JP3117675B2 - Lawn weed remover - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a weed remover, and more particularly to a lawn weed remover capable of efficiently removing a weed in a lawn widely planted in a park or a golf course in a short time. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional lawn weed remover is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-6-26.
A weeding machine disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 9201 is known,
This weeding machine is driven to rotate around a central axis extending in the left-right direction of the machine frame at a position approximately in the center of the machine frame having wheels on the front and rear sides, respectively, and according to the rotation, the mutual movement is performed. It has two rotating blades that open and close at different angles, and removes weeds in the grass by pulling out the weeds with the rotating blades submerged in the ground.

However, in such a conventional lawn weed remover, the weed removal range is extremely narrow because only the weeds located between the left and right rotating blades that open and close can be removed. Parks and golf courses,
There was a disadvantage that it took too much time to remove weeds in lawns planted extensively.

[0004] Conventional lawn weed removers include:
A weeding machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 9-137 is also known. This weeding machine is provided at a position approximately in the center of a machine frame having wheels on front and rear sides, respectively. A weed position detection device that images the ground and detects the position of weeds inside the machine frame by image processing, and a pull-out device that can move horizontally in the front, rear, left, and right directions inside the machine frame. Weeds are removed from the lawn by repeating the operation of stopping and horizontally moving the extraction device to the position detected by the weed position detection device to extract the weeds.

[0005] However, even with such a conventional lawn weed removing machine, weeds cannot be removed while running the machine frame, and one pulling-out device is horizontally moved in the front-rear and left-right directions inside the machine frame. Since weeds are pulled out one by one, it takes too much time to remove weeds in lawns widely planted in parks and golf courses.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a lawn weed removing machine which advantageously solves the above-mentioned problems, and a lawn weed removing machine according to the present invention. Is formed in a substantially disc shape integrally with a trolley and a plurality of cutting blades around each of the trolleys, and the center axis of the trolley extends substantially in the front-rear direction of the trolley. A plurality of mowing blades arranged on the trolley arranged side by side in a lateral direction of the trolley while partially overlapping each other in the direction, and the plurality of mowing blades provided on the trolley, each around the central axis thereof. A mowing blade rotating drive means that is rotationally driven, and a work position provided on the cart, wherein the plurality of mowing blades are independent of each other and slightly bite into the ground on which the lawn is planted, and a standby position that is separated from the ground. Mowing up and down with A lift driving means is made comprises a.

In the lawn weed removing machine according to the present invention, the plurality of substantially disc-shaped mowing blades are arranged such that each central axis extends substantially in the front-rear direction of the bogie, ie, disc-shaped. Are arranged in the left-right direction of the bogie while partially overlapping each other in the front-rear direction of the bogie with the surface of the bogie substantially facing the front-rear direction of the bogie. If weeds are growing in front of any of the plurality of mowing blades during traveling, only the mowing blades with weeds in front of the mowing blades are moved up and down. By the driving means, it is lowered from the standby position away from the ground to a working position where it slightly bites into the ground on which the lawn is planted, and the mowing blade where weeds are growing in front of it is moved by the mowing blade rotation driving means. Rolling to drive. As a result, the mowing blade lowered to the working position cuts the root of the weed with a number of surrounding cutting blades while passing through the position of the weed, and hooks the cutting blade to pull the weed to the side,
Remove the weeds. After that, the mowing blade lowered to the working position is raised again to the standby position by the mowing blade raising / lowering driving means. Incidentally, the mowing blade rotation drive means may be configured to constantly drive all the mowing blades, but preferably all mowing blades or only while any of the mowing blades is being lowered to the working position. Only the lowered mowing blade is rotationally driven.

