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Tiny Engine Could Make Leaf Blowers Sound Less Like Jets
- cjbenedikt 12y agoit's called a broom!
- gumby 12y agoIndeed! Leaf blowers are dreadful for the environment: ignoring the noise and combustion emissions, they blow all the coverage off the soil leaving a packed result that absorbs no water and can't support plant growth. No leaf blowers (and low maintenance in general) on my yard leads to thick grass that doesn't need a lot of watering. My neighbors all use 'em and the strip of "lawn" next to the road on every other house looks like concrete. I understand the gardeners like them because it's fun and empowering, but so would a flamethrower. Neither is much good for the garden.
- melling 12y agoIf you've got a lot of trees and don't remove the leaves, you'll still have a lot throughout the year.
- ars 12y agoIt seems to me it's best to remove the leaves in the early spring, rather than the fall. That way you have a protective, and fertilizing, leaf cover over the winter.
- HeyLaughingBoy 12y agoMow them. The last time I used a rake was living on a tiny lot. Moved to a 1/2 acre lot and began to mow the leaves into tiny scraps. Now live on a much larger, exposed hilltop property and the wind takes care of the leaves for me :-)
- organsnyder 12y agoI feel weird when I mow the leaves every year—everyone else is spending hours raking, while I take under two hours with the lawn tractor. I keep wondering why everyone doesn't do it, like I'm missing something. I also don't bag grass clippings; it seems silly to remove all of this potential fertilizer from my lawn, only to have to apply artificial fertilizer later on.
- JoeAltmaier 12y agoOne better: I let them blow away. But I live on 80 acres; nearest neighbor half a mile away.
- HeyLaughingBoy 12y agoI never got the point of bagging grass clippings either, seems like useless work. Then again, I don't fertilize my lawn or spray it for weeds either. It's just grass (OK, grass, clover and dandelions in my case), why is everyone so anal about this shit?
- organsnyder 12y agoI don't understand the obsession, either. I keep our lawn watered (no water shortages in Michigan) and mowed. Beyond that, I just let the fittest turf—whether it's regular grass, clover, or dandelions—survive. As long as it's not painful to walk on, it's fine. In fact, I like the variety.
- Chinjut 12y agoBroom? Isn't it called a rake?
- organsnyder 12y agoNot on pavement.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- ars 12y agoHow do you use a broom on a gravel driveway?
- dghughes 12y ago...and also called being active! And I'm surprised there isn't a Roomba for lawns.
- ars 12y agoThere is. There are enough of them that here's a comparison page: http://www.probotics.com/robotic-lawn-mowers/robot-mower-compare.htm http://www.probotics.com/robotic-lawn-mowers/robot-mower-com...
- stealthlogic 12y agoSo, it's a rotary engine.
- ars 12y agoYou'll never hear from them again: “We’re not looking to manufacture engines,” says company president Alexander Shkolnik. Instead, the company plans to continue developing the engine and work with a manufacturing partner That's always a warning sign. To me it means they don't want to make a company, but are rather looking for a quick sale and exit. Also: "Because so many potential applications are in the lawn care and landscaping biz, the current design runs on a mix of gasoline and oil for lubrication." I doubt they'll be able to meet emission standards, which is another reason you'll never hear from them again.
- joelrunyon 12y agoCouldn't they just license the patent?
- chiph 12y agoInteresting comparison between automobiles and lawn equipment emissions: http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-c... The 2-stroke leaf blower was putting out 300 times the hydrocarbon emissions of a Ford F-150 Raptor. Looks like there's certainly room for improvement, and if this engine can beat it, it'll take some of the attention by the EPA away.
