JP4494724B2 - snowblower - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a snowplow whose vehicle speed is controlled so as to correspond to the rotational speed of an engine that drives an auger.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a snow remover that removes snow while the operator grips the operation handle at the rear of the vehicle body and walks is configured such that the auger and blower are driven by the engine and the snow collected by the auger is blown away from the shooter by the blower. Has been adopted.
In this type of snowplow, in order to prevent the load of the auger from becoming excessively large during snow removal, the engine can be stopped or the engine speed can be excessively lowered to reduce efficiency. In some cases, there is one equipped with a vehicle speed control device that automatically reduces the vehicle speed so as to reduce the load on the auger (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example).
[0003]
In this conventional snow remover, a motor is used as a driving power source. By increasing or decreasing the output of the motor, the vehicle speed is adjusted so that the rotational speed of the auger driving engine becomes a set value (optimum value). Be controlled.
In addition, the present applicant has not found any prior art documents related to the present invention by the time of filing other than the prior art documents specified by the prior art document information described in this specification.
[0004]
[Non-Patent Document 1]
Hanamibo Mami, Wakiya Tsutomu, Yamamoto Takahiro, Inui Tsutomu: Development of Hybrid Snow Blower “HS1390i”, Honda R & D Technical Review, Vol. 14, p. 31-38
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional snow remover configured as described above, when the vehicle speed is automatically controlled by the vehicle speed control device, the engine speed becomes an optimum value and substantially constant so that the snow removal efficiency is increased. Therefore, for example, in order to fly snow farther away, it has not been possible to adopt a usage pattern in which the engine speed greatly deviates from the optimum engine speed range.
[0006]
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a snow remover that can take various usage forms while adopting a configuration in which the vehicle speed is automatically controlled.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve this object, a snowplow according to the present invention includes a vehicle body, an engine provided inside the vehicle body, an auger driven by the engine and rotating in proportion to the rotation of the crankshaft of the engine, and the engine Switching means for setting the target rotational speed of the vehicle, and a controller for controlling the vehicle speed based on the target rotational speed set by the switching means and the current engine rotational speed. And the target rotational speed, the vehicle speed is increased when the current engine rotational speed is larger than the target rotational speed, and the vehicle speed is decreased when the current engine rotational speed is smaller than the target rotational speed.
[0008]
According to the present invention, by selecting the high rotation side target rotation speed by the switching means, the vehicle speed decreases and the engine rotation speed becomes relatively high, and the low rotation side target rotation speed is selected by the switching means. As a result, the vehicle speed increases and the engine speed becomes relatively low. For this reason, the snow remover according to the present invention selects the high rotation side target rotation speed, thereby increasing the engine rotation speed and allowing the snow to fly further, and selecting the low rotation side target rotation speed. As a result, the vehicle speed during snow removal is increased and snow removal can be performed efficiently (fast).
[0009]
A snow remover according to the invention described in claim 2 is the snow remover according to claim 1, wherein the switching means is a switch.
According to the present invention, the target engine speed can be determined in advance, and the engine speed can be set to the target engine speed by operating the changeover switch.
[0010]
The snow remover according to the invention described in claim 3 is the snow remover according to the invention described in claim 1, wherein the switching means can change the target rotational speed steplessly.
According to the present invention, the engine speed can be set to an arbitrary speed.
[0011]
A snowplow according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the snowplow according to any one of the first to third aspects of the present invention, wherein the operation handle protrudes rearward at the rear part of the vehicle body. It is provided.
A walking type snowplow that can take various driving modes can be provided.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a snowplow according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
1 is a side view of a snowplow according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a rear view. FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing a part of the rear part of the vehicle body, in which the vehicle body frame and a part of the power transmission system are broken. FIG. 5 is an enlarged rear view showing a part of the rear portion of the vehicle body, in which the vehicle body frame and the crawler traveling device are broken. The broken position of the member shown broken in FIG. 5 is indicated by the line VV in FIG. FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view showing the vicinity of the operation handle, and is drawn with the control box broken. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a part of the operation panel, FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the controller.
[0013]
In these drawings, what is denoted by reference numeral 1 is a walking snowplow according to this embodiment. In this snow remover 1, the crawler travel devices 3, 3 on both the left and right sides and the auger 4 at the front of the vehicle body are driven by one engine 2, and the operator grips the operation handle 5 at the rear of the vehicle body and removes snow while walking. Is. As shown in FIG. 2, the operating handle 5 has grips 6 held by the operator at both ends in the vehicle width direction, and an upper end of a support pipe 8 erected at the rear end of a body frame 7 to be described later. It is welded to the part.
