JPH0523002A - Self-propelled lawn mower - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the necessary length of an inducer such as inductive electric wire by providing such a control unit as to make steering control of a lawn mower so as to situate the inducer under the inside in the proximity of the end of the entire mowing width. CONSTITUTION:An electric lawn mower traveling on a specified course through induction by inductive electric wave dispatched from an inducer such as an inductive electric wire Q is induced so that the end of the entire mowing width nearly parallels the inducer. Reciprocating traveling of the mower along the identical inducer will mow lawn on broad different sites adjacent to each other.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-propelled lawnmower equipped with an induction radio wave detection sensor for detecting radio waves emitted from a dielectric fixed on the ground and traveling on a predetermined course guided by induction radio waves. ..

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional self-propelled lawnmower of this type is provided with an induction radio wave detection sensor at a substantially central position of the entire cutting width, and an induction wire or the like fixed on the ground is directly below the radio wave detection sensor. That is, the lawn mower is guided so as to come to a substantially central position in the left-right width and travels. As a prior art, there is Jitsukai 57-67505.

[0003]

According to the above-mentioned induction system, when reciprocating on the same induction wire, the same range is cut off and cannot be used for reciprocation. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the interval X1 of the induction wire Q must be set to be less than the total cutting width W. As a result, the length of the fixed electric wire Q is increased, which causes an increase in material cost, an increase in the fixing cost and time, and an increase in the frequency of work failure due to disconnection or the like.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to reduce the required length of a dielectric such as an induction wire, thereby reducing the cost, shortening the installation time of the dielectric, and reducing the frequency of occurrence of work failure.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems and to achieve the object, the present invention is provided with an induction wave detection sensor for detecting an electric wave emitted from a dielectric fixed to the ground. An electric lawnmower that is guided and travels on a predetermined course is characterized in that a control device for steering and controlling the lawnmower is provided immediately below the inside of the vicinity of the end of the full cutting width so that the above-mentioned derivative is located.

[0006]

The self-propelled lawn mower travels on a predetermined course by being guided so that the end portion of the full cutting width thereof is substantially along the guide wire. Therefore, by reciprocating the same induction wire Q as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to mow adjacent wide and different places.

[0007]

1 is a horizontal sectional view of a self-propelled lawnmower to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a pair of left and right moving wheels 2 and 3 are provided on the front side of a main body base 1. A pair of left and right driven wheels 4 is provided on the rear side. The left driving wheel 2 is connected to the left driving wheel driving electric motor 6 via the left reduction gear mechanism 5.
The right driving wheel 3 is linked to the right driving wheel driving electric motor 8 via the right reduction gear mechanism 7. A controller 4 is provided between the electric motors 6 and 8 for driving both wheels.
0 (Fig. 4) is installed, and both-wheel drive electric motors 6, 8
A battery 18 is mounted on the rear side.

A rear end fulcrum portion A of a swing arm 10 is rotatably supported at the center of the rear portion of the main body base 1 in the left-right direction, and the swing arm 10 is centered on the fulcrum portion A and in the traveling direction. It swings in a direction substantially at right angles to. A motor mounting seat 10a is provided at the front end of the swing arm 10.
The cutting blade driving electric motor 12 is fixed on the mounting seat 10a.

The rotary shaft 13 of the electric motor 12 for driving the cutting blade is provided with a cutting blade (blade) 16 penetrating the mounting seat 10a and penetrating the arc-shaped guide elongated hole 15 of the main body base 1 and extending downward. There is. The swing arm 10 is configured to swing by a swing electric motor 21 via a crank mechanism. That is, the swing electric motor 21 includes the speed reducer 24 and the inverted L-shaped bracket 20.
A crank 23 is fixed to the output shaft 22 of the speed reducer 24 as shown in FIG. 5, and the tip end of the crank 23 and the intermediate part of the swing arm 10 are linked to each other by a link 25. It is pivotally connected via. Due to the above swinging, a total cutting width W of about 2.3 times the diameter of the cutting blade 16 can be secured as shown in FIG.

