Autonomous lawn mower

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022354050-A1
Application number	US-202017621169-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 18, 2020
Priority date	Jun 18, 2019
Publication date	Nov 10, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

An autonomous lawn mower includes: a housing, provided with a bottom shell, a movement module, a cutting mechanism with a cutting element, and a control module. The autonomous lawn mower further includes a protecting assembly provided with a protecting wall. In a horizontal direction, the protecting wall is disposed on an outer side of the cutting mechanism. The protecting assembly at least includes a movable protecting member. The protecting wall at least includes a movable protecting wall that is disposed at the movable protecting member and is located on the outer side of the cutting mechanism in the horizontal direction. When the cutting mechanism is at any cutting height and the movable protecting member is in a free state under no external force, a ground clearance of a lower end of the movable protecting wall is an initial distance. The initial distance remains less than M. 38 mm≤M≤40 mm. The movable protecting member is movable in a height direction relative to the bottom shell under the action of an external force, to change the ground clearance of the lower end of the movable protecting wall.

First claim

1 . An autonomous lawn mower, comprising:
a housing, provided with a bottom shell; a movement module, disposed below the housing, and configured to drive the autonomous lawn mower to move; a cutting mechanism, disposed at the housing to perform a cutting task at a predetermined adjustable cutting height, and comprising a cutting element configured to perform cutting; and a control module, configured to: autonomously control the movement module to drive the autonomous lawn mower to move, and autonomously control the cutting mechanism to perform a cutting task, wherein the autonomous lawn mower further comprises a protecting assembly provided with a protecting wall, in a horizontal direction, the protecting wall is disposed on an outer side of the cutting mechanism, the protecting assembly at least comprises a movable protecting member, the protecting wall at least comprises a movable protecting wall that is disposed at the movable protecting member and is located on the outer side of the cutting mechanism in the horizontal direction, when the cutting mechanism is at any cutting height and the movable protecting member is in a free state under no external force, a ground clearance of a lower end of the movable protecting wall is an initial distance, the initial distance remains less than M and the movable protecting member is movable in a height direction relative to the bottom shell under the action of an external force, to change the ground clearance of the lower end of the movable protecting wall.

2 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein M satisfies 38 mm≤M≤40 mm, and when the cutting mechanism is at any cutting height, a range of the initial distance is 15 mm to 35 mm.

3 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein when the cutting mechanism is at any cutting height and the movable protecting member is subjected to the action of an external force, the movable protecting member is movable upward relative to the bottom shell, to increase a ground clearance of the movable protecting wall, and when the external force is removed, the movable protecting member is movable downward relative to the bottom shell, to make the ground clearance of the lower end of the movable protecting wall return to the initial distance.

4 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein during adjustment of a height of the cutting mechanism from the lowest level to the highest level, the cutting mechanism is movable in the height direction relative to the movable protecting member.

5 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein during adjustment of the height of the cutting mechanism, a distance between the lower end of the movable protecting wall and the ground remains unchanged.

6 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 2 , wherein during upward movement of the movable protecting wall under the action of a force, a resistance for the movable protecting wall to move upward when the distance between the lower end of the movable protecting wall and the ground is greater than a preset grass safe lift height, is greater than a resistance for the movable protecting wall to move upward when the distance between the lower end of the movable protecting wall and the ground is less than the preset grass safe lift height, wherein, the distance between the lower end of the movable protecting wall and the ground when the autonomous lawn mower is placed still on a lawn, is not greater than the preset grass safe lift height.

7 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein the movable protecting wall comprises at least one of a front movable protecting wall disposed in front of the cutting mechanism, a rear movable protecting wall disposed behind the cutting mechanism or a lateral movable protecting wall disposed on two sides of the cutting mechanism.

8 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein in the horizontal direction, a range of a minimum distance X between an outermost edge of the movable protecting wall and the cutting element is X≥58 mm.

9 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein the movable protecting wall comprises a main movable portion, the main movable portion comprises an obstacle passage region located at an outermost edge of the main movable portion, and the obstacle passage region comprises an inclined surface inclining from outside to inside and extending downward; the movable protecting wall further comprises a locking portion formed by the main movable portion extending downward, the locking portion comprises a safe locking region located at an outermost edge of the locking portion, a ground clearance of a lower end of the safe locking region is less than M, and the safe locking region is located on an outer side of an extension line of the obstacle passage region in the same radial direction as the safe locking region.

10 . (canceled)

11 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein the movable protecting wall comprises a plurality of blocking protrusions that are disposed at the bottom of the movable protecting wall and are disposed at intervals in a circumferential direction, and when the movable protecting member is in a free state under no external force, a ground clearance of a lower end of each blocking protrusion is greater than or equal to M/2.

12 - 13 . (canceled)

14 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 11 , wherein a range of a height h of the blocking protrusion is 0 mm<h≤80 mm or 3 mm≤h≤20 mm; a range of the width m of the blocking protrusions is 0 mm<m≤40 mm or 0 mm<m≤20 mm; and a range of a distance S between two adjacent blocking protrusions is 0 mm<S≤40 mm or 3 mm≤S≤25 mm.

15 - 16 . (canceled)

17 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 1 , wherein the protecting wall comprises a blocking wall, during upward movement of the movable protecting wall under an external force to the highest point of a movable range of the movable protecting wall, a lower end of the blocking wall remains lower than the lowest point of the cutting element.

18 . The autonomous lawn mower according to claim 17 , wherein the protecting assembly further comprises a mechanism protecting member fixed relative to the cutting mechanism in the height direction, the mechanism protecting member comprises a mechanism protecting wall located between the movable protecting wall and the cutting mechanism in the horizontal direction, the blocking wall further comprises the mechanism protecting wall, and a lower end of the mechanism protecting wall remains lower than the lowest point of the cutting element; the mechanism protecting wall comprises a front mechanism protecting wall located in front of the cutting mechanism, lateral mechanism protecting walls located on two sides of the cutting mechanism, and a rear mechanism protecting wall located behind the cutting mechanism, the front mechanism protecting wall, the rear mechanism protecting wall, and the lateral mechanism protecting walls together define the mechanism protecting wall that is circumferentially closed; the mechanism protecting wall comprises a front mechanism protecting wall located in front of the cutting mechanism, lateral mechanism protecting walls located on two sides of the cutting mechanism, and a rear mechanism protecting wall located behind the cutting mechanism, the front mechanism protecting wall, the rear mechanism protecting wall, and the lateral mechanism protecting walls together define the mechanism protecting wall that is circumferentially closed; bottommost portions in the 360-degree circumferential direction of the mechani

Assignees

• Positec Power Tools Suzhou Co Ltd

Inventors

• Du Jiang
• Wang Biao
• Zhao Fengli
• Zha Xiahong
• Zhou Xiaoqing
• Liu Bin

Classifications

• A01D34/63

  having cutters rotating about a vertical axis · CPC title

• A01D34/81

  Casings; Housings (A01D34/71 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A01D34/008 Primary

  for automated or remotely controlled operation · CPC title

• A01D75/20

  Devices for protecting men or animals · CPC title

• A01D34/78

  electric · CPC title