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Students invent quieter leaf blower

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Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#21

Post by HPsquared »

lowercased wrote: post #15

Won't help much until these are mandated by law, or.. we just wait for a couple generations to die out. There's a section of folks who enjoy loud engines. It's their jam, they love being 'outdoors' with loud gas powered engines, big trucks, riding lawn mowers. It's a fantasy escape world for them. Over time, the next couple generations may hopefully adopt more battery powered outdoor stuff (mowers, blowers, etc) beca…

Generally being a nuisance can be illegal, depending on the circumstances.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuisance

If there's a quiet option and someone deliberately uses a noisy one, could that be considered a nuisance?

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#22

Post by jchw »

infecto wrote: post #14
mccrory wrote: post #7

Now if we could solve this for the rest of the lawn equipment, especially mowers and string trimmers.

The switch to electric will help a lot in this situation. Unfortunately I don't think the equipment is good enough contractors yet.

It's probably getting there given what Ego has on offer, but I think until it is downright better in at least some dimensions, it's going to be a hard sell. Right now it seems like it's more expensive, at best similarly powerful, and obviously batteries take time to recharge. I think it's gotta be niche for contractors.

That said, given how bad gas lawn equipment is for the air in a locality, maybe regulatory nudges are in order. I suspect if the incentives were right the rest of the problems would solve themselves.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#23

Post by twoquestions »

mccrory wrote: post #7

Now if we could solve this for the rest of the lawn equipment, especially mowers and string trimmers.

I love my battery powered mower and trimmer (wow there's so many names for that)! I can mow the lawn and come back in and relax with a quiet show or game!

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#24

Post by xxs »

planb wrote: post #10
xxs wrote: post #6

Unfortunately the article is very poor on details. The sound from the video is insufficient to tell. Personally, I'd be quite excited to see what are the changes engineering wise. I bet it'd make a proper addition to BOLTR. I still can't see how it'd be much quieter, as lots of the noise is just the air moving (and making sound waves), perhaps less vibrations, different frequencies due to different rpm?

"Our product takes in a full blow of air and separates it," said team member Leen Alfaoury. "Some of that air comes out as it is, and part of it comes out shifted. The combination of these two sections of the air makes the blower less noisy." Sounds like they created a noise cancellation air channel.

I reread it - it says 40% reduction, that's -7dB... I can believe that part.

Edit: checked DCBL772X1 - it's listed 68 dBA - that's not necessarily loud, so if they managed -7dB, massive props to them.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#25

Post by rad_gruchalski »

omgJustTest wrote: post #16

"Their design cuts the most shrill and annoying frequencies by about 12 decibels, which all but removes them, making them 94% quieter. The team reduced the overall leaf blower noise by about two decibels, making the machine sound 37% quieter." [1] Somewhat upsetting here... I don't have a problem with people doing things like this and students need encouragement, but we are talking about shifting from the sound of a…

Try this one: STIHL BGA 86 Akku Laubbläser. It's shocking how quiet it is.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#26

Post by actionfromafar »

infecto wrote: post #14
mccrory wrote: post #7

Now if we could solve this for the rest of the lawn equipment, especially mowers and string trimmers.

The switch to electric will help a lot in this situation. Unfortunately I don't think the equipment is good enough contractors yet.

It will get there I suspect, the tools and batteries can charge in the truck en route. Easier to just fuel up the truck once instead of filling up little gas tanks all the time.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#28

Post by lowercased »

HPsquared wrote: post #21
lowercased wrote: post #15

Won't help much until these are mandated by law, or.. we just wait for a couple generations to die out. There's a section of folks who enjoy loud engines. It's their jam, they love being 'outdoors' with loud gas powered engines, big trucks, riding lawn mowers. It's a fantasy escape world for them. Over time, the next couple generations may hopefully adopt more battery powered outdoor stuff (mowers, blowers, etc) beca…

Generally being a nuisance can be illegal, depending on the circumstances. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuisance If there's a quiet option and someone deliberately uses a noisy one, could that be considered a nuisance?

Not in rural areas. People shoot guns at 1am and... "god given freedoms" and "piss off back to the city y'all" and all that are trotted out anytime a complaint is made.

Again, it may change in another couple generations, but it'll be slow.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#29

Post by actionfromafar »

deadbunny wrote: post #18
infecto wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The switch to electric will help a lot in this situation. Unfortunately I don't think the equipment is good enough contractors yet.

Maybe it's just a UK thing but I can't think of the last time I even saw a non-electric lawn mower. Even going as far back as the 80s they were the standard, just don't mow over the cable!

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