CN111725859A

CN111725859A - Base station for electric household appliances and system comprising base station and household appliances

Info

Publication number: CN111725859A
Application number: CN202010194097.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: H-P.阿诺德; T.布宁; B.弗莱佐克; R.弗里林豪斯; M.赫米希; L.希伦; C.霍尔茨; G.伊森伯格; A.莫斯巴赫; R.奥特曼; K.施米茨; F.维茨; N.范蒂费伦; G.哈克特
Original assignee: Vorwerk and Co Interholding GmbH
Current assignee: Vorwerk and Co Interholding GmbH
Priority date: 2019-03-19
Filing date: 2020-03-19
Publication date: 2020-09-29
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-19
Also published as: DE102019107008A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a base station (1) having an interface (2) for docking an electrical household appliance (3), wherein the base station (1) has an energy store (5) for the household appliance (3), a charging device (7) for the energy store (5), and a movement path (4), wherein the movement path (4) is provided with a movement device (6) for moving the energy store (5) along the movement path (4) from a first position (A) for charging the energy store (5) on the charging device (7) of the base station (1) to a second position (B) which is suitable for transferring the energy store (5) to the household appliance (3). In order to provide an alternative mechanism for exchanging the energy store (5), it is proposed that the displacement channel (4) has two charging devices (7, 8) which are spaced apart from one another with reference to the longitudinal extent of the displacement channel (4). Furthermore, a system is proposed, which comprises a base station (1) and an electrical domestic appliance (3) that can be connected to the base station (1).

Description

Base station for electric household appliances and system comprising base station and household appliances

Technical Field

The invention relates to a base station having an interface for connecting an electrical household appliance, wherein the base station has an energy store for the household appliance, a charging device for the energy store, and a movement channel, wherein the movement channel is provided with a movement device for moving the energy store along the movement channel from a first position for charging the energy store on the charging device of the base station to a second position, and the second position is suitable for transferring the energy store to the household appliance.

The invention further relates to a system comprising a base station and an electrical domestic appliance which can be connected to the base station, wherein the base station has an interface for connecting the domestic appliance, an energy store which is reserved for the domestic appliance, a charging device for the energy store, and a movement channel, wherein the movement channel is provided with a movement device for moving the energy store along the movement channel from a first position for charging the energy store on the charging device of the base station to a second position which is suitable for transferring the energy store to the domestic appliance, and wherein the domestic appliance has a second energy store and a contact device for contacting the energy store.

Background

Base stations for home appliances are known from the prior art in various embodiments.

A base station for an autonomous travelling cleaning robot is disclosed, for example, in publication US 2005/0212478 a 1. The base station stores a battery for the cleaning robot and also has a charging device for charging the battery and a transport mechanism for transferring the charged battery to the cleaning robot. The conveying mechanism is composed of a rotating mechanism and a sliding mechanism. The charged battery is moved to the position of the cleaning robot in front of the base station by the rotating mechanism. The sliding mechanism slides the battery into the cleaning robot after reaching a desired rotational position.

A disadvantage of such a base station is that different mechanisms for the rotation and sliding movement are required. Furthermore, the energy accumulator needs to be removed from the base station before it reaches the cleaning robot. This requires, on the one hand, high design and manufacturing effort and, on the other hand, may also have a negative effect on the surroundings due to noise when the energy accumulator is transferred to the cleaning robot.

From the patent document US 2003/0154566 a1 a floor treatment device is known which is equipped with a rechargeable battery, wherein the floor treatment device can be connected to a docking station, in which the emptied rechargeable battery can be removed from the device and the charged rechargeable battery can be reapplied to the device. The empty battery is ready to be charged at the docking station. A transport vehicle operated by a battery is known from DE 4203778 a 1. When the battery is empty, the transport carriage can be moved towards the battery charging unit, on which the battery is moved to the battery charging unit for charging on guides provided both in the transport carriage and in the battery charging unit. Another battery charging unit can prepare the charged battery and push it in the same way in the transport carriage.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on this prior art, the object of the present invention is therefore to provide a base station for domestic appliances, which makes it possible to transfer energy stores from the base station to the domestic appliances and vice versa in a particularly simple and preferably low-noise manner.

In order to solve this problem, the invention proposes that the displacement path has two charging devices which are spaced apart from one another with reference to the longitudinal extent of the displacement path and each have at least one contact element for connecting an energy store, wherein the contact elements of the first charging device and the second charging device face one another in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the displacement path.

