JP7061793B2 - Autonomous control type mower - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an autonomously controlled mowing machine that performs mowing work unmanned.

Conventionally, mowing work including lawn mowing has been carried out with a manned mowing machine. Due to soaring labor costs, unmanned work has been required, and various autonomously controlled mowing machines have been proposed in which mowing machines autonomously strike and mow the grass (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In FIG. 3 of Patent Document 1, a cutting blade (35) (numbers in parentheses indicate the reference numerals described in Patent Document 1; the same applies hereinafter) and a cutting blade that swivels the cutting blade (35) around a vertical axis. A motor (30), a motor housing (21) for accommodating the cutting blade motor (30), and a dial (20) for raising and lowering the cutting blade motor (30) in the motor housing (21) are disclosed. ..
By adjusting the rotation angle of the dial (20) shown in FIG. 2 of Patent Document 1, the ground height of the cutting blade (35) can be adjusted.

The self-propelled mowing machine disclosed in Patent Document 1 is suitable for a mowing field where there are no large obstacles such as a lawn, a garden at home, and a golf course.
On the other hand, in the case of mowing undergrowth in orchards, there are often exposed rocks and bumps between the fruit trees. This is because rocks are removed around the roots of fruit trees, but the parts away from the roots are untouched.

In this case, the cutting blade (35) may hit a rock or a bump. When the cutting blade (35) hits a rock or a bump, the cutting blade motor (30) becomes overloaded, and the cutting blade motor (30) is stopped from the viewpoint of equipment protection. Upon learning of this problem, the administrator goes straight to the mower and takes measures to get the mower out of the rocks and bumps.
Despite the fact that the self-propelled mower is characterized by unmanned operation, it is a heavy burden for the administrator if the administrator frequently escapes from the self-propelled mower.
Therefore, in a few cases, a mower that does not interrupt the operation is required.

Further, in the self-propelled mower disclosed in FIG. 2 of Patent Document 1, the rear wheels (13a, 13b) are the driving wheels, and the front wheels (12a, 12b) are the driven wheels (non-driving wheels). It is a driving vehicle.
Since it is a rear-wheel drive vehicle, if the cutting blade (35) rides on a rock or bump and the front wheels (12a, 12b) are in contact with the ground, but the rear wheels (13a, 13b) float from the ground, It becomes impossible to drive. In this case as well, the burden on the administrator is heavy because the administrator goes straight to the self-propelled mower and escapes.

Considering the reduction of the burden on the manager, an autonomously controlled mowing machine that does not stop easily and continues mowing work even if rocks or bumps are present is desired.

International Publication No. 2017/051662 Pamphlet

An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomously controlled mowing machine that can continue mowing work without stopping easily even in the presence of rocks and bumps.

The invention according to claim 1 comprises a cutter housing surrounding the cutting blade, a front wheel arranged before the cutting blade, a rear wheel arranged after the cutting blade, and the cutting blade from the ground. In an autonomously controlled mowing machine that has a mowing height adjustment mechanism that adjusts the height and makes an autonomous strike.
The cutter housing is suspended from the airframe by a parallel link consisting of a front link and a rear link.
A control pin provided on one of the front link and the rear link is connected to the cutting height adjusting mechanism.
The cutting height adjusting mechanism is provided with a long hole-shaped pin storage hole for accommodating the control pin and extending upward beyond the diameter of the control pin .
The cutting height adjusting mechanism has an elevating block provided on the machine body so as to be elevated by a screw, and a swinging piece swayably attached to the elevating block and provided with the pin storage hole.
The pin accommodating hole is characterized in that two long sides constituting the elongated hole are formed of an arc that is convex outward from each other .

The invention according to claim 2 is the autonomously controlled mower according to claim 1.
The front wheels and the rear wheels are all-wheel drive vehicles, each of which is equipped with an electric motor.

The invention according to claim 3 is the autonomously controlled mower according to claim 1 or 2.
The front link and the rear link are characterized in that the lower end is arranged behind the upper end.

