JPH08209650A - Sweeper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To avoid grounding a rotating brush for a long time so as to avoid injury of a lawn by providing a detecting mechanism for the running speed of a running machine body and a detecting mechanism for the level against the ground of a rotary brush, and controlling an alarming means against the condition in which the rotary brush is on a level in contact with the ground. CONSTITUTION: When a machine body 3 is stopped to run and a rotary brush is on a level in contact with the ground, a buzzer 30 is actuated by a control device 31 as a control means. By actuation of the buzzer 30, an operator can operate to start running of the machine body 3, operate to stop driving of the rotary brush, or operate to raise the rotary brush from the ground. When a fixed time elapses after operating the buzzer 30, a first control valve V1 as a rotation control mechanism controlling rotation of the rotary brush is operated so as to stop rotation of the rotary brush. Further, by the control means 31, the rotor is automatically raised up to a level separated from the ground.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a sweeper equipped with a rotating body for scraping an object to be collected on the ground so as to be movable up and down with respect to a traveling machine body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a sweeper configured as described above, there is a sweeper disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-54133. This sweeper has a brush-like rotating body that is vertically movable on a traveling machine body on the ground. It is configured to contact and scrape up the collection target on the ground for suction collection.

[0003]

The sweeper having the above-mentioned structure is often used for collecting the cut grass remaining on the upper surface of the grass after the grass cutting operation by the lawn mower. However, compared to the road surface, turf is soft and vulnerable to physical contact, and if the traveling of the aircraft is stopped while the rotating body is rotating during the recovery work, the grass at the position where the rotating body contacts will be damaged. There is a lot of damage to it and improvement is desired. It should be noted that if the rotator contacts the turf at a fixed position for a long time, it not only physically damages the turf but also causes discoloration of the turf due to the heat generated at that position.

An object of the present invention is to rationally configure a sweeper that can eliminate the inconvenience caused when the traveling of the machine body is stopped while the rotating body for scraping up the object to be recovered rotates in the lowered position.

[0005]

The first feature of the present invention (Claim 1) is, as described at the beginning, provided with a rotating body for scraping up the object to be collected on the ground so as to be able to move up and down with respect to the traveling machine body. The sweeper is equipped with a mechanism that detects the traveling speed of the traveling machine body and a mechanism that detects the ground level of the rotating body.The traveling is stopped based on the detection results from these mechanisms, and the rotating body is on the ground. If you are at a level
It is provided with control means for activating an alarm means for making an operator recognize this state.
The effects are as follows.

A second aspect of the present invention (claim 2) is that in addition to the first aspect, a rotation control mechanism for controlling the drive rotation of the rotating body is provided, and after the alarm means is activated. The operation of the control means is set so as to stop the rotation of the rotating body by operating the rotation control mechanism after a lapse of a predetermined time, and the operation and effect are as follows.

The third feature (claim 3) of the present invention is
In a sweeper equipped with a rotating body that scrapes up a collection target on the ground so as to be able to move up and down with respect to the traveling body, a mechanism that detects the traveling speed of the traveling body, and a mechanism that detects the ground level of the rotating body, When traveling is stopped based on the detection results from these mechanisms, and the rotating body is at a level in contact with the ground, the elevating means for driving and elevating the rotating body is operated to move the rotating body from the ground surface. The point is that it has a control means for raising it to a level that separates it.
And the effect is as follows.

[0008]

According to the above feature (Claim 1), the control means activates the alarm means when the traveling of the airframe is stopped and the rotating body is at a level in contact with the ground. The operator can be made to perform an operation to start traveling of the machine body, an operation to stop driving of the rotating body, or an operation to raise the rotating body from the ground.

According to claim 2, the traveling of the airframe is stopped,
Moreover, when the rotating body is at a level in contact with the ground, the control means activates the alarm means, and when a predetermined time elapses, the control means operates the rotation control mechanism to automatically stop the rotation of the rotating body. , The rotation of the rotating body is not continued in a state of contacting the ground at a specific position.

According to claim 3, the traveling of the airframe is stopped,
Also, when the rotating body is at a level where it contacts the ground, the control means automatically raises the rotating body to a level where it separates from the ground, and even if the running is stopped, it contacts the ground at a specific position. The rotation of the rotating body is not continued in this state.

