Pool Cleaner Guidance Beacons for Faster Full-Coverage Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current automatic swimming pool cleaners (APCs) face inefficiencies in cleaning coverage and time consumption due to reliance on internal algorithms and sensor navigation, which can be error-prone and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
A guiding system providing external stimuli in the form of wire paths and beacons beneath or on the pool surface, allowing APCs to follow predefined paths for efficient cleaning, obstacle avoidance, and data communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If APC uses internal algorithms and sensor navigation for path determination, then the system maintains autonomy and adaptability, but cleaning coverage efficiency decreases and time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces beacons as intermediary elements that mediate between the pool environment and the APC. These beacons provide external guidance signals that help the APC navigate more efficiently without requiring complex internal decision-making algorithms, thus improving cleaning coverage efficiency while reducing time consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The beacons are pre-positioned in the pool to define cleaning paths in advance. This preliminary arrangement of guidance elements allows the APC to follow predetermined efficient paths rather than determining paths dynamically during cleaning, thereby improving productivity and reducing time consumption.
2Measurement precision
If APC navigates perimeter to construct surface representation, then the system achieves complete mapping of the pool surface, but the process becomes time consuming and error prone
Solution Approach 1:
Beacons serve as intermediary reference points that provide direct positional information to the APC. Instead of the APC needing to navigate the entire perimeter to construct a map, the beacons provide pre-established reference signals that enable accurate positioning and mapping with significantly reduced navigation time and lower error rates.
3Device complexity
If APC follows random algorithm with straight line cleaning and random turns, then the system maintains simple control logic, but cleaning coverage requires considerable time
Solution Approach 1:
The beacons act as intermediaries that provide structured guidance signals to the APC. This external guidance system maintains simple control logic on the APC side while dramatically improving cleaning coverage speed, as the beacons direct the APC along efficient paths without requiring complex onboard decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
A guiding system for a swimming pool provides external stimuli defining a path that is detectable by an automatic swimming pool cleaner. The path extends both vertically and horizontally in the swimming pool or spa. In some cases, the external stimuli define a transit path for the APC in a swimming pool or spa.