What makes freshly cut grass end up reliably in the grass catcher? It’s not just the blade. Something you cannot see while mowing plays a crucial role: the air.
The rotating blade generates an airflow beneath the mowing deck that carries the clippings through the discharge chute into the grass catcher and distributes them there. Controlled airflow helps make optimal use of the catcher’s capacity, allowing it to fill more evenly and reducing the need for frequent emptying.
A new airflow test bench within the STIHL Group makes these invisible processes measurable – providing valuable insights for the development of future lawn mowers.
When airflow becomes a key development factor
How much air does a lawn mower move? What happens as the grass catcher gradually fills up? And how effectively are the clippings transported towards the catcher?
The test bench provides answers to these questions. Different blade and housing variants can be examined under comparable conditions – even before the first practical mowing tests take place.
This enables the development teams to identify potential improvements in collection performance and energy efficiency at an early stage. This is particularly important for battery-powered lawn mowers: the more efficiently the overall system works, the better the available energy can be used.
Two sites, one solution
For the new test bench, STIHL Tirol in Langkampfen, Austria, and the headquarters in Waiblingen, Germany, combined their respective strengths: lawn mower development expertise meets the right testing technology.
The result is a joint solution that provides valuable insights for the further development of lawn mowers – and demonstrates how collaboration across locations can help drive innovation. The result: more efficient machines that deliver convincing performance in our customers’ everyday use.
Making invisible airflow visible
Our video shows how the test bench works and what the measurements look like in practice.