[0011]

Therefore, when the traveling of the airframe is stopped while the rotating body for scraping up the object to be recovered rotates in the lowered position, the rotating body is kept in contact with the ground at the specific position. A sweeper is configured so that the worker can recognize the fact and can prompt the worker to perform an operation to be avoided (Claim 1). In addition, after the control operation that makes the operator recognize that the contact of the rotating body with the ground at the specific position has continued, even if the operator does not perform the necessary operation, the rotating action of the rotating body is A sweeper capable of avoiding the action on (1) is constructed (claim 2). In addition, when the traveling of the machine is stopped in a state in which the rotating body that scrapes up the object to be collected rotates in the lowered position, the sweeper can prevent the rotating action of the rotating body from acting on the ground by the automatic raising control of the rotating body. Is constructed (claim 3).

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a steering handle 4 is provided at a front portion of a traveling machine body 3 including a drive-type front wheel 1 configured to be steerable and a drive-type rear wheel 2 configured to be steerable. And a driver's seat 5 are arranged, an engine 6 is arranged at the center of the traveling machine body 3, a hopper 7 for collecting the cut grass is mounted on the rear portion of the traveling machine body 3, and between the front and rear wheels. Equipped with a scraping unit A that can be driven up and down freely,
Further, a sweeper for guiding the cut grass scraped by the scraping unit A to the suction blower 9 through the duct 8 and charging and collecting the grass into the hopper 7 is constructed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the scraping unit A is a housing 10 formed in a horizontally long kamaboko shape.
The rotating brush 11 as a rotating body for scraping up the object to be collected on the ground is horizontally supported with respect to the internal position of
A hydraulic motor M1 that rotationally drives the rotary brush 11 is arranged on one lateral side of the housing 10, and a grounding wheel 12 is provided on the rear side of the housing 10. The housing 10 is connected in a suspended state to the lower end of a parallel quadruple type link mechanism 13 whose upper end is supported by the traveling machine body 3, and an elevating cylinder 14 as an elevating means for driving the link mechanism 13 to bend and extend. It is configured so that it can be moved up and down without changing the overall posture by driving.

The rotary brush 11 is mounted on a shaft 11A driven by a hydraulic motor via a mounting rubber 11C which is supported on the outer peripheral edge of a large number of discs 11B fitted and fixed to the shaft 11A in a longitudinal direction along the axis of the rotary shaft. Brush 11D is attached.

The duct 8 is arranged in the front part of the housing 10, and a collecting cylinder portion 8A for collecting the cut grass scraped forward and upward by the rotating brush 11 is provided on the suction cylinder 8 extending downward from the suction blower 9. On the other hand, it is fitted in such a way that it can move relative to the vertical direction while allowing some tilting.

The hopper 7 is provided with a lid 7A that can be opened and closed on the rear surface side, and is supported by the traveling machine body through a parallel four-link type lift link 15, and an operation of a lift cylinder 16 that drives the lift link 15 to extend and retract. Can be moved up and down without changing the posture, and by driving the dump cylinder 17, the entire hopper can be switched between the dump posture and the horizontal posture around the lateral axis X, and the opening / closing cylinder 18 can be operated to rotate around the spindle 19. It is configured so that the lid 7A can be opened and closed.

As shown in FIG. 5, a hydraulic system of this sweeper is formed, and this system has a variable displacement hydraulic pump P1 driven by the power of the engine 6, and the hydraulic oil from this hydraulic pump is supplied. An oil passage that supplies the hydraulic motor M2 for traveling is formed. A speed change pedal 20 (see FIG. 1) for adjusting the discharge amount of hydraulic oil from the hydraulic pump P1 is arranged on the upper surface of the step of the boarding operation section, and the power from the hydraulic motor M2 is transmitted to the transmission case 21. A transmission system for transmitting to the rear wheels 2 via the transmission, and a transmission system for transmitting the transmission case 21 and the intermediate case 22 to the front wheels 1 via the respective transmission systems.

A main clutch 24 is mounted on a drive shaft 23 that penetrates the variable displacement hydraulic pump P1, and the power on the lower transmission side of the main clutch 24 is transmitted to a suction blower 9 via a belt transmission mechanism 25. An oil passage for forming a transmission system for transmitting to the hydraulic pump P2, and for sending hydraulic oil from the hydraulic pump P2 to the hydraulic motor M1 of the scraping unit A via the electromagnetically controlled first control valve V1. Has been formed.

