Abstract:
The invention relates to a system for a hand-held machine tool, particularly a pistol-shaped hand-held machine tool, which includes at least one first auxiliary unit, and a coupling mechanism that is used for coupling the first auxiliary unit and the hand-held machine tool. An example of the invention includes a suction unit as the first auxiliary unit for collecting debris from a hand-held drilling tool. The system also provides for at least one additional auxiliary unit to be coupled to the held-held power tool by the coupling mechanism. An example of the invention includes an illuminating element as an additional auxiliary unit which can be coupled to the tool with the coupling mechanism so as to be interchangeable with the first auxiliary unit.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a 35 USC 371 application of PCT/EP 2007/059392 filed on Sep. 7, 2007. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention is based on a system with a hand-held power tool. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     There are already known systems with a hand-held power tool, in particular with a pistol-shaped hand-held power tool, and a first auxiliary unit. In addition, the system includes a coupling device that is provided for coupling the first auxiliary unit to the hand-held power tool. 
     ADVANTAGES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is based on a system with a hand-held power tool, in particular with a pistol-shaped hand-held power tool, at least one first auxiliary unit, and a coupling device that is provided for coupling the first auxiliary unit and the hand-held power tool. According to one embodiment, the system includes at least one additional auxiliary unit that is provided for being coupled to the hand-held power tool by means of the coupling device. This makes it possible, in a structurally simple way, to provide an operator of the system with a coupling of various auxiliary units to the hand-held power tool and to advantageously expand an application field for the system. In this case, the various auxiliary units can preferably be interchanged on the hand-held power tool so that an operator can interchange them as needed. In this context, the term “auxiliary unit” is understood to be a unit that can be coupled to the hand-held power tool and has a function in addition to that of the hand-held power tool; an operation of the hand-held power tool is independent of a coupling and/or operation of one of the auxiliary units. The hand-held power tool is in particular comprised of a pistol-shaped hand-held power tool such as a hand-held power tool that drives a tool in a rotating and/or hammering fashion so that the various auxiliary units preferably include a vacuum unit, a light, a laser unit, a wall scanner unit, and/or other units found to be suitable by those skill in the art. The coupling device can be embodied so that at least part of it is integrally joined to the hand-held power tool and/or to one of the auxiliary units. Preferably, the coupling device is provided for coupling all of the auxiliary units included in the system to the hand-held power tool, thus advantageously enabling savings on additional coupling devices. 
     According to another embodiment, at least part of the coupling device is situated on a housing of the hand-held power tool, thus making it possible to achieve a particularly stable system with the evenest possible weight distribution in the hand-held power tool, particularly with large and/or heavy auxiliary units. In this case, at least part of the coupling device is preferably situated on a region of the housing of the hand-held power tool extending in a working direction on the housing, starting from a main handle of the pistol-shaped hand-held power tool. In this context, the term “working direction” is understood to be a direction that extends from the main handle toward a drilling tool and is also preferably parallel to an axis of the hand-held power tool, such as a drilling axis and/or a drive unit axis. This makes it possible to advantageously avoid having the various auxiliary units interfere with the system operator&#39;s ability to see a work piece to be machined and maintains the hand-held power tool&#39;s width across the corners. 
     The coupling device advantageously has at least one interface that is at least partially provided to permit the hand-held power tool to drive and/or input power to at least one of the auxiliary units, thus making it advantageously possible to achieve a low weight and/or a low volume of the system, thus advantageously achieving a high level of operating convenience of the system for an operator. This also advantageously enables savings on additional components, space, complexity of assembly, and costs for a separate drive unit and/or a separate power input for the auxiliary units such as an energy supply cable and/or additional, heavy energy storage units. 
