Swimming Pool Safety Drain With Tortuous Bridge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing swimming pool drain designs face challenges in preventing limb and hair entrapment, especially with increased water flow volumes from added features like water fountains or spas, and often require additional drains that increase installation costs.
Innovation Solution
A safety drain design featuring a base with a safety bridge and a removable cover that creates a tortuous path for hair and limbs to prevent entrapment, while accommodating high water flow rates, and is constructed using UV-resistant materials for durability and cost-effectiveness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple drains are used to prevent entrapment, then safety against limb and hair entrapment is improved, but installation cost and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The drain cover is segmented into multiple functional zones: a first area with a first opening for water intake, a second area with a second opening for water discharge, and a bridge structure connecting them. This segmentation creates a tortuous flow path that prevents direct access to the drain outlet, thereby preventing limb and hair entrapment while maintaining a single drain unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The bridge structure acts as an intermediary element between the water intake area and the water discharge area. It forces water to travel along a predetermined tortuous path rather than allowing direct flow, thereby preventing entrapment while maintaining drainage functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If water flow volume is increased to accommodate supplemental water features, then functionality and adaptability are improved, but entrapment risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bridge structure creates a curved, tortuous flow path between the water intake and discharge areas. This curvature forces water to follow a non-linear trajectory, which prevents straight-line access to the drain outlet and eliminates the risk of limb and hair entrapment even at high flow volumes required for supplemental water features.
3Reliability
If a tortuous path is created to prevent hair entrapment, then anti-entrapment safety is improved, but water flow efficiency may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The dimensions of the bridge structure, including its height, length, and thickness, are carefully optimized to create sufficient tortuosity for preventing hair entrapment while maintaining adequate water flow capacity. The parameters are adjusted to balance safety requirements with hydraulic efficiency, ensuring the drain can handle high flow volumes from supplemental water features.
Data Source
AI summary
A swimming pool safety drain including a base having a bottom, and having end walls and side walls extending upwardly from the bottom to form an open top enclosure. A cover is removably secured to the enclosure and, when secured to the enclosure forms an inlet slot about the periphery thereof. A plurality of drain outlets are formed in the base for connection to water recirculating systems for the swimming pool and any supplemental water recirculating system. A safety bridge is secured in the enclosure between the side walls and is positioned over the drain outlets to provide hair and limb entrapment protection. A construction cover is provided to temporarily replace the permanent cover during construction and installation of the drain.