Swimming pool with eductor jets

Abstract

A swimming pool designed for stationary swimming uses Venturi-based eductor jets to generate a forceful water flow augmented by entrained pool water drawn from within the pool enclosure. The eductor jets use the kinetic energy of the inlet flow to entrain the low-pressure pool water, completely mix the two, and then discharge the mixture as an augmented outlet flow. The energy from the motive inlet flow is transferred to the entrained pool water via the Venturi effect. As the motive inlet water passes through a tapered nozzle in the eductor jet, kinetic energy increases and pressure decreases. This produces a Venturi effect which draws surrounding pool water into the Venturi orifice of the eductor jet. Consequently, the volume of the outlet flow from the eductor jets is 3 to 5 times the volume of the inlet flow. A larger and more powerful stream of water is thereby discharged into the pool enclosure and provides optimal resistance for in-place swimming in an energy-efficient manner.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11 / 896,998, filed Sep. 7, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to swimming pools, and more particularly to swimming pools which generate a directed flow of water within the pool enclosure so as to create a current against which a swimmer can swim while remaining stationary.[0003]In a conventional swimming pool, a swimmer must swim back and forth from one end of the pool to the other. This requires that the pool be rather large, since in a small, short pool the swimmer will continually be turning around and interrupting their swimming stroke, thus making sustained swimming for exercise or recreation impractical. But large pools have several disadvantages. They are expensive to build and maintain, and they occupy a lot of space, which may not be available or may be put to other...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The use of eductor jets in the present invention allows a smaller pool to offer the recreational utility of a much larger pool in terms of continuous swimming time and distance. The eductor jets are superior to conventional jets and whirlpool jets because they can move greater volumes of water at the equivalent inlet pressure and volume. The pool of the present invention can be much shorter and more narrow and yet still pr

Problems solved by technology

This requires that the pool be rather large, since in a small, short pool the swimmer will continually be turning around and interrupting their swimming stroke, thus making sustained swimming for exercise or recreation impractical.

They are expensive to build and maintain, and they occupy a lot of space, which may not be available or may be put to other better uses.

Because they contain a large volume of water, they are not energy-efficient, since great amounts of energy are consumed in heating, pumping and filtering the pool water.

Consequently, the volume of water flow expelled by the Mathis 1 jets into the pool enclosure is limited by maximum flow rate of the external “conventional source under pressure”, which would typically be the public water line or a private well pump.

Both of these factors will limit the effective

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