Underwater Cleaner Motion Control for Cable Twist Mitigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Underwater pool and spa cleaners experience significant cable twists due to their operational paths, which negatively impact performance and are not effectively mitigated by existing solutions like multiple swivels, increasing product costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
Implementing cable twist mitigation logic in the form of computer-readable instructions that control the cleaner's operation by comparing sequences of orientations to pre-defined sequences known to cause twists, using a twist angle accumulator and user-definable bias values to adjust turns and mitigate cable twisting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple swivels are included in the cable to allow rotation, then cable twist mitigation is improved, but product cost and manufacturing complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical cable swivel system with an electronic control system. The cleaner's controller monitors cable twist through sensor data and actively compensates by adjusting the cleaner's motion path and orientation, substituting mechanical twist mitigation with electronic control and software algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables the cleaner to self-correct cable twist issues autonomously. The controller continuously monitors cable orientation and cleaner position, then automatically adjusts cleaning patterns and turning behavior to prevent excessive cable twisting without user intervention or additional mechanical components.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple swivels are included in the cable to allow rotation, then cable twist mitigation is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical cable swivel system with an electronic control system. The cleaner's controller monitors cable twist through sensor data and actively compensates by adjusting the cleaner's motion path and orientation, substituting mechanical twist mitigation with electronic control and software algorithms.
3Productivity
If the cleaner follows pre-defined cleaning sequences, then cleaning coverage is improved, but cable twist accumulation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the cleaning sequence dynamic and adaptive. The controller monitors cable twist in real-time and modifies the cleaning pattern on-the-fly, adjusting turning radius, speed, and direction to maintain productive cleaning while preventing excessive cable twisting based on current cable orientation and twist accumulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback from cable orientation sensors and position tracking into the cleaning control algorithm. The controller continuously compares actual cable twist against thresholds and adjusts cleaning motion accordingly, creating a closed-loop system that balances cleaning efficiency with cable twist mitigation.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for mitigating cable twists for underwater cleaners are provided. Cable twist mitigation logic is stored in a memory associated with a pool or spa cleaner, and controls operation of the cleaner to mitigate cable twists. A sequence of cleaner orientations is retrieved from memory and compare to one or more pre-defined sequences known to contribute to cable twist. If the sequence of cleaner orientations matches the one or more pre-defined sequences, a twist angle accumulator is incremented by a pre-defined twist angle corresponding to the one or more pre-defined sequences. The system determines whether the cleaner is turning on a surface of a pool or spa, and if so, controls turning of the cleaner using an accumulated angle stored in the twist angle accumulator to mitigate cable twists. A user-definable bias value could also be applied by the system to further mitigate cable twists.