The base station has two charging devices. The charging device is arranged directly in the movement path, so that an energy store received from the household appliance can be connected directly in the movement path to the charging device and charged on the charging device, while at the same time a further energy store stored in the movement path can preferably be transferred to the household appliance. In this case, the second energy store received from the household appliance can be connected to the charging device without first having to decouple the stored energy store from the charging device or to transfer it to the household appliance. Instead, there are a plurality of charging positions available for at least two energy stores. Furthermore, the charging position is arranged directly in the displacement channel, so that no additional second displacement mechanism is required for conveying the energy accumulator into or out of the displacement channel. The energy store is always located in the displacement channel even during the charging process. The accumulator according to the invention may be a battery, a fuel tank, a fuel cell or the like. The charging device is designed to correspond to a corresponding type of energy accumulator, for example with electrical contacts for a battery, a valve for filling a fuel tank or a fuel cell. The displacement channel is preferably configured linearly, so that the sliding of the energy accumulator takes place along a straight line. In principle, however, it is also possible to design the displacement channel in a curved manner, so that the energy accumulator also follows a circular path during the sliding, for example. The two charging devices of the base station are at any rate spaced apart from one another in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the movement path, which can be straight or curved, so that a plurality of charging positions are available for both energy stores at the same time.

The charging devices are arranged opposite one another in the displacement path such that the contact elements of the first charging device point in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the displacement path toward the contact elements of the second charging device and vice versa. The contact element may be, for example, an electrical charging plug, for example a banana plug (banana plug), wherein the longitudinal extent of the charging plug is particularly preferably oriented parallel to the longitudinal extent of the displacement channel. In particular, the charging device, which is arranged, for example, on the end face of the displacement channel, forms an end stop for the energy accumulator which is displaced along the displacement channel, wherein the energy accumulator, while being stopped at the end stop, forms a plug-and-socket connection with the contact elements of the charging device and the energy accumulator.

In particular, it is proposed that the charging device be arranged on mutually opposite sides of the displacement channel. This embodiment is particularly advantageous because two energy stores which are present simultaneously in the movement channel of the base station do not hinder one another when one of the energy stores is connected to the charging device. In this case, the distance of displacement for the other energy accumulator is approximately equal to the total length of the displacement channel.

In particular, it is proposed that the interface is tangential to the movement channel, so that a device subregion of the household appliance, which is connected to the interface as intended, is arranged within the movement channel between the charging devices, and that the movement channel extends at least in longitudinal sections within a housing contour of the household appliance. In this embodiment, the base station is designed in such a way that the domestic appliance can be inserted into the base station at least partially through an appliance subregion with an energy store, so that the appliance subregion projects into the movement duct and the energy store can be transferred from the base station to the domestic appliance and vice versa without the energy store having to be removed from the base station for the transfer. By means of this embodiment, a particularly low-noise transfer of the energy store and the operation of the mobile device is achieved, in particular when the housing of the base station at least partially covers or encloses the domestic appliance. The interface is preferably located in the movement path as proposed, which means overlapping the movement path of the energy accumulator, so that the energy accumulator moves through the household appliance connected to the interface while it moves along the movement path of the base station. Since the interface is also tangent to the movement path between the two charging devices of the base station, as proposed, there are in principle two movement sub-paths for the energy store, namely a first movement sub-path between the first charging device and the interface or the device partial region of the household appliance connected to the interface and a second movement sub-path between the second charging device and the interface. This allows the energy store of the domestic appliance to be replaced at the base station without hindrance. The energy storage device emptying the charge can be transferred from the household appliance to the first charging device of the base station via the first movement sub-path, while the charged energy storage device is transferred from the second charging device of the base station to the household appliance via the second movement sub-path. The device part region of the domestic appliance, which has or accommodates the energy store, is flush with the movement channel of the base station when the domestic appliance is connected to the interface of the base station, so that the energy store can be transferred, for example, from the energy store shaft of the domestic appliance to the charging device of the base station. The configuration of the output interface of the domestic appliance from the energy accumulator shaft to the appliance housing preferably corresponds to the course of the movement path of the base station.