     According to another embodiment, the coupling device has at least one attaching unit that is provided for attaching the various auxiliary units to the hand-held power tool, thus making it possible to achieve a uniform and also stable attachment for the various auxiliary units to the hand-held power tool. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, the attaching unit has an insertion unit that is provided to permit various auxiliary units to be inserted into the hand-held power tool, thus making it possible to achieve a structurally simple and in particular, tool-free attachment. With the insertion unit, it is advantageously possible to implement a large support area in a structurally simple fashion so that particularly with large and/or heavy auxiliary units, it is possible to produce a stable attachment to the hand-held power tool, with a balanced distribution of weight. It is also essentially conceivable, however, to provide other options that those skilled in the art find to be suitable for attaching the various auxiliary units to the hand-held power tool, such as a screw connection, a detent connection, a bayonet-mount connection, etc. 
     According to another embodiment, the insertion unit has at least a first unit, which is equipped with at least one guide element and is provided on a housing of the hand-held power tool, thus making it possible to achieve an advantageously simple insertion of the auxiliary unit during the mounting of an auxiliary unit. The guide element can be composed of a separate component and/or can be formed onto to the housing of the hand-held power tool in a particularly advantageous way, thus enabling savings on additional components. In addition, the guide element is preferably rib-shaped, in particular rail-shaped, and is formed onto the housing. 
     The insertion unit advantageously has at least one additional unit, which corresponds to the first unit, is equipped with at least one guide element, and is situated on at least one of the auxiliary units, thus making it possible to achieve a form-locked insertion of auxiliary units into the hand-held power tool and therefore making it possible to achieve a particularly stable connection between the various auxiliary units and the hand-held power tool. In this case, the guide element can be composed of a separate component and/or in a particularly advantageous embodiment, can be formed onto the housing of the auxiliary units, thus enabling savings on additional components. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, the coupling device has a locking unit that makes it possible to achieve a captive attachment of the auxiliary units to the hand-held power tool. 
     According to another embodiment, the locking unit has at least one detent element that is provided to produce a detent connection between the auxiliary units and the hand-held power tool, thus making it possible to achieve an in particular tool-free and form-locked mounting of auxiliary units onto the hand-held power tool. In another embodiment of the invention found to be suitable by those skill in the art, it is also conceivable to provide a mounting of the various auxiliary units onto the hand-held power tool by means of other form-locked and/or nonpositive, frictional connections. In a particularly advantageous fashion, the detent element includes an actuating element that an operator can actuating without tools, thus making it possible to achieve a simple, and in particular tool-free detachment and tool-free changing of auxiliary units on the hand-held power tool. 
     The invention also proposes a hand-held power tool for a system, in particular a pistol-shaped hand-held power tool having a coupling device that is provided for coupling various auxiliary units; the coupling device has an insertion unit with at least one guide element. This makes it advantageously possible to achieve a simple insertion of the auxiliary unit during the mounting of an auxiliary unit and during a changing of the various auxiliary units on the hand-held power tool. 
     According to another embodiment, the insertion unit is situated in a region of the housing that extends starting from a handle in a working direction, thus making it possible to give the operator of the hand-held power tool equipped with an auxiliary unit the ability to see a work piece to be machined. 
     The coupling device advantageously has at least one detent element, thus making it possible to achieve an in particular tool-free, form-locked mounting of an auxiliary unit onto the hand-held power tool. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other advantages ensue from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic side view of a system according to the invention, with a hand-held power tool and a first auxiliary unit, 
         FIG. 2  shows the system from  FIG. 1  with an additional auxiliary unit, 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective side view of part of the hand-held power tool from  FIG. 1 , with a coupling device, 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of a subregion of the system from  FIG. 1  in the region of the insertion unit, and 
         FIG. 5  is a front view of a subregion of the system from  FIG. 1  in the region of an alternative insertion unit. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIGS. 1 and 2  each show a system  10  according to the invention, with a pistol-shaped hand-held power tool  12  that has a drilling and/or hammering drive unit, not shown in detail, for a drilling tool  50  and an auxiliary unit  14 ,  18 . In addition, the system  10  has a coupling device  16  that is provided to couple one of the various auxiliary units  14 ,  18  to the hand-held power tool  12 . 
