Reciprocating Pool Cleaner Head with Adjustable Nozzles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing in-floor pool cleaning systems are prone to wear and clogging, leading to piston malfunction and incomplete pool surface cleaning due to mineral deposits and debris accumulation, often going unnoticed during nighttime operations.
Innovation Solution
A reciprocating pool cleaner head with a piston that moves between raised and lowered positions, guided by teeth and channels, and biased by a spring, allowing for cyclical water flow to clean the pool surface in multiple directions, with a cap that rotates to align with different nozzles for optimal cleaning and debris removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a guide pin navigates a sinusoidal maze to guide piston movement, then the piston can move through multiple nozzle stations, but the pin is prone to snapping off and the maze becomes clogged with mineral deposits and debris
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the guide pin and sinusoidal maze from the system entirely. Instead, the piston is guided by the geometry of the chamber walls and the arrangement of nozzles themselves, eliminating the fragile guiding components that were prone to breaking and clogging while maintaining the ability to move through multiple nozzle stations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the chamber into multiple discrete stations, each with its own nozzle arrangement. The piston moves between these segmented stations in response to cyclical water flow, allowing versatile cleaning patterns without requiring a continuous complex guide path.
2Device complexity
If the piston moves freely without guidance after the guide pin breaks, then the system is simpler, but the piston cannot maintain proper orientation and cleaning effectiveness is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the separate guidance mechanism (guide pin and maze) entirely. The piston's orientation and movement are controlled by the inherent geometry of the chamber and nozzle arrangement, not by additional guiding components.
Solution Approach 2:
The guidance function is merged into the chamber structure itself. The walls and nozzle arrangements provide both the cleaning function and the guidance function, eliminating the need for separate guidance components.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If mineral deposits and debris build up in the maze, then the piston becomes stuck requiring maintenance, but increasing maintenance frequency reduces system availability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the maze structure that accumulated deposits and caused clogging. Without the complex sinusoidal path, there is no surface for mineral deposits to build up on, eliminating the clogging problem that required maintenance intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to prevent clogging through its geometry rather than requiring active cleaning or maintenance. The smooth chamber walls and absence of complex internal structures prevent deposit accumulation, allowing the system to maintain operation without maintenance attention.
4Extent of automation
If the cleaner head operates automatically at night, then pool cleaning is convenient, but stuck heads go unnoticed and leave portions of the pool uncleaned
Solution Approach 1:
The system is designed to prevent sticking through its geometry, eliminating the need for monitoring or detection mechanisms. The piston cannot become stuck because there are no complex internal structures for debris to lodge in, ensuring reliable automatic operation without oversight.
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 efficient and complete pool surface cleaning by preventing piston sticking, maintaining effective operation, and allowing for easy adjustment of nozzle sizes to match pool system requirements, ensuring thorough and reliable cleaning without manual intervention.
Implementation Method 1
A spring carried between the piston and the lower surface biases the piston into the lowered position
Implementation Method 2
the piston moves up, down, and in rotation, sequentially moving through several nozzle stations or orientations. Water applied through the head is thus directed in different directions in response to movement of the piston
Data Source
AI summary
A device for use in a swimming pool structure includes an insert defining a chamber and including a lower surface disposed within the chamber. The device includes a piston having a plurality of nozzles, and a cap having an outlet, the cap mounted for rotation among a plurality of positions each aligning the outlet in the cap with one of the nozzles in the piston. The piston is carried in the chamber for reciprocal movement between a lowered position and a raised position in which one of the nozzles is aligned with the outlet, and the one of the nozzles and the outlet are free of obstruction above the insert.