According to one embodiment, it can be provided that the displacement device has a sliding element which is slidably mounted in the displacement channel and which is arranged on the side of the energy store facing away from the charging device relative to the energy store connected to the charging device. The sliding element is advantageously used on the one hand to space apart two energy stores present in the displacement channel and on the other hand to mechanically interact with each other in such a way that the first energy store can act on the second energy store or transmit a sliding force to the second energy store by means of the sliding element. The sliding element serves as a movable distance-maintaining means between the energy accumulators. This is particularly advantageous in order to keep the energy stores in different movement sub-paths and/or at a distance from one another, for example as previously suggested, so that the contact device of the domestic appliance can act in the movement channel between the energy stores of the base station in order to contact communicate said contact energy stores. Furthermore, the sliding element can also be used to release the energy store from the household appliance, in particular from the contact device of the household appliance.

It is proposed that the movement device of the base station has a mechanical, pneumatic and/or electromagnetic drive.

In the case of a mechanical drive, the mechanical drive can preferably have at least one linear drive acting on the energy accumulator along the longitudinal extent of the displacement channel. The linear drive may be, for example, a spindle drive or a rack drive. The displacement device particularly preferably has two linear drives, so that the energy accumulator can be decoupled both from one of the charging devices of the displacement channel and from the other charging device of the displacement channel, which requires forces acting in different, in particular opposite directions. In the case of a pneumatic drive, the pneumatic drive may preferably have a fan which applies an air flow to the displacement channel along the longitudinal extent. The fan can be, for example, a fan already used by the base station for other maintenance tasks, for example a fan by means of which suction from a household appliance configured as a suction cleaning appliance is sucked into a suction collection chamber of the base station. Preferably, however, the fan can also be provided specifically for the function of the mobile device. The action of the force on the energy stores is essentially effected by the overpressure and underpressure in the displacement channel, wherein the impact of the air flow on at least one of the energy stores assists the displacement of the energy store. In addition, the direction of action of the moving device can also be reversed by reversing the rotating device of the fan. Furthermore, the drive of the displacement device can also be a fan of the household appliance, wherein the air flow is deflected from the household appliance into the displacement channel of the base station. In the case of an electromagnetic drive, the electromagnetic drive may preferably have at least one electromagnet, the magnetic force of which acts in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the displacement path. Two electromagnets are particularly suitable, so that each charging device of the travel path is assigned its own electromagnet. In this case, the energy accumulator preferably has a permanent magnet which can be attracted or repelled by the magnetic force of the electromagnet. Depending on the direction of the switchable magnetic field of the electromagnet, the energy accumulator can thus be attracted to or detached from the charging device. In all the variants of the drive device described above, it is also possible for the drive device for the mobile device to be arranged not in the base station but in the domestic appliance. The air pressure for moving the energy store can accordingly be generated by a fan of the domestic appliance as described above. The energy accumulator can likewise be pushed in the movement path of the base station by a linear drive or an electromagnet of the household appliance. In this case, it must be ensured that the household appliance is not completely switched off when the energy store is replaced, otherwise the drive for the displacement device is likewise not able to function. It is possible to continuously supply the drive device with energy, i.e., to configure the displacement device such that one of the mutually displaceable energy stores is always connected to the contact device of the household appliance. It is also conceivable that the base station, in particular in the region of the interface, provides contacts for the household appliance via which energy can be transferred from the base station into the household appliance.

In addition to the base station described above, the invention also proposes a system comprising a base station and an electrical domestic appliance which can be connected to the base station, wherein the base station has an interface for connecting the domestic appliance, an energy store which is reserved for the domestic appliance, a charging device for the energy store, and a movement channel, wherein the movement channel is provided with a movement device for moving the energy store along the movement channel from a first position for charging the energy store on the charging device of the base station to a second position which is suitable for transferring the energy store to the domestic appliance, and wherein the domestic appliance has a second energy store and a contact device for contacting the energy store, and wherein the base station is designed according to one of the embodiments described above. The system thus also has a base station, the travel path of which has two charging devices, which are spaced apart from one another with reference to the longitudinal extent of the travel path. The household appliance has a contact device for making contact, corresponding to the energy accumulator. The contact device preferably has a slightly moving contact element. According to one possible embodiment, the electrical contact device has, for example, electrical contacts for at least two accumulators, wherein the electrical contact elements are directed in different, in particular opposite directions in order to be able to make electrical contact with an accumulator which is moved from opposite directions in the movement channel of the base station in the direction of the contact device.

The further features and advantages of the base station constructed according to one of the preceding embodiments apply correspondingly also to the proposed system of base stations and domestic appliances that can be connected to the base stations via an interface. Reference is therefore also made to the preceding description of the base station for the system in order to avoid repetition.

