ENGINE-POWERED WORK TOOL PROVIDED WITH WIND GOVERNOR THAT PERFORMS IGNITION CONTROL

• US 20150184595A1
• Filed: 12/22/2014
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi KOKI Company Limited (Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ishida, Shigetoshi, Honzawa, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,670,837 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F01P 5/02 Pumping cooling-air; Arrangements of cooling-air pumps, e.g. fans or blowers
• CPC Class Codes: F01P 5/04 Pump-driving arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: F02B 63/02 for hand-held tools
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2009/0203 Mechanical governor
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2009/0208 for small engines
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/101 Engine speed
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2400/06 Small engines with electronic control, e.g. for hand held tools
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 31/00 Use of speed-sensing governors to control combustion engines, not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1498 measuring engine roughness
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 9/1065 Mechanical control linkage between an actuator and the flap, e.g. including levers, gears, springs, clutches, limit stops of the like
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 35/1017 Small engines, e.g. for handheld tools, or model engines; Single cylinder engines
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 35/10196 Carburetted engines
• CPC Class Codes: F02P 11/02 Preventing damage to engines or engine-driven gearing
• CPC Class Codes: F02P 9/005 by weakening or suppression of sparks to limit the engine speed

Abstract

An engine-powered work tool includes an engine having a crank shaft, an ignition system, an output controller having a throttle valve shaft for controlling output of the engine, a wind governor connected to the throttle valve shaft, a rotation speed detector and an ignition control unit. The wind governor includes a governor plate movable upon receipt of cooling air generated by a cooling fan to control an angular rotation of the throttle valve shaft. The rotation speed detector detects a rotation speed of the crank shaft. The ignition control unit controls the ignition system based on the rotation speed of the crank shaft detected by the rotation speed detector to reduce the output of the engine when the rotation speed detector determines that the governor plate exceeds a predetermined position.

Claims

1. An engine-powered work tool comprising:

an air-cooled engine including a crank shaft configured to rotate and a cooling fan fixed to the crank shaft and configured to rotate together with the crank shaft to generate cooling air;

an ignition system for igniting the engine;

an output controller configured to control an output of the engine, the output controller including a throttle valve shaft defining an axis and configured to make an angular rotation about the axis, the output of the engine being controlled based on the angular rotation of the throttle valve shaft;

a wind governor connected to the throttle valve shaft and including a governor plate configured to move upon receipt of the cooling air thereon, the wind governor being configured to control the angular rotation of the throttle valve shaft based on an amount of the cooling air received by the governor plate;

a rotation speed detector configured to detect a rotation speed of the crank shaft; and

an ignition control unit configured to control the ignition system based on the rotation speed of the crank shaft detected by the rotation speed detector to reduce the output of the engine when the rotation speed detector determines that the governor plate exceeds a predetermined position.

2. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ignition control unit is configured to reduce the output of the engine by changing ignition timing for igniting the engine when the rotation speed detector determines that the rotation speed of the crank shaft exceeds a predetermined value corresponding to the predetermined position.

3. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ignition control unit is configured to reduce the output of the engine by thinning out a frequency of ignition when the rotation speed detector determines that the rotation speed of the crank shaft exceeds a predetermined value corresponding to the predetermined position.

4. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotation speed detector is configured to detect the rotation speed of the crank shaft based on a position of the governor plate that moves in accordance with the amount of the cooling air.

5. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 4, wherein the ignition control unit is configured to control the ignition system to reduce the output of the engine when the governor plate moves to pass the predetermined position upon receipt of the cooling air.

6. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 5, wherein the wind governor is configured to determine a designated rotation speed of the crank shaft of the engine operating under no load, and

the predetermined position is determined based on the designated rotation speed of the crank shaft determined by the wind governor.

7. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotation speed detector comprises a position sensor configured to detect a position of the governor plate and to output information indicative of the position of the governor plate, and

wherein the ignition control unit is configured to control the ignition system based on the information outputted from the position sensor.

8. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ignition system comprises an ignition coil configured to generate spark current for igniting the engine, the ignition control unit being positioned adjacent to the ignition coil.

9. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the output controller includes a main body through which the throttle valve shaft penetrates, the throttle valve shaft having one end and another end opposite to each other, the governor plate being fixed to the one end of the throttle valve shaft, and

wherein the wind governor further comprises:

an arm fixed to the another end of the throttle valve shaft; and

a governor spring connected to the arm to apply a biasing force to the throttle valve shaft.

10. The engine-powered work tool as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

an end tool configured to be driven in accordance with the rotation of the crank shaft; and

a supporting shaft having one end provided with the end tool and another end provided with the air-cooled engine, the ignition system, the output controller, the wind governor and the ignition control unit.