Toroidal Pool Drain with Cantilevered Cover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional in-floor swimming pool drain systems face challenges with manufacturing complexity, susceptibility to plugging, and difficulty in achieving a level installation due to multiple glue joints and heavy, prone-to-cracking covers, which complicate assembly and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A two-piece toroidal drain housing with a continuous, annular drain entrance channel and an optional blockage tray insert, featuring a cantilevered sump cover and adjustable blockage tray, reduces manufacturing complexity, minimizes glue joints, and allows for easier installation and maintenance by providing a single orifice drain entrance channel and adjustable flow regulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional multi-piece drain systems with multiple glue joints are used, then manufacturing flexibility is improved, but assembly complexity and susceptibility to plugging increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple drain components into a single integrated body with continuous interior surfaces. The drain body includes an integrated sump, strainer, and outlet structure that forms a continuous flow path without internal joints or seams, eliminating the need for multiple glue joints while maintaining manufacturing flexibility through monolithic fabrication processes.
2Strength
If heavy covers are used to provide structural support, then structural strength is improved, but ease of installation and maintenance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The drain assembly is segmented into a permanent embedded drain body and a removable access cover. The drain body provides structural strength and is installed during construction, while the separate access cover enables easy removal for maintenance and cleaning without disturbing the structural components, significantly improving ease of installation and maintenance.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple internal joints and seams are present in the drain structure, then manufacturing adaptability is improved, but susceptibility to plugging increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a monolithic drain structure with continuous interior surfaces that eliminate all internal joints, seams, and crevices where debris could accumulate. The integrated design maintains manufacturing adaptability by allowing the entire assembly to be fabricated as a single piece or pre-assembled unit, while the seamless interior prevents plugging and ensures reliable water flow.
4Ease of manufacture
If non-continuous drain entrance channels are used, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but flow efficiency and reliability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The drain body incorporates a continuous annular entrance channel that seamlessly connects to the sump and outlet. This continuous flow path eliminates interruptions, restrictions, or dead zones that would reduce flow efficiency. The integrated design achieves this hydraulic optimization while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through monolithic fabrication or pre-assembled continuous structures.
Data Source
AI summary
A swimming pool drain and sump assembly with a toroidal drain housing that includes a lower section with a drain outlet port extending through the lower section wall and a continuous annular channel that loops back upon itself, and an upper section supported upon the sump base only along the inner wall, cantilevered over the sump base from a lower edge of the sump cover to an upper edge of the sump cover. The lower section and the upper section form an annular, continuous, uninterrupted, single orifice drain entrance channel between a top edge of the outer wall and the upper edge of the top piece. Some embodiments include a continuous, one-piece blockage tray insert adjustably positioned within the drain entrance channel and an access port cover within an access port that is a continuous opening with the drain entrance channel.