In particular, it is proposed that the contact device of the household appliance is mounted movably in the household appliance. The contact device can be supported, for example, in a slidable manner on a housing subregion of the domestic appliance. The guide means, for example a guide runner, rail or the like, guides the movement of the contact device in a defined direction, which in the connected state of the base station and the household appliance preferably corresponds to the orientation of the longitudinal extent of the movement path of the base station. The contact device and the energy accumulator can thus be moved in mutually opposite directions along the movement path. The movement preferably takes place along a straight line, wherein, however, curved movement paths are also possible. It is however important that the movement path of the contact device at least partially corresponds to the movement path of the energy accumulator, i.e. extends parallel to the movement path of the energy accumulator or covers the movement path of the energy accumulator. This makes it possible for the displacement device of the base station to displace not only the energy store, but also the contact device which is in mechanical interaction with the energy store. Two particular advantages can be achieved due to the movability of the contacting means. On the one hand, the contact device can be moved such that it takes into account the structural conditions of the household appliance and the space required for the energy store connected to the contact device. The contact device can thus always be moved in such a way that an energy store connected to the contact device can be accommodated in a housing of the domestic appliance or in an energy store shaft formed in the housing, irrespective of the direction from which the energy store is applied to the contact device. The release of the energy accumulator connected to the contact device is then achieved in that the moving contact device finally moves toward the end stop. The contact device comes to rest against an end stop, whereby the energy store, which is moved further by the movement device, is released from the contact device and is moved further to the charging device of the base station. The movable contact device can on the other hand also be used as a counterweight for the movable energy accumulator. The position of the center of gravity of the household appliance can preferably be kept constant at all times by the movement of the contact device. In this way, the wheels can be uniformly loaded for autonomously traveling domestic devices, such as ground handling robots, exploration robots or the like. What can be achieved in this way for a kitchen appliance or similar, generally stationary device is, for example, that vibrations caused by the engine do not lead to a wobbling of the device and, in the worst case, to a tilting of the device.

It is proposed that the contact device of the domestic appliance is particularly preferably arranged between the first charging device and the second charging device of the base station in the movement path of the base station in the state of the domestic appliance being connected to the interface of the base station as intended. The contact device is thus located directly in the path of movement of the energy store by this configuration, so that the energy store moving in the movement channel is simultaneously moved toward or away from the contact device. The energy storage shaft of the domestic appliance with the contact device is thus aligned with the movement path of the base station, so that the energy storage can be transferred from the movement path into the energy storage shaft, preferably in a straight line, or vice versa, without further measures.

Finally, it is proposed that the base station and the household appliance are designed in such a way that a first energy store connected to a first charging device of the base station can be disconnected from the first charging device by the force of a displacement device and can be displaced along a longitudinal extension of a displacement channel in the direction of a second charging device, so that the first energy store is connected to a contact device of the household appliance and the second energy store is disconnected from the contact device of the household appliance and connected to a second charging device of the base station. The corresponding configuration of the base station and the domestic appliance thus makes it possible to replace the energy store in the domestic appliance particularly easily. The energy store of the emptying charge of the household appliance, which is still connected to the contact device of the household appliance, is separated from the contact device by the charged backup energy store of the base station, on which the force of the displacement device acts, is pushed out of the household appliance and then connected to the charging device of the base station for recharging. The displacement device thus acts not only on a reserve energy store arranged in the base station, but also indirectly via said reserve energy store on the energy store of the domestic appliance to be replaced. The movement of the two energy stores takes place in a temporally overlapping manner in the movement path of the base station. Between the energy stores, as described above, a sliding element can be provided which is mounted slidably in the base station and which allows a mechanical interaction between two energy stores which are located on different sides of the contact device of the domestic appliance. The reserve energy store of the base station can push out the energy store of the emptying charge arranged on the other side of the contact device from the household appliance by means of the sliding element and be separated from the contact device.

