Energetic Aspects of Turfgrass Mowing: Comparison of Different Rotary Mowing Systems

Michel Pirchio,Marco Fontanelli,Michele Raffaelli,Nicola Grossi,Christian Frasconi,Lisa Caturegli,Andrea Peruzzi,Fabio Labanca,Marco Volterrani,Mino Sportelli,Simone Magni,Monica Gaetani,Luisa Martelloni

doi:10.3390/agriculture9080178

Abstract

Turfgrass mowing is one of the most important operations concerning turfgrass maintenance. Over time, different mowing machines have been developed, such as reel mowers, rotary mowers, and flail mowers. Rotary mowers have become the most widespread mowers for their great versatility and easy maintenance. Modern rotary mowers can be equipped with battery-powered electric motors and precise settings, such as blade rpm. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the differences in power consumption of a gasoline-powered rotary mower and a battery-powered rotary mower. Each mower worked on two different turfgrass species (bermudagrass and tall fescue) fertilized with two different nitrogen rates (100 and 200 kg ha−1). The battery-powered mower was set at its lowest and highest blade rpm value, while the gasoline-powered mower was set at full throttle. From the data acquired, it was possible to see that the gasoline-powered mower had a much higher primary energy requirement, independent of the turf species. Moreover, comparing the electricity consumption of the battery-powered mower over time, it was possible to see that the power consumption varied according to the growth rate of both turf species. These results show that there is a partial waste of energy when using a gasoline-powered mower compared to a battery-powered mower.

Highlights

Mowing is one of the major tasks concerning turfgrass management [1,2] and it is a very important operation, especially for sports turfs [3]
The average field consumption of the gasoline-powered mower showed less variation from bermudagrass to tall fescue compared to the variation of average field consumption of the battery-powered mower
The average field consumption—and, the primary energy requirement—of the gasoline-powered mower showed a small variation when the mower worked on bermudagrass rather than on tall fescue (5.59 L/ha vs 5.24 L/ha)

Summary

Introduction

Mowing is one of the major tasks concerning turfgrass management [1,2] and it is a very important operation, especially for sports turfs [3]. Mowing hard-to-mow sports turf species requires a higher frequency of mower blade sharpening [7]. Dull mower blades can increase fuel consumption, as observed by Steinegger et al [10], who found that gasoline consumption increased by 22% using these kind of blades. Based on their operating principle, turfgrass mowers are generally divided in rotary mowers and reel mowers. Whether or not flail mowers can equal the mowing quality of reel mowers or rotary mowers is unclear. Some authors [1] claim that flail mowers cannot equal the mowing quality of reel mowers nor rotary mowers, while Parish and Fry [11] have observed that, if a flail mower is properly sharpened, it may produce the same turf quality and mowing quality of a rotary

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