Zero turn mower steering system
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorRobert D. Haun
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A zero turn mower steering system including left and right motion control levers independently pivotable between forward, neutral and reverse positions to rotate left and right rear drive wheels respectively at forward, neutral and reverse speeds. Left and right position sensors on the left and right motion control levers provide electronic signals to an electronic controller that provides a left front wheel steering angle signal and a right front wheel steering angle signal. Each steering angle signal is based on a distance the electronic controller calculates from each of the left and right rear drive wheels to an instantaneous center point of a turn.
Claims15
A zero turn mower steering system, comprising:
- a pair of motion control levers, each lever linked to a hydrostatic transmission that rotates a rear drive wheel at a velocity corresponding to the fore and aft positions of the lever;
- a motion control lever position sensor connected to each lever;
- each position sensor providing a signal to an electronic controller based on the fore and aft positions of the lever;
- and
- a pair of front wheels that are independently pivoted to the steering angles specified by the electronic controller corresponding to any difference between the fore and aft positions of the pair of motion control levers.
A zero turn mower steering system, comprising:
- left and right motion control levers independently pivotable between forward, neutral and reverse positions to rotate left and right rear drive wheels respectively at forward, neutral and reverse speeds;
- and
- left and right position sensors on the left and right motion control levers to provide electronic signals to an electronic controller that provides a left front wheel steering angle signal and a right front wheel steering angle signal;
- each steering angle signal based on a distance the electronic controller calculates from each of the left and right rear drive wheels to an instantaneous center point of a turn.
A zero turn mower steering system, comprising:
- a pair of electric steering actuators connected by mechanical linkages to a pair of front wheels;
- and
- an electronic controller providing angle signals to each of the pair of electric steering actuators based on the fore and aft positions of a pair of motion control levers that independently control the rotational speeds of a pair of rear drive wheels, and on a location of the front wheels relative to an instantaneous center point of each turn defined by the pair of rear drive wheels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.