EP0314259A2 - Automatic cleaning apparatus for an under-water surface - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for automatically cleaning a surface submerged in a liquid. This apparatus is of the type comprising an on-board electrical drive motor and an on-board electric pump. At least one moveable finger (26) is arranged on one side of the body in order to cause the apparatus to pivot, this finger being associated with remote-control means (23, 24, 35) for moving it. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to an apparatus for automatically cleaning a surface immersed in a liquid, in particular the walls and bottom of a swimming pool. It relates to a device of the type comprising an electric motor for driving the device along the submerged surface and a filtration chamber associated with an electric pump integrated in the device to generate a circulation of liquid in said filtration chamber.

An apparatus of this type is described in particular in U.S. Patent ^No. 4,168,557; such an apparatus has several qualities, in particular that of having its own filter which can be removed and cleaned easily (which avoids clogging the filter of the technical installation of the swimming pool).

However, in this type of device, the user has no possibility of acting on the trajectory of the device and, in practice, the users try to bring the devices to the areas not cleaned by pulling on the cable. electric which is very inconvenient and very imprecise.

The present invention proposes to remedy the above-mentioned faults of cleaning devices of the type mentioned above comprising an electric drive motor and an on-board electric pump.

One objective is to authorize, if necessary, precise and easy control of the trajectory followed by the aircraft.

To this end, the automatic cleaning apparatus targeted by the invention comprises a hollow body, members for driving said body on the surface to be cleaned, a reversible electric motor arranged in the body to transmit a rotational movement to said members. drive, means for supplying power to said motor comprising means for sequential reversal of the direction of the electric current, a filtration chamber situated inside the body, a liquid inlet to the filtration chamber situated at the base of the body, a pump driven by an electric motor for causing the liquid to circulate in the filtration chamber, and an outlet for the liquid discharged by the pump, disposed opposite the base of the body; according to the present invention, the apparatus comprises at least one movable finger arranged on one side of the body so as to be able to have two positions, a passive position where said finger is set back relative to the plane of contact of the drive members with the surface submerged, and an active position where said finger comes to or exceeds this plane, said finger being associated with remote control means adapted to cause its displacement from one position to the other.

Preferably two movable fingers will be arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axial plane of the body; these independently controlled fingers allow the user to rotate the device in one direction or the other, acting, when they come in the active position, as a pivoting and braking member around which the device rotates naturally through the effect of its training.

According to a particular embodiment, the remote control means of each finger comprise:
- an electromagnet provided with a core constituted by said finger, which is arranged so as to be in its active position when said electromagnet is excited,
means of electrical excitation of said electromagnet,
- And means for returning the finger to its passive position in the absence of excitation.

• - la figure 1 est une vue schématique en perspective de l'appareil,
• - la figure 2 en est une coupe par un plan longitudinal axial AA′,
• - la figure 3 en est une coupe par un plan transversal BB′,
• - la figure 4 est un schéma de principe des liaisons électriques de l'appareil,
• - la figure 5 est un schéma bloc des moyens d'alimentation électrique du moteur de pompe et du moteur d'entraînement,
• - la figure 6 est un schéma en perspective illustrant l'appareil en fonctionnement dans une piscine,
• - la figure 7 est un schéma illustrant le fonctionnement de l'appareil dans le cas de deux piscines de dimensions différentes,
• - les figures 8 et 9 sont des schémas illustrant deux types de travail différents correspondant à deux réglages différents de l'appareil.

Other characteristics, aims and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows with reference to the appended drawings which present by way of nonlimiting example an apparatus according to the invention and illustrate its operation; on these drawings which form an integral part of this description:

• FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the device,
• - Figure 2 is a section through a plane longitudinal axial AA ′,
• FIG. 3 is a section through a transverse plane BB ′,
• FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the electrical connections of the device,
• FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the electrical supply means for the pump motor and the drive motor,
• FIG. 6 is a perspective diagram illustrating the apparatus in operation in a swimming pool,
• FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the apparatus in the case of two swimming pools of different dimensions,
• - Figures 8 and 9 are diagrams illustrating two different types of work corresponding to two different settings of the device.

The device shown by way of example in the figures is made up of two parts, one 1 submerged, constituting the device itself (Figures 1, 2, 3), the other formed by means of power supply to said device which is housed in a box 3 located outside the liquid at the edge of the swimming pool (Figures 4, 5 and 6). The device 1 and its supply means are connected by sheathed electrical conductors which form a sealed cable which can be seen in 4 in Figures 1 and 6; the cable 4 has an appropriate length to allow the device 1 to access all the areas of the submerged surface of the pool.