Drawings

The present invention is illustrated in detail below with reference to examples. In the drawings:

figure 1 shows a system consisting of a base station and home appliances,

fig. 2 shows the system according to fig. 1, with the base station shown in cross-section,

figure 3 shows the system when moving the energy storage of the base station,

figure 4 shows the system as the accumulator continues to be moved,

figure 5 shows the system when the accumulator is moved further,

figure 6 shows the system when the direction of movement is reversed,

figure 7 shows a system with a first state of movement of an accumulator according to another embodiment,

figure 8 shows the system according to figure 7 with a second state of movement of the accumulator,

figure 9 shows a system with a first state of movement of an accumulator according to another embodiment,

figure 10 shows the system according to figure 9 with a second movement state of the accumulator,

figure 11 shows a system according to another embodiment,

fig. 12 shows another system of base stations and home appliances.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a possible embodiment of a system according to the invention, which is formed by a base station 1 and a domestic appliance 3. The household appliance 3 is designed here, for example, as an autonomous cleaning robot, but may also be a household appliance 3 guided manually by a user, as described later in connection with fig. 12. The household appliance according to fig. 1, which is designed as a cleaning robot in an exemplary manner, has in a conventional manner wheels for autonomous travel on the floor surface to be cleaned. Furthermore, the cleaning device has, for example, a fan, a motor for driving the fan, and a suction chamber into which suction material can be received from the floor surface to be cleaned. The household appliance 3 has an energy store 22, here for example a battery, in order to supply the electric motor and, if appropriate, other electrical components with energy. Alternatively, the domestic appliance 3 can also be operated by other energy stores, for example a fuel cell or the like.

The base station 1 has an interface 2 for connecting a household appliance 3 to said base station 1. The interface 2 is associated with a partial region of the housing of the base station 1 and is configured to correspond to a housing contour 14 of the device partial region 12 of the domestic device 3, so that the base station 1 can accommodate the device partial region 12. The domestic appliance 3 can thus be moved into the base station 1 via the appliance subregion 12.

Fig. 2 to 11 show in detail the base station 1 and the domestic appliance 3 arranged thereon. The household appliance 3 has, as described above, an energy store 22, which is connected to a contact device 23 of the household appliance 3. The contact device 23 serves here to establish an electrical connection between the energy store 22 and the consumer of the household appliance 3. The contact device 23 is mounted slidably on the guide element 24 and is connected to the energy store 22 via a slightly movable contact. The guide element 24 thus serves on the one hand as a guide for moving the contact device 23 relative to the housing or housing of the household appliance 3 and on the other hand has an end stop 27, on which the contact device 23 can be stopped when it is moved as shown in fig. 2 and 4. The contact element 11 of the contact device 23, as described above, makes an easily releasable connection between the energy accumulator 22 and the contact device 23. According to the embodiment described here, the contact element 11 can particularly preferably be a banana plug, but it is also possible to design the contact element 11 as an electrode without a plug function, wherein a holding force can be generated between the energy store 22 and the contact device 23, for example, by means of a magnetic element.

In the region of the interface 2, the base station 1 has a travel channel 4 which encloses an energy store 5, which is stored as a backup energy store for the domestic appliance 3. The displacement channel 4 is formed in the region of the interface 2 such that the device-partial region 12 of the household appliance 3 projects with the contact device 23 into the displacement channel 4, i.e. the displacement channel 4 is flush with the part of the household appliance 3 having the contact device 23. This means that the contact device 23 is located in the displacement channel 4, so that the energy store 5 can be connected in a power-transmitting manner to the contact element 11 of the contact device 23 during displacement. The movement path of the contact device 23, which is mounted so as to be slidable on the guide element 24, is located on the same, in this case linear, movement path as the movement paths of the

energy stores

5 and 22 of the base station 1 and the household appliance 3.

The moving walkway 4 has two

charging devices

7, 8 for the

energy stores

5, 22 of the system, namely a first charging device 7 (shown on the right in the drawing) and a second charging device (shown on the left in the drawing). The

charging devices

7, 8 are located on

opposite sides

9, 10 of the travel path 4, wherein the first charging device 7 defines a first position a for the energy store 5 and the second charging device 8 accordingly defines a second position B for the energy store 22. The charging

device

7, 8 has a contact element 11 corresponding to the

energy store

5, 22. The

charging devices

7, 8, the

energy stores

5, 22 and the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3 are located in a straight line with reference to the longitudinal extension of the movement channel 4, so that each

energy store

5, 22 can be transferred from the charging

device

7, 8 to the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3 and vice versa when the household appliance 3 is connected as intended to the interface 2 of the base station 1. For this purpose, a longitudinal section 13 is provided in the displacement channel 4, into which a corresponding device subregion 12 of the domestic device 3 can be introduced.

Furthermore, the base station 1 has a displacement device 6 for displacing the

energy stores

5, 22, to which a pneumatic drive 17 having a fan 20 is assigned according to the exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 2 to 6, the base station 1 also having a sliding element 15 which is mounted displaceably in the displacement channel 4 of the base station 1 and the energy store 5 of the base station 1 spaced apart from the energy store 22 of the domestic appliance 3. The sliding element 15 passes by or through the contact means 23 of the household appliance 3 within the movement channel 4, wherein the contact means 23 and the sliding element 15 are freely slidably supported relative to each other and there is no friction fit between the contact means and the sliding element.

