Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04H—BUILDINGS OR LIKE STRUCTURES FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSES; SWIMMING OR SPLASH BATHS OR POOLS; MASTS; FENCING; TENTS OR CANOPIES, IN GENERAL
  • E04H4/00—Swimming or splash baths or pools
  • E04H4/14—Parts, details or accessories not otherwise provided for
  • E04H4/16—Parts, details or accessories not otherwise provided for specially adapted for cleaning
  • E04H4/1654—Self-propelled cleaners

Definitions

• the invention relates to a surface cleaner device immersed in a liquid, in particular a swimming pool.
• Some known pool cleaner devices including:
• a filtration chamber formed in said hollow body and having: at least one liquid inlet in the hollow body situated at the base and in front of said hollow body,
• a hydraulic circuit adapted to ensure a circulation of liquid between each inlet and each outlet through a filtering device housed in the filtration chamber, under the effect of a pumping device.
• the hydraulic circuit extends in the filtration chamber vertically from bottom to top, and at the front and rear of a pump motor that is arranged vertically, usually in the center of the hollow body. It is considered that this provision promotes the efficiency of the pump by minimizing pressure losses and optimizing the flow and filtration.
• an access hatch to the filtration device must be provided for the dismantling of the latter for cleaning.
• the access hatch to the filtration device must be located at the base of the hollow body, the liquid inlets then necessarily being equipped with non-return devices such as valves.
• this provision is not convenient for the user who must previously reverse the device, which can damage it and otherwise cause unpleasant unwanted flow.
• the hydraulic circuit must then have a particularly tortuous path (see for example US 6 409 916), expensive to manufacture, difficult to clean, and introducing significant losses in the circuit, which imposes in particular to oversize the pump motor.
• the filter device even when it is large, can clog relatively quickly due to some large debris such as dead leaves, which requires frequent cleaning of the filter device.
• the invention therefore aims to provide a submerged surface cleaner device whose performance / cost ratio is greatly improved over that of previous devices. More particularly, the invention aims to provide such a device whose cost can be substantially lowered, for equivalent performance, or even greater than those of known devices.
• the invention also aims at providing such an apparatus that may have an access hatch located on the top, but with a filtering device of improved efficiency, having a large debris storage volume and a simple hydraulic circuit and inducing low load losses.
• the invention relates to a submerged surface cleaning apparatus comprising:
• a filtration chamber formed in said hollow body and having: at least one liquid inlet in the hollow body located at the base and at the front of said hollow body,
• At least one liquid outlet out of the hollow body located at a distance from the base of the hollow body
• a hydraulic circuit adapted to ensure a circulation of liquid between each inlet and each outlet through a filtering device housed in the filtration chamber, under the effect of a pumping device,
• an access hatch for the filtering device arranged on an upper wall of the hollow body and adapted to allow the disassembly and extraction of the filter device from the hollow body for the purpose of cleaning it, characterized in that said filtering comprises at least one front opening in communication with at least one liquid inlet and at least one filtration and debris recovery volume delimited by filtering walls which extends longitudinally towards at least one liquid outlet, this filtration volume and recovering debris having a decreasing transverse cross-section of this front opening towards this liquid outlet so as to form, at least when said pumping device is active, a converging chamber for filtering the liquid flowing between this front opening and this outlet of liquid.
• a filtering device having at least one filtering and debris recovery volume converging from a liquid inlet to a liquid outlet makes it possible to ensure filtration of the essentially tangential type of the liquid circulating in the filtering device between this entrance and this exit.
• a filtering device of an apparatus according to the invention is free from any filtering wall normal to the direction of the flow of liquid.
• each volume of filtration and recovery of debris is exclusively delimited by filter walls, that is to say walls mainly formed of bodies permeable to water and impervious to debris.
• a filtering device of an apparatus according to the invention limits in particular effective clogging of all the walls of the filter device.
• the filtering device comprises a single front opening in communication with a single debris filtration and recovery volume and a single rear liquid outlet.