A motor mounting seat 1 at the tip of the swing arm 10.
A pair of long hole covers 27 is connected to the shaft 0a on the left and right sides of the rotary shaft 13. The long hole cover 27 is composed of three arc-shaped members 27a, 27b, and 27c, respectively, and is formed so as to increase in size from the side of the mounting seat 10a so that they can be sequentially stacked and stored. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the member 27a closest to the rotary shaft is formed in a flat plate shape, and the next member 27b is the flat plate member 27a.
The cross-sectional shape is formed in a U-shape with a downward opening so that the next member 27c can receive the intermediate member 27b.

These members 27a, 27b and 27c are shown in FIG.
1 is slidable along the long hole 15, and when the swing arm 10 moves to the left from the state of FIG. 1, the left cover 27 is contracted and at the same time the right cover (not shown) is expanded. The long hole 15 is always kept covered with the cover 27.

Although not shown, each member 27a, 27b,
A retaining mechanism is provided between the members 27c so as not to separate them from each other. For example, when the swing arm 10 is moved to the leftmost side from the position shown in FIG. 1, the members 27a, 27b, 27b, 27c slides, and the other members 27b and 27a are sequentially stored in the largest member 27c. The member 27c is guided by a guide mechanism (not shown) so as to reciprocate between a position indicated by a virtual line and a position indicated by a solid line.

A photoelectric sensor 30 for detecting the presence or absence of turfgrass is arranged at the front of the main body base 1. The photoelectric sensor 30
Is composed of a light emitting element 30a and a light receiving element 30b.
0a and 30b are arranged facing each other at a constant interval in the left-right direction, and are installed at a position higher than the cutting blade 16 so that the height can be adjusted. The light from the light emitting element 30a is received by the light receiving element 3
The light is received at 0b, and when the grass is positioned between the elements 30a and 30b, the light is blocked, and the presence of the grass is sensed.

The driven wheel 4 is supported by a downward U-shaped holder 17, and the holder 17 is provided with a vertical support shaft 19 at the upper end thereof and is supported by a main body case 9 so as to be swingable in the left-right direction.

In FIG. 2, which is a partially cutaway side view of FIG. 1, a main body case 9 for covering the main body base 1 is integrally provided with spherical portions 9a, 9b having a two-tiered front and rear shape. The solar cell T is attached to almost the entire surface,
Is connected to the battery 18 and the generated electric power is stored in the battery 18.

On the lower surface of the main body base 1, an induction radio wave detection sensor 31 for detecting radio waves that guide the lawn mower to travel on a predetermined course is provided in the vicinity of the right end of the full cutting width W in the traveling direction. It is equipped inside.

In FIG. 3, the radio wave detection sensor 31 is arranged inside the entire cutting width W near one end in the left-right direction. A pair of right and left radio wave detection sensors 31 are provided, and to be precise, the central portion between the radio wave detection sensors 31 is slightly inward from the end of the full cutting width W. A guide wire Q is laid on the ground to guide the lawn mower on a planned course, and is fixed by a peg 33, and a current having a constant frequency is applied to the guide wire Q, whereby Radio waves of a certain strength are generated. Both radio wave detection sensors 31 detect the strength of the radio wave emitted from the guide wire Q.

FIG. 7 shows a laying pattern of the guiding wires Q, which are laid in a U shape, for example, and the distance X2 between the guiding wires parallel to each other is set to a distance of about a little less than twice the total cutting width W. It The distance from the outer edge of the lawn is set to be slightly less than W.

4, which shows a block diagram of the control device 40, the control device 40 includes a CPU 41, an input interface 43 for supplying various input signals, and an output interface 4 for supplying various control output signals to various control targets.
4 and a memory 42 for storing various information. An input signal from the photoelectric sensor 30 for controlling the cutting blade is input to the input interface 43, and the radio wave detection sensor 31 is used as a signal for steering control. The input signal from is input. A control output signal from the CPU 41 is output via an output interface 44 to the left and right moving wheel drive electric motors 6,
8 is output.