The manner of operation of the mobile device 6 of the base station 1 is explained in detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiments according to fig. 2 to 6.

Fig. 2 shows an initial state in which the domestic appliance 3 is just docked on the interface 2 of the base station 1. The energy store 22 of the household appliance 3 is connected to the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3. The base station 1 stores the energy store 5 as a spare part for the energy store 22 of the domestic appliance 3. An energy store 5, which is stored as a spare part, is located on the first charging device 7I.e. at a first position a within the moving walkway 4 of the base station 1. In the initial position, the sliding element 15 is located in the displacement channel 4, i.e. in contact with the energy store 5 of the base station 1, wherein the sliding element 15 passes by the contact device 23 of the domestic appliance 3. The household appliance 3 is introduced into the movement path 4 of the base station 1 via the appliance subregion 12, so that the

energy stores

5, 22 lie on a straight line along the longitudinal extent of the movement path 4 and can be exchanged with one another by sliding along said longitudinal extent. In order to be able to slide the energy store 22 out of the household appliance 3 and to be replaced by the energy store 5 of the base station 1, the fan 20 is operated to generate an air flow which flows through the displacement channel from the right to the left, as shown in the drawing, i.e. from the first position a of the energy store 5 in the direction of the second position B, which is not yet occupied by the

energy store

5, 22. On the one hand, the negative pressure and, on the other hand, the force of the air flow on the energy store 5

The energy storage device 5 is disconnected from the first charging device 7. The energy store 5 is thereby slid in the direction of the projection of the household appliance 3 into the appliance partial region 12, in which the energy store 22 to be replaced is located at the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3. The energy accumulator 5 pushes the sliding element 15 in front of said energy accumulator when moving. The second energy store 22 is thus also slid in the direction of the second position B, i.e. in the direction of the second charging device 8 of the displacement channel 4. The sliding of the second energy store 22 is achieved by the contact of the contact device 23 slidably supported on a guide element 24 of the household appliance 3. The contact device 23 is thereby likewise displaced and impacts on the end stop 27 of the guide element 24. This is shown in fig. 4. The contact device 23 is stopped by the end stop 27 of the guide element 24, while the energy store 22 of the household appliance 3 is still moved further in the direction of the second position B by the first energy store 5 or the sliding element 15. Thereby detaching the second energy accumulator 22 from the contact means 23 of the household appliance 3. The first energy store 5 of the base station 5 is moved further by means of the fan 20 of the movement device 6 until it touches the contact device 23 itself and the contact device 23Is connected to the contact element 11. At the same time, the second energy store 22 is pressed by means of the sliding element 15 against the contact element 11 of the second charging device 8 in the second position B. The energy store 22 of the emptying charge of the household appliance 3 can thus be charged on the second charging device 8, while the charged energy store 5, which was previously connected to the first charging device 7 of the base station 1, is now connected to the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3 and can supply the consumer of the household appliance 3 with energy.

The household appliance 3 can then leave the base station 1 again and be used for a new cleaning operation. Although the energy store 5, which is located in the domestic appliance 3 at present, is arranged on the opposite side of the contact device 23 from the previous energy store 22, the energy store 5 is still adapted in the appliance partial region 12 of the domestic appliance 3 due to the slidability of the contact device 23. The slidable bearing of the contact device 23 additionally also has the function of compensating the weight effect of the respectively sliding

energy stores

5, 22 relative to the household appliance 3. The contact device 23 thus assumes the function of a counterweight. The center of gravity of the household appliance 3 is thus preferably kept constant relative to the housing of the household appliance 3. The advantage thus arises for the cleaning device shown is, for example, that the wheels of the cleaning device are uniformly loaded and do not impede the autonomous travel of the cleaning device.

If the energy store 5, which is currently installed in the domestic appliance 3 according to fig. 5, is also emptied of power, the domestic appliance 3 can be reconnected to the interface 2 of the base station 1 and the energy store 5 is transferred back into the base station 1, while the charged energy store 22 can be installed in the domestic appliance 3 again. For this purpose, the fan 20 of the displacement device 6 is operated in the opposite direction of rotation, as shown in fig. 6, i.e. in the opposite direction of rotation to that of fig. 2 to 5. The direction of the air flow in the displacement channel 4 is thus from left to right with reference to the drawing, so that the energy accumulator 22 pushes the energy accumulator 5 by means of the sliding element 15 in the direction of the first charging device 7, i.e. towards the position a. Furthermore, the other functions are implemented as described for fig. 2 to 5.