Therefore, according to the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention, a single run of the bogie allows the lawn to have a band-like range having a width substantially equivalent to the entire width of a plurality of mowing blades arranged in the lateral direction of the bogie. Since weeds can be removed inside, weed removal range is very wide, so parks and golf courses,
Weeds in lawns planted extensively can also be efficiently removed in a short time. In addition, according to the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention, only the mowing blades where weeds grow in front,
As it is temporarily lowered only while removing the weed by the passage of the mowing blade, it is moved to a work position where it slightly bites into the ground on which the lawn is planted (to a depth of about 1 cm, which is sufficiently shallower than the depth of the lawn grass roots) Almost no damage to the lawn.

In the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention, a large number of cutting blades of each of the mowing blades may be formed in a small scoop shape, but preferably, the cutting blades of each of the mowing blades are formed in a saw-tooth shape. The teeth are alternately bent in the opposite direction and the tooth tips are formed in the opposite direction. According to the cutting blade having such a shape, the distribution of the cutting blades of the mowing blades can be made thicker, and the resistance from the weeds can be prevented from becoming excessive. The action of hooking and pulling out the weeds to the side can be performed more reliably.

Further, in the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention, the operator may operate the mowing blade raising / lowering drive means with a switch or the like while checking the position of the weed by looking at the lawn. A grass detecting means provided on the bogie so that a plurality of mowing blades are positioned above the front side of the bogie in the traveling direction of the bogie, and grass detecting means for detecting grass growing on the ground in front of the mowing blades; A weed position detecting means for identifying weeds in the lawn and detecting which of the plurality of mowing blades is ahead of the mowing blade based on the output signal of the means; and Activating the mowing blade raising / lowering driving means based on the output signal of the means to temporarily lower only the mowing blade having a weed ahead in the plurality of mowing blades from the standby position to the working position. And by, it is assumed that comprises a mowing blade lift control means for clippings in front of weeds in the grass blade, the.

With this arrangement, the grass detecting means provided on the bogie with the plurality of mowing blades located above the front side in the vehicle traveling direction grows on the ground in front of the mowing blades. The grass is detected, and the weed position detecting means identifies the weed in the lawn based on the output signal of the grass detecting means, and determines which of the plurality of mowing blades the identified weed is in front of the mowing blade. Detecting, and the mowing blade elevating control means activates the mowing blade elevating drive means based on the output signal of the weed position detecting means, so that only the mowing blade having a weed in front of the plurality of mowing blades from the standby position. Because it is temporarily lowered to the work position, only the mowing blades with weeds in front can be automatically moved up and down, and for example, even when the operator runs the cart by hand, the burden on the operator can be reduced, and , Stand It is possible to easily cope even when or to self or towed tractor or the like.

Further, in the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention, the grass detecting means is, for example, an optical distance sensor provided for each mowing blade, and the weed position detecting means is detected by, for example, the distance sensor. It is possible to use a microcomputer or the like to determine the position where the plant height is particularly high as a position where weeds are present, but preferably, the grass detecting means is an imaging device, and the weed position detecting means is an image output by the imaging device. An image processing apparatus for identifying and detecting the position of a weed in a lawn by performing image processing on a signal based on the color or shape of the lawn or weed. In this way, the position of the weed can be detected more reliably.

Further, the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention may be provided with a bogie traveling drive means provided on the bogie to drive the bogie so that the operator can manually push the bogie. Since it is not necessary to run the vehicle, the burden on the operator can be reduced.

Further, the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention is provided on the cart, automatically or based on remote control by a worker or a control device installed at a predetermined place.
The truck may be provided with a wheel steering means for steering the wheels, and in this way, it is possible to eliminate the need for an operator to follow the weed removing machine, and to remove weeds in lawns widely planted. Can be performed more easily.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, FIG. 1A is a side view showing an embodiment of the lawn weed removing machine of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a plan view of the weed removing machine of the embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing a mowing blade of the weed removing machine of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing a mowing blade of the weed removing machine of the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the lawn weed removing machine of this embodiment is provided with a truck 2 rotatably supporting a rubber tire 1 at four corners, and a front portion of the truck 2 (right side portion in FIG. 1).
Is formed with a U-shaped notch 2a. In front of the bogie 2, approximately nine disc-shaped mowing blades 3 each extending substantially in the front-rear direction of the bogie 2, and slightly descend as the central axis extends forward of the bogie 2. 2 and FIG. 3, the mowing blades 3 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction of the truck 2 while partially overlapping each other in the front-rear direction of the truck 2 as shown in FIGS. 3
As shown as a representative at the left end portion, a plurality of cutting blades 3a are integrally provided around the periphery.