The device 1 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) consists of a body 5 open at its base, the latter being equipped with a closure plate 6 provided with inlets 6a for sucking the liquid in the vicinity of the surface to clean ; these inlets are preferably provided with valves preventing the exit of impurities or residues, when the device is no longer under suction.

The body 5 is provided at its upper part with a discharge outlet 7, located opposite the base of said body so as to discharge the liquid in a direction orthogonal thereto.

The body 5 is internally equipped with a sealed casing 8 which is housed therein along its transverse axis as shown in the figures. This casing comprises externally, on its transverse walls and under its bottom, ribs such as 9.

The body 5 forms around the casing 8 a filtration chamber 5a equipped with a flexible filtration pocket 10 which is fixed to the base of the body around the periphery of the plate 6. This pocket is formed by a membrane of a flexible mesh material or knitted of a type known per se; under the effect of the suction, it bears against the ribs 9 of the casing 8 which keep it at a distance from the latter, so that the filtration takes place through almost the entire surface of the pocket 10.

Furthermore, the casing 8 contains, on the one hand, an electric pump motor 11 disposed in a central zone thereof, on the other hand, a reversible drive motor 12 disposed in the eccentric position transversely to this central area.

The pump motor 11 drives a propeller or axial impeller 14 through a shaft 13, which is disposed in a sleeve 15 for guiding the flow, inserted in the outlet 7.

The drive motor 12 drives by a shaft 16 a transmission wheel 17 which is connected by rubberized belts 18 to two wheels such as 19, arranged at the two longitudinal ends of the body. Each of these wheels drives a transverse cylindrical roller 20 covered by a flexible sleeve of cellular polyurethane foam 21. The two sleeves 21 are arranged to come into contact with the immersed surface and fulfill the double function of generating a progression of the device in one direction or the other depending on the direction of rotation of the motor 12, and to ensure a brushing of the surface tending to detach the impurities or deposits therefrom, which are then sucked into the filtration chamber 5a.

The windings of the pump motor 11 and those of the drive motor 12 are supplied with low voltage (in particular 12 or 24 volts) by two pairs of sheathed conductors grouped in the waterproof cable 4 already mentioned.

In addition, a float 22 formed by a hollow cylinder is articulated above the body 5 on the sides of the latter in a transverse plane. This float which can contain a mobile weight such as a lead ball, cooperates with the off-center of the motor 12 to unbalance the device when it is at the level of the water line; it thus conditions a lateral movement of the device along this line. The float 22 is also used to grip the device during handling.

Furthermore, the body 5 carries on either side two electromagnets 23 and 24 which are fixed externally in the vicinity of the base thereof; these electromagnets are arranged in the transverse plane of symmetry so that the one which is located on the side of the transmission means (17, 18, 19) comes to be housed below the transmission wheel 17. Flanges such as 25 are fixed on either side of the body to protect these electromagnets and the transmission means.

Each electromagnet 23 or 24, the winding of which is sealed in a block of resin, is provided with a magnetic core which is in the form of a vertical direction finger 26 provided at the top with an enlarged head 26a and in the lower part of a non-slip heel 26b; a spring 27 biases the finger 26 upwards and, in the absence of excitation, maintains it in a passive high position, in which its heel 26b is located set back relative to the plane passing through the low generatrices of the sleeves 21 (contact plane with the submerged surface).

Each electromagnet is arranged so that, when its winding is excited, the finger undergoes a downward movement which brings it into an active low position in which its lower heel 26b is located projecting from the contact plane cited above. Thus, in this position, the device pivots around the finger and the user can cause said device to veer from a precise angle determined by adjusting the excitation time of the electromagnet considered.

The windings of the electromagnets 23 and 24 are electrically supplied with low voltage by four sheathed conductors which are either integrated into the cable 4 (device originally comprising said electromagnets), or joined in another cable attached to the first by conventional attachment means (optional guide, added later).

Figure 4 is a block diagram of the electrical connections of the device. This figure shows at 28 the two conductors through which the pump motor 11 is supplied, at 29 the two conductors through which the drive motor 12 is supplied, at 30 the two conductors through which the electromagnet 23 is excited and at 31 the two conductors by which the electromagnet 24 is excited.