[0014]
The engine 2 is mounted above the crawler travel device 3 at the center in the vehicle width direction with the axial direction of the crankshaft 11 pointing in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body, and is supported by the vehicle body frame 7. . In this embodiment, the vehicle body frame 7 is formed to have a box shape by combining steel plates. Further, although not shown, the engine 2 has a governor connected to the throttle valve, and is controlled by the governor so that the rotational speed becomes substantially constant.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 3, the crankshaft 11 is positioned in the vicinity of the center in the vehicle width direction, and as shown in FIG. 1, the auger clutch 12 and the auger clutch 13 are connected to the auger at the front end. 4 input shafts 4a are connected, and HSTs 16 and 17 to be described later are connected to the rear end via a traveling clutch 14 and a V-belt transmission 15. The auger clutch 12 and the travel clutch 14 are each constituted by an electromagnetic clutch.
[0016]
The auger 4 has the same structure as that used in a conventional snowblower, and is provided with a shooter 18 at the top and mounted on the front end of the body frame 7 so as to be swingable in the left-right direction. Yes. In addition, the auger 4 is configured such that the tilt angle in the left-right direction can be changed by a rolling cylinder (not shown) provided at the front end of the body frame 7.
[0017]
As is well known in the art, the crawler traveling device 3 has a driven sprocket 21 and a drive sprocket 22 rotatably supported by a traveling frame 23, and a crawler 24 is wound around both the sprockets 21 and 22. As shown in FIG. 3, it is provided so as to make a pair in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. The drive shaft 25 (the shaft of the drive sprocket 22) of these crawler travel devices 3 is formed so as to extend from the drive sprocket 22 to the center in the vehicle width direction as shown in FIG. Is rotatably supported by a drive shaft support bracket 26 of the vehicle body frame 7 via a bearing 27, and an outer end portion in the vehicle width direction is rotatably supported by a housing 29 of a reduction gear 28 described later via a bearing 30. Has been. The housing 29 is fixed to the outer wall 7 a of the vehicle body frame 7. Further, a tilt cylinder 3 a for changing the inclination angle of the upper part of the vehicle body is interposed between the front end portion of the traveling frame 23 and the vehicle body frame 7.
[0018]
The power transmission system between the drive shaft 25 and the crankshaft 11 of the engine includes the traveling clutch 14 mounted on the rear end portion of the crankshaft 11 as shown in FIGS. The V-belt type transmission device 15, the two HSTs (Hydro Static Transmission) 16 and 17, and the speed reducer 28 are included. The HSTs 16 and 17 have the same structure as that well known in the art, and are provided for each of the left and right crawler travel devices 3 and are respectively supported by the body frame 7.
[0019]
The input shafts 31 (see FIG. 3) of both the HSTs 16 and 17 are connected to each other via the V-belt transmission 15 and the output shafts 32 (see FIG. 5) of these HSTs 16 and 17 are connected to the vehicle. The outer end in the width direction is connected to the speed reducer 28. The reduction gear 28 is of a so-called two-stage reduction type, and as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a pinion 33 connected to the output shaft 32, an intermediate gear 34, and an output gear 35 on the drive shaft 25 side. And is composed of.
[0020]
In the HSTs 16 and 17 according to this embodiment, the swing type transmission lever 36 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) provided on the right side of the vehicle as viewed from the rear of the vehicle is positioned at the center (neutral position) in the swing direction. When the crawler traveling device 3 is stopped, the crawler traveling device 3 is driven so that the vehicle body moves forward or backward by the shift lever 36 swinging forward or backward. The HSTs 16 and 17 are configured such that the crawler traveling device 3 rotates at a higher speed as the angle at which the speed change lever 36 swings increases. In this embodiment, the transmission lever 36 is connected to and operated by an electric operating device 41 (see FIGS. 4 to 6).
[0021]
The operating device 41 includes a speed change motor 43 and a speed change position detection sensor 44 coupled to the speed change lever 36 via a link mechanism 42, a travel lever 45 provided in the vicinity of the operation handle 5 at the rear of the vehicle body, and a turn. And a controller 47 (see FIGS. 6 and 8) for controlling the speed change motor 43. The speed change motor 43 and the speed change position detection sensor 44 are provided for each of the two HSTs 16 and 17 and supported by the vehicle body frame 7 via a stay (not shown). The vehicle speed control device according to the present invention is constituted by the controller 47.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 6, the travel lever 45 is mounted on a horizontal portion 5a extending in the vehicle width direction of the operation handle 5 so as to swing in the front-rear direction. The operation part protrudes upward from a control box 48 provided so as to be located in the center in the vehicle width direction in the vicinity of the. A target speed detection sensor 49 for detecting the position of the travel lever 45 is connected to the lower end of the travel lever 45.
