JPS61115425A - Pruning apparatus of automatic pruning machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention is applicable to pruning for the production of unreinforced wood, for managing pests and diseases or for prevention of cold damage, or for pruning before felling standing trees. This invention relates to a pruning device for an automatic pruning machine that performs pruning (hereinafter simply referred to as pruning).

<Prior Art> The pruning device of an automatic pruning machine is required to automatically and reliably cut randomly existing branches to the shortest remaining branch length. In particular, if the cutting blade is a disc blade, cutting in the center can shorten the length of the remaining branch.

Furthermore, when a chainsaw is used as the cutting blade, it is possible to prevent a branch from getting caught in the R portion of the tip of the chainsaw and causing it to stop turning. However, conventional products do not have a structure that allows the cutting blade to perform pruning at the best position.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> Therefore, the present invention detects the presence of branches as the machine moves, and makes it possible to cut branches by bringing the cutting blade into contact with the branch at the most appropriate position. be.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a non-contact type sensor that detects the position of a branch and a sensor that responds to the sensor in an automatic pruning machine that can move up and down along the tree trunk. The present invention is characterized in that it is provided with a moving device for the cutting blade that moves as the cutting blade moves. The non-contact type sensor used here is specifically an ultrasonic sensor.With this structure, the sensor detects a branch, and the signal moves the cutting blade to remove the branch. This allows you to reliably place the cutting blade in the appropriate position to perform pruning.

<Example> Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic pruning machine equipped with the pruning device of the present invention. This device consists of machine frame (1), engine (2)
The engine (2) and the cutting blade (3) are connected to a ring rail. (6
) along the ring rail (6) to cut the branch (11).

The output of the engine (2) is the power to the cutting blade (3) via the gear case (10), the turning power of the output shaft that meshes with the inner rack provided in the ring rail (6), and the turning rack gear (5). ), the traveling power is supplied to the traveling shaft (4) via the pinion gear (8) of the traveling transmission (7). Due to these structures, the cutting blade (3) rotates around the tree trunk, and the entire device is raised above the tree trunk by the traveling shaft (4). The present invention provides a new structure for a pruning device for adjusting and moving the cutting blade in such a device to an optimal position for pruning.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pruning device, and FIG. 3 is a front view thereof. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing an example of an ultrasonic sensor. FIG. 5 is a front view of another embodiment of the pruning device.

As seen in these figures, one device uses an ultrasonic sensor, which is a non-contact sensor, to detect branches on the ring rail (6) and the annular swing base (13) on which the cutting blade is attached. (14) is provided. The reason why the sensor is limited to a non-contact type is that there is no increase in driving load and the sensor can be made smaller. As shown in Fig. 4, it is recommended to provide the ultrasonic sensor (14) with a horn (22) to make the directivity stronger.Also, even one ultrasonic sensor (14) can transmit and receive, but ,
Providing two receivers will make detection more reliable. The non-contact type sensor can be installed at any position as long as it can detect branches in front of the cutting blade. It may be attached to the

The cutting blade (3) is provided with a disc blade in this case, and the horizontal slide bar (1
5) (15) is provided, and a cutting blade mounting base (16) is slidably and loosely fitted onto this. Cutting blade mounting base (1
6) has a vertical slide bar (17) (17)
is provided, and a rack bar (18) is provided in the middle thereof. Vertical slide bar (17) A vertically movable arm (19) is provided so as to be able to slide on the vertical slide bar (17) and move in the vertical direction. The vertical movement arm (19) has a motor (20)
An output gear (21) that is decelerated and driven by this motor meshes with the rack bar (18).

A signal processing device, which will be described later, can be attached to the vertically movable arm (19).

FIG. 6 is a schematic circuit diagram of a sensor in this device. Signals from the non-contact sensor are processed by a signal processing device to rotate the motor in forward and reverse directions if necessary. This allows the cutting blade to be moved accurately to the location of the branch. When a non-contact type sensor is provided in this manner, the cutting blade (3) may start rotating when a branch is detected by the sensor, and may stop rotating when the cutting of the branch is finished. This is made possible, for example, by providing an electromagnetic clutch at the base of the flexible shaft (23) through which the output of the engine (2) is transmitted to the cutting blade (3) via the gear case (10). FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example program in the signal processing device for this purpose.

<Effects of the invention> Branch cutting using a disc-shaped saw blade for the cutting blade is much superior to chainsaws in terms of smoothness of the cut, but the drawback is that if the cutting is not done at the center position, the remaining branch will be large. It is what happens. This problem has been solved by the present invention, and since the disc-shaped saw blade always cuts at the center, it has become possible to pruning with a small amount of residual branches and a good cut. This also applies to milling blades. In addition, when a chainsaw is attached as a cutting blade, if there is a branch hanging on the tip of the chainsaw, the cutting rotation load increases due to the branch's own weight, making it impossible to continue pruning. However, with the present invention, branches can be detected in advance. This can be prevented by moving the chainsaw to the optimal position. Furthermore, this reduces the bending moment applied to one machine, making the mounting base simpler and lighter.The length of the chainsaw can be shortened and attached to the vertical arm, making it smaller and lighter. . In addition, as mentioned above, when a branch is detected, the cutting blade moves to the optimal position and starts rotating, and if the cutting blade is designed so that it stops rotating when the branch is finished, then the cutting blade will normally be Since there is no rotation, the driving load on the engine (2) is reduced, and the danger to workers at low tree trunk positions is also resolved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic pruning machine equipped with the pruning device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pruning device, and FIG. 3 is a front view thereof. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing an example of an ultrasonic sensor. FIG. 5 is a front view of another embodiment of the pruning device. FIG. 6 is a schematic circuit diagram of a sensor in this device. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example program in the signal processing device. (3) Cutting blade (9) Tree trunk (11) Branch (12) Pruning device (13) Swivel base (14) Ultrasonic sensor (15) Horizontal slide bar (16) Cutting blade mounting base (17) Vertical slide bar ( 18) Rack bar (19) Vertical arm (
20) Motor (22) Horn or higher

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pruning device for an automatic pruning machine, which is capable of moving up and down along a tree trunk, and is equipped with a non-contact type sensor for detecting the position of a branch. 2. The pruning device of an automatic pruning machine according to claim 1, wherein the non-contact type sensor is an ultrasonic sensor.