranged before the cutting blade 19, and the rear wheels 12L and 12R arranged after the cutting blade 19 are arranged on the machine body 18. The mower 10 includes a left wire sensor 21L and a right wire sensor 21R arranged on the front wheel 11 side of the cutting blade 19.

The left wire sensor 21L and the right wire sensor 21R can be arranged at arbitrary positions as long as they are outside the swivel circle 22 of the cutting blade 19. The left wire sensor 21L is arranged at a position separated by α from the turning circle 22 in front and at a position separated by β from the turning circle 22 to the left (to the right in the figure). Similarly, the right wire sensor 21R is arranged at a position separated by α from the turning circle 22 in front and at a position separated by β to the right from the turning circle 22. β may be the same as or different from α.

FIG. 4 is an inverted plan view of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the cutting blade 19 is driven by the cutting blade motor 24. The cutting blade motor 24 is supplied with power from the battery 25, and the rotation speed and forward rotation, stop, and reverse rotation are controlled by the control unit 27 via the driver 26. When the cutting blade motor 24 is overloaded, for example, reverse control is performed.

The front wheels 11 are driven by the front wheel motor 28. The front wheel motor 28 is supplied with power from the battery 25, and the rotation speed and forward rotation, stop, and reverse rotation are controlled by the control unit 27 via the driver 29.
The front wheels 11 are steering wheels and are steered by the steering motor 31. The steering motor 31 is supplied with power from the battery 25, and the control unit 27 controls straight-ahead, left-handed steering, and right-handed steering via the driver 32.

The left rear wheel 12L is driven by the left rear wheel motor 33L. The left rear wheel motor 33L is supplied with power from the battery 25, and the rotation speed and forward rotation, stop, and reverse rotation are controlled by the control unit 27 via the driver 34L.
Similarly, the right rear wheel 12R is driven by the right rear wheel motor 33R. The right rear wheel motor 33R is supplied with power from the battery 25, and the rotation speed and forward rotation, stop, and reverse rotation are controlled by the control unit 27 via the driver 34R.

Since the mower 10 of the present invention is an all-wheel drive vehicle, if the front wheels 11 are in contact with the ground, the traveling is continued even if the rear wheels 12L and 12R float. As a result, the burden on the administrator is greatly reduced.

Further, in the mower 10 of the present invention, the front wheels 11 may be two left and right wheels, but in the embodiment, one wheel is used. With one wheel, the number of front wheel motor 28, driver 29, steering motor 31 and driver 32 is halved, and cost reduction can be achieved.

For convenience of drawing, the battery 25 and the control unit 27 shown outside the cover 13 are arranged inside the cover 13.
A V-shaped component 36 is housed in the front portion of the cover 13, and a charging terminal 37 is provided on the V-shaped component 36. The battery 25 is charged from the outside via the charging terminal 37.

Further, the control unit 27 performs sound / stop control of the speaker 41, light emission / stop control of the light 42, and oscillation / stop of the vibration generator 43.

The operation of the mower 10 described above will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5A, the working range 45 of the mower 10 is surrounded by wires 46. That is, when the wire sensor (FIG. 4, reference numeral 21L or 21R) provided in the mower 10 detects the wire 46, the control unit (FIG. 4, reference numeral 27) autonomously controls the mower 10 so as not to exceed the wire 46. ..

That is, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the mower 10 goes straight as shown by the arrow (1), turns left as shown by the arrow (2), turns right as shown by the arrow (3), and the arrow ( Go backward as in 4).
Under this control, in FIG. 5A, the mower 10 cuts the grass within the working range 45.

In the present invention, the time zone in which the mowing machine 10 autonomously runs and mow the grass is referred to as a "working period", and the time zone outside the working time is referred to as a "non-working period".
For example, the working period is the daytime time zone from 8:00 to 17:00 when the manager is resident at the golf course, and the nighttime time zone from 17:00 to 8:00 the next day when the manager is absent outside this work period. It is a non-working period.

During the working period, as described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the mowing machine 10 autonomously mowed the grass unmanned.

During the work period shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a sound such as light music is played from the speaker 41 shown in FIG. 1 to notify the surroundings that the mowing work is in progress, and the lamp 42 is turned on to turn on the mowing machine. It is preferable to inform the surroundings of the existence of 10. Of course, it is permissible to make the mower 10 inconspicuous by making it silent and non-lit during the work period.

Next, the action during the non-working period will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, during the non-working period, the control unit (FIG. 4, reference numeral 27) causes the mower 10 as the traveling machine 50 to travel along the wire 46 as shown by the arrow (5). By making a sound, emitting light, and vibrating while traveling, the small animal is threatened and the small animal is kept away from the wire 46.

This run may be continuous or intermittent. In the case of intermittent operation, when the traveling time required for one lap is t1, for example, t1 hour traveling → t1 hour stop → t1 hour traveling → t1 hour stop ... During the downtime, the electrical consumption of the battery (FIG. 4, reference numeral 25) can be suppressed. However, the distribution of running and stopping in intermittent driving shall be determined in a ratio suitable for the grassland, taking into consideration the type of grass and the habits of small animals.

