EP4070704A1 - Base station for a floor treating device and system comprising a base station and floor treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a base station (1) for carrying out a service operation on a soil cultivation device (2), the base station (1) having a basic housing (3) with a guide arm (4) having a predominant longitudinal extension for guiding a docking movement of the soil cultivation device (2). wherein the guide arm (4) has a surface (5) that can be driven on by the soil cultivation device (2) and has at least two electrical contacts (6) for connection to corresponding electrical contacts (7) of the soil cultivation device. In order to also enable fine adjustment of the soil cultivation device (2) on the base station (1), it is proposed that the surface (5) should have two electrical contacts ( 6) has guide elements (8) positioned in front and spaced apart from one another, each guide element (8), viewed in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the guide arm (4), having a beveled side edge (9) which has at least one beveled partial edge region (10.1, 10.2) which is not is oriented orthogonally to the surface (5) of the guiding arm (4).

Description

field of technology

The invention relates to a base station for carrying out a service operation on a soil cultivation device, the base station having a basic housing with a guide arm, which has a predominant longitudinal extent, for guiding a docking movement of the soil cultivation device, the guide arm having a surface that can be driven on by the soil cultivation device and having at least two electrical contacts for connection has with corresponding electrical contacts of the tillage implement.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a system consisting of such a base station and an automatically moving floor treatment device, wherein the floor treatment device has a device housing, a suction material chamber and a suction fan for sucking suction material into the suction material chamber, with an underside of the device housing facing the guide arm of the base station having two drive wheels has at least one support roller, at least two electrical contacts, a suction interface that is in flow connection with the suction material chamber, a floor treatment element and a protective grid covering the floor treatment element in the direction of the guide arm of the base station.

State of the art

Self-propelled soil treatment devices and base stations for carrying out a service on them are known in the prior art. The base station can be designed, for example, a To charge the tillage device's accumulator, to suck out a vacuum chamber of the tillage device or similar.

The soil treatment devices are used, for example, in households or office environments for automatic soil treatment, for example floor cleaning and/or floor care. The tillage implements are driven by electric motor-driven drive wheels.

Furthermore, it is known that soil tillage devices can independently drive to a base station in order to get service there. For this purpose, soil cultivation devices known in the prior art use software solutions that control docking of the soil cultivation device to the base station. Furthermore, it is known to equip the base station with a mechanical guide device, along which partial areas of the docking soil treatment device can be aligned.

The pamphlet EP 3 505 036 B1 discloses, for example, a base station and a cleaning device that automatically docks to the base station. The base station has a platform with charging contacts for charging an accumulator of the cleaning device and a ramp for lifting a front side of the cleaning device. The cleaning implement can be moved from an approaching position, where the cleaning implement is spaced from the front of the platform, to a docked position, where the cleaning implement is on the platform and the charging contacts of the base station engage the charging contacts of the cleaning implement, wherein then as the cleaning device moves from the approaching position to the docked position, the cleaning device follows the course of the ramp and a cleaning module of the cleaning device is lifted over the charging contacts of the base station. In the docking position grab onto the base station trained ribs in corresponding recesses on the housing of the cleaning device.

A disadvantage of the aforementioned systems or base stations is that contact between the corresponding adjustment elements (ribs and recesses) only occurs immediately at the moment when the cleaning device reaches its end position on the base station. As a result, the path or the time over which a fine adjustment is still possible is very short and the cleaning appliance may be misaligned, in particular a rib tilting in an associated recess.

Summary of the Invention

Based on the aforementioned prior art, it is therefore the object of the invention to improve the docking result of the tillage device on the base station, in particular to fine-tune the interfaces of the tillage device relative to the corresponding interfaces of the base station.

In order to solve this problem, it is proposed that the surface of the guide arm, in relation to the docking movement of the soil cultivation implement directed along the longitudinal extent of the guide arm, has two guide elements which are located in front of the electrical contacts and are spaced apart from one another, each guide element having a beveled side edge when viewed in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the guide arm. having at least one sloping edge portion that is not oriented orthogonally to the surface of the guide arm.

According to the invention, the base station now has a fine adjustment for the alignment of the tillage implement on the guide elements base station up. This fine adjustment is effective transversely to the direction of the docking movement. The further geometric design of the guide arm can preferably initially bring about a rough pre-alignment of the soil cultivation device in order to ensure that corresponding partial areas of the soil cultivation device come into contact with the beveled side edges of the guide elements and thus precise mechanical forced guidance of the soil cultivation device orthogonally to the longitudinal extension of the guide arm is achieved. Due to the fact that the guide elements, which have the slanted side edges, are arranged in front of the electrical contacts of the base station in the docking direction, a portion of the soil tillage implement that is leading during docking is initially aligned laterally before the corresponding electrical contacts of the base station and soil tillage implement can come into contact. The guide elements can be formed in one piece with the guide arm, for example formed on the guide arm by means of an injection molding process. Alternatively, it is also possible to glue or screw the guide elements onto the guide arm or the like. According to a particularly simple embodiment, the guide elements can be flat, planar components which have a triangular shape. The surface plane of the guide elements is preferably formed orthogonally to the longitudinal extent of the guide arm or orthogonally to the direction in which the soil cultivation implement moves during the docking movement on the surface of the guide arm in the direction of the docking position. Since the fine adjustment of the tillage device takes place at the same time as it moves along the guiding arm, the alignment of the tillage device is continued until an end position is reached in which the corresponding electrical contacts of the base station and tillage device are optimally aligned. Furthermore, the guide elements can also have guide bevels that oppose the docking movement. This allows one Be beveled side edge of the guide element so that it provides a slight ramp for a portion of the soil cultivation device sliding on it. In this way, on the one hand, the soil cultivation implement can be raised slightly and, on the other hand, fine centering in the direction of the docking movement can also be achieved. Furthermore, it is recommended that two guide elements of the base station are designed and arranged mirror-symmetrically to one another, with the plane of symmetry preferably lying in the longitudinal direction on a geometric center line of the guide arm of the base station.

In particular, it is proposed that the inclined edge portion of the guide element encloses an angle of between 30° and 60° to the surface of the guide arm. Angles in this proposed range are particularly suitable for optimally aligning the soil tillage implement that weighs on the guide elements, with the speed of the fine adjustment process being slowed down by the fact that the side edge of the guide element is not almost perpendicular to the guide boom, which would otherwise result in a sudden sinking of the previously raised section of the tillage implement would result. In particular, the angle can be approximately 45°. Most preferably 45° +/- 5°.

Furthermore, it is proposed that side edges of the guide element facing away from one another each have a sloping partial edge area. According to this configuration, the guide element has a sloping partial edge region in two opposite directions, which are oriented orthogonally to the docking direction. The guide element is particularly preferably designed in such a way that it looks like an upright triangle - or other polygon with an odd number of corners the surface of the guide arm, with a tip pointing upwards. The angles of the oblique edge portions of the guide elements can be either the same or different from one another. Furthermore, it is also possible for the guide element to have only a single oblique partial edge area on one side edge, while the opposite side edge has a plurality of oblique partial edge areas with different angular positions or one oblique partial edge area and one partial edge area that is orthogonal to the surface of the guide arm. The respective design of the guide element in detail can be optimally adapted to the corresponding partial areas of the soil cultivation device in order to achieve perfect fine adjustment during the docking movement.

It is proposed that the guide element has an end stop for contacting a corresponding stop element of the soil cultivation device on a side opposite to the docking movement of the soil cultivation device. The end stop opposes the docking movement of the soil tillage implement and protrudes beyond the surface level of the guide element, so that a corresponding partial area of the soil tillage implement preferably only comes to rest on the end stop in an end position, but not on the entire frontal surface of the guide element. Furthermore, the end stop can also be designed in such a way that it is wedge-shaped and can engage in a corresponding recess on the soil tillage implement.

The end stop defines the end position of the soil tillage implement at the base station. In some situations, contact occurs at the end stops of two guide elements at different times, for example when the soil tillage implement moves against the guide elements during of the docking movement is not reached parallel to a line of symmetry of the guide arm. A final alignment of the soil cultivation device then takes place by means of the previously described beveled side edges of the guide elements, with the drive wheels of the soil cultivation device being driven until all end stops of the soil cultivation device and the base station meet. Before the soil cultivation device does not reach this defined end position, there is still no conductive contact between the electrical contacts of the soil cultivation device and the electrical contacts of the base station. In this case, the drive wheels of the soil cultivation device continue to be driven until the docking process is finally completed and can be detected by a detection device of the base station and/or the soil cultivation device based on the conductive connection of the electrical contacts.

Advantageously, the surface of the guide arm has a suction interface, which is located in front of the guide elements in relation to the docking movement of the soil cultivation device directed along the longitudinal extension of the guide arm. According to this embodiment, the base station is designed to suck out a suction material chamber of the floor treatment device. For this purpose, the base station preferably has its own fan, which can generate a negative pressure at the suction interface. In the docked end position of the floor treatment device on the base station, the suction interfaces of the base station and floor treatment device are preferably connected to one another in an airtight manner, so that suction material from the suction material chamber of the floor treatment device can be sucked into a corresponding suction material chamber of the base station. The previously proposed fine adjustment of the soil treatment device at the base station allows the suction interfaces to be optimally aligned close to one another, so that the suction flow cannot be lost. The suction interfaces or suction channels can be precisely aligned with one another will. A sealing lip can be used to increase the tightness. In particular, the sealing lip is protected from wear and tear during the docking process and any misalignment of the suction interfaces is compensated for, since the shape of the guide arm and the shape of the guide elements prevent the interfaces of the base station and soil tillage implement from contacting each other before the final position is reached is reached. In order to protect the sealing lip from wear and tear due to mechanical stress, the suction interface can be arranged on the guide arm in such a way that the suction interface is located between two functional surfaces that are raised by the guide arm. The suction interface is thus lowered into an incision between two opposite partial surfaces of the guide arm. As a result, the suction interface or its seal is protected against contact with an underbody of the floor cultivation device when driven over. The lowered arrangement of the suction interface ensures that the suction interface of the base station is only connected to a corresponding suction interface of the floor treatment device in an end position at the last moment of the docking movement of the floor treatment device. This not only protects the sealing element from horizontal friction during the docking movement, but also prevents the sealing element from turning over, as a result of which the connection of the corresponding suction interfaces could otherwise become leaky.

Provision can be made for the surface of the guide arm to have lanes for driving over one drive wheel of the soil tillage implement each and a functional surface formed between the lanes and rising above the lanes for driving over at least one support roller of the soil tillage implement, with the functional surface having a movement in the direction of the docking movement of the tillage implement having a running ramp with a rising flank and a falling flank, the falling flank being located in front of the guide elements in relation to the direction of the docking movement of the tillage implement. The guide boom thus has different guide planes for the drive wheels of the tillage implement on the one hand and the at least one support roller on the other. As explained above, the suction interface is preferably lowered in relation to the functional surface. Both the lanes and the functional surface preferably initially have a positive gradient in the docking direction, with the gradients of the lane and functional surface being designed differently from one another, namely such that the gradient of the functional surface is greater than in at least a partial section along the longitudinal extension of the guide arm the slope of the lanes. Both the lanes and the functional surface can have several sections of different steepness in a direction parallel to the longitudinal extension of the guide arm. Overall, the guide boom is designed so that the support roller is spaced relative to the drive wheels, which means that a leading portion of the soil cultivation device, which is supported by the support roller, is higher than the drive wheels. The suction interface of the floor treatment device is preferably located between a straight line connecting the two drive wheels and the support roller in relation to the docking direction of the floor treatment device. As soon as the support roller of the soil tillage implement reaches the descending edge while continuing the docking movement on the functional surface, the section of the soil tillage implement that is ahead in the direction of travel is lowered and comes into contact with the guide elements of the base station, so that the fine adjustment of the soil tillage implement can be initiated. The lanes of the guide boom can be structured, for example, have a nub structure. The structure is preferably formed corresponding to a structure of the drive wheels of the tillage implement, so that the corresponding profiles can be engaged with each other. This ensures that the soil tillage implement has sufficient traction to reach the end position, for example even if the guide arm of the base station is heavily soiled.

Furthermore, it is advantageously provided that each lane is delimited laterally by at least one flank of the functional surface running in the longitudinal extension of the guide arm. The flanks of the guiding arm serve for a first rough alignment of the soil cultivation device relative to the base station. For example, the soil cultivation device travels towards the base station from any angle and not parallel to the longitudinal extension of the guide arm, so that there is an angle other than zero between an imaginary central axis of the soil cultivation device and the base station. In order to align the soil tillage implement with the longitudinal extension of the guide arm, an inner flank of the first drive wheel of the soil tillage implement in the docking direction hits the flank of the functional surface, which means that this drive wheel is disturbed in its forward movement and experiences increased slip. Since the other drive wheel can rotate freely, there is a change in direction of the soil tillage implement around the drive wheel contacting the flank of the functional surface until the soil tillage implement has turned so far that the freely movable drive wheel can rotate again without increased resistance. This drive wheel also threads into a lane of the base station. Then the docking movement of the soil tillage implement can be continued at the base station.

In addition to the base station described above, the invention also proposes a system made up of such a base station and a self-propelled soil tillage implement, with the Floor cultivation device has a device housing, a suction material chamber and a suction fan for sucking suction material into the suction material chamber, with an underside of the device housing facing the guide boom of the base station, two drive wheels, at least one support roller, at least two electrical contacts, a suction interface in flow connection with the suction material chamber Having soil processing element and a soil processing element in the direction of the guide boom of the base station covering protective grille. The base station of the system can be designed according to one of the aforementioned versions, with the base station corresponding to the tillage implement in such a way that the tillage implement can receive a service activity from the base station, namely, for example, charging a battery of the tillage implement via corresponding electrical contacts of the base station and of the tillage implement . In addition, the base station and the floor treatment device have corresponding suction interfaces, so that the base station can take suction material from a suction material chamber of the floor treatment device. The guide arm of the base station is designed in such a way that the soil cultivation device comes to a standstill on the guide arm in such an end position in which the electrical contacts and suction interfaces of the soil cultivation device and base station are in optimal contact with one another. In order to roughly align the soil tillage implement on the guide arm, the base station has the lanes, functional surfaces and guide elements described above. Correspondingly, the drive wheels, the at least one support roller and the protective grille for the soil cultivation element are designed on the soil cultivation device.

Preferably, the protective grille has protective lamellae oriented parallel to the longitudinal extension of the guide arm in relation to a position of the soil cultivation implement docked on the base station, which are assigned to the guide elements of the guide arm in such a way that the protective lamella slides along a beveled side edge of the guide element while the soil tillage implement travels over the guide arm in the docking direction. The protective slats of the protective grid can in particular be curved in such a way that they are convexly curved in the direction of a floor surface to be cleaned or the surface of the guide arm. Thus, when the protective lamella slides along the sloping partial edge area of the guide element when the docking movement of the soil tillage implement is continued into an end position, the partial housing region leading to the implement housing is lowered and thus the electrical contacts or suction interfaces of the base station and soil tillage implement are connected. The protective slats can be oriented parallel to one another, with these preferably also being oriented parallel to the longitudinal extension of the guide boom of the base station and thus lying parallel to the direction of travel of the soil cultivation implement during the docking movement. Adjacent protective slats can be at a distance from one another that is less than the width of the contacting guide element, so that two adjacent protective slats slide equally on the same guide element, with a first protective slat lying on a first sloping edge portion of the guide element, and a second protective slat on a second oblique edge portion of the guide element is located, which is opposite to the first edge portion, ie slopes in the opposite direction.

In particular, the system is designed in such a way that the electrical contacts arranged on the surface of the guide boom, the suction interface, the lanes, the functional surface and the guide elements of the base station correspond to the electrical contacts, the suction interface, the drive wheels, the at least one support roller and the Protective grille of the soil tillage implement are designed and arranged in such a way that during the docking movement, a leading portion of the implement housing is lifted relative to the drive wheels while supporting the support roller on the rising flank of the functional surface and the protective grid with subsequent support of the support roller on the descending flank of the functional surface with the sloping edge portions of the guide elements comes into contact and slides along them while continuing the docking movement until the electrical contacts and the suction interface of the floor treatment device are connected to the electrical contacts and the suction interface of the base station. To position the soil cultivation device on the base station, the base station has precise guide devices for aligning the electrical contacts and preferably also suction interfaces of the soil cultivation device and the base station at a number of spatially separate locations. The soil tillage implement can be transferred to a precise end position on the guide arm of the base station by means of the proposed mechanical guide geometries.

For example, after completing a soil cultivation activity, the soil cultivation device approaches the base station from an arbitrary, undefined angle. To adjust the inclination between the main direction of movement of the tillage implement and the longitudinal extension of the guide boom of the base station, the soil tillage implement is steered into the track of the guide boom as soon as one of the drive wheels of the soil tillage implement hits the flank of the functional surface. Depending on the inclined position of the soil tillage implement, usually only one drive wheel initially touches the guide flank with its inside, which means that this drive wheel is disturbed in its forward movement and experiences increased slip. Since the other drive wheel can rotate freely, the soil tillage implement rotates around the one that is in contact with the flank Drive wheel until the soil tillage implement has turned so far that the previously fixed drive wheel can turn again without increased resistance.

While the soil tillage implement then moves onto the base station and thus onto the guide boom at a docking speed that is greatly reduced compared to a normal working speed, the front of the soil tillage implement is increasingly lifted by the functional surface, with the support roller positioned on the underside of the implement housing rolling on the functional surface. The slope of the functional surface is chosen so that the front of the soil tillage implement is raised sufficiently to ensure, for example, that the weight of the soil tillage implement never rests on functional elements, such as sealing lips, in the area of the soil tillage element and thus also the protective grille, which would otherwise could lead to increased wear.

In the further course of the docking movement of the soil tillage implement, the support roller of the soil tillage implement rolls down the descending flank of the functional surface, causing the leading front of the soil tillage implement to sink down and the protective slats of the protective grille to hit the sloping edge sections provided by the guide elements. Due to the previous, rough pre-alignment of the tillage implement by guiding the drive wheels using the flank of the functional surface, the tillage implement is already sufficiently aligned to ensure that the protective slats of the protective grid hit the sloping edge portion of the associated guide element and thus precise mechanical forced guidance orthogonal to the Find out the direction of the docking movement. The end position of the tillage implement, in which the electrical contacts and suction interfaces of tillage implement and base station are connected is defined by the contact of the stop element of the tillage implement with the end stop of the base station. If necessary, the contact at the end stops of two guide elements of the base station takes place at different times when the soil tillage implement reaches the fine adjustment with an angular difference. The final adjustment then takes place while the drive wheels of the tillage implement continue to be driven until both end stops are contacted. As long as the soil cultivation device has not reached this docking position, the electrical contacts of the soil cultivation device are held over the electrical contacts of the base station by the support roller located on the descending flank of the functional surface. The drive wheels of the soil processing device are then driven further until the docking movement is complete and can be detected by an electrically conductive connection between the electrical contacts of the base station and the soil processing device. The connection of the suction interfaces takes place at the same time as the support roller slides down the descending flank, and thus also at the same time as the connection of the electrical contacts.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1

ein erfindungsgemäßes System aus einem Bodenbearbeitungsgerät und einer Basisstation,

Fig. 2

eine schräge Draufsicht auf die Basisstation,

Fig. 3

eine Unteransicht des Bodenbearbeitungsgerätes,

Fig. 4

eine Draufsicht auf einen Führungsausleger der Basisstation,

Fig. 5

ein erstes Führungselement,

Fig. 6

ein zweites Führungselement,

Fig. 7

einen vergrößerten Teilbereich des Führungsauslegers der Basisstation,

Fig. 8

einen vergrößerten Teilbereich der Unteransicht des Bodenbearbeitungsgerätes.

The invention is explained in more detail below using exemplary embodiments. Show it:

1

a system according to the invention consisting of a tillage device and a base station,

2

an oblique top view of the base station,

3

a bottom view of the tillage implement,

4

a plan view of a guide arm of the base station,

figure 5

a first guiding element,

6

a second guiding element,

7

an enlarged portion of the guide boom of the base station,

8

an enlarged portion of the bottom view of the tillage implement.

Description of the embodiments

The figures show a possible embodiment of a system according to the invention and a base station 1 according to the invention and a correspondingly designed soil cultivation device 2. It goes without saying, however, that the base station 1 and the soil cultivation device 2 can also be designed differently, it being essential that the The base station 1 and the tillage device 2 are designed to correspond to one another in such a way that the tillage device 2 can optimally dock with the base station 1 in order to receive a service activity from the base station 1 .

The soil treatment device 2 is designed here, for example, as an automatically moving cleaning robot, namely, for example, a vacuum robot. The soil cultivation device 2 has a soil cultivation element 26, namely here, for example, a cleaning roller rotating about a horizontal axis, and two motor-driven drive wheels 16, which are aligned concentrically with one another. Furthermore, the Soil cultivation device 2 via support rollers 18, which are arranged immediately behind the soil cultivation element 26.

Furthermore, the soil tillage implement 2 has an accumulator, not shown, which supplies the energy required to drive the drive wheels 16 and also the rotating soil tillage element 26 and, if necessary, also for other electronic and electrical components of the soil tillage implement 2. The soil tillage implement 2 also has navigation and self-localization within an environment, a control device that receives data from an environment detection device. The detection device can have a laser distance sensor, for example, which measures distances to obstacles in the vicinity of the soil tillage implement 2 . The control device can then use the distances to create a map of the surroundings, which is used for navigating and for self-localization of the soil tillage implement 2 . In addition to the distance sensor, the soil cultivation device 2 can also have other sensors, for example an odometry sensor which measures the movement of the soil cultivation device 2, one or more contact sensors, ultrasonic sensors or others.

The base station 1 has a basic housing 3 and a guide arm 4 which extends from the basic housing 3 in the manner of a plate on a floor surface. The guiding arm 4 provides a surface 5 onto which the soil cultivation device 2 can drive and can move into a docked end position on the base station 1 .

figure 2 shows the base station 1 with the guide arm 4 in a perspective top view. The guide boom 4 has a free end area, which is preferably beveled in order to accommodate the soil tillage implement 2 Driving on the boom guide 4 to facilitate. Succeeding surfaces 29, 30 of the guide arm 4 here have gradients of 28° and 2°, for example. An incline of between 25° and 35° is particularly preferred for the first surface 29 in order to enable the soil tillage implement 2 to be driven up easily. A peripheral edge that runs parallel to a longitudinal extent of the guide arm 4 is also beveled here. The guide arm 4 provides several interfaces for coupling to the soil tillage implement 2, namely two electrical contacts 6 and a suction interface 14. The electrical contacts 6 are used to connect to corresponding electrical contacts 7 on an underside 24 of a device housing 23 of the soil tillage implement 2. The suction interface 14 is used for connection to a suction interface 25 of the floor treatment device 2, so that suction material can be transferred from a suction material chamber, not shown, of the floor treatment device 2 into a corresponding suction material chamber of the base station 1. This suction material chamber is preferably placed in the basic housing 3 of the base station 1 . The guiding boom 4 provides tracks 15 on its surface 5 for the drive wheels 16 of the soil cultivation device 2 , which force the soil cultivation device 2 onto the guiding boom 4 in a predetermined direction. Between the lanes 15 there is a functional surface 17 which is higher than the plane of the lanes 15 and serves for the rolling of the support rollers 18 of the soil cultivation device 2 . The functional surface 17 has flanks 22, which on the one hand serve to delimit the assigned lane 15 and on the other hand to roughly align the soil tillage implement 2 relative to the guide boom 4 of the base station 1. If the soil tillage implement 2 approaches the guide boom 4 at an angle, namely in such a way that the Rolling direction of the drive wheels 16 does not correspond to the orientation of the lane 15, the leading drive wheel 16 first collides with the flank 22 of the functional surface 17, with the tillage implement 2 being exclusively rotated by the other drive wheel 16 is rotated until both drive wheels 16 each contact a flank 22 of the functional surface 17 . The soil cultivation device 2 can then follow the docking direction specified by the lanes 15 . The course of the flank 22 can have different angles to a longitudinal direction of the guide arm 4, for example divided into different sections that enclose mutually deviating angles to the longitudinal direction. In the docking direction, these angles are 37°, 11° and 0°, for example.

The functional surface 17 on which the support rollers 18 roll has a ramp 19 with a rising edge 20 and a falling edge 21 . The functional surface 17 is preferably horizontal between the rising edge 20 and the falling edge 21 . Here, the descending flank 21 has an inclination of, for example, approximately 60° to the horizontal or to the plane of the plateau of the functional surface 17 . The lanes 15 of the guide arm 4 also rise in the direction of the end position provided for the soil cultivation device 2 on the guide arm 4 . Behind the descending flank 21 of the functional surface 17 , the surface 5 of the guide boom 4 has two guide elements 8 arranged next to one another, which are used for fine centering of the soil cultivation implement 2 on the base station 1 . The guide elements 8 are in the Figures 5 and 6 shown in more detail. Each of the guide elements 8 has a flat side 11, which opposes the docking movement of the tillage implement 2, and side edges 9, each having a sloping edge portion 10.1, 10.2. On the surface 5 of the guide arm 4 are the guide elements 8, as in figure 4 shown, positioned to each other so that they are arranged mirror-symmetrically to a center line of the base station 1. The two longer oblique partial edge areas 10.1 of the guide elements 8 point outwards, ie away from the respective other guide element 8, while the side edge 9 with the shorter oblique edge partial area 10.2 points inwards, ie in Direction of the other guide element 8 has. An angle α between the surface 5 of the guide arm 4 and the longer oblique partial edge area 10.1 or the shorter partial edge area 10.2 is preferably between 30° and 60°, here for example 45° in each case. The other partial edge area 10.3 is perpendicular to the surface 5 of the guide arm 4. In addition, the guide elements 8 are not only beveled transversely to the direction of movement of the soil tillage implement 2, but rather also in the direction of movement, so that a partial region of the soil tillage implement 2 that contacts the side edges 9 is optimally guided becomes.

the Figures 3 and 8th show a bottom view of the soil cultivation device 2. The device housing 23, in particular the underside 24 of the soil cultivation device 2, is designed to correspond to the base station 1 in such a way that the electrical contacts 7 and the suction interface 25 can be optimally connected to the elements of the base station 1. As previously shown, the soil cultivation device 2 has two drive wheels 16, the soil cultivation element 26 designed as a rotating brush roller and two support rollers 18, which are arranged offset inwards relative to the rolling tracks of the drive wheels 16. The soil treatment element 26 is also covered by a protective grid 27 which, as in figure 8 shown has protective lamellae 28 which are convexly curved outwards and aligned parallel to one another. In addition, each protective lamella 28 is assigned a stop element 13 which can strike the end stop 12 of the guide elements 8 as soon as the docked end position of the soil cultivation implement 2 has been reached. As in particular in figure 3 The arrangement of the components on the underside 24 of the device housing 23 of the soil cultivation device 2 is shown such that the soil cultivation element 26 with the protective grid 27 is arranged between the electrical contacts 7 and the support rollers 18 . The support rollers 18 are also based on the direction of travel of the tillage implement 2 between the Floor processing element 26 and the drive wheels 16. The suction interface 25 follows the floor processing element 26 and the support rollers 18 and is located approximately in the middle between the two drive wheels 16.

The lanes 15 of the base station 1 can also be provided with a structure, for example knobs or ribs, into which a corresponding structure on the rolling circumference of the respective drive wheel 16 can engage. This leads to better traction of the drive wheels 16 on the surface 5 of the guide boom 4. While the soil tillage implement 2 rolls along the ascending lanes 15, the support rollers 18 also roll on the guide boom 4, namely on the functional surface 17 that is higher than the lanes 15. Since the ramp 19 of the functional surface 17 has a greater incline than the tracks 15, the leading portion of the soil cultivation device 2, which in particular also carries the soil cultivation element 26, is raised. While the support rollers 18 are still on the rising flank 20 of the ramp 19, the electrical contacts 7 and the soil treatment element 26 with the protective grid 27 protrude beyond the functional surface 17. As soon as the support rollers 18 drive on the descending flank 21, the front of the soil tillage implement 2, and thus also the protective grid 27, tilts downwards in the direction of the guide elements 8, with the protective slats 28 of the protective grid 27 coming into contact with the sloping partial edge areas 10.2. While the soil cultivation implement 2 continues to move in this state, the protective lamellae 28 are pushed over the sloping partial edge areas 10.2 and then slide downwards on the vertical partial edge areas 10.3. At the same time, the protective slats 28 are finely adjusted in a direction orthogonal to the docking movement, until finally the stop elements 13 of the soil cultivation device 2 come into contact with the end stops 12 of the guide elements 8 . In certain orientations of the tillage implement 2, the protective slats 28 of the protective grille 27 can initially alternatively lower onto the outer partial edge areas 10.1 of the guide elements 8, in which case the protective lamellae 28 can then reach the opposite partial edge areas 10.2, 10.3 as the docking movement of the soil tillage implement 2 continues up to the highest point of the guide element 8. Finally, the electrical contacts 7 of the soil tillage implement 2 are optimally connected to the electrical contacts 6 of the base station 1. Furthermore, the suction interfaces 14, 25 of the base station 1 and the soil cultivation device 2 are connected to one another in an optimally sealed manner, in particular using a seal. Due to the electrically conductive connection between the electrical contacts 6, 7, a detection device of the soil tillage implement 2 or the base station 1 can detect successful docking. <b><u>List of reference symbols</u></b> 1 base station 25 suction interface 2 tillage implement 26 tillage element 3 basic housing 27 protective grid 4 guide boom 28 protective lamella 5 surface 29 Surface 6 Electric contact 30 Surface 7 Electric contact 8th guide element 9 side edge a angle 10.1 edge portion 10.2 edge portion 10.3 edge portion 11 side 12 end stop 13 stop element 14 suction interface 15 lane 16 drive wheel 17 functional surface 18 support roller 19 ramp 20 rising edge 21 descending flank 22 flank 23 device housing 24 bottom

Claims (10)

Base station (1) for carrying out a service operation on a soil cultivation device (2), the base station (1) having a basic housing (3) with a guide arm (4) having a predominant longitudinal extension for guiding a docking movement of the soil cultivation device (2), the The guide arm (4) has a surface (5) that can be driven on by the soil tillage implement (2) and has at least two electrical contacts (6) for connection to corresponding electrical contacts (7) of the soil tillage implement, characterized in that the surface (5) in relation to the along the longitudinal extension of the guide arm (4) directed docking movement of the soil tillage implement (2) has two guide elements (8) arranged in front of the electrical contacts (6) and spaced apart from one another, each guide element (8) viewed in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the guide arm (4) having a beveled side edge (9) having at least one sc has a sloping partial edge region (10.1, 10.2) which is not oriented orthogonally to the surface (5) of the guiding arm (4). Base station (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the sloping edge portion (10.1, 10.2) encloses an angle (α) of between 30° and 60° to the surface (5) of the guide arm (4). Base station (1) according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that side edges (9) of the guide element (8) which face away from one another each have a sloping partial edge region (10.1, 10.2). Base station (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the guide element (8) on one of the docking movement the side (11) opposite the soil cultivation device (2) has an end stop (12) for contacting a corresponding stop element (13) of the soil cultivation device (2). Base station (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the surface (5) of the guide arm (4) has a suction interface (14) which, in relation to the docking movement of the soil cultivation device (2) directed along the longitudinal extension of the guide arm (4) is upstream of the guide elements (8). Base station (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the surface (5) of the guide arm (4) tracks (15) for driving on by one drive wheel (16) of the soil cultivation device (2) and one between the tracks (15) functional surface (17) that is formed and rises above the lanes (15) for driving on with at least one support roller (18) of the soil cultivation device (2), wherein the functional surface (17) has a ramp (19 ) having a rising flank (20) and a falling flank (21), the falling flank (21) being located in front of the guide elements (8) in relation to the direction of the docking movement of the soil cultivation device (2). Base station (1) according to Claim 6, characterized in that each lane (15) is delimited laterally by at least one flank (22) of the functional surface (17) running in the longitudinal extension of the guide arm (4). System consisting of a base station (1) designed according to one of Claims 1 to 7 and an automatically moving floor treatment device (2), the floor treatment device (2) having a device housing (23), a suction material chamber and a suction fan for sucking suction material into the suction material chamber , wherein an underside (24) of the device housing (23) facing the guide arm (4) of the base station (1) has two drive wheels (16), at least one support roller (18), at least two electrical contacts (7), one in flow connection with the vacuum material chamber standing suction interface (25), a floor treatment element (26) and a floor treatment element (26) in the direction of the guide arm (4) of the base station (1) covering protective grid (27). System according to Claim 8, characterized in that the protective grid (27) has protective lamellae (28) which are oriented parallel to the longitudinal extension of the guide arm (4) in relation to a position of the soil cultivation device (2) docked on the base station (1) and which the guide elements ( 8) of the guide arm (4) are assigned in such a way that the protective lamella (28) slides along a beveled side edge (9) of the guide element (8) while the soil tillage implement (2) travels over the guide arm (4) in the docking direction. System according to Claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the electrical contacts (6) arranged on the surface (5) of the guide arm (4), the suction interface (25), the lanes (15), the functional surface (17) and the guide elements (8) the base station (1) corresponding to the electrical contacts (7), the suction interface (14), the drive wheels (16), the at least one support roller (18) and the protective grille (27) of the soil cultivation device (2) and are arranged that a leading during the docking movement Section of the device housing (23) is lifted relative to the drive wheels (16) with support of the support roller (18) on the rising flank (20) of the functional surface (17) and the protective grille (27) with subsequent support of the support roller (18) on the descending flank (21) of the functional surface (17) comes into contact with the sloping partial edge areas (10.1, 10.2) of the guide elements (8) and slides along them while continuing the docking movement until the electrical contacts (7) and the suction interface (25) of the soil cultivation device (2 ) are connected to the electrical contacts (6) and the suction interface (14) of the base station (1).

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