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Students invent quieter leaf blower

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Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#201

Post by nick7376182 »

loceng wrote: post #176
foobarian wrote: post #158

I got an electric leaf blower mostly to avoid the noise and partly to avoid gasoline engine issues (a Kobalt 80V blower). What baffles me is that here the designers had a chance to make something truly quiet but instead they blew it and used a super-high-RPM motor-powered narrow turbine placed inside the pipe. It sounds like a dental drill amplified through a set of loudspeakers. I would kill to get a commercially de…

Elon Musk at one point once suggested Tesla would make a quiet leaf blower - due specifically to the noise. I wonder if Tesla perhaps has a whole bunch of technologies they're developing incognito in the background - or if he's perhaps being limited for some artificial reasons? It may just be a market size issue - and cities passing bylaws to disallow gas powered, only allow electric under a certain dBs is the fix; a…

[dead]

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#202

Post by swayvil »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #163
foobarian wrote: post #158

I got an electric leaf blower mostly to avoid the noise and partly to avoid gasoline engine issues (a Kobalt 80V blower). What baffles me is that here the designers had a chance to make something truly quiet but instead they blew it and used a super-high-RPM motor-powered narrow turbine placed inside the pipe. It sounds like a dental drill amplified through a set of loudspeakers. I would kill to get a commercially de…

Makes me wonder if they intentionally kept some noise to combat consumer perception that it was weaker than gas models.

Good point.

If you want a good accurate model of human psychology, look to world of marketing.

There is a similar noise-is-strength in vacuum cleaner sales.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#203

Post by stevage »

handsclean wrote: post #199

There’s some other “quiet leaf blower” on the market, and all they’re doing is reducing power and telling you special nozzles make up for it, which of course they don’t. This article omitting performance measures is a red flag for me. What’s the CFM impact? It’s 40% quieter, but is it also 40% worse at blowing leaves?

It says like 10 times in the video that equal performance was the KPI.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#204

Post by bluGill »

dmd wrote: post #193
lupire wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric doesn't have engine. It has a motor. Gas has an engine.

Which is why I said engine, not motor.

The topic is an electric leaf blower though. While a gas leaf blower is louder the difference isn't as most of the noise is the blower.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#205

Post by raisedbyninjas »

SamBam wrote: post #92
mlrtime wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever considered it's just a name and it's actually used on more than just leaves? Or was the post sarcasm? Poe's law.

Err, they're mostly used on leaves. At least in my state.

In my area they're occasionally used to blow leaves in the fall. Mostly they blow grass clippings off the street and sidewalk. Leaves in the fall are mostly mulched by mowers. It's about 20 times faster than blowing them around and collecting them.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#206

Post by ericmay »

francisofascii wrote: post #143
sidewndr46 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't so much the noise that bothers me, what I've never understood about leaf blowers is what are they meant to accomplish? When I watch people use them they either blow the leaves into the street or the neighbors yard. What do they think that does? Now on the other hand, I do own a very noisy leaf vacuum. But when I've collected a bag full I can just deposit the leaves in my collection container. They are taken…

To be fair, they are very good at removing debris from a front-porch. I fully support banning them, and they are heavily overused in situations when a rake works just as well, but they are superior in some cases.

They're great for landscapers. I just use a push broom. It takes more time, sure, but efficiency isn't the goal.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#207

Post by willsmith72 »

loceng wrote: post #176
foobarian wrote: post #158

I got an electric leaf blower mostly to avoid the noise and partly to avoid gasoline engine issues (a Kobalt 80V blower). What baffles me is that here the designers had a chance to make something truly quiet but instead they blew it and used a super-high-RPM motor-powered narrow turbine placed inside the pipe. It sounds like a dental drill amplified through a set of loudspeakers. I would kill to get a commercially de…

Elon Musk at one point once suggested Tesla would make a quiet leaf blower - due specifically to the noise. I wonder if Tesla perhaps has a whole bunch of technologies they're developing incognito in the background - or if he's perhaps being limited for some artificial reasons? It may just be a market size issue - and cities passing bylaws to disallow gas powered, only allow electric under a certain dBs is the fix; a…

Is that really what people want?

Leaf blowers to me are possibly the least interesting, least appealing way to use modern tech

To clarify, as a research project, cool. We can probably use any new developments elsewhere. But as a tesla product, just why?

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#210

Post by adrianN »

phillipcarter wrote: post #137
rascul wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leaves can kill off whatever is growing beneath them and they can pose a safety issue in areas where people walk.

Rakes exist. It's (often but not always) slower work, but it's quieter.

If it’s slower it costs more. Who is going to pay for that?
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