EP3954265A1 - System comprising a household appliance and a battery having an optical display device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a system comprising a household appliance (1) with a housing (6), a battery (2) with a battery housing (5) and an optical display device (3) integrated therein, and a display control device (4) for controlling a display of information on the display device (3) of the accumulator (2), the household appliance (1) having a detection device (7) for determining device states of the household appliance (1) that do not relate to the accumulator (2), the detection device (7) being set up is to transmit the detected device status of the household appliance (1) to the display control device (4), the display control device (4) being set up to display the display device (3) of the accumulator (2) for displaying the received device status of the household appliance ( 1) to control. In order to be able to provide all useful information for a user on the device housing (6) in a particularly space-saving manner, it is proposed that the display control device (4) be set up to control the display of a remaining running time, which indicates how long a battery in the accumulator ( 2) remaining charge capacity is sufficient to complete an activity currently being carried out, the remaining term relating to a combination of a device parameter of the household appliance (1) and the current charge capacity of the accumulator (2).

Description

field of technology

The invention relates to a system comprising a household appliance having an appliance housing, a battery having a battery housing and an optical display device integrated therein, and a display control device for controlling the display of information on the display device of the battery, the household appliance having a detection device for determining non- device statuses of the household appliance relating to the accumulator, the detection device being set up to transmit the detected device status of the household appliance to the display control device, the display control device being set up to control the display device of the accumulator to display the received device status of the household appliance.

State of the art

Household appliances of the aforementioned type are known in the prior art. These can be, for example, tillage equipment, kitchen appliances, tools or the like. It is known to use an accumulator which can be connected in particular to the household appliance in a detachable manner and which has an optical display device, for example a display, for displaying information. The information displayed on the optical display device relates to information about the accumulator, for example its state of charge.

The disclosure document WO 2019/031273 A1 discloses, for example, a printer with a battery pack having a display for visual indication of information. The display includes a charge status display of the accumulator as well as error notifications by LEDs flashing at different frequencies.

The disclosure document WO 2018/162057 A1 discloses a battery-operated vacuum cleaner with a battery device which has its own display. The battery device can be plugged into a holder of the vacuum cleaner from the outside, so that the display of the battery device can be read by a user.

the WO 2019/031273 A1 discloses an accumulator, on the display of which an error condition of the electrical device having the accumulator is indicated, namely the exceeding of a maximum permissible temperature at a measuring point of the electrical device.

the DE 10 2013 218 019 A1 discloses an accumulator on whose display a speed of an electric motor is shown.

Summary of the Invention

Proceeding from the prior art mentioned above, it is the object of the invention to further develop a system consisting of a household appliance and a rechargeable battery, in which the user can be informed about relevant parameters of the system while the size of the appliance surface remains the same.

In order to solve this problem, it is proposed that the display control device be set up to control the display of a remaining running time, which indicates how long the charging capacity still present in the accumulator is sufficient to complete an activity currently being carried out the remaining term relates to a combination of a device parameter of the household appliance and the current charge capacity of the accumulator.

The accumulator has an optical display device on which device parameters of the household appliance can be displayed. For this purpose, the visual display device of the accumulator can be controlled by the display control device of the system in such a way that the device statuses of the household appliance that do not relate to the accumulator itself are displayed on the optical display device of the accumulator. The information about the device states of the household appliance is transmitted from the household appliance to the display control device via a communication interface and then used for control commands that cause the information to be displayed on the optical display device of the accumulator. As a result, the outer surface of the housing of the household appliance, which is basically only available to a limited extent, can be used optimally, namely because the optical display device of the battery not only shows the battery's own statuses, but also device statuses of the household appliance that do not affect the battery itself at all. As a result, the additional accommodation of a further display device for displaying device parameters of the household appliance can be dispensed with. The total space required for optical display devices on the device housing is reduced and thus also the costs incurred, especially since, for example, the same components of the system can be used for several tasks, for example housing parts, brackets, electric cables and others. It is also advantageous for the user that all the states of interest, namely the states of the household appliance on the one hand and possibly the states of the accumulator itself on the other hand, can be read on one and the same optical display device and no information is displayed distributed over the appliance housing of the household appliance.

It is proposed that the optical display device of the accumulator has a display and/or at least one light-emitting diode. The display can be, for example, a TFT display or an LCD display, in particular also a so-called touch screen, on which the user can make entries at the same time. In addition or as an alternative, one or in particular a plurality of light-emitting diodes can also be provided as display elements. In particular, it is recommended that the household appliance does not have any additional display elements that are remote from the optical display device, but that these are actually locally concentrated in the proposed integrated optical display device or, in the case of separate light-emitting diodes, are arranged in the immediate vicinity of a display of the optical display device.