[0023]
The turning levers 46 are provided in the vicinity of the grips 6 on both the left and right sides of the operation handle 5, respectively, so that the driver can grip the grips 6 together with the grip levers of the bicycle. Moreover, these pivot lever 46 are connected to respective pivot detection sensor 50 for detecting an operation amount of the lever 4 6 via the link mechanism 51. The shift position detecting sensor 44, the target speed detecting sensor 49, and the turning detecting sensor 50 send detection signals to a controller 47 described later.
[0024]
When the turning lever 46 is operated, the controller 47 neutralizes the shift lever 36 of the HSTs 16 and 17 located on the same side in the left-right direction as the turning lever 46 by an angle corresponding to the operation amount of the turning lever 46. Swing to the position side. Thus, the controller 47 controls the speed change lever 36 so as to correspond to the operation of the turning lever 46, whereby the vehicle body turns in the direction in which the operated turning lever 46 is located.
[0025]
In FIG. 6, what is indicated by reference numeral 52 provided in the vicinity of the controller 47 is a battery. A throttle lever 53 for increasing / decreasing the set rotational speed of the engine 2 by the governor, the rolling cylinder and the tilt cylinder 3a are provided near the traveling lever 45 and at the upper end of the control box 48. An auger position changing lever 54 for operating the shooter, a shooter lever 55 (see FIG. 3) for changing the position of the shooter 18 provided on the auger 4, and an auger interposed in the drive system of the auger 4 An auger switch 56 for switching connection / disconnection of the clutch 12 is provided. Further, in the vicinity of the grip 6 on the left side of the vehicle body, a travel clutch lever 57 for switching connection / disconnection of the travel clutch 14 interposed in the drive system between the engine 2 and the HSTs 16 and 17 is provided. Yes.
[0026]
The controller 47 is configured to control the shift motor 43 by feedback control so that the shift levers 36 of both the HSTs 16 and 17 swing in response to the swing of the travel lever 45. That is, the controller 47 sets the target swing direction and the target swing angle of the shift lever 36 based on the detection value of the target speed detection sensor 49, and the actual position detected by the shift position detection sensor 44 is set. The speed change motor 43 is controlled so that the swing direction and the swing angle of the speed change lever 36 coincide with the target value.
[0027]
Thus, when the controller 47 performs feedback control, the vehicle body stops when the traveling lever 45 is located at the neutral position shown in FIG. 7, and the traveling lever 45 is operated forward or backward. The vehicle body travels in the direction in which the travel lever 45 is operated so that the vehicle speed corresponds to the operation amount. 7 is an operation panel provided at the upper end of the control box 48. The travel lever 45 swings in the front-rear direction along a guide groove 58 a formed in the operation panel 58.
[0028]
In the snowplow 1, the vehicle speed at the time of forward movement is maximized when the travel lever 45 is positioned at the foremost side, and the vehicle speed at the time of reverse movement is maximized when it is positioned at the rearmost side. The vehicle speed during forward movement is controlled in accordance with the rotational speed of the engine 2. That is, when the load on the auger 4 during snow removal is relatively large, the load on the engine 2 also increases and the engine speed becomes relatively low. At this time, the amount of snow entering the auger 4 decreases. Thus, the controller 47 reduces the vehicle speed so that the load is reduced.
[0029]
In carrying out this control, the controller 47 detects the current rotational speed of the engine 2 with an engine rotational speed sensor 59 (see FIG. 8), and the current engine rotational speed and a target engine rotational speed (hereinafter referred to as this). The vehicle speed (the swing angle of the speed change lever 36) is controlled so that the engine speed coincides with the target rotational speed. The engine speed sensor 59 is configured to obtain the speed of the engine 2 from the ignition pulse. The controller 47 controls the vehicle speed by turning the output of the speed change motor 43 toward the target vehicle speed to control the swing angle of the speed change lever 36.
[0030]
In this embodiment, the target rotational speed is set to a high rotational speed target rotational speed and a low rotational speed target rotational speed, and one of these target rotational speeds is selected and used. It is done. The high rotational speed target rotational speed is a rotational speed at which, for example, snow can be blown farther from the chute 18 of the auger 4, and is set to a relatively high rotational speed. The low rotation-side target rotation speed is a rotation speed that increases the forward speed and improves the snow removal efficiency, and is set to a relatively low rotation speed. The numerical data of these target rotational speeds is stored in a memory 60 (see FIG. 8) provided in the controller 47, and either one is selected by a mode selector switch 61 provided in the operation panel 58 as shown in FIG. Selected.
[0031]
Next, the operation of the controller 47 when controlling the vehicle speed will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the controller 47 detects the current rotational speed of the engine 2 in step S1 of FIG. 9, and then in step S2, the mode changeover switch 61 causes the high-speed mode (operation mode using the high-rotation side target rotational speed). ) Is selected.