These four pairs of conductors are connected to the box 3 already mentioned, located at the edge of the swimming pool; this sealed box is connected by incoming conductors 32 to a low voltage electrical source.

The conductors 28 and 29 which supply the pump motor 11 and the drive motor 12 are connected to a power supply unit 33 which receives the low voltage and an example of which will be described later with reference to FIG. 5. The conductors 30 and 31 for excitation of the electromagnets are connected to the low voltage through, on the one hand, a voltage adapter 34 of conventional type, on the other hand, a mobile control box 35 that the user can take in hand to guide the device by appropriately exciting said electromagnets.

This control box 35 is connected to the box 3 by a cable 36 which, in addition to the excitation control conductors, contains conductors for manual reversal of the direction of the drive motor 12; these conductors are connected to the power supply 33 and, as will be seen below, the action of the manual reversing button of the housing 35 is validated when the block 33 is placed in the state corresponding to manual operation.

As illustrated in Figure 5, block 33 below above mentioned includes:
- a MANUAL / AUTOMATIC switch 37 allowing either manual or automatic operation of the device,
- a potentiometer 38 for adjusting the pump cut-off frequency,
- a potentiometer 39 for adjusting the pump cut-off time,
- and a potentiometer for adjusting the frequency of reversals of the drive motor 12.

The supply circuit attached to the pump motor 11 comprises two comparators 41 and 42 which receive, on the one hand, different reference voltages generated by a voltage divider 43, on the other hand, the adjustable voltages from the potentiometers 38 and 39. These potentiometers allow the charging and discharging of a polarized capacitor 44 and are themselves polarized by diodes 45.

The negative voltage from the potentiometer 39 and from the discharge of the capacitor 44 is compared in the comparator 42 to the reference voltage and causes a flip-flop 46 to topple when it reaches this reference voltage.

From this instant the pump motor which was stopped during the discharge of the capacitor 44 is supplied by the effect of the control signal from the flip-flop 46: this signal is amplified in an output stage 47 and is delivered to an interface 48 voltage adaptation when the switch 37 is in the automatic position; the interface 48 delivers a control signal adapted to the power stage 49 (relay or other) which supplies the pump 11.

From the moment of switching of the flip-flop 46, the capacitor 44 is recharged through the potentiometer 38; when the charging voltage becomes equal to the reference voltage of the comparator 41, the rocker is again switched and delivers a signal causing the pump motor 11 to stop and the cycle can be repeated.

The parameters of the components are adjusted so as to obtain the following adjustment ranges:
- duration of a pump cut-off between 1˝ and 60˝,
- cutoff frequency between 10 and 360 cuts / hour.

The supply circuit attached to the drive motor 12 is similar to the previous one, with the following differences.

It includes only one adjustment potentiometer 40, the other being replaced by a predetermined resistor 50 which has the function of producing, on each reversal, a short delay for energizing of opposite sign.

In addition, at the output of the amplification stage 51, the signal is divided by 2 in a divider 52 and is sent with the initial signal in logic gates 53 and 54 which operate alternately, with a delay time between two opposite half-waves. When the switch 37 is in the automatic position, these alternations generate positive or negative power for the motor 12.

The resistance 50 can be adjusted as a function of the parameters of the other components so that the successive edges of two successive opposite half-waves are offset by a time of the order of 3˝; this delay allows the motor to stop naturally at each reversal and to start in the opposite direction without risk of deterioration.

The potentiometer 40 can be chosen as a function of the parameters of the other components to obtain a range of adjustment of the inversion frequency of between 5 and 360 inversions / hour.

Of course the above-mentioned circuits are only an example of an embodiment and other types of control can be provided.

The operation of the device is explained below in Figures 7, 8 and 9.

When the pump motor 11 is switched off, the device is no longer applied against the submerged surface by reaction of the outgoing flow through the outlet 7; if it is on a flat surface (pool bottom), the slightest action exterior modifies its trajectory and in particular the slight traction of cable 4 causes it to deviate (this cut with deviation from trajectory is shown diagrammatically in P en in FIG. 7). If, on the contrary, the device is on a vertical or very inclined surface (pool walls), it slides along it until it comes into contact with the bottom (point P₂ in Figure 7).

Thus the combination of sequential cuts of the pump and non-simultaneous sequential reversals of the drive motor leads to a trajectory, having a random character at the level of each modification, but which overall can be adapted to a given job.