In particular, it is proposed that the display control device is a component of the accumulator. Although the display control device can in principle also be designed separately from the accumulator and then, for example, transmits control signals to the accumulator with an electrical supply line, it is recommended that the display control device be integrated into the accumulator housing of the accumulator. Corresponding to the household appliance, the accumulator or the display control device is then preferably equipped with a charging and discharging interface as well as a communication interface via which the display control device can receive information about one or more device states of the household appliance from the household appliance. The domestic appliance accordingly has a corresponding communication interface and preferably also a charging and discharging interface. Alternatively, it is possible that the display control device is a component of the household appliance and is therefore built into the appliance housing of the household appliance. In this case, the household appliance or its display control device control the optical display device of the separately formed accumulator.

It is proposed that the rechargeable battery be accommodated in the appliance housing of the household appliance, with the display device of the rechargeable battery being readable through a housing recess in the appliance housing. According to this embodiment, the accumulator with the surface having the optical display device is integrated into the housing surface of the household appliance, namely preferably parallel to and in one plane with it. As a result, there is no step to the optical display device on the outside of the device housing, to which, for example, dust and dirt could adhere. However, if the visual display device of the accumulator is offset from the surface plane of the appliance housing of the household appliance, a disc arranged outside above the visual display device can be used to compensate for a height difference.

It is proposed that the accumulator be connected to the appliance housing of the household appliance in a reversibly separable manner. As a result, the accumulator can be removed from the household appliance for charging, for example. The optical display device is preferably separated from the device housing as one part together with the accumulator. In principle, however, an alternative embodiment can also provide that the optical display device is not an integrated part of the rechargeable battery and thus remains in the device housing of the household appliance when the rechargeable battery is removed. So that the accumulator can be easily detached from the appliance housing of the household appliance, the household appliance preferably has a holder and/or a shaft formed inside the appliance housing, into which the accumulator can be inserted. The Holder or the shaft is then arranged within the device housing corresponding to the size and shape of the battery such that the visual display device is visible from the outside through a material recess in the device housing when the battery is in the installed state.

It can be provided that the display control device is also set up to also display a battery status on the display device of the battery. The accumulator state can in particular be a charge state or an aging state of the accumulator. The display control device thus shows not only information about the household appliance, but also information about the accumulator itself, for example its state of charge or aging state. As a result, the user has all the relevant information available on one and the same optical display device. It is not necessary to install two separate optical display devices in the device housing. The display control device assigned to the optical display device thus accesses device states of the household appliance determined externally, i.e. outside of the battery, on the one hand, and internal battery states of the battery on the other. This results in a combination of a display of externally imported device parameters and the accumulator's own accumulator parameters.

The display device of the accumulator can be designed to display a device status and/or accumulator status as a color signal, text and/or image. The display device can thus display information about device statuses and/or accumulator statuses in the form of displayed colors or patterns as well as text. In terms of a color signal, for example, states that lie within or outside a tolerance range can be displayed with a green or red color signal. An image ad can contain, for example, a successively increasing or decreasing structure, for example a progress bar or a pyramid. In relation to a progressive service requirement of a component of the household appliance, for example the filling level of a filter bag, a displayed pyramid structure can build up more and more completely, the higher the filling level of the filter bag becomes. A text display on the optical display device can contain, for example, a sequence of numbers and/or a sequence of letters, in particular words. A sequence of numbers can be a percentage display, for example, which indicates a percentage progress of an activity currently being carried out by the household appliance.

Provision can be made for the system to have not just one but two mutually interchangeable accumulators which, in relation to the device states and/or accumulator states that can be displayed, have display devices which are designed differently from one another. According to this refinement, at least one second accumulator is kept ready within the system, which has a different display scope of the optical display device. The states or information displayed by the optical display devices of the two or more accumulators can therefore differ. For example, an optical display device of a first accumulator can be designed to display a fill level of a dust container and a speed of a suction fan, while the optical display device of a second accumulator is designed to display the fill level of a liquid container and a liquid dispensing rate from the liquid container. Correspondingly, the display control device of the system can preferably first obtain information about which accumulator is currently connected to the household appliance, in order to then specifically transmit only those device states to the visual display device or display them on it, which can actually be displayed. ie the one currently used to display them Accumulator is suitable. Alternatively, however, it may also be possible for the display control device to process and/or output all known device statuses and possibly also battery statuses for display on the visual display device and then only those are actually displayed on the visual display device of the rechargeable battery for which the actual possibilities for an advertisement are created. If the optical display device does not have any colored display elements or display elements, for example, a relevant command that contains color information cannot be implemented, so that corresponding information is not displayed at all or is transformed into information that is not displayed in color, for example.

