# US 10,477,759 B2 · Grass mower

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- Number: US 10,477,759 B2
- Document ID: US10477759B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/835,692
- Filed: 2017-12-08
- Published: 2018-11-29
- Granted: 2019-11-19
- Earliest claimed: 2017-05-24
- Assignees: Kubota Corporation
- Applicants: Kubota Corporation
- Inventors: Kazuaki Matsuda; Katsuhiko Uemura; Hirokazu Ito; Yasuhiro Manji
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10477759B2

## CPC

- A01D 34/008: {for automated or remotely controlled operation}
- A01D 34/006: {Control or measuring arrangements}
- A01D 34/668: {rotating}
- A01D 34/78: electric
- B60L 15/2045: {for optimising the use of energy}
- B60W 30/1886: {Controlling power supply to auxiliary devices}
- A01D 2101/00: Lawn-mowers
- B60L 2240/12: Speed
- B60L 2240/421: Speed
- B60W 2300/156: Ridable lawn mowers
- Y02T 10/72: Electric energy management in electromobility
- A01D: HARVESTING; MOWING
- B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION

## Abstract

A grass mower includes a vehicle speed instruction value calculation section (53) for generating a vehicle speed instruction value including a maximal vehicle speed, based on an operational position of a man-operable vehicle speed controlling tool (15), a mode selection section (70) for selecting a control mode from a plurality of control modes, a control table (52) in which a plurality of control parameters are set, a vehicle speed control target value calculation section (54) configured to calculate a vehicle speed control target value, based on a vehicle speed instruction value generated by the vehicle speed instruction value calculation section (53) and a selected control parameter corresponding to the control mode selected by the mode selection section (70), a cutter blade control target value calculation section (55) configured to calculate a rotational speed control target value for a cutter blade (30), based on the selected control parameter, and a cutter blade control section (4B) configured to control the cutter blade drive mechanism (31) based on the rotational speed control target value.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A grass mower comprising:
a drive wheel unit;
a variable speed drive mechanism for driving the drive wheel unit;
a mower unit having a cutter blade;
a cutter blade drive mechanism for rotatably driving the mower unit;
a man-operable vehicle speed controlling tool which is operated in a range from a zero vehicle speed position to a maximal vehicle speed position;
an operation detection section for detecting an operational position of the man-operable vehicle speed controlling tool;
a vehicle speed instruction value calculation section for generating a vehicle speed instruction value including a maximal vehicle speed, based on the operational position of the man-operable vehicle speed controlling tool detected by the operation detection section;
a mode selection section for selecting a control mode from a plurality of control modes;
a control table in which a plurality of control parameters are set, the control parameters being provided for the respective control modes, each of the control parameters including a rotational speed value of the cutter blade and a maximal vehicle speed value corresponding to the rotational speed value;
a vehicle speed control target value calculation section configured to calculate a vehicle speed control target value, based on a vehicle speed instruction value generated by the vehicle speed instruction value calculation section and a selected control parameter corresponding to the control mode selected by the mode selection section;
a traveling control section configured to control the variable speed drive mechanism based on the vehicle speed control target value;
a cutter blade control target value calculation section configured to calculate a rotational speed control target value for the cutter blade, based on the selected control parameter; and
a cutter blade control section configured to control the cutter blade drive mechanism based on the rotational speed control target value.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The grass mower of claim 1, further comprising:
a maximal vehicle speed value changing section for changing the maximal vehicle speed value in the control table, based on a cutter blade rotational speed which is a detected rotational speed of the cutter blade.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The grass mower of claim 2, wherein in the control table, there are set a low cutter blade rotational speed range in which the maximal vehicle speed is increased as the cutter blade rotational speed becomes higher, and a high cutter blade rotational speed range in which the maximal vehicle speed is maintained constant irrespectively of the cutter blade rotational speed.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The grass mower of claim 3, wherein:
the control modes include a full power mode for obtaining high grass cutting performance, and an eco mode for energy saving and noise reduction; and
a maximal vehicle speed value in the high cutter blade rotational speed range in the full power mode is set higher than a maximal vehicle speed value in the high cutter blade rotational speed range in the eco mode.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The grass mower of claim 1, wherein the cutter blade control target value calculation section calculates the rotational speed control target value, based on a rotational load to the cutter blade.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The grass mower of claim 1, further comprising:
a battery;
wherein each of the variable speed drive mechanism and the cutter blade drive mechanism includes an electric motor associated therewith connected to the battery as its drive source.