System comprising a base station and an autonomously moving earth working implement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing soil cultivation devices face challenges in efficiently and precisely docking with base stations, often relying on software solutions and optical markers, which can be complex and prone to errors.
Innovation Solution
A system featuring a base station with a longitudinally tapered guide arm and a drive wheel with a cylindrical ramp element allows for purely mechanical guidance and alignment of the soil tillage implement, enabling optimal docking without the need for direction-guiding control mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If software solutions with optical markers are used for docking control, then docking automation is achieved, but system complexity and error susceptibility increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces software-based optical docking control with a purely mechanical guidance system. The guide arm with its specific geometry (tapered outer contour viewed vertically) mechanically guides the drive wheel during docking, eliminating the need for optical markers and software control algorithms. This mechanical substitution reduces system complexity while maintaining automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical guidance system enables the soil cultivation device to autonomously dock with the base station through passive mechanical interaction. The guide arm's geometry automatically guides the wheel without requiring active sensing, processing, or control, allowing the system to self-align and dock through its own motion and the mechanical constraint provided by the guide arm.
2Extent of automation
If optical markers and software control are used for docking, then docking can be achieved, but reliability decreases due to susceptibility to errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces unreliable software-based optical control with a reliable mechanical guidance system. The guide arm provides direct physical contact and constraint during docking, ensuring consistent and reliable alignment regardless of software errors, sensor failures, or environmental factors that could affect optical systems.
3Ease of manufacture
If a guide arm with uniform width is used, then manufacturing is simplified, but docking precision is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The guide arm features an asymmetric cross-sectional geometry with a tapered outer contour when viewed vertically. One side of the guide arm has a different profile than the other, creating a wedge-shaped or trapezoidal cross-section. This asymmetric design provides progressive mechanical guidance that improves docking precision while remaining manufacturable through standard machining processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide arm exhibits varying geometric properties along its length, with the outer contour tapering from the base toward the free end. This local variation in geometry provides different guidance characteristics at different positions, enabling precise docking alignment while maintaining structural integrity and manufacturability in each local region.
4Volume of moving object
If the guide arm height is small, then the structure is more compact, but the wheel cannot properly engage with the guide surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the vertical dimension to solve the engagement problem. By positioning the guide surface at an optimized height above the base station base, the guide arm creates sufficient vertical clearance for the wheel to properly engage with the guide surface during docking, while maintaining overall structural compactness through vertical rather than horizontal expansion.
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
The invention relates to a base station (1) for performing a service operation on a soil cultivation implement (2), wherein the base station (1) has a base housing (3) with an interface (4) for docking the soil cultivation implement (2). To support the docking purely mechanically, it is proposed that the base station (1) has a guide arm (6) associated with the interface (4), extending away from the base housing (3) with a predominant longitudinal extent (5), for exclusively mechanically guiding a docking movement of the soil cultivation implement (2) to the interface (4), wherein an outer contour (7) of the guide arm (6), viewed in a vertical plan view, tapers from the base housing (3) to a free end region (8) of the guide arm (6) facing away from the base housing (3).