Autonomous Container Lifting Mechanism for Lawn Mower Waste Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
The transportation of heavy or bulky grass containers from lawn mowers requires significant manual effort or the use of large equipment, leading to inefficient energy use and increased operator burden, whether the container is detached and transported or tilted for disposal.
Innovation Solution
A work equipment system where a detachable container device is equipped with its own travel unit and energy source, allowing it to autonomously travel to a disposal area without interfering with the mower's operation, using a lifting mechanism and sensors for reliable connection and navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the grass container is detached and transported by operator or cart, then the container can be moved to disposal area, but the operator burden increases and manual work requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The container device is equipped with its own travel unit (wheels and travel drive unit) and energy source (battery), enabling it to autonomously travel to the disposal area without requiring operator physical effort or external transportation equipment. The container serves itself by providing its own propulsion system.
2Productivity
If the grass container is tilted for discarding clippings, then transportation equipment is not required, but the lawn mower must travel to disposal area or external hauling equipment is required
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two independent functional units: the work equipment main body (lawn mower) and the container device with its own travel capability. This segmentation allows the container to independently navigate to disposal areas and return, eliminating the need for the entire lawn mower to travel or for external hauling equipment.
3Extent of automation
If the container device has its own travel unit, then autonomous travel is enabled, but the second travel unit may interfere with work equipment main body operation
Solution Approach 1:
The container lifting device raises the second travel unit (container wheels) from the ground before the lawn mower begins its steering and traveling operations. This preliminary action prevents the container's travel unit from interfering with the main body's operation during mowing tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
An article such as grass clippings collected by work equipment, such as a lawn mower, and stored in a container is allowed to be transported to an area for discarding such a collected article in an energy and work efficient way without imposing any undue burden on the operator. A collected article container device provided with a collected article container and capable of traveling autonomously is detachably connected to a work equipment main body that has a work unit such as a cutting blade device and is able to travel, the container device being configured to travel in a detached state to a collected article destination by itself. The work equipment main body is provided with a container lifting device that lifts the container device in a connected state to the work equipment main body so as to raise the front and rear wheels from the ground.