Further, a constant displacement type hydraulic pump P3 driven by the engine 6 is provided, and hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump P3 is operated for steering front wheels through a second electromagnetically controlled control valve V2. To the steering cylinder 26, and to the steering cylinder 27 for steering the rear wheels via the electromagnetically controlled third control valve V3, and the lifting and lowering of the scraping unit A via the electromagnetically controlled fourth control valve V4. An oil passage for sending to the cylinder 14 is formed,
Further, the hydraulic oil sent out when the fourth control valve V4 is in the neutral position is sent to the lift cylinder 16 via the fifth control valve V5 and the dump cylinder 1 via the sixth control valve V6.
7, and an oil passage for sending to the open / close cylinder 18 via the seventh control valve V7 is formed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the variable displacement hydraulic pump P1 adjusts the amount of hydraulic oil discharged by adjusting the amount of rotation of the trunnion shaft 28 to adjust the forward / backward speed of the machine body 3 and stop it. As described above, the trunnion shaft 28 and the speed change pedal 20 are linked via a rod 29, and a potentiometer-type first sensor S1 is provided as a mechanism for detecting the traveling speed from the rotational operation amount of the trunnion shaft 28.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, a potentiometer-type second sensor S2 as a mechanism for measuring the ground level of the rotary brush 11 from the bending amount of the link mechanism 13 of the scraping unit A.
In addition, a buzzer 30 (see FIG. 6) as an alarm means is arranged on the front panel of the boarding operation unit.

In this sweeper, the traveling of the airframe is stopped,
Moreover, when the rotating brush 11 is at a level in contact with the ground, the control device 31 as the control means operates the buzzer 30, and the operator starts traveling of the machine body 3 within a short time of about several seconds from the operation of the buzzer 30. If the operation for stopping, the operation for stopping the driving of the rotary brush 11, or the operation for raising the rotary brush 11 from the ground is not performed,
It is configured to operate the first control valve V1 as a rotation control mechanism for controlling the rotation of the rotating brush 11 to stop the rotation of the rotating brush 11. The control operation will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 6, the control device 31 is constructed by incorporating a microprocessor therein, and a potentiometer type steering sensor S3 for measuring the operation amount of the steering handle 4 with respect to the control device 31, and
A system to which signals from the first sensor S1 and the second sensor S2 are input is formed, and the first control valve V1,
A signal system is formed for each of the second control valve V2, the third control valve V3, and the fourth control valve V4. The steering sensor S3, the second control valve V2, and the third control valve V3 are not directly related to the present invention, but when the steering handle 4 is operated, the front and rear steering cylinders 26 and 27 are driven to control the steering. The control that enables the above is also performed by the control device 31.

The operation of the control device 31 is set as shown in FIG. 7. In this control operation, when it is detected that the traveling of the body 3 is stopped by the signal from the first sensor S1, the second sensor S2 Is detected, the buzzer 30 is activated (# 10
1 to # 103 steps), then the timer (configured by software) is activated, and the aircraft 3 is informed by the signal from the first sensor S1 until the time set for this timer (short time of about 5 seconds) elapses. Of the timer is detected, when the first control valve V1 is operated to detect the stop of the rotation of the rotating brush 11, and when the fourth control valve V4 is operated to detect the rise of the scraping unit A. The value is cleared to end the control (steps # 104 to # 108), the traveling of the machine body 3 is not started until the time set in the timer elapses, and the rotation of the rotary brush 11 is not stopped. When the scraping unit A is not raised, the control device 31 sets the first
The control valve V1 is operated to stop the rotation of the rotary brush 11 (steps # 109 and # 110).

In this way, when the traveling of the machine body 3 is stopped during the work of collecting the cut grass on the grass surface with the sweeper, first, the rotating brush 11 comes into contact with the grass surface by the operation of the buzzer 30 to cause damage. In addition to making the worker aware that the situation has fallen, a sweeper that does not damage the lawn by automatically stopping the rotation of the rotating brush 11 even if the worker cannot understand the meaning of the operation of the buzzer 30 due to immaturity It was done.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the second embodiment, the hardware is the same as that of the first embodiment, and only the software is different.