Here, a large number of cutting blades 3a of each mowing blade 3
As is clear from FIG. 4, each of the cutting edges 3a is slightly bent forward corresponding to the inclination of the central axis, and their cutting edges 3a are alternately warped and alternately sawtoothed. The tooth tip is formed in the opposite direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, a DC motor 4 with a built-in speed reducer as a mowing blade rotation driving means is disposed on the cart 2 at a position behind each mowing blade 3. Numerals 4 are protected by the cover 5 as a whole, and are swingable independently of each other around a swing axis A extending in the left-right direction of the cart 2, and are supported by the cart 2 via the brackets 6. . The output shafts of the DC motors 4 are respectively attached to the corresponding mowing blades 3 by the cart 2.
Are connected integrally via a drive shaft 7 arranged inside the front notch 2a, whereby each mowing blade 3 is independently driven by each DC motor 4 in any rotational direction. Can also be driven to rotate.

As shown in FIG. 1, an electromagnetic solenoid type actuator 8 as a mowing blade raising / lowering drive means is provided above the intermediate position between each DC motor 4 and the corresponding mowing blade 3, as shown in FIG. The actuators 8 are arranged downward, and are supported on the cart 2 via brackets 9 as a whole. Here, the operating rod 8a of each actuator 8 is always urged upward by a spring in the actuator 8, whereby each operating rod 8a is electromagnetically urged when the electromagnetic solenoid in the actuator 8 is energized. When the power supply to the electromagnetic solenoid in the actuator 8 is stopped, the spring is biased by the spring and retreats upward.

At the lower end of the operating rod 8a of each actuator 8, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), a lifting bracket 10 extending below the carriage 2 is attached.
An annular bearing 1 is provided at an intermediate portion of the lifting bracket 10.
1 is supported so as to be able to swing around a swing axis B extending in the left-right direction of the bogie 2, and its annular bearing 11 allows the drive shaft 7 penetrating the center thereof to rotate freely and in the axial direction. It is movably supported. In addition, the lifting bracket 1
A small wheel 12 is supported at the lower end of the wheel 0 so as to be rotatable around a central axis extending in the left-right direction of the carriage 2.

Thus, here, each actuator 8
Thus, each drive shaft 7 and each mowing blade 3 attached to the tip thereof can be independently raised and lowered between a work position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1A and a standby position indicated by a virtual line. In the working position, the lowering height of the wheel 12 at the lower end of the lifting bracket 10 is limited by reaching the ground 14 on which the lawn 13 is planted, so that each mowing blade 3 is moved to the ground 1.
4, i.e., as shown in FIG. 4, bites down to a depth of, for example, about 1 cm, which is sufficiently shallower than about 3 cm, which is the general depth of the tip 15 of the turfgrass root, and separates from the ground 14 in the standby position. Above the turfgrass.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A CCD type image pickup device (so-called CCD camera) 16 as a grass detecting means is provided at an upper position of the grass mowing blades 3 on the front side in the bogie traveling direction.
The image pickup device 16 is supported by the cart 2 via a bracket 17, and picks up an image of a predetermined area C on the ground in front of the mowing blades 9 shown in FIG.

Further, on the trolley 2, as shown in FIG.
Weed position detection means for performing identification and position detection of the weed 18 in the lawn 13 by subjecting the image signal output from the CCD imaging device 16 to image processing by known means based on the color and shape of the grass or weed. An image processing device 19 including a normal microcomputer is mounted, and the image processing device 19 includes a weed 18 in the lawn 13.
, And it can be detected which of the nine mowing blades 3 the weed 18 is located in front of the mowing blades 3.

