Autonomous Pool Cleaner Docking and Filter Access Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automatic swimming pool cleaners (APCs) face challenges with unsightly and obstructive hoses or electrical cords, and the difficulty of removing filters without exposing users to water and debris, as well as the need for untethered operation within pools.
Innovation Solution
The development of APCs with on-board filters that can be easily removed while in the pool, using solely on-board batteries for power, and a docking station for recharging and communication, allowing for untethered operation and autonomous navigation without external hoses or cords, with mechanisms for easy filter access and electronic communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hydraulic cleaners use fluid-conveying hoses to connect with water-circulation pumps, then debris can be evacuated from pools through the hoses to remote filters, but the hoses become unsightly and may present obstacles to swimmers or impede manual debris removal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the filter from the cleaner body and places it in a remote stationary housing outside the pool. This allows the hose to connect only to the cleaner while the filter remains outside, eliminating the need for hoses or cables to extend into the pool water, thus removing the aesthetic and obstruction problems while maintaining debris evacuation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a stationary housing as an intermediary structure positioned outside the pool. This housing contains the filter and serves as an intermediate collection point for debris, allowing the cleaner to operate freely in the pool without being tethered by hoses or cables, while still maintaining connection to the water circulation system.
2Extent of automation
If robotic cleaners use electrical cables connected to drive motors, then the cleaners can operate autonomously without fluid-conveying hoses, but the electrical cables become unsightly and obstruct or impede certain pool-related activities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the filter and power supply components from the moving cleaner body and places them in a stationary housing outside the pool. This eliminates the need for trailing cables or hoses, allowing the robotic cleaner to operate completely autonomously and freely in the pool without any external connections that could create aesthetic or obstruction problems.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaner is designed with an on-board battery that can be recharged when docked at the stationary housing. This self-service capability allows the cleaner to operate autonomously without external power cables during cleaning operations, eliminating the need for obstructive electrical connections while maintaining continuous operational capability.
3Ease of operation
If pressure-side hydraulic cleaners and conventional robotic cleaners contain filters within or carried by the bodies of the cleaners, then the filters can be accessed for emptying, but the cleaners must be removed from pools which is not always easy and exposes pool owners to water and debris
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the filter from the cleaner body and relocates it to a stationary housing positioned outside the pool. The filter can be accessed and emptied through an opening in the housing without needing to remove the cleaner from the pool or expose the operator to pool water and debris, thus improving ease of operation while eliminating harmful exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The stationary housing serves as an intermediary structure that houses the filter and provides external access to it. This intermediary allows the filter to be serviced from outside the pool, eliminating the need for operators to enter the pool or handle wet equipment, thus improving safety and ease of maintenance.
4Shape
If a docking system uses a housing installed in the side of the pool with a long storage tube for the fluid-conveying hose, then the hose can be concealed when the cleaner is not operating, but the system requires complex hydraulic control assemblies within the pool floor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the filter and power supply from the cleaner and places them in a stationary housing outside the pool. This eliminates the need for long storage tubes or complex hydraulic control assemblies in the pool floor, as the cleaner operates without trailing hoses or cables during cleaning operations. The housing is simply positioned outside the pool and provides both filtration and power recharge functions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables easy filter removal and cleaning without exiting the pool, eliminates the need for external hoses or cords, and allows for autonomous, untethered operation and efficient communication and control of the cleaners, enhancing user safety and pool maintenance efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
Versions of the invention may include a docking station which an APC may engage. Such a docking station may, for example, allow recharging of the on-board batteries.
Implementation Method 2
The present invention seeks to provide cleaning systems in which on-board filters of APCs may be removed easily for cleaning.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5A~5C
AI summary
Swimming pool cleaners (14) may operate autonomously within pools and spas. The cleaners need not include any external hoses or cords, and their bodies (38) may be oriented at pool waterlines (WL) so as to make their on-board filters readily accessible for removal. The cleaners may dock at docking stations (10) for various purposes, including (but not limited to) for charging any on-board battery (62) and communicating electronically with the docking station or other external equipment.