That is, the control operation is set as shown in FIG. 8, and in this control, the airframe 3 is sent by the signal from the first sensor S1.
When it is detected that the traveling of the vehicle has stopped, the second sensor S2
When it is detected that the rotating brush 11 is at the ground level by the signal from, the buzzer 30 is activated (# 201 to # 2).
(Step 03), then the timer (configured by software) is activated, and the traveling of the machine body 3 is started by the signal from the first sensor S1 until the time set by this timer (short time of about 5 seconds) elapses. If the first control valve V1 is operated to detect the stop of the rotation of the rotary brush 11, the fourth control valve V4 is operated to detect the rise of the scraping unit A, the value of the timer is cleared. Then, the control is ended (steps # 204 to # 208), and the traveling of the aircraft 3 is not started until the time set in the timer elapses,
The rotation of the rotary brush 11 does not stop, and the scraping unit A
When the lifting is not performed, the controller 31 operates the fourth control valve V4 to control the lifting of the scraping unit A (steps # 209 and # 210).

As described above, when the traveling of the machine body 3 is stopped during the work of collecting the cut grass on the grass surface with the sweeper, first, the rotating brush 11 comes into contact with the grass surface by the operation of the buzzer 30 to cause damage. The operator is made to recognize that the situation has fallen, and even if the operator is inexperienced and cannot understand the meaning of the operation of the buzzer 30, the rotary brush 11 is forcibly raised to a level at which the rotary brush 11 is separated from the turf surface. A sweeper was constructed that would not damage the grass.

[Other Embodiments] In addition to the above embodiments, the present invention is
For example, the alarm means can be configured to provide an alarm in the words of a person by providing a PCM sound source, or the alarm means can be configured by a combination of a sound source and a light-emitting body such as a light-emitting diode. When the speed becomes extremely low, a control operation for activating the alarm means before the traveling vehicle completely stops may be added.

Further, in the present invention, it is possible to use a mechanism for measuring the traveling speed based on the rotational speed of the wheel, and a mechanism for measuring the ground level of the rotating body is a non-contact type such as an ultrasonic type. It is also possible to use the one described above, and it is possible to configure a rotation control mechanism for controlling the rotation of the rotating body (rotating brush) by a clutch interposed in the transmission system,
Further, it is possible to configure the control means with a hard circuit by combining a logic gate and a timer element.

It should be noted that although reference numerals are given in the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall side view of a sweeper according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the scraping unit portion according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional rear view of the scraping unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a traveling speed operation system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a hydraulic circuit diagram of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block circuit diagram of a control system of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the control operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the control operation of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 3 traveling machine body 11 rotating body 14 lifting means 30 warning means 31 control means S1 mechanism for detecting traveling speed S2 mechanism for detecting ground level V1 rotation control mechanism

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sweeper equipped with a rotating body (11) for scraping up an object to be collected on the ground so as to be movable up and down with respect to a traveling machine body (3), and a mechanism for detecting a traveling speed of the traveling machine body (3). (S1) and a mechanism for detecting the ground level of the rotating body (11) (S
2) Each is equipped with an alarm means for making the worker recognize this state when traveling is stopped based on the detection results from these mechanisms and the rotating body (11) is at a level where it contacts the ground. A sweeper comprising control means (31) for actuating (30). 2. A rotation control mechanism for controlling drive rotation of the rotating body (11), and the alarm means (30).
When a predetermined time has passed after the operation of the rotation control mechanism (V
The operation of the control means (31) is set so as to stop the rotation of the rotating body (11) by operating 1).
The described sweeper. 3. A sweeper equipped with a rotating body (11) for scraping up an object to be collected on the ground so as to be movable up and down with respect to the traveling machine body (3), and a mechanism for detecting a traveling speed of the traveling machine body (3). (S1) and a mechanism for detecting the ground level of the rotating body (11) (S
2) Equipped with each of them, and when traveling is stopped based on the detection results from these mechanisms, and when the rotating body (11) is at a level in contact with the ground, raising and lowering for driving the rotating body (11) up and down. Control means (3) for operating the means (14) to raise the rotating body (11) to a level at which it is separated from the ground surface.
A sweeper equipped with 1).