Fig. 7 and 8 show a further embodiment of a base station 1 according to the invention. The base station 1 has a mobile device 6 with a mechanical drive 16 with two linear drives 19, wherein the first linear drive 19 is assigned to the first charging device 7 and the second linear drive 19 is assigned to the second charging device 8. The linear drive 19 may be a spindle drive or a rack drive, for example. The

accumulators

5, 22 of the system can be slid back and forth in the displacement channel 4 by means of a linear drive 19. In fig. 7, the linear drive 19 associated with the first charging device 7 is pressed against the energy store 5, wherein the energy store 22 previously described with reference to the kinematic chain of fig. 2 to 6 and previously located in the domestic appliance 3 is then activated and finally connected to the second charging device 8 of the base station 1. Fig. 8 shows a movement from left to right triggered by the linear drive 19 associated with the second charging device 8 in the opposite direction of action, wherein the energy store 5 connected to the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3 is pushed into the first position a in the movement channel 4 and the charged energy store 22 previously connected to the second charging device 8 is connected to the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3.

Fig. 9 and 10 show a further embodiment of a base station 1 according to the invention. The base station 1 has a mobile device 6, which has an electromagnetic drive 18. The electromagnetic drive 18 comprises two electromagnets 21, which are associated with the side faces 9, 10 of the displacement channel 4 and whose magnetic field passes through a first position a and a second position B in the displacement channel 4. The

energy stores

5, 22 of the system formed by the base station 1 and the domestic appliance 3 have corresponding permanent magnets 25 which are attracted or repelled depending on the current pole direction of the electromagnet 21. In the case shown in fig. 9, the electromagnet 21 associated with the first charging device 7 is adjusted to repel the permanent magnet 25 of the first energy store 5. The electromagnet 21 associated with the second charging device 8 is switched to attract the permanent magnet 25 of the energy store 22, which is still present and located at the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3. The exchange mechanism of the mobile device 6 for exchanging the energy store 5 of the base station 1 with the energy store 22 of the household appliance 3 is then realized as described above by means of the sliding element 15. The main task of the sliding element 15 is to decouple the energy store 22 of the domestic appliance 3 from the contact device 23. However, the sliding element 15 can also be dispensed with if the magnetic force of the displacement device 6 is sufficiently large to release the energy store 22 from the contact device 23. In the present example according to fig. 9 and 10, the contact elements 11 and the contact means 23 of the

energy stores

5, 22 can be, for example, electrodes which establish a connection for transmitting energy by simple contact, without the use of plugs at all. The contact element 11 may, for example, be equipped with an additional permanent magnet having a relatively small magnetic force. The contact can then be produced by simple contacting of the contact elements 11 and can be easily separated again.

Fig. 11 shows a further embodiment of the invention, in which the base station 1 has a fan 20 with a correspondingly associated deflection device for the generated air flow. The deflection device has a valve 26, which may be embodied as a solenoid valve, for example. The valves 26 can be adjusted in such a way that the first valve 26 is open and the second valve 26 is closed. The direction of the air flow through the moving channel 4 is thereby preset. The valve 26 shown on the right in fig. 11 is open, while the valve 26 shown on the left is closed. The air thus flows from the fan 20 toward the side 9 of the travel path on which the first charging device 7 is configured. The air flow thus pushes the energy store 5 arranged there to the left along the contact device 23 of the household appliance 3 or pushes the energy store 22 arranged on the contact device 23 by means of the sliding element 15 in the direction of the second charging device 8. The flow direction of the air flow can be switched by the switching valve 26 so that the air flow is guided into the moving passage from the left side and flows in the direction from the second charging device 8 to the first charging device 7.

Fig. 12 finally shows a further embodiment of a system consisting of a base station 1 and a domestic appliance 3. The household appliance 3 is designed here as a battery-operated screwdriver, but also represents other household appliances, such as other electric tools, for example a nailer, a hot glue gun, a punching device or the like. According to the arrangement of the base station 1 shown in fig. 12, the energy store 22 of the domestic appliance 3 is replaced in the vertical direction.