For example, it is possible to adapt this trajectory so as to carry out a uniform scanning of a given swimming pool. To illustrate this ability, we have shown diagrammatically in FIG. 7 two swimming pools of different dimensions superimposed one on the other.

It is assumed in both cases that the speed of progression of the device is 0.2 m / s.

The parameter settings are as follows: Small pool Pump motor Cutoff frequency: 120 / hour Duration of each cut: 6 "to 35" Drive motor Inversion frequency: 60 / hour Large pool Pump motor Cutoff frequency: 80 / hour Duration of each cut: 10 "to 35" Drive motor Reversal frequency: 40 / hour

The pump cut-off time is longer in the case of a large pool, to give the device time to slide completely along the vertical walls if it is at the water line (this pool being assumed to be deeper than the small pool). The setting of the cut-off time determines the amplitude of the angular deviation carried out at each cut.

In each swimming pool, the inversion frequency is expected to be low enough so that the device has time to cover the greatest length without retracing its steps. The pump cut-off frequency is expected to be higher so that the device slides along the vertical walls shortly after reaching the water line. If the device traverses the pool lengthwise, an intermediate cut (P₁) leads to a deviation from its trajectory. As can be understood from the diagram in FIG. 7, suitable adjustments of the above-mentioned parameters make it possible in both cases of swimming pools to obtain a uniform scanning thereof without premature return of the device during journeys and without that it remains too long along the water line (in the figures, P is the symbol of a cut in the pump and I that of a reversal of the direction of progression).

Furthermore, we have shown diagrammatically in FIG. 8 the trajectory of an apparatus adjusted to clean the bottom of a swimming pool pit. The inversions are adjusted at a frequency such that the path of the device between two inversions is of the order of the length of the pit. The pump cutoff frequency is set to a higher value so as to cause deviations from frequent trajectories; in addition, the duration of the cuts is also expected to be of a higher value in order to generate greater deviations.

Figure 9 illustrates the opposite case where the user wishes to clean more particularly the vertical walls and the water line. The inversion frequency is provided at a very low value (5 to 10 / hour), the inversion being essentially intended to avoid any possible jamming of the device in a corner. The cut-off frequency of the pump is on the contrary adjusted to a much higher value depending on the height of the vertical walls to be cleaned, in order to lead to a trajectory of the type of that of FIG. 9. After the device has fallen, -this goes up along the wall, arrives at the water line, moves transversely under the effect of the imbalance already mentioned, until a new cut of pump makes it fall.

Experiments in basins of Different forms have shown that it is easy after a few trial and error to find the optimal values of the parameters of the device according to the desired cleaning work.

We understand the flexibility of use that allows such a device in the absence of any random generator.

Claims (4)

1 / - Apparatus for cleaning a surface immersed in a liquid, comprising a hollow body (5), members for driving said body on the surface to be cleaned (21), a reversible electric motor (12) arranged in the body for transmitting a rotational movement to said drive members, means for supplying power to said motor comprising means for sequentially reversing the direction of the electric current, a filtration chamber (5a) located inside the body, an inlet (6a) of liquid to the filtration chamber located at the base of the body, a pump (14) driven by an electric motor (11) to cause the liquid to circulate in the filtration chamber, and an outlet (7) for the liquid driven back by the pump, disposed opposite the base of the body, said cleaning device being characterized in that it comprises at least one movable finger (26) arranged on one side of the body so as to be able to have two positions, one position passive where said finger is at r andtract relative to the contact plane of the drive members with the submerged surface, and an active position where said finger comes at or exceeds this plane, said finger being associated with remote control means (23, 24 , 35) adapted to generate its displacement from one position to the other. 2 / - Cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises two movable fingers (26) arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axial plane of the body, each finger being associated with remote control means (23, 24, 35 ) to control it independently of the other finger. 3 / - Cleaning device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the remote control means of each finger comprise:
- an electromagnet (23, 24) provided with a core constituted by said finger, which is associated so as to be in its active position when said electromagnet is excited,
means of electrical excitation of said electromagnet,
- And means (27) for returning the finger to its passive position in the absence of excitation. 4 / - Cleaning device according to claim 3, characterized in that the electromagnet (s) (23, 24) are joined by sheathed conductors (30, 31) to their electrical excitation means (34, 35) located in a box (3) outside the liquid.

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