As already proposed, the household appliance can be a floor treatment appliance, in particular a cleaning appliance. Alternatively, however, the household appliance can also be a food processor such as a universal cooking mixer. Household appliances designed according to the invention can also be tools such as drills, grinders, polishers or others.

The device parameter of the household appliance shown on the optical display device of the accumulator is preferably selected from the set: cleaning performance, suction power, liquid delivery rate, filling level of a container for a liquid or a solid, temperature of a component, service requirement of a device component. Device errors, collision status of the household appliance with an obstacle, remaining time until completion of an activity, activity of a communication interface, relative spatial orientation of a handle arranged movably on the appliance housing of the household appliance, handling parameters of the household appliance, accessory parameters an accessory that is detachably connected to the household appliance, in particular a suction nozzle or a cleaning element. A cleaning performance can be, for example, the intensity of soil processing, which is characterized, for example, by the speed of a rotating cleaning element or the frequency of an oscillating cleaning element. Furthermore, it can also be understood as a suction power of a suction fan. A liquid delivery rate can be, for example, the amount of liquid that is delivered by a wiping device per unit of time onto a surface to be cleaned or onto a cleaning element. The fill status of a container for a liquid or a solid can relate, for example, to a cleaning agent container, a dirty liquid tank, a container for cleaning additives or the like. Also of particular interest is the temperature of a component, such as in particular an electrical consumer of the household appliance, in particular an electric motor which drives a rotating cleaning element, a chassis or the like. In addition, the device parameter can also contain a current or foreseeable service requirement of a device component, for example that a liquid container of the household appliance must be refilled shortly, that a dirt container must be emptied, that consumables of the household appliance must be refilled, that a cleaning element or other component of the household appliance needs cleaning needs and the like. Furthermore, the status of a communication device can be displayed. The communication device can preferably be a wirelessly communicating device, such as in particular a radio module. The status can be on status, off status, standby status, error status. Furthermore, a device parameter can also be a device error in the household appliance or in certain components of the household appliance. A collision status of the household appliance can also be displayed, ie a situation in which the household appliance has collided with an obstacle and in particular, for example, has also damaged, ie is immobile in a spatial situation. The collision status can indicate a collision that has already taken place, or an imminent collision that is likely to happen if the household appliance continues to move within the area, as was previously the case. A remaining running time of the household appliance until an activity performed by the household appliance is expected to be completed is also of particular interest as a displayed appliance parameter. According to the invention, a remaining running time shown on the visual display device indicates how long the charge capacity still present in the accumulator is sufficient to complete an activity currently being carried out. Thus, with this indication of the remaining running time, device parameters on the one hand and battery parameters on the other hand are taken into account, namely on the one hand the current activity or device settings of the household appliance and on the other hand the state of charge of the battery. Furthermore, the activity of a communication interface can be specified, for example an on state, off state or a standby state. In particular, the display can be in the form of a color display or as a display by an activated, ie glowing, or non-activated light-emitting diode. Other device parameters can relate to special structural states of the household appliance, for example the position in which a movable handle of the household appliance is located, or whether and which accessories are connected to the household appliance. The accessory can be, for example, an accessory arranged separably on the appliance housing of the household appliance, such as a suction nozzle or a cleaning element. For example, the household appliance can be a soil cultivation appliance, with a base appliance and attachments that can be connected to it in a detachable manner. A detection device can be used to determine whether and which accessories are currently located at a device interface of the household appliance. Information about this can then be displayed on the display of the accumulator by means of the display control device.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1

ein erfindungsgemäßes System aus einem Haushaltsgerät und einem Akkumulator,

Fig. 2

den Akkumulator in Alleinstellung,

Fig. 3

eine optische Anzeigeeinrichtung des Akkumulators.

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

1

a system according to the invention consisting of a household appliance and an accumulator,

2

the accumulator on its own,

3

an optical display device of the accumulator.