• At least one liquid outlet out of the hollow body, said rear outlet, is shifted rearwardly, in the longitudinal direction, of each liquid inlet with which it is in communication via the hydraulic circuit.
• This arrangement makes it possible to design the apparatus so as to recover directly, without loss of load, at least a portion of the residual hydraulic energy in the output stream to participate in driving the apparatus.
• an apparatus can be provided with a pump motor - in particular an electric pump motor - and a drive device - notably comprising at least one electric drive motor - which the power is reduced, and therefore consumption and reduced costs.
• a pump motor in particular an electric pump motor - and a drive device - notably comprising at least one electric drive motor - which the power is reduced, and therefore consumption and reduced costs.
• This also results in a lower overall volume and a lower weight of the apparatus which, in addition to the economy achieved, is an important advantage for the user, particularly in terms of handling, transport and storage of the apparatus. .
• the volume of filtration and debris recovery is arranged immediately downstream of a front opening of the filter device.
• the front opening of the filtering device is arranged immediately downstream of the liquid inlet in the hollow body of the apparatus.
• the filtering device extends from an end portion arranged in the vicinity of the base of the body of the apparatus to a rear end portion arranged in the vicinity of the opposite of the base of said body.
• the filtering device extends integrally between each liquid inlet and each liquid outlet.
• each volume of filtration and debris recovery is arranged immediately downstream of a front opening of the filter device.
• Each volume of filtration and debris recovery extends to the rear of the opening and under this opening.
• Such a volume of filtration and recovery of debris may, for example, be defined by a flexible or rigid debris filtration and recovery bag, a housing, a cassette, or any equivalent means.
• the only condition is that the structure defines a volume which has, when the pumping device is active, a decreasing transverse cross section from the front to the rear so as to form a converging filter chamber circulating between this front opening and this liquid outlet.
• the volume has such a convergence when the pumping device is inactive.
• the structure delimiting the volume of filtration and recovery of debris is rigid and has such a convergence, including when the pumping device is inactive.
• each front opening of the filtering device is arranged facing an upper end of a liquid inlet duct extending from at least one liquid inlet.
• liquid inlet duct having a rear wall, said non-return wall, extending transversely between said liquid inlet and said front opening, in front of said filtration volume and debris recovery.
• Such a rear transverse wall acts as a non-return wall and prevents debris out of the filtration volume and recovery of debris by a liquid inlet to return to the immersed surface through the front opening.
• This non-return wall extends in a generally vertical plane between an area behind the liquid inlet and the upper front opening of the filtration and debris recovery volume.
• this non-return wall extends over a major part of the height of the inlet duct, in particular over more than 75% of the height of the inlet duct.
• Such a volume of filtration and recovery of debris has, for example, a general shape of cone or half-cone.
• the axis along which this cone or this half-cone extends is substantially parallel to the plane of the immersed surface on which the apparatus according to the invention moves.
• each volume of filtration and recovery of debris is delimited by a lower filtering wall inclined in a direction not perpendicular to the direction connecting the front opening of the filtering device and the liquid outlet out of the hollow body with which this volume of filtration and debris recovery is in communication.
• this pocket has a lower wall inclined backwards and upwards from a bottom portion of the debris recovery bag in a direction not perpendicular to the direction connecting the front opening of the filter device and the liquid outlet out of the hollow body with which this volume of filtration and debris recovery is in communication.
• Such a wall having an orientation that is not perpendicular to the direction connecting the front opening of the filtering device and the liquid outlet makes it possible to guarantee that the general orientation of the liquid flowing between this front opening and this liquid outlet does not pass through this wall.
• frontally in a normal direction, but on the contrary with an incident direction according to, for example, an angle of between 20 ° and 70 ° relative to the wall, which makes it possible to limit the phenomena of clogging debris on this wall lower inclined.