In the invention according to claim 1, the pin accommodating hole for accommodating the control pin provided in one of the front link and the rear link has a margin above the control pin. When the cutter housing or cutting blade hits a rock or bump, the cutter housing or cutting blade rises by the margin above the control pin to avoid interference with the rock or bump.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, there is provided an autonomously controlled mowing machine that continues mowing work without stopping easily even in the presence of rocks and bumps.
In addition, in the invention according to claim 1, the cutting height adjusting mechanism connects the elevating block and the control pin with a swing piece. Rather than connecting the elevating block directly to the control pin, it is possible to reduce the size and simplification of the elevating block through a swing piece.
Further, in the invention according to claim 1, the pin accommodating hole is composed of an arc in which two long sides constituting the elongated hole are convex outward from each other. Use one arc for normal mowing height adjustments and the other for avoiding rocks and bumps. Since the vertically elongated hole is only inflated to the left and right, it is possible to suppress the enlargement of the swinging piece.

In the invention according to claim 2, the autonomously controlled mower is an all-wheel drive vehicle. If it is an all-wheel drive vehicle, it can continue to run on uneven and uneven ground, and mowing work can be continued.

In the invention according to claim 3, the front link and the rear link are arranged so that the lower end is behind the upper end.
When the cutting blade or cutter housing hits a rock or bump, no compressive force is applied to the front and rear links, so damage to the front and rear links can be reduced.

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 an operation explanatory diagram of an autonomous control type mower. It is a figure explaining the structure of the cutting height adjustment mechanism. It is a figure explaining the operation of the cutting height adjustment mechanism. It is a figure explaining the structure of the cutting height adjustment mechanism which concerns on the modification.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings shall be viewed in the direction of the reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 1, an autonomously controlled mower (hereinafter referred to as a mower) 10 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.

As shown in FIG. 3, when viewed from the bottom, the swiveling 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 shown 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 any position 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 in front of the turning circle 22 and 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 becomes overloaded, reverse control is performed.

The front wheel 11 is 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 travel, left steering, and right 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. If it is 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 in the V-shaped component 36. The battery 25 is charged from the outside via the charging terminal 37.

The operation of the mower 10 described above will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the mower 10 goes straight as shown by arrow (1), turns left as shown by arrow (2), turns right as shown by arrow (3), and turns as shown by arrow (4). Go backwards.

The structure of the cutting height adjusting mechanism 40 adopted in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, the front link 42 is lowered to the machine body 18 via the front upper pin 41, and the lower end of the front link 42 supports the front portion of the cutter housing 16 with the front lower pin 43.
Further, the rear link 46 is lowered to the machine body 18 via the rear upper pin 45, and the lower end of the rear link 46 supports the rear portion of the cutter housing 16 with the rear lower pin 47.

When a parallel link is formed by the front link 42 and the rear link 46 and the cutter housing 16 is hung by the parallel link, the cutter housing 16 moves up and down with almost no change in posture.
The front link 42 and the rear link 46 may be arranged so that the lower end is behind the upper end and the lower end is in front of the upper end.

However, if the lower end is arranged so as to be behind the upper end as in the embodiment, no compressive force is applied to the front link 42 and the rear link 46 when the cutter housing 16 moves upward by hitting a rock or a bump. Therefore, the front link 42 and the rear link 46 are not easily damaged. Therefore, the placement of the examples is recommended.

A cutting blade motor 24 is provided in the center of the upper surface of the cutter housing 16, and a cutting blade 19 is provided on a motor shaft 24a extending downward from the cutting blade motor 24 and extending into the cutter housing 16.

In this example, the cutting blade 19 is lowered forward (raised backward), and the stem of the grass is cut diagonally to reduce the cutting resistance.
The cutting blade 19 may be raised forward ( downward backward) and the grass stalk may be cut diagonally to improve the cutting property .

The cutting height adjusting mechanism 40 comprises an elevating block 51 provided on the machine body 18 so as to be elevated by a screw 48 and a knob 49, and an elevating piece 53 swayably attached to a block side pin 52 of the elevating block 51. ..
The swing piece 53 includes a vertically extending elongated hole-shaped pin storage hole 54. The pin storage hole 54 is composed of arcs 55 and 56 in which the two long sides constituting the elongated hole are convex outward from each other. The control pin 58 on the front link 42 side is housed in such a pin storage hole 54.

The operation of the cutting height adjusting mechanism 40 will be described with reference to FIG. 7.
FIG. 7A is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 6, and the elevating block 51 and the block side pin 52 are set to a certain height by turning the screw 48.
On the other hand, a load such as a cutter housing is applied downward to the front lower pin 43.
The control pin 58 and the block side pin 52 are mechanically connected by a swing piece 53.
When the control pin 58 tries to move along the line 59 passing through the center of the control pin 58 and the center of the block side pin 52 as shown by the arrow (5), the attractive force of the control pin 58 and the swing The swinging piece 53 stops swinging when the bearing capacity of the piece 53 is balanced.