Description of the embodiments

figure 1 1 shows an exemplary household appliance 1, which is designed here merely as an example as a floor preparation appliance that is hand-held by a user, namely as a vacuum cleaner. However, the invention described below can also be used with any other form of household appliance 1, for example with tools, kitchen appliances or the like. Regardless of the type and shape of the household appliance 1, the invention works unaffected. The household appliance 1 shown here has a handle 12 which can be pivoted about a joint 14 and which the user can use during a cleaning operation in order to guide the household appliance 1 over a floor surface to be cleaned. He usually guides the household appliance 1 away from him or towards him in successive movements. In order to also be able to use the household appliance 1 as a portable household appliance 1 during tillage, the handle 12 can be pivoted about the joint 14 closer to the appliance housing 6, in particular in such a way that the handle 12 is antiparallel to the in figure 1 shown position is aligned. This results in a compact, portable device whose center of mass is close to the hand of a user lies. The domestic appliance 1 also has an appliance housing 6 and a connection area 15 arranged or formed on the appliance housing 6 for connecting an accessory 13 . The accessory 13 is here, for example, a suction nozzle through which suction material can be sucked into a container 11 of the household appliance 1 from a surface to be cleaned. On the connection area 15 there is a detection device 7 which detects whether an accessory 13 is currently connected to the connection area 15 of the device housing 6 . Furthermore, a detection device 7 is also assigned to the container 11 , which can detect a suction material fill level inside the container 11 . The detection device 7 for detecting the level can be, for example, a pressure sensor, a light barrier or the like. Furthermore, a rechargeable battery 2 with an integrated display device 3 is inserted into the appliance housing 6 of the household appliance 1 . The display device 3 is visible from the outside through a housing recess 10 in the device housing 6 . For example, the optical display device 3 of the accumulator 2 extends flush through the housing recess 10 of the device housing 6, so that from the outside there is a flat surface with the smallest possible gap dimension between the device housing 6 and the optical display device 3 of the accumulator 2. A display control device 4 of the household appliance 1 is assigned to the display device 3 . The display control device 4 is here, for example, a component of the household appliance 1 and is connected to the display device 3 of the accumulator 2 by wire or wirelessly. Furthermore, the detection devices 7 of the household appliance 1 are in communication with the display control device 4.

As in figure 2 shown in more detail, the accumulator 2 is designed separately from the household appliance 1 and its appliance housing 6, so that the accumulator 2 can be removed reversibly from the appliance housing 6. For this purpose, the device housing 6 preferably has a slot in which the user of the system can insert the accumulator 2. The slide-in slot can be connected to the housing cutout 10, for example. In this shaft there are then preferably connecting elements for connecting the accumulator 2 to corresponding devices of the household appliance 1, for example electrical contacts of a charging interface or also an electrical connection to the display control device 4 of the household appliance 1. The visual display device 3 is inseparable here from the accumulator housing 5 preferably of the accumulator 2 connected. Alternatively, although not preferred, the optical display device 3 can also be separable from the accumulator housing 5 or, as a separate display device 3 , can only be in communication with the accumulator 2 . However, as shown here, it is preferable for the accumulator 2 to be configured with the display device 3 as one device.

figure 3 shows in detail an example of a possible design of an optical display device 3 of the accumulator 2. The display device 3 initially has a display 8, which can be a TFT or LCD display. In particular, it is advisable to design the display device 3 as an optical touch screen, so that the user can also make user inputs manually via the display device 3 at the same time. The display device 3 has a display 8 and information fields 9 shown thereon. Each information field 9 is assigned a digitally displayed designation on the display device 3 , here for example “level 1”, “level 2”, “level 3”, which are, for example, suction power levels of a motor/fan device of the household appliance 1 . Depending on the suction power level selected by a user or set automatically, that information field 9 of the display device 3 that is arranged next to the designation of the currently activated level lights up. Below the listing of the suction power levels, the display device 3 also provides a number in numerical form Term indication "07" represents, which is a minute display here, for example, which indicates how long an activity currently being carried out by the household appliance 1 is still active until it is completely terminated. According to the invention, the running time shown relates to a parameter of the system, which relates to a combination of a device parameter of the household appliance 1 and a battery parameter of the battery 2, for example a current cleaning performance of the household appliance 1 and a current charging capacity of the battery 2. These parameters are combined to calculate how as long as the amount of energy currently available in the accumulator 2 is still sufficient to use the household appliance 1 with the appliance parameters currently in use (cleaning performance). The runtime information shown here of "07" minutes therefore indicates that the activity of the household appliance 1 will probably be completed in seven minutes if the user continues to operate the household appliance 1 with the appliance parameters currently set.