• such an inclined lower wall provides a space between the base of the hollow body and this wall so that it is possible to arrange the apparatus of the apparatus such as one or more drive motors of the housing. on the immersed surface.
• This inclined lower wall may have any type of inclination that is not perpendicular to at least one direction - in particular each direction - connecting a front opening of the filtering device and a liquid outlet - particularly each liquid outlet - out of the hollow body.
• this filtering bottom wall has an inclination, with respect to the longitudinal direction, between 15 ° and 60 °.
• each volume of filtration and recovery of debris is delimited further by a generally horizontal upper wall extending from a front opening towards the rear and connected to said filtering bottom wall by a portion extreme rear extreme curve.
• each volume of filtration and recovery of the debris is delimited by a rigid frame and a filter web extending into openings formed by the rigid frame.
• Such a structure forms a rigid bag of filtration and recovery of debris.
• the hydraulic circuit comprises at least one axial pumping helix disposed downstream of the filtering device so as to generate a flow of liquid in a liquid outlet, said axial pumping propeller being coupled to a driving motor disposed under a rear portion of the filter device.
• the pumping motor is preferably arranged under the inclined lower wall of the filtration and debris collection bag.
• Such an arrangement confers on an apparatus according to the invention a compactness that significantly reduces the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the apparatus, which contributes to reducing the hydraulic drag of the apparatus.
• said axial pumping propeller is disposed in a cylindrical fairing forming the liquid outlet.
• the axial pumping helix and said cylindrical fairing are oriented so as to generate a flow of liquid in a direction making with said longitudinal direction, a non-zero angle and different from 90 °.
• An apparatus comprises an access hatch of the filtering device, arranged on an upper wall of the hollow body and adapted to allow the disassembly and extraction of the filter device from the hollow body for cleaning.
• the filtering device comprises ribs extending laterally on each side of the device. filtering and having a shape and dimensions shaped and conjugated to the shape and dimensions of integral grooves of the hollow body so as to allow the sliding of the filter device along the grooves to extract the filtering device of the hollow body by said trap door; 'access.
• the extraction of the filtering device of the hollow body by the upper hatch results from a displacement in translation of the filtering device along the grooves of the hollow body.
• a user can easily remove the filter device from the hollow body for example to clean it.
• the invention further relates to an apparatus for cleaning a submerged surface characterized in combination by all or some of the characteristics mentioned above or below.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a cleaning apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 2 is a schematic rear view of a cleaning apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a cleaning apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a filtering device according to one embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of an apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention having the open hatch and the filtering device extracted from the apparatus from this open hatch,
• FIG. 6 is a simplified schematic sectional view of the Figure 3 showing the apparatus in operation on a submerged surface.
• An apparatus comprises a hollow body 1 and rolling bodies 2, 3, 4 for guiding and driving the hollow body 1 on a surface immersed in at least one privileged direction of advancement and in a main direction of advancement, said longitudinal direction, parallel to the immersed surface.
• This hollow body 1 is formed mainly of a concave casing delimiting a main enclosure.
• This concave casing is for example made by molding or rotational molding.
• This housing is preferably made of a thermoplastic material, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, ABS, PMMA or any equivalent material.
• This hollow body 1 has a central chamber adapted to receive a filtration chamber.
• This central chamber is delimited by a lower wall extending in a substantially horizontal plane; by sidewalls extending generally in vertical planes; by a wall 37 before extending generally in a vertical plane, orthogonal to the planes of the vertical side walls; and a rear wall 38 extending generally in a vertical plane orthogonal to the planes of the vertical side walls.
• the lower wall has an opening extending transversely adjacent the wall 37 before such that liquid can enter the central chamber through this lower transverse opening. This opening forms an inlet 9 of liquid in the hollow body 1.
• the rear wall 38 includes a cylindrical opening forming a liquid outlet 10 out of the hollow body 1.
• This liquid outlet 10 formed in the rear wall 38 of the casing is longitudinally offset from the inlet 9 liquid in the bottom wall.
