Method for Interacting with at Least One User of a Rechargeable-Battery-Operated Machining Tool, and System for Carrying Out the Method

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method for interacting with a user of a rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool, which can be supplied with energy by means of an exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery. According to the disclosure, in one method step a power characteristic variable of the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery is sensed by means of a sensing unit of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool and/or of the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery at defined times during the operation of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool, and in an additional method step the frequency with which the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery has been operated at its power limit is calculated. The disclosure also relates to a system, comprising a rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool and an exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery, for carrying out the method.

Claims

1. A method for interacting with at least one user of a rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool, the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool being supplied with energy by at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery, the method comprising: sensing a power characteristic variable of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery at defined points in time during an operation of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool using a sensing unit of at least one of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool and (ii) the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery, and calculating a frequency with which the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery has been operated at a power limit of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool comprises a first communication device configured to transmit data to a second communication device of a tool-external unit, the method further comprising: generating, with the tool-external unit, advice for use of a more powerful exchangeable rechargeable battery based on the data, the data containing the calculated frequency.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising: indicating the advice to the at least one user by way of at least one of a text message, an image message, and a voice message.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool comprises an internal computing unit, the method further comprising: generating, with the internal computing unit, advice for use of a more powerful exchangeable rechargeable battery based on the calculated frequency.

5. The method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising: indicating the advice to the at least one user at least one of visually, acoustically, and haptically using an indicator unit of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the at least one user can deactivate the indicating of the advice.

7. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising: deactivating the indicating indication of the advice is deactivated after a defined number of repetitions.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one user can set the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool such that the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool is operable at least for a defined time period only with reduced power adapted to the power limit of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery.

9. A system comprising: a rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool; and an exchangeable rechargeable battery, the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool being supplied with energy by the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery, wherein a power characteristic variable of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery is sensed at defined points in time during an operation of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool using a sensing unit of at least one of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool and (ii) the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery, and wherein a frequency with which the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery has been operated at a power limit of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery is calculated.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9, a tool-external unit is configured to calculate the frequency.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the tool-external unit is one of a smartphone, of a tablet, a computer, a cloud server, and a computing unit.

12. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery includes at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery includes at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack.

14. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first communication device is configured to wirelessly transmit the data to the second communication device of the tool-external unit.

15. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the tool-external unit is one of a smartphone, of a tablet, a computer, a cloud server, and a computing unit.

16. The method as claimed in claim 3, the indicating further comprising: indicating the advice to the at least one user by way of a push message.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a system 10 comprising a rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool 14 embodied as a rechargeable battery hammer drill 12, a first tool-external unit 18 embodied as a smartphone 16, and a second tool-external unit 18 embodied as an IoT or cloud server 20. However, other configurations of the system 10 are also conceivable, particularly in regard to the type and number of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tools 14 and the tool-external units 18.

[0024] The rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 is supplied with energy by means of at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24. The exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 is a conventional exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery comprising a housing 30 having, on a first side wall, an electromechanical interface (not shown in more specific detail) for releasable connection to a rechargeable battery interface (likewise not shown in more specific detail) of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 and to a charger (not shown). In conjunction with the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12, the electromechanical interface of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack 24 serves for discharging, while in conjunction with the charger, said interface enables charging of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack 24. However, alternatively or supplementarily, the charging can also be effected directly via the rechargeable battery interface of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12. The exact configuration of the electromechanical interface and of the rechargeable battery interface is dependent on various factors, such as, for example, the voltage class of the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack 24 or diverse manufacturer specifications. In this regard, provision can be made of e.g. two or more electrical contacts for energy and/or data transfer between the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack 24 and the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 and respectively the charger. Moreover, a mechanical coding is conceivable, such that the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack 24 is operable only on specific rechargeable-battery-operated machining tools 14. Since the exact configuration of the electromechanical interface is unimportant for the invention, it will not be discussed in any further detail. Both a person skilled in the art and a user of the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool 14 will make the suitable choice in this regard.

[0025] The individual components of the system 10 each have a communication device 26 provided for data transfer 28 within the system 10, in particular between the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool 14, the first tool-external unit 18 and the second tool-external unit 18. The communication devices 26 can be designed for example for transferring WLAN and/or Bluetooth protocols. In this regard, it is conceivable for data to be exchanged between the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool 14 and the first tool-external unit 18 embodied as a smartphone 16, by way of Bluetooth while the first and second tool-external units 18 communicate with one another via their respective communication devices 26 by way of WLAN or else by way of a wired ethernet connection. Other configurations of the communication devices 26 are also conceivable, for example for data transfer by way of LoRa, NFC or the like or alternatively by way of optical or acoustic coupling. Moreover, it is conceivable for the first and second tool-external units 18 to communicate via an Internet connection. This is the case for example if the second tool-external unit 18 is embodied as a remotely positioned cloud server 20. The various and diverse possibilities for the configuration of the first and second tool-external units 18 are known to the person skilled in the art, and so they will not be discussed any further here.