Although this is not shown here in the selected example, the visual display device 3 of the household appliance 1 can also be designed in a different way. For example, the display device 3 can also have separate light-emitting diodes in addition to the display 8 .

Furthermore, the parameters shown can be changed depending on an accessory 13 which is currently connected to the appliance housing 6 of the household appliance 1 . In this case, for example, the detection device 7 detects which accessory 13 is currently connected to the appliance housing 6 and transmits this information to the display control device 4, which then provides corresponding fields for the device parameters of the household appliance 1 or the accessory 13 on the optical display device 3 . If the accessory 13 is, for example, an attachment with a rotating cleaning element, the optical display device 3 of the accumulator 2 corresponding to an information field 9 for an indication of the speed. The parameters of the household appliance 1 (or optionally also of the accumulator 2 itself) can be shown on the display 8 as text and/or an image. It is also possible to display a color signal, in which case color signals could in principle also be displayed with the aid of, for example, separate colored light-emitting diodes. The displayed device statuses or accumulator statuses are not limited to the exemplary embodiment shown here. Rather, a device status can also be a cleaning performance, suction performance, liquid delivery rate, filling level of the container 11, temperature of a component, service requirement of a device component, status of a communication device, device error, collision status of the household appliance 1 with an obstacle, activity of a communication interface, spatial orientation of the handle 12, handling parameters of the household appliance 1, or act otherwise.

A special embodiment provides a system with a household appliance 1 and several accumulators 2 that can be connected to it, with the two accumulators 2 being designed differently from one another, namely with regard to the device states that can be displayed on the display device 3 of the respective accumulator 2. For example, only one of the accumulators 2 has a display device 3 with colored information fields 9, while the other accumulator 2 has a display 8 on which states can only be displayed in the form of black/white text and/or images. The display control device 4 of the household appliance 1 can recognize which accumulator 2 is currently inserted in the appliance housing 6 of the household appliance 1 and correspondingly transmit control commands that correspond to the options for displaying states on the respective display device 3 .

List of References

1

household appliance

2

accumulator

3

display device

4

display controller

5

accumulator housing

6

device housing

7

detection device

8th

screen

9

information field

10

housing recess

11

container

12

handle

13

accesories

14

joint

15

connection area

Claims (10)

System comprising a household appliance (1) with a housing (6), a battery (2) with a battery housing (5) and an optical display device (3) integrated therein, and a display control device (4) for controlling the display of information on the Display device (3) for the accumulator (2), the household appliance (1) having a detection device (7) for determining device states of the household appliance (1) that do not relate to the accumulator (2), the detection device (7) being set up to detect the detected device status of the household appliance (1) to the display control device (4), the display control device (4) being set up to control the display device (3) of the accumulator (2) to display the received device status of the household appliance (1). , characterized in that the display control device (4) is set up to control the display of a remaining term, which indicates how long e Ine in the accumulator (2) still existing charging capacity is sufficient to complete an activity currently being carried out, the remaining time relating to a combination of a device parameter of the household appliance (1) and the current charging capacity of the accumulator (2). System according to Claim 1, characterized in that the optical display device (3) of the accumulator (2) has a display (8) and/or at least one light-emitting diode (9). System according to Claim 1, characterized in that the display control device (4) is a component of the accumulator (2). System according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the accumulator (2) is accommodated in the appliance housing (6) of the household appliance (1). is, the display device (3) of the accumulator (2) being readable through a housing recess (10) of the device housing (6). System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the accumulator (2) is connected to the appliance housing (6) of the household appliance (1) in a reversibly separable manner. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display control device (4) is also set up to display a battery status, in particular a charge status or an aging status of the battery (2), on the display device (3) of the battery (2) to display. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display device (3) of the accumulator (2) is designed to display a device status and/or accumulator status as a color signal, text and/or image. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by two mutually interchangeable accumulators (2) which, based on the displayable device states and/or accumulator states, have display devices (3) designed differently from one another. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the household appliance (1) is a floor treatment appliance, in particular a cleaning appliance. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device parameter is selected from the set: cleaning performance, suction power, liquid delivery rate, filling level of a container (11) for a liquid or a solid, temperature of a component, service requirement of a device component, device error, collision status of the household appliance (1) with an obstacle, remaining time until completion of an activity, activity of a communication interface, relative spatial orientation of a handle (12) which is movably arranged on the appliance housing (6) of the household appliance (1), handling parameters of the household appliance (1), accessory parameters of a an accessory (13) that is detachably connected to the household appliance (1), in particular a suction nozzle or a cleaning element.

Images