Since the mowing machine 10 is made tough enough to withstand the mowing work, it has a certain size and a certain weight. Electric energy is consumed in proportion to the weight.
For the purpose of saving electric energy and threatening small animals, the traveling machine 50 may be the patrol machine 60 described below.

As shown in FIG. 7, the patrol machine 60 includes a front wheel 61 having a relatively small diameter, rear wheels 62L and 62R having a relatively small diameter, and a cover 63 which is one or two times smaller than the cover (reference numeral 13 in FIG. 1). It has left and right wire sensors 64L and 64R, a speaker 41, a light 42, and a traction type vibration generator 43, and does not have a cutting blade and a cutting blade motor.
Since the patrol machine 60 is smaller and sufficiently lighter than the mower 10, it is possible to save electrical energy.

Therefore, the traveling machine 50 may be either a mower 10 or a patrol machine 60.
For example, for large grasslands, it is recommended to have both a mower 10 and a patrol machine 60.
On the other hand, in a small grassland where the equipment cost is greatly limited, it is recommended that the traveling machine 50 is also used as the mower 10. Since only the mower 10 is used, the equipment cost can be reduced.

Also, depending on the type and nature of the small animal, one of sound, light and vibration may be significantly more effective than the other. At this time, one of sound, light, and vibration may be emitted from the traveling machine 50. When it is difficult to distinguish the effectiveness, all of sound, light and vibration, combination of sound and light, and sound and vibration can be considered.

Furthermore, sound and vibration can be generated by spinning the cutting blade. When threatening with the idling of the cutting blade, the speaker 41, the light 42, and the vibration generator 43 can be omitted from the mower 10.
Further, when the mower 10 is run with the cutting blade stopped, running noise and running vibration are generated although it is small. Similarly, when the patrol machine 60 is run, running noise and running vibration are emitted although it is small. In this case, the speaker 41, the light 42, and the vibration generator 43 can be omitted from the patrol machine 60.

Therefore, as a means of threatening small animals during the non-working period, one can be selected from a plurality of models listed in the following table.

Since the model 1 is equipped with all of the speaker, the light, and the vibration generator, the equipment cost of the mower is high. In addition, maintenance and inspection of speakers, lights, and vibration generators are required, which increases operating costs. On the other hand, a great effect is expected for the threat of small animals.
Models 4 and 5 do not have all of the speakers, lights, and vibration generators, so the equipment cost of the mower can be reduced. On the other hand, the effect on the threat of small animals is small.
Since the model 5 does not rotate the cutting blade, the consumption of electric energy is smaller than that of the model 4.

In the embodiment, the front wheels are the steering wheels and the driving wheels, and the rear wheels are the driving wheels, but the front wheels may be the driving wheels and the rear wheels may be the steering wheels and the driving wheels. That is, the mower 10 as the traveling machine 50 may be a tricycle having two front wheels and one rear wheel, or a four-wheeled vehicle having two front wheels and two rear wheels, and the structure may be appropriately changed. The same applies to the patrol machine 60 as the traveling machine 50.
Further, although all-wheel drive is used in the embodiment, a part may be a driving wheel and the rest may be a driven wheel.

The mower of the present invention is suitable for grasslands where mice have settled.

10 ... Autonomous control type mower (mower), 11 ... Drive wheels (front wheels) that also serve as steering wheels, 12L, 12R ... Drive wheels (rear wheels), 18 ... Airframe, 19 ... Cutting blades, 27 ... Control unit, 41 ... speaker, 42 ... light, 43 ... vibration generator, 45 ... working range, 46 ... wire, 50 ... traveling machine, 60 ... patrol machine.

Claims (4)

It is a wire rat prevention method that prevents the wire that defines the working range of the autonomously controlled mower from being damaged by small animals such as mice.
When the time zone during which the autonomously controlled mowing machine is autonomously running and mowing is called a working period, and the time zone outside this working time is called a non-working period,
During the non-working period, a traveling machine that generates at least one of sound, light, and vibration is continuously or intermittently run along the wire to avoid the small animal from the wire. Wire rodent prevention method. The wire rat-proofing method according to claim 1.
A wire rat-proofing method, wherein the traveling body is the autonomously controlled mower. The machine body is provided with a swivel cutting blade, front wheels arranged before the cutting blade, rear wheels arranged after the cutting blade, and a control unit for steering control and controlling the rotation speed of the drive wheels. In an autonomously controlled mower that autonomously travels in a work area surrounded by wires
The control unit
When the time zone during which the autonomously controlled mowing machine is autonomously running and mowing is called a working period, and the time zone outside this working time is called a non-working period,
An autonomously controlled mower that controls the autonomously controlled mower to continuously or intermittently run along the wire during the non-working period. The autonomously controlled mower according to claim 3.
An autonomously controlled mower characterized in that the airframe is provided with at least one of a speaker that emits sound, a light that emits light, and a vibration generator that emits vibration.

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