When the determination result is YES, that is, when the high rotation side target rotation speed is selected, as shown in step S3, the controller 47 reads the numerical data of the high rotation side target rotation speed from the memory 60 and uses this as the target. Set as number of revolutions. When it is determined in step S2 that the low rotation side target rotation speed is selected, as shown in step S4, the controller 47 reads the numerical data of the low rotation side target rotation speed from the memory 60 and uses it. Set as target speed.
[0032]
Thereafter, the controller 47 determines whether or not the current engine speed detected in the step S1 matches the target engine speed set in the steps S3 and S4. If these two rotational speeds match, the controller 47 maintains the current state and returns to step S1. If the both rotational speeds are different from each other, the controller 47 proceeds to step S6.
In step S6, the controller 47 determines whether or not the current engine speed is greater than the target speed. If the current engine speed is larger, the controller 47 swings the shift lever 36 to the speed increasing side by a predetermined angle in step S7, and if the current engine speed is smaller, the controller 47 In step S8, 47 shifts the speed change lever 36 to the deceleration side (neutral side) by a predetermined angle. By swinging the speed change lever 36 in this manner, the vehicle speed increases or decreases, and the load on the auger 4 increases or decreases, so that the rotational speed of the engine 2 approaches the target rotational speed.
[0033]
Therefore, in the snowplow 1 configured as described above, by selecting the high rotation side target rotation speed with the mode changeover switch 61, the vehicle speed is decreased and the rotation speed of the engine 2 is relatively increased. By selecting the target rotation speed on the rotation side with the mode changeover switch 61, the vehicle speed increases and the rotation speed of the engine 2 becomes relatively low. For this reason, the snowplow 1 according to the present invention can adopt a configuration in which snow can be further moved away by selecting the high rotation side target rotation speed, and the low rotation side target rotation speed is selected. Thus, it is possible to take a form in which the vehicle speed at the time of snow removal is increased and the snow removal efficiency is improved.
[0034]
In the embodiment described above, an example in which the auger 4 is driven by the single engine 2 and the left and right crawler traveling devices 3 and 3 are driven has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to such a limitation. 3 and 3 can be driven by a power source different from that of the engine 2. That is, the present invention can adopt a configuration in which the crawler traveling devices 3 and 3 are driven by a motor or a configuration in which the crawler traveling devices 3 and 3 are driven by an engine different from the auger driving engine 2.
[0035]
Since the snowplow according to the above-described embodiment is configured so that the mode of use can be changed by the mode changeover switch 61, the target rotational speed can be determined in advance. For this reason, since the engine speed can be set to the target speed by operating the mode changeover switch 61, the operation when changing the usage mode is facilitated. The target rotational speed can be set steplessly by a variable switch such as a potentiometer, for example, in addition to being switched by a switch as shown in this embodiment. By adopting this configuration, it is possible to set the engine speed to an arbitrary speed, so that it is possible to adopt even more usage patterns.
[0036]
In the embodiment described above, an example in which the present invention is applied to a walking type snowplow has been shown, but the present invention can also be applied to a riding type snowplow in which a driver gets on and removes snow.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, by selecting the high rotation-side target rotation speed, the engine rotation speed can be increased and snow can be blown farther, and the low rotation-side target rotation speed is selected. As a result, the vehicle speed during snow removal is increased and snow removal can be performed efficiently (fast). Therefore, since a plurality of usage forms can be adopted while adopting a configuration in which the vehicle speed is automatically controlled, it is possible to provide a snow remover that is easy to use.
[0038]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the target rotational speed can be determined in advance, and the engine rotational speed can be set to the target rotational speed by operating the changeover switch. Easy to operate.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the engine speed can be set to an arbitrary speed, so that it is possible to adopt even more usage patterns.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a walking type snowplow that can take a wide variety of driving modes.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of a snowplow according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a snowplow according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a rear view of the snowplow according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing a part of the rear part of the vehicle body.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged rear view showing a part of the rear part of the vehicle body.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view showing the vicinity of an operation handle.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a part of the operation panel.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the controller.
[Explanation of symbols]
4 ... auger, 2 ... engine, 3 ... crawler travel device, 47 ... controller, 59 ... engine speed sensor, 61 ... mode selector switch.

Claims (4)

The car body,
An engine installed inside the car body,
An auger driven by this engine and rotating in proportion to the rotation of the crankshaft of the engine ;
Switching means for setting the target engine speed;
A controller for controlling the vehicle speed based on the target rotational speed set by the switching means and the current engine rotational speed;
The controller compares the current engine speed with the target speed,
If the current engine speed is higher than the target speed, increase the vehicle speed,
A snowplow that reduces the vehicle speed when the current engine speed is smaller than the target engine speed.   The snow removal machine according to claim 1, wherein the switching means is a switch.   The snow remover according to claim 1, wherein the switching means can change the target rotational speed steplessly.   The snow remover according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an operation handle is provided at a rear portion of the vehicle body so as to protrude rearward.

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