Detachable Grass Container Travel Unit With Wheel Lifting
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Solution Overview
Problem
The transportation of full or heavy grass containers from lawn mowers is inefficient, requiring significant manual effort or large equipment, which is energy and work-intensive, and often necessitates the movement of large machinery to disposal areas.
Innovation Solution
A work equipment system where a detachable container device, equipped with its own travel unit and energy source, can autonomously travel to a disposal area, lifting its wheels to avoid interfering with the mower's operation and using sensors to navigate, thus reducing operator burden and improving efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the grass container is transported by an operator manually, then the container can be moved to disposal area, but the operator burden and manual work required increase significantly
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 transport itself to the disposal area without requiring manual lifting or pushing by the operator. The container performs its own transportation function, eliminating the need for operator intervention in the physical moving process.
2Productivity
If the entire lawn mower travels to the disposal area, then the grass container can be emptied, but energy consumption and work efficiency decrease due to unnecessary movement of large equipment
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the lawn mower into separate functional components: the mower main body (with cutting unit) and the container device (with travel unit). The container device can detach and travel independently to the disposal area, while the mower remains stationary or continues operation. This segmentation allows only the necessary component (container) to move, reducing overall energy consumption and improving work efficiency.
3Extent of automation
If the container device is equipped with travel unit, then autonomous transportation is enabled, but the travel unit may interfere with mower operation when connected
Solution Approach 1:
The container device incorporates a lifting device that can dynamically adjust the position of the travel unit (wheels). When the container is connected to the mower, the travel unit is lifted to a raised position where it does not contact the ground and interfere with mower operation. When detached for autonomous travel, the travel unit is lowered to the ground position for movement. This dynamic positioning resolves the conflict between autonomous capability and operational interference.
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 efficient and a 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. Further, the container device is provided with a lifting device that moves the rear wheels vertically relative to a device frame.