Self-Cleaning Pool Cleaner with Sealed Pressure Chamber
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pool cleaners face issues such as unsealed hollow bodies allowing unclean water in, potential sharp impeller blades posing safety risks, high center of gravity leading to uncontrollable floating, and inefficient water outlet mechanisms, which affect suction power and filter efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A pool cleaner design featuring a self-cleaning filter mechanism with a cylindrical filtering element, arc-shaped pipes for backwash, and scanning mechanisms to maintain high internal hydraulic pressure, eliminate sharp blades, lower the center of gravity, and position impeller blades for optimal water flow, using a single revolving unit with integrated impeller blades at the water inlet and a uni-directional flow element for debris management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the hollow body is not sealed, then the pool cleaner can access pool water for operation, but unclean water and air are drawn in reducing suction power and causing uncontrollable floating
Solution Approach 1:
The hollow body is divided into a sealed pressure chamber and an unsealed operational area. The sealed chamber contains the pump motor and impeller, maintaining positive pressure to prevent unclean water ingress, while the unsealed area allows access to pool water for cleaning operations.
Solution Approach 2:
A sealed chamber acts as an intermediary between the internal hydraulic system and the external pool environment. This sealed chamber maintains positive pressure and prevents unclean water and air from entering the hydraulic system while still allowing the cleaner to access pool water through controlled openings.
2Power
If sharp impeller blades are used, then water suction force is sufficient, but safety risks arise from potential contact with fingers or objects
Solution Approach 1:
The sharp impeller blades that create suction force are enclosed within a sealed chamber. The harmful sharp edges are converted into a beneficial enclosed pumping system where the blades cannot contact external objects or fingers, eliminating safety risks while maintaining suction power.
Solution Approach 2:
The impeller with sharp blades is extracted from the general operational area and placed within a dedicated sealed pressure chamber. This separation allows the sharp blades to maintain their suction function while being isolated from potential contact with fingers or objects in the pool environment.
3Power
If the pump motor is positioned in an upright position, then the hydraulic system is effective, but the high center of gravity creates high moment of force leading to wall disengagement
Solution Approach 1:
The sealed pressure chamber containing the pump motor is positioned to create a counterbalancing effect. The chamber's location and weight distribution counteract the high moment of force that would otherwise cause wall disengagement, maintaining stability while preserving hydraulic system effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The pump motor orientation is changed from a purely upright vertical position to an angled configuration. This dimensional change in motor positioning maintains the hydraulic system's effectiveness while lowering the center of gravity and reducing the moment of force that causes wall disengagement.
4Reliability
If the impeller blades are positioned after the filtering mechanism, then only filtered water impacts the blades, but this configuration reduces space efficiency and increases device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The conventional configuration is inverted: instead of placing the impeller after the filter, the impeller is positioned before the filtering mechanism within the sealed pressure chamber. This inversion allows unfiltered water to enter the chamber and be pumped directly, with filtration occurring after the pumping action, simplifying the overall system configuration.
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
The solution ensures effective water filtration and suction power, prevents unclean water ingress, enhances safety with non-sharp blades, maintains contact with pool surfaces, and prolongs filter usability by reducing clogging and maintenance needs.
Implementation Method 1
The pump motor is positioned in an upright position or in an angled position having impeller blades located remotely from of the pool cleaner inlet usually at a higher region within the hydraulic system path in the hollow body. The effect is an impeller that by means of the high-speed rotation of its plastic or non-rust metal made blades (at about 2600-3000 rpm) draws the water with sufficient force to pull the water through the filtering mechanism.
Implementation Method 2
The vacuum pressure force at the bottom of the pool cleaner coupled with the downward pressure created by the ejecting water that is being created will ensure that the pool cleaner remains in close contact to the floor or walls of the swimming pool.
Implementation Method 3
The drawing through the bottom end of the body and the expelling of the water at the top end creates a negative pressure force at the bottom end to maintain the vehicle in contact with the underwater surface. Such a hydraulic system makes use of the suction port at the lower end of the body that also forms a negative pressure inside the body of the pool cleaner also called a vacuum pressure force.
Implementation Method 4
The vacuum pressure force at the bottom of the pool cleaner coupled with the downward pressure created by the ejecting water that is being created will ensure that the pool cleaner remains in close contact to the floor or walls of the swimming pool.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
A pool cleaner that may include (a) a filtering element (602) that is cylindrical and is configured to be rotated around a central rotating shaft, (b) arc-shaped pipes (654') that feed jets or sprinklers (655') that surround the filtering element (602), and are configured to direct fluid towards the filter element (602) during a backwash process; and (c) one or more scanning mechanisms (653') that are configured to scan the arc-shaped pipes (654') and the feed jets or sprinklers (655') during the backwash process.