Soil Compacting Device with Automatic or Operator-Intuitive Adjustment of the Advance Vector

A vibrating plate, comprising:

• an upper mass that has a drive;
• and
• a lower mass that is connected to the upper mass via a spring device and that has a vibration exciter device and a soil contact plate,
• the vibration exciter device being capable of producing a vibration having a resultant direction of force action,
• the vibration exciter device being capable of being controlled in such a way that the force action direction can be set to at least three positions,
• the force action direction being capable of being modified by controlling via a propulsion adjustment device, dependent on an operator control command,
• an operating element being provided for operator inputting of a control command, wherein
• the propulsion adjustment device has, in addition to the operating element, a device for recognizing the operator's wishes,
• the device for recognizing the operator's wishes has at least one force measurement device for acquiring a force applied in at least one spatial direction to at least one of the operating element and an additional operating element by the operator, and in that
• if the force acquired by the force measurement device is greater than a force required for the normal actuation of the operating element, the propulsion adjustment device modifies the force action direction in accordance with prespecified rules.

A vibrating plate comprising:

• an upper mass that has a drive;
• and
• a lower mass that is connected to the upper mass via a spring device and that has a vibration exciter device and a soil contact plate,
• the vibration exciter device being capable of producing a vibration having a resultant direction of force action, and
• the vibration exciter device being capable of being controlled by a propulsion adjustment device in such a way that the force action direction can be set to a plurality of positions, in particular more than two positions,
• wherein the propulsion adjustment device having:
• a speed detection device for acquiring a current propulsion speed and/or a modification of the propulsion speed,
• an evaluation device for at least one of comparing the current propulsion speed to a last-acquired propulsion speed and/or for evaluating the change in the propulsion speed in such a way that an increase or a reduction in the propulsion speed of the vibrating plate can be determined, and
• a variation device for modifying the force action direction in a pivot direction in such a way that, when an increase in the propulsion speed is determined, a further modification of the force action direction in the same pivot direction is brought about, and when a decrease in the propulsion speed is determined, a modification of the force action direction in an opposite pivot direction is brought about.

A method for maximizing the propulsion speed of a vibrating plate having a vibration exciter device in which a force action direction of a produced vibration is capable of being modified, having the steps of:

• a) driving the vibration plate dependent on a desired direction specified by the operator with a force action direction that has a horizontal force component corresponding to the desired direction;
• b) acquiring at least one of a current propulsion speed and a modification of the propulsion speed;
• c) comparing the current propulsion speed with at least one of a last-acquired propulsion speed and evaluation of the change in the propulsion speed such that an increase or a decrease of the propulsion speed of the vibrating plate is determined;
• d) modifying of the force action direction with a small angular step or continuously in the same pivot direction as in the previous modification if an increase in the propulsion speed is determined;
• e) modifying the force action direction with a small angular step in a pivot direction opposite the previous pivot direction if a reduction in the propulsion speed is determined;
• and
• f) repeating steps b) to f).