Next, by turning the screw 48, the elevating block 51 is raised as shown in FIG. 7 (b). Then, the front link 42 rotates about the front upper pin 41, and the front lower pin 43 becomes a high position. At this time, the control pin 58 pulls the swing piece 53 in the middle of the pin storage hole 54 in the height direction as shown by the arrow (6). The swing piece 53 connects the elevating block 51 and the front link 42 at a position in the figure in which the force is balanced.
In this state, the lower front pin 43 is stable, and the height positions of the cutter housing and the cutting blade are stable.

In FIG. 7A, there is a margin above the control pin 58 of the pin storage hole 54. Also in FIG. 7B, there is a margin above the control pin 58 of the pin storage hole 54. That is, since the pin accommodating hole 54 accommodates the control pin 58 and extends upward beyond the diameter of the control pin 58, there is a margin upward.
For example, in FIG. 6, a rock or bump may hit the cutting blade 19 or the cutter housing 16.

At this time, in FIG. 7C, an upward force is applied to the front lower pin 43. Then, the front link 42 tries to rotate counterclockwise in the drawing as shown by the arrow (7). Then, the control pin 58 tries to rotate around the front upper pin 41.
In the pin storage hole 54 of FIG. 7 (c), since there is a margin on the right side and above the control pin 58, the control pin 58 easily moves as shown by the arrow (8). As a result, the arrow (7) is allowed, and the cutting blade 19 and the cutter housing 16 in FIG. 6 are raised. If the interference with rocks and bumps is slight, the cutting blade 19 and the cutter housing 16 are raised to avoid this interference and continue the mowing work.

FIG. 8 shows an example of modification of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 8, the elevating block 51 and the control pin 58 may be directly connected to each other.
However, the pin storage hole 54 needs to be horizontally long in addition to vertically long, and the elevating block 51 becomes large. Further, since a large horizontal force is applied to the elevating block 51, guides 61 and 61 for guiding the elevating block 51 are required.

In this regard, if the swing piece 53 described with reference to FIG. 6 is adopted, the elevating block 51 can be made smaller and lighter. Therefore, the structure of FIG. 8 may be used, but the structure of FIG. 6 is recommended.

In the embodiment, the front link 42 is connected to the cutting height adjusting mechanism 40, but the cutting height adjusting mechanism 40 may be connected to the rear link 46.

The mowing machine of the present invention is suitable for mowing on the ground with rocks and bumps.

10 ... Autonomous control type mower (mower), 11 ... Front wheel, 12L ... Left rear wheel, 12R ... Right rear wheel, 16 ... Cutter housing, 18 ... Aircraft, 19 ... Cutting blade, 28 ... Electric motor (front wheel motor) , 33L ... electric motor (left rear wheel motor), 33R ... electric motor (right rear wheel motor), 40 ... cutting height adjustment mechanism, 42 ... front link, 46 ... rear link, 48 ... screw, 51 ... elevating block, 53 ... swing piece, 54 ... pin storage hole, 55, 56 ... arc, 58 ... control pin.

Claims (3)

A cutter housing that surrounds the cutting blade, a front wheel that is placed before the cutting blade, a rear wheel that is placed after the cutting blade, and a cutting height that adjusts the height of the cutting blade from the ground. In an autonomously controlled mower that has an adjustment mechanism and strikes autonomously
The cutter housing is suspended from the airframe by a parallel link consisting of a front link and a rear link.
A control pin provided on one of the front link and the rear link is connected to the cutting height adjusting mechanism.
The cutting height adjusting mechanism is provided with a long hole-shaped pin storage hole for accommodating the control pin and extending upward beyond the diameter of the control pin .
The cutting height adjusting mechanism has an elevating block provided on the machine body so as to be elevated by a screw, and a swinging piece swayably attached to the elevating block and provided with the pin storage hole.
The pin storage hole is an autonomous control type mower characterized in that two long sides constituting the long hole are formed of arcs that are convex outward from each other . The autonomously controlled mower according to claim 1.
The front wheel and the rear wheel are autonomously controlled mowers, each of which is equipped with an electric motor and is an all-wheel drive vehicle. The autonomously controlled mower according to claim 1 or 2.
The front link and the rear link are autonomously controlled mowers, characterized in that the lower end is behind the upper end.

Images