     The coupling device  16  has an interface  22 , an attaching unit  24 , and a locking unit  40 ; the coupling device  16  is split between the hand-held power tool  12  and the auxiliary units  14 ,  18 . In a region  48  of a housing  20 , the hand-held power tool  12  is provided with the coupling device  16 , which extends from a handle  44  comprised by a main handle, in a working direction  46 ; the working direction  46  is oriented parallel to a drive unit axis  80  of the hand-held power tool  12  and extends in a direction of the drilling tool  50 . In addition, the region  48  and the main handle enclose an angle so that during operation of the hand-held power tool  12  together with one of the auxiliary units  14 ,  18 , an operator is assured unlimited visibility of a work piece to be machined ( FIGS. 1 through 3 ). 
     The interface  22  of the coupling device  16  is provided to allow the hand-held power tool  12  to drive and/or input power to the individual auxiliary units  14 ,  18  ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ). The auxiliary unit  14  of the system  10  from  FIG. 1 , embodied in the form of a vacuum unit, is provided to extract drilling dust and drilling shavings generated during operation of the hand-held power tool  12 . An additional fan  52 , which is situated in the hand-held power tool  12  and is provided for the auxiliary unit  14 , produces aspirating suction in the auxiliary unit  14 . In this case, a drive unit  54  of the hand-held power tool  12  transmits a drive torque to a drive shaft  56  that in turn transmits the drive torque to a fan  58 , which is provided for cooling the drive unit  54 , and to the additional fan  52 . In this case, the additional fan  52  produces a suction in the auxiliary unit  14 , aspirating air and/or dust into a cylindrical suction head  60  situated around the drilling tool  50  ( FIG. 1 ). Inside the auxiliary unit  14 , the aspirated drilling dust travels via a variable-length suction arm  62  into a suction unit  64 . The suction unit  64  includes the removable filter  66  in which the aspirated drilling dust and drilling shavings are separated from the aspirated air. The purified air is conveyed via a suction conduit  68  of the auxiliary unit  14  to the interface  22  and then via a suction conduit  70  to a coupling means  72  of the interface  22 , to the hand-held power tool  12 , and to the additional fan  52  and escapes there through ventilation openings, not shown in detail, provided in the hand-held power tool  12 . 
     In  FIG. 2 , the auxiliary unit  18  embodied in the form of a lamp is supplied with electrical power via the interface  22 . For this purpose, the interface  22  on the coupling means  72  has an electric contact element  74  on the hand-held power tool  12 , which serves to produce an electrical contact between the hand-held power tool  12  and an electric contact element, not shown in detail, of the auxiliary unit  18 . An internal electric line  76  of the auxiliary unit  18  supplies the electrical energy from the interface  22  to an illuminating element  78  of the auxiliary unit  18 , which, during operation of the hand-held power tool  12 , lights a region of a work piece to be machined. In another embodiment of the invention, it is essentially also easily conceivable to provide other auxiliary units found to be suitable by those skilled in the art, such as an auxiliary unit embodied in the form of a wall scanner, an auxiliary unit embodied in the form of a laser, etc. 
     The attaching unit  24  of the coupling device  16  is provided for attaching various auxiliary units  14 ,  18  to the hand-held power tool  12  and has an insertion unit  26  ( FIGS. 3 through 5 ). For insertion of the various auxiliary units  14 ,  18  into the hand-held power tool  12 , the insertion unit  26  has two units  32 ,  38  that each have two guide elements  28 ,  30 ,  34 ,  36 . A first of the two units  32  is formed onto the hand-held power tool  12  in the region  48  of the housing  20  ( FIG. 3 ); the region  48  extends from the handle  44  of the hand-held power tool  12  in the working direction  46  and is constituted by an underside  82  of the housing  20 . In addition, the region  48  is situated between the interface  22  of the coupling device  16  and a clamping fitting  84  of the hand-held power tool  12  ( FIG. 3 ). The guide elements  28 ,  30  of the first unit  32  are each formed in a rib shape onto a respective edge region  86 ,  88  of the underside  82  of the housing  20  extending parallel to the working direction  46 ; the rib-shaped guide elements  28 ,  30  are also oriented parallel to the underside  82 . In addition, the two rib-shaped guide elements  28 ,  30  extend in opposite respective directions from the housing  20  of the hand-held power tool  12  so that the first unit  32  has a T-shaped cross-sectional area  90  ( FIG. 4 ). 