Regarding the cutting blade on / off control system, the electric motor 1 for driving the cutting blade when the light of the photoelectric sensor 30 is cut off
When the turfgrass is detected and the lawn grass is detected, the electric motor 12 for driving the cutting blade is stopped by the timer or the like after at least L / V time has elapsed after the light is blocked. .. The above L is the distance from the position of the photoelectric sensor 30 to the rear end of the rear cutting blade 16, and V is the traveling speed of the lawn mower.

With respect to the steering control system, the input values from the left and right radio wave detection sensors 31 are compared in the control device 40, and the left and right moving wheel drive electric motors 6, 8 are set so that the difference therebetween becomes zero.
Control signal is output to. For example, when the input signal of the radio wave detection sensor 31 on the right side is weaker than the input signal of the radio wave detection sensor 31 on the left side, it means that the right radio wave detection sensor 31 is moving away from the guide line Q to the right side. The rotation speed of the right-side moving wheel drive electric motor 8 is made higher than the rotation speed of the left-side moving wheel drive electric motor 6 in accordance with the difference between the two, and steering is performed leftward.

The reaping work will be described. During the lawn mowing operation, the swing arm 10 swings left and right through the crank 23 and the link 25 by the rotation of the swing electric motor 21, whereby the cutting blade 16 rotates and at the same time reciprocates in a direction substantially perpendicular to the traveling direction. , Secure the full cutting width W.

In FIG. 7, since the lawn mower is guided and moved so that the substantially right end portion of its cutting width is guided along the guide wire Q,
By reciprocating the same induction wire Q, the induction wire Q
Both sides of the grass can be mowed by approximately W, and thus almost the entire grass can be mowed.

By the way, even if it is assumed that the cutting blade 16 does not oscillate, the length of one side can be reduced by guiding the vicinity of one end of the cutting width of the lawn mower along the fixed wire as in the present application. When cutting a square lawn surface having a distance of 50 times the diameter of the cutting blade 16, the length of the induction wire Q can be reduced by 49% compared to the conventional method of FIG. Further, if the cutting blade is of the left-right swing type as in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the length of the induction wire Q can be reduced by 77%.

[0025]

[Other Examples] As the derivative, instead of the long induction wire, for example, magnets or the like may be arranged intermittently along the traveling route, and a large number of pins or the like may be arranged along the route. It may be fixed separately. It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a lawnmower having a non-swinging cutting blade, and can also be applied to a lawnmower having two or more cutting blades.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the inside of the self-propelled lawnmower near the end of the full cutting width is guided so as to be substantially coincident with the derivative of the induction wire fixed on the ground, the same derivative is reciprocated. It can be used, and the cutting area can be doubled with respect to the installation length of the fixed inductor. In other words, it is possible to reduce the length or number of inductors such as induction wires to about half compared to the conventional structure for a certain area of grass, reducing the material cost of the inductor, shortening the installation time and making work impossible. It is possible to reduce the occurrence frequency of.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a self-propelled lawnmower to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the self-propelled lawnmower of FIG. 1 in a partial cross section.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the self-propelled lawnmower of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control device.

5 is an enlarged view of the swing mechanism portion of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a VI portion of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a traveling pattern of work by the lawnmower of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a traveling pattern of work by a conventional lawnmower.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main body base 2,3 Driving wheels 6,8 Electric motor for driving wheels 16 Cutting blade 31 Inductive radio wave detection sensor Q Induction wire (derivative) 40 Control device

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A self-propelled lawnmower equipped with an induction radio wave detection sensor for detecting radio waves emitted from an inductor fixed to the ground, and traveling along a predetermined course guided by induction radio waves. A self-propelled lawn mower, which is provided with a control device for steering and controlling the lawn mower so that the above derivative is located immediately below the inside of the vicinity of the end of the full cutting width.