Design and Fabrication of a Solar-Powered Lawn Mower for Health Facility Landscaping

Abstract

In recent times, the entire world has been in consistent search of cleaner and safer ways of generating and producing energy. Due to continuous industrialization in different parts of the world, there has been a huge deterioration in the natural state of the environment. This is reflective in different areas and the most prominent has to be Climate change. This paper therefore focuses on the exploitation of the abundant solar energy from the sun to drive a lawn mower. The designed solar powered lawn mower comprises of electric motor, a charge controller, battery (12V), Solar Panel (30W), rotational blade and a control switch. The entire operation frame work is achieved using the electric motor which is able to provide the necessary torque needed for the rotation of the blade which is mounted to the shaft of the motor. The solar powered lawn mower is operated by a switch on the board which closes the circuit and allows current flow to the motor and ultimately, causing the actuation of the blade. Under a very sunny condition battery charges and operates simultaneously, taking a longer time to discharge. Finally, the performance evaluation of the battery was carried out with the machine and it was found to have a theoretical efficiency of 85%.