     The other unit  38  corresponding to the first unit  32  is situated on the various auxiliary units  14 ,  18 . The two guide elements of  34 ,  36  of the unit  38  are each integrally formed onto a side  92  of the auxiliary unit  14 ,  18  oriented toward the hand-held power tool  12 ; the guide elements  34 ,  36  each have a respective subregion  94 ,  96  oriented perpendicular to the side  92  of the auxiliary unit  14 ,  18 . The perpendicularly oriented subregions  94 ,  96  of the guide elements  34 ,  36  are each adjoined by a respective rib-shaped subregion  98 ,  100  oriented perpendicular to them; the rib-shaped subregions  98 ,  100  each extend in a direction toward the other guide element  34 ,  36  of the auxiliary unit  14 ,  18  so that the auxiliary unit  14 ,  18  or the unit  38  has a T-shaped receiving region  102  ( FIG. 4 ). In order to achieve a maximum hold of the auxiliary units  14 ,  18  on the hand-held power tool  12  and the largest possible support area together with a uniform weight distribution on the hand-held power tool  12 , a length of the two guide elements  34 ,  36  of the unit  38  in the mounted position corresponds to a length  104  of the two guide elements  28 ,  30  of the first unit  32  on the hand-held power tool  12  ( FIG. 3 ). 
       FIG. 5  shows an insertion unit  26  of the system  10  that is alternative to the one shown in  FIGS. 1 through 4 . In this case, the first unit  32  of the insertion unit  26 , together with the guide elements  28 ,  30  on the hand-held power tool  12 , has a T-shaped receiving region  106  for coupling the auxiliary units  14 ,  18  to the hand-held power tool  12 . The other unit  38  corresponding to the first unit  32 , together with the guide elements  34 ,  36  on the auxiliary unit  14 ,  18 , includes a T-shaped cross-sectional area  108  that is inserted into the T-shaped receiving region  106  of the hand-held power tool  12 . In another embodiment of the invention, it is also conceivable to embody the attaching unit  24  of the coupling device  16  with a dovetail-shaped receiving region and to embody one of the two units  32 ,  38  with a dovetail-shaped cross-sectional area and/or to provide them with other designs found to be suitable by those skilled in the art. 
     In order to lock the auxiliary units  14 ,  18  in place once they have been inserted into the hand-held power tool  12 , the locking unit  40  is situated in the region of the interface  22 . The locking unit  40  has a detent element  42 , which is situated on the coupling means  72  on the hand-held power tool  12 , and a corresponding detent element, not shown in greater detail, which is situated on the respective auxiliary units. For this purpose, the auxiliary units  14 ,  18  and the guide elements  34 ,  36  of the auxiliary units  14 ,  18  are inserted into the insertion unit  26  on the hand-held power tool  12  until they reach an interface end  112  of the insertion unit  26  and the coupling means  72  of the hand-held power tool  12  comes into contact with a corresponding coupling means  110  of the auxiliary units  14 ,  18 . An edge region  116  of the coupling means  72  oriented toward the interface  22  and pointing in an insertion direction  114  on the hand-held power tool  12  is provided with the detent element  42 , which extends in rib fashion in the insertion direction  114  on the edge region  116  of the coupling means  72 . When one of the auxiliary units  14 ,  18  is inserted all the way into the unit  32  of the hand-held power tool  12 , the two detent elements  42  produce a detent connection between the hand-held power tool  12  and the auxiliary unit  14 ,  18  so that the auxiliary unit  14 ,  18  is mounted onto the hand-held power tool  12  in a stable, secure fashion. The detent connection between the auxiliary units  14 ,  18  and the hand-held power tool  12  is released by means of an actuating element, not shown in detail, on the auxiliary units  14 ,  18 . 
     The foregoing relates to the preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention, it being understood that other variants and embodiments thereof are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention, the latter being defined by the appended claims.