Pool Cleaner Stair Detection to Prevent Water Ejection and Volume Loss
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robotic pool cleaners lack the ability to identify and navigate stairs, leading to potential ejection of pool water and debris, which can cause slippery surfaces and reduce the pool's water volume, making it unsuitable for use.
Innovation Solution
A pool cleaner equipped with a controller that uses sensors, such as tilt and depth sensors, to detect stair positions and control propulsion to prevent ascending beyond a permissible stair, ensuring the liquid outlet remains submerged and preventing ejection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the pool cleaner autonomously navigates pool surfaces including stairs, then the cleaning coverage and effectiveness are improved, but the risk of ejecting water and debris outside the pool increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is pre-programmed with stair identification algorithms that detect stair geometries before the pool cleaner fully ascends. By identifying stair patterns in advance through sensor data analysis, the system can prepare appropriate responses (such as reducing speed or adjusting propulsion) to prevent water ejection, thus maintaining both cleaning effectiveness and preventing harmful effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The pool cleaner uses sensors (such as depth sensors, tilt sensors, or camera systems) to continuously monitor its position and orientation relative to pool surfaces and stairs. This real-time feedback is processed by the controller to dynamically adjust propulsion forces and cleaning operations, ensuring that water and debris are not ejected outside the pool while maintaining comprehensive cleaning coverage.
2Productivity
If the pool cleaner ascends higher stairs to reach more areas, then the cleaning productivity increases, but the pool water volume decreases due to ejection
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is pre-programmed with stair identification algorithms that detect stair geometries before the pool cleaner fully ascends. By identifying stair patterns in advance through sensor data analysis, the system can prepare appropriate responses (such as reducing speed or adjusting propulsion) to prevent water ejection, thus maintaining both cleaning effectiveness and preventing harmful effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The pool cleaner uses sensors (such as depth sensors, tilt sensors, or camera systems) to continuously monitor its position and orientation relative to pool surfaces and stairs. This real-time feedback is processed by the controller to dynamically adjust propulsion forces and cleaning operations, ensuring that water and debris are not ejected outside the pool while maintaining comprehensive cleaning coverage.
3Measurement precision
If the pool cleaner uses sensor-based stair detection, then the navigation precision and safety are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pool cleaner employs a multi-functional sensor system where the same sensors (such as depth sensors, tilt sensors, or camera systems) serve multiple purposes: detecting stairs, monitoring water level, tracking position, and identifying pool boundaries. This universal approach achieves high measurement precision for stair detection without proportionally increasing device complexity, as the sensors perform several functions simultaneously rather than requiring dedicated sensors for each function.
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 allows the pool cleaner to autonomously navigate pool surfaces, including stairs, without ejecting water, maintaining pool volume and safety, and preventing debris from being deposited outside the pool.
Implementation Method 1
A pool cleaner with stair identification capability includes a tilt sensor, wherein the controller is configured to detect ascending or descending a stair of the stairway in accordance with a sensed tilt of the pool cleaner.
Implementation Method 2
the controller is configured to detect ascending or descending a stair of the stairway in accordance with a depth of the pool cleaner below a waterline of the liquid in the pool.
Implementation Method 3
a pump for drawing liquid from the pool into the housing through an inlet and expelling the liquid through an outlet when the pool cleaner is submerged in the pool
Data Source
AI summary
A pool cleaner for cleaning a pool includes a housing, a pump for drawing liquid from the pool into the housing through an inlet and expelling the liquid through an outlet when the pool cleaner is submerged in the pool, a filter for trapping debris that is in the indrawn liquid, and a propulsion system for propelling the pool cleaner along a submerged surface within the pool. A controller is configured to determine a position of the pool cleaner on a stairway of the pool, and to control the propulsion system to stop ascending the stairway when the pool cleaner is determined to have ascended to a highest permissible stair of the stairway.