As an alternative to the vertical exchange direction shown in fig. 12 and the horizontal exchange direction shown in fig. 2 to 11, other orientations of the displacement channel 4, for example diagonal arrangements or a free-form course of the displacement channel 4, are also possible.

List of reference numerals

1 base station

2 interface

3 household appliance

4 moving channel

5 energy accumulator

6 moving device

7 first charging device

8 second charging device

9 side surface

10 side surface

11 contact element

12 local area of equipment

13 longitudinal section

14 shell profile

15 sliding element

16 mechanical driving device

17 pneumatic drive

18 electromagnetic drive

19 linear driving device

20 blower

21 electromagnet

22 energy accumulator

23 contact device

24 guide element

25 permanent magnet

26 valve

27 end stop

A first position

B second position

Claims

1. Base station (1) having an interface (2) for docking electrical household appliances (3), wherein the base station (1) has an energy store (5) for the household appliances (3), a charging device (7) for the energy store (5), and a movement path (4), wherein the movement path (4) is provided with a movement device (6) for moving the energy store (5) along the movement path (4) from a first position (A) for charging the energy store (5) on the charging device (7) of the base station (1) to a second position (B) which is suitable for transferring the energy store (5) onto the household appliances (3), characterized in that the movement path (4) has two charging devices (7, 8) which are spaced apart from one another with reference to the longitudinal extent of the movement path (4), and the charging devices (7, 8) each have at least one contact element (11) for connecting the energy store (5), wherein the contact elements (11) of the first charging device (7) and the contact elements (11) of the second charging device (8) face one another in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the displacement channel (4).

2. Base station (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the charging means (7, 8) are arranged on mutually opposite sides (9, 10) of the moving walkway (4).

3. Base station (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the interface (2) is tangent to the movement channel (4) such that a device partial area (12) of the household appliance (3) which is regularly connected to the interface (2) is arranged between the charging devices (7, 8) within the movement channel (4) and the movement channel (4) extends at least in a longitudinal section (13) within a housing contour (14) of the household appliance (3).

4. Base station (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the displacement device (6) has a sliding element (15) which is slidably supported in the displacement channel (4) and which is arranged on the side of the energy accumulator (5) facing away from the charging device (7, 8) with respect to the energy accumulator (5) connected to the charging device (7, 8).

5. Base station (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the moving means (6) have mechanical, pneumatic and/or electromagnetic drive means (16, 17, 18).

6. The base station (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that the mechanical drive (16) has at least one linear drive (19) acting on the energy accumulator (5) along the longitudinal extension of the movement path (4), and/or the pneumatic drive (17) has a fan (20) acting on the movement path (4) with an air flow along the longitudinal extension, and/or the electromagnetic drive (18) has at least one electromagnet (21) whose magnetic force acts in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the movement path (4).

7. Base station (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the energy accumulator (5) is a battery.

8. A system consisting of a base station (1) and an electrical domestic appliance (3) which can be connected to the base station (1), wherein the base station (1) has an interface (4) for docking the domestic appliance (3), an energy store (5) for the domestic appliance (3), a charging device (7) for the energy store (5) and a movement channel (4), wherein the movement channel (4) is provided with a movement device (6) for moving the energy store (5) along the movement channel (4) from a first position (A) for charging the energy store (5) on the charging device (7) of the base station (1) to a second position (B) which is suitable for transferring the energy store (5) to the domestic appliance (3), and wherein the domestic appliance (3) has a second energy store (22) and a connection for connecting to the energy store (5), 22) Contact arrangement for making contact, characterized in that the base station (1) is designed according to one of claims 1 to 7.

9. The system according to claim 8, characterized in that the electrical contact device (23) of the household appliance (3) is movably mounted in the household appliance (3).

10. The system according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the contact means (23) of the household appliance (3) are arranged between the first charging means (7) and the second charging means (8) of the base station (1) in the movement tunnel (4) of the base station (1) in a state in which the household appliance (3) is connected as prescribed to the interface (2) of the base station (1).

11. System according to claim 10, characterized in that the base station (1) and the household appliance (3) are configured in correspondence with each other such that a first energy accumulator (5) connected to a first charging device (7) of the base station (1) can be detached from the first charging device (7) by the force of a moving device (6) and can be moved along a longitudinal extension of a movement channel (4) in the direction of a second charging device (8) such that the first energy accumulator (5) is connected to a contact device (23) of the household appliance (3) and the second energy accumulator (22) is detached from the contact device (23) of the household appliance (3) and connected to the second charging device (8) of the base station (1).