• this liquid outlet 10 is arranged in the upper part of the casing so that it is also vertically offset from the inlet 9 of liquid.
• This central chamber, this liquid inlet 9 and this liquid outlet 10 form a filtration chamber 8.
• This filtration chamber 8 further comprises a hydraulic circuit adapted to ensure a flow of liquid between the inlet 9 of liquid and the outlet 10 of liquid through a filtering device 11.
• the transverse opening in the bottom wall of the housing forms the liquid inlet 9 of the apparatus and the cylindrical opening in the rear wall of the apparatus forms the liquid outlet of the apparatus.
• the inlet 9 of liquid and the outlet 10 of liquid are centered on a same longitudinal vertical plane of the apparatus.
• the central chamber of the hollow body 1 is adapted to receive a filtering device 11.
• the filtering device 11 is arranged between the inlet 9 of liquid and the outlet 10 of liquid.
• this filtering device 11 comprises an opening 54 before in communication with the inlet 9 of liquid and a volume 55 of filtration and recovery of debris.
• This volume 55 filtration and recovery of debris is delimited by a pocket 55 rigid.
• this volume may be delimited by a flexible bag, a housing, a cassette and any other equivalent device.
• This pocket 55 extends between the opening 54 before and the outlet 10 of liquid.
• a filtering device 11 further comprises a liquid inlet conduit 15 extending from the liquid inlet 9 to the opening 54 before connected to the bag 55 for filtering and collecting debris.
• the front opening 54 is arranged facing the upper end of this liquid inlet duct 15 extending from the inlet 9 of liquid.
• This liquid inlet conduit 15 has a rear wall, called a non-return wall 16, arranged between the liquid inlet and the bag 55 for filtering and recovering debris.
• This bag 55 for filtering and recovering debris is formed of a rigid frame 26 and a filtering sheet-in particular a filtering cloth- extending into openings formed by this framework. It thus comprises, as shown in Figure 4, walls 56, 57, 58, 59 filtering and rigid.
• the filtering device 11 is therefore self-supporting and can be easily manipulated by a user.
• the bag 55 for filtering and recovering debris has a decreasing transverse cross-section from the front opening 54 to the liquid outlet 10 so as to form a convergent filtration chamber of the tangential type of the liquid circulating between the opening 54 before and the outlet 10 of liquid.
• the bag 55 for filtering and recovering debris has a bottom filter wall 56 inclined backwards and upwards from a bottom portion of the bag 55.
• This inclined lower wall 56 forms with the longitudinal direction an angle, which in the example shown is of the order of 45 °.
• This filter bag 55 further comprises a generally horizontal upper wall 57 and extending rearwardly from the opening 54 before.
• This filtering upper wall 57 is connected to the filtering lower wall 56 by a portion 61 upper extreme rear curve.
• the rearwardly curved portion 61 has a minimum transverse cross-section, whereas the portion of the pocket 55 opposite this curved portion 61, that is to say, at the level of the opening 54 before, has a cross section. transverse straight maximum.
• the filtration pocket 55 has a decreasing transverse cross section from the front opening 54 to the rearwardly curved portion 61, that is to say towards the rear exit.
• the filtration pocket 55 has a transverse cross section having the shape of a right triangle, the inclined lower wall 56 forming the hypotenuse.
• the apparatus also comprises a hatch 6 for access to this filtering device.
• This access hatch 6 forms an upper wall of the hollow body 1 and covers the latter.
• this hatch 6 is formed on the top of the apparatus so that a user of the apparatus can easily open the hatch 6 and extract the filter device 11.
• the access hatch 6 is articulated to the body 1 of the apparatus by hinges 23 arranged at the rear of the apparatus.
• the filtering device 11 is a device mounted in the central chamber of the hollow body 1 in the manner of a drawer.
• the rigid frame 26 of the filtering device 11 further has two ribs 25 extending laterally on each side of the filtering device 11. These ribs 25 have shapes and dimensions