Further, on the trolley 2, as shown in FIG.
One of the nine actuators 8 corresponding to the nine mowing blades 3 based on the output signal of the image processing device 19, respectively.
Activate one or a plurality of them, and cut the 9 mowing blades 3
A programmable controller including a normal microcomputer as mowing blade elevating control means for temporarily lowering only one or a plurality of mowing blades 3 having a weed 18 in front thereof from the standby position to the working position. The programmable controller 20 is also equipped with a weed 18 in front thereof only while the mowing blade 3 is lowered from the standby position to the working position, and in front of them. By supplying a direct current only to the DC motor 4 corresponding to the mowing blade 18, only the mowing blade 3 having the weed 18 is rotated in front to remove those weeds, thereby saving power consumption. . Further, the above programmable controller 2
0, when two or more mowing blades 3 are simultaneously rotated, approximately the same number of mowing blades 3 are rotated in opposite directions to each other, whereby the traveling direction of the bogie 2 is disturbed by resistance from the weeds 18. To prevent

Then, on the carriage 2, as shown in FIG.
In addition to each DC motor 4 and each actuator 8, a CCD
An engine-driven generator 21 as a main power supply and a battery 22 as a standby power supply for supplying power to the image pickup device 16, the image processing device 19, and the programmable controller 20 are mounted. Can perform a wide range of weed removal operations without dragging the power cable.

In addition, on the trolley 2, as shown in FIG.
A handle 23 is fixedly provided so as to protrude rearward, and an operator 24 can push the bogie 2 by holding the handle 23 to cause the weed removing machine of the present embodiment to run forward, and By changing the direction of the bogie 2 while pushing down the handle 23 to lift the two front tires 1, the weed removing machine of this embodiment can be turned.

In the weed removing machine of this embodiment, 9
The plurality of substantially disc-shaped mowing blades 3 are arranged such that each central axis extends substantially in the front-rear direction of the bogie 2, that is, the disc-shaped surface is substantially oriented in the front-rear direction of the bogie 2. The truck 2 is arranged in the left-right direction while partially overlapping each other in the front-rear direction of the truck 2, and the truck 2 is run on the lawn 13 by hand pushing by a worker 24.
If weeds 18 are growing in front of any of the mowing blades 3, only the mowing blades 3 where weeds are growing in front of the mowing blades 3 are moved by the actuator 8 from the standby position where they are separated from the ground.
The mowing blade 3 on which the weeds 18 are growing is driven downward by the DC motor 4 to lower the working position where the lawn 13 is slightly planted on the ground 14 on which the grass 13 is planted.
As a result, the mowing blades 3 descending to the working position are passed through a position where the weeds 18 are located, and a large number of surrounding cutting blades 3 are moved.
a to cut the roots of the weeds 18 and their cutting blades 3a
, The weed 18 is pulled out to the side, and the weed 18 is removed. After that, the mowing blade 3 lowered to the working position is again raised to the standby position by the actuator 8. In addition, the moving speed of the bogie 2 and thus the mowing blade 3 is 10 to 20 c according to the result of the experiment of the present inventor.
It has been found that m / s is preferred for reliable removal.

Therefore, according to the lawn weed removing machine of this embodiment, the single continuous running of the bogie 2 substantially matches the entire width of the nine mowing blades 3 arranged in the lateral direction of the bogie 2. Since the weeds 18 in the lawn 13 having a band width corresponding to the weeds can be removed, the weed removal range is extremely wide, so that weeds in a lawn widely planted such as a park or a golf course can be removed in a short time. And can be efficiently removed. Moreover, according to the lawn weed removing machine of this embodiment, weeds 1
Only the mowing blade 3 on which the grass 8 grows is temporarily lowered to a work position where the mowing blade 3 is slightly cut into the ground 14 on which the lawn 13 is planted, while the weed 18 is being removed by passing the mowing blade 3. 13 hardly hurt.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the illustrated examples, the present invention is not limited to the above examples. For example, the mowing blade rotation driving means may be constituted by a single motor or an engine, and a plurality of mowing blades may be cut. All the blades may be driven together at all times, and the mowing blade lifting / lowering drive means may be constituted by an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder. The mowing blade raising / lowering drive means corresponding to the position may be operated by a switch operation or the like to lower the mowing blade.

According to the present invention, when used on a relatively flat lawn, the small wheels 12 in the above embodiment are used.
May be omitted, and the mowing blade raising / lowering drive means may lower the mowing blade by a certain distance from the bogie. Further, in the present invention, the grass detecting means is an optical distance sensor provided for each mowing blade, and the weed position detecting means detects the position where the grass height is particularly high detected by the distance sensor as the position where the weed is located and the microcomputer. It is also possible to use a device that makes a determination based on the above-described method. In this case, the grass detecting means and the weed position detecting means can be configured relatively inexpensively.

Further, the weed removing machine of the present invention may be provided with a bogie traveling drive means provided on the bogie to drive the bogie. The weed removing machine may be provided on the bogie and controlled automatically by a computer or by an operator or It is equipped with wheel steering means for steering wheels of the bogie based on remote control by a control device or the like installed at a predetermined place, so that weeds can be removed by scanning the entire lawn such as in a park without an operator attending. Alternatively, a device for collecting weeds removed by the mowing blade using a rotating fork or the like may be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a side view showing one embodiment of a lawn weed removing machine of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of the weed removing machine of the embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view showing a mowing blade portion of the weed removing machine of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing a mowing blade of the weed removing machine of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing a mowing blade portion of the weed removing machine of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 rubber tire 2 cart 3 mowing blade 3a cutting blade 4 DC motor 8 actuator 16 CCD type imaging device 19 image processing device 20 programmable controller 21 engine type generator 22 battery 23 handle 24 worker

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cart (2) and a plurality of cutting blades (3a) formed around each of the carts to form a substantially disc-like shape, and a central axis thereof extends substantially in the front-rear direction of the cart. A plurality of mowing blades (3) arranged on the truck arranged in the lateral direction of the cart while partially overlapping each other in the front-rear direction of the cart, and provided on the cart, A mowing blade rotation drive means (4) for rotating and driving the plurality of mowing blades around their respective central axes; and a plurality of mowing blades provided on the carriage, wherein the plurality of mowing blades are independent of each other on the ground where grass is planted. A lawn weed remover, comprising: a mowing blade elevating drive means (8) for elevating and lowering between a work position where it slightly bites and a standby position where it is separated from the ground. 2. The cutting blade (3a) of each of the mowing blades is formed in a sawtooth shape, alternately warping in an opposite direction and alternately having a tooth tip in an opposite direction. Weed remover for lawn. 3. A plurality of mowing blades are provided on the bogie so as to be located above a front side of the bogie in the bogie traveling direction,
Grass detecting means (16) for detecting grass growing on the ground in front of the mowing blade; and weeds in the lawn are identified based on an output signal of the grass detecting means, and the identified weeds are the plurality of pieces. A weed position detecting means (19) for detecting which of the mowing blades is ahead of the mowing blades; and operating the mowing blade raising / lowering driving means based on an output signal of the weed position detecting means. A mowing blade raising / lowering control means (20) for temporarily lowering only the mowing blade having a weed in front of the mowing blades from the standby position to the working position, so that the mowing blade can cut forward weeds; The lawn weed remover according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: 4. The grass detecting means is an imaging device (16), and the weed position detecting means performs image processing on an image signal output by the imaging device to perform identification and position detection of weeds in a lawn. 4. A lawn weed remover according to claim 1, characterized in that it is an image processing device (19) for performing. 5. A trolley running drive means provided on the trolley for driving and driving the trolley.
A lawn weed removing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The lawn weed removing machine according to claim 5, further comprising a wheel steering means provided on the truck, for automatically or remotely controlling the wheels of the truck.