[0026] The rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 comprises a sensing unit 32, which senses a power characteristic variable P of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 at defined points in time during the operation of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12. For this purpose, the sensing unit 32 can comprise at least one sensor element, which is not shown in more specific detail in the figures, however. The sensor element is embodied for example as a shunt resistor or some other sensor element for a current, voltage and/or temperature measurement that is suitable for sensing the power characteristic variable P of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24. In this case, a power limit P.sub.T of the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 generally results from the maximum current-supplying capability thereof while complying with the temperature limit values. In addition, the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 can transfer its power limit P.sub.T and optionally further rechargeable-battery-specific parameters by way of a coding resistor or other suitable means, via its electromechanical interface and the rechargeable battery interface of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12, to the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12. Alternatively or supplementarily, it is also possible for the power characteristic variable P to be sensed within the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 by means of a corresponding sensing unit 32. Furthermore, the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 comprises an internal computing unit 34 for calculating or sensing a frequency F with which the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 has been operated at its power limit P.sub.T.

[0027] At least one of the tool-external units 18 and/or the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool 14 comprise(s) an indicator unit 36 for outputting visual, acoustic and/or haptic signals. A visual output can be effected in this case by way of illuminants (e.g. a multicolor LED or a multistage LED indicator) and/or a display (e.g. LCD, OLED, ePaper or the like), while for example a loudspeaker serves for acoustic output and a vibration motor serves for haptic output.

[0028] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary sequence of the method according to the invention for interacting with at least one user of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 by means of the system 10. In this case, the processing of the individual method steps in the tool-external unit 18 is shown on the right-hand side and the processing of the corresponding method steps in the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 or in the rechargeable-battery-operated machining tool 10 is shown on the left-hand side. In one method step 38 a power characteristic variable P of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 is sensed by means of the sensing unit 32 of the hammer drill 12 and/or of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 at defined points in time during the operation of the hammer drill 12. The power characteristic variable P is then transferred to the communication device 26 of the at least one tool-external unit 18, for example of the smartphone 16, by means of the communication device 26 of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12. In a further method step 40, subsequently, the frequency F with which the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 has been operated at its power limit P.sub.T is calculated. In this case, “at its power limit” can be interpreted as the power limit being reached or exceeded (P>=P.sub.T) or as the power limit purely being exceeded (P>P.sub.T). It is likewise conceivable for a threshold value for the frequency F to be defined as the power limit being approximately reached, where F(P≅P.sub.T). Alternatively or supplementarily, it can also be provided that the frequency F is calculated by the computing unit 34 integrated in the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 in a method step 42. For this purpose, the power limit P.sub.T of the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 connected to the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 may have been communicated to the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 by the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 in the manner described. In addition, the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 can transmit this value to the tool-external unit 18 by means of its communication device 26.

[0029] As long as a defined minimum frequency F.sub.min has not been exceeded or reached, the power characteristic variable P is sensed further in accordance with steps 44 and/or 46. In the event of the calculated frequency exceeding or reaching the minimum frequency (F>=F.sub.rain), advice for the use of a more powerful exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24 is generated in steps 48 and/or 50. Said advice can be indicated to the at least one user in a further method step 52 by way of a text, image and/or voice message, in particular as a push message, on the tool-external unit 18. In this way, the user can be rapidly, transparently and efficiently advised about the reason for a reduced performance of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 and about the use of appropriately more powerful exchangeable rechargeable battery packs or exchangeable rechargeable batteries 24. For the manufacturer of the rechargeable battery hammer drill, moreover, the advantage is afforded that the number of possible inquiries from users about a restricted performance of corresponding rechargeable-battery-operated machining tools 114 owing to the use of excessively low-powered exchangeable rechargeable battery packs or exchangeable rechargeable batteries decreases. Possible service costs in the context of guarantee or legal warranty claims can thus be saved.

[0030] On the basis of the sensed frequency F, in a further method step 54 the internal computing unit 34 of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 can also generate advice for the use of a more powerful exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24. Said advice can be output to the at least one user visually, acoustically and/or haptically by means of the indicator unit 36 of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12, for example.

[0031] The at least one user can deactivate the indication of the advice in a further method step 56. Alternatively or supplementarily, it is also possible for the indication of the advice to be deactivated after a defined maximum number of repetitions W.sub.max in a further method step 60. This affords the user the possibility of deliberately suppressing the advice or the regular repetition W thereof in order to be able to continue to work with the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 despite reduced performance. Moreover, provision can be made for the advice to be automatically indicated again after a defined time period in which it was not indicated, and/or to be passed on to other users of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12. This is advantageous in particular if a plurality of users use the rechargeable battery hammer drill in turns.

[0032] Finally, the method according to the invention can provide that the at least one user can set the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 in a further method step 62 in such a way that said drill is operable at least for a defined time period only with reduced power adapted to the power limit P.sub.T of the at least one exchangeable rechargeable battery pack or exchangeable rechargeable battery 24. In this way, the user can adapt the current consumption of the rechargeable battery hammer drill 12 to the exchangeable rechargeable battery pack 24 used, in order that the latter is not permanently damaged.