- SigmundA 12y agoThis has much to do with the crank-case scavenged valveless design of your typical two-stroke. Since it uses ports instead of valves there is a period of time where both the intake and exhaust ports are open and 20-30% of the unburned air-fuel charge goes right out the tail pipe. This allows for a very simple lightweight design but is no good for emissions or efficiency. Secondary to that is that again since these small two-strokes have no valves they use tuned exhaust to try and retain the charge going straight through with a counter pulse, therefore it is very difficult if not impossible to do a catalytic converter in the exhaust as they will interfere with the tuning. You notice the small 4-stroke is much better but not as good as the cars, this is because the 4-stroke has valves but no cat, it is also carbed instead of EFI. 2-strokes can be made with direct injection which delays injecting fuel until the exhaust port is closed by the piston, it adds much complexity and cost. Modern Evinrude E-TEC outboards marine engines have gone this route, whereas most other outboard makers have gone 4-stroke instead. Note that outboard marine engines do not require cats yet and emit about ten times the emissions per unit power that an automobile engine does. EPA is pushing for that soon though. 2-strokes can also be made with exhaust valves (called uniflow scavenging) this is usually done in large diesels since it also requires forced induction and no mixing of oil with fuel. These small wankel like engines should probably have emissions similar to the small 4-stroke rather than the small 2-stroke as the Wankel design does not have intake and exhaust ports open at the same time but they are still carbed and no cat.
- strangename 12y agoI still like the StarRotor[1] better. No reciprocating, no problems with seals (which are a big problem/weakness in Wankel-types; rather unadressed in TFA). Biggest problem for StarRotor is that all the manufacturing chains are already super-optimized for existing engine designs and don't much care to experiment. [1] http://www.starrotor.com/Expanders http://www.starrotor.com/Expanders
- post_break 12y ago"Sorry hun, I can't blow the leaves because the apex seals are shot in the leaf blower"
- seanp2k2 12y agoHow about just leaving the leaves on the ground, because everyone hates leaf blowers, and blowing them around is pretty pointless due to this thing called wind. Never understood why apartment complexes don't just use bagging lawn mowers to basically cut their work in half and piss people off less.
- DanBC 12y agoI tend to agree. What about hard surfaces where leaves can cause slip hazard?
- zo1 12y agoDo bagging lawn mowers collect leaves as well?
- paddy_m 12y agoYes. But the baggers fill up very quickly. Getting leaves off of grass is easy, use a bagging lawn mover. Backpack blowers are best used to get leaves out of plant beds, driveways and sidewalks onto lawns.
- ChuckMcM 12y agoOften such folks blow the debris into the road for the city street sweeper to collect at a later date.
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- abakker 12y agoI'd point out to anyone bringing up Apex seals as a potential problem: You must not be familiar with using a conventional mini 2 stroke. Chainsaws, leaf blowers, etc require exceptional levels of maintenance and aren't exactly known to run well. Most of them are either running too rich or lean at any given point, and therefore are either building up carbon, or burning themselves out. Not to say there aren't some good ones, but small 2 strokes that this engine aims to replace are not exactly paragons of reliability. Also, most small 2 strokes have abysmal emissions due to running too rich/lean all the time, having badly made carburetors, poor tolerances, no catalytic convertors, low thermal mass, etc. This looked relatively simple to assemble, and would therefore be pretty easy to disassembler. My guess is that if there were any seals that needed to be replaced, it would be a relatively trivial job compared to a standard small 2 stroke. Source: have rebuild many chainsaws, weed whackers, and leaf blowers. Used to build go-karts.
- SigmundA 12y agoActually most of the emission are a result of the valveless design of the typical two-stroke. Small carb 4-strokes have the same issues you describe but have much better emissions due to the valving, but lacking a cat they will never come close to and automobile as far as emissions go. Seals wearing out will cause lower compression and more blow-by reducing power and increasing emissions but probably not as much as a valveless two-stroke which simply has intake and exhaust ports full open during part of the cycle.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- xorcist 12y ago5 hp would actually make a great light weight moped. I know I could really use one.
- tempestn 12y agoThis is neat, but it seems pretty clear to me that battery-powered electric motors are the future for this kind of application. I don't own a leaf blower, but both my lawnmower[1] and trimmer[2] are now battery-electric, and I would say both are essentially as good as any gas-powered ones I've used, and much quieter. I listen to podcasts while I mow the lawn now. It's great. [1]: http://egopowerplus.com/products/mower http://egopowerplus.com/products/mower [2]: http://egopowerplus.com/products/string-trimmer http://egopowerplus.com/products/string-trimmer
- bradleyland 12y agoThe article fails to explain how this will make leaf blowers sound less like jet engines. Has the author ever heard a Wankel rotary at 15,000 RPM? Not to mention, the reason leaf blowers sound like a jet is because of the giant shrouded fan that is used to generate airflow. Electric leaf blowers sound like jet engines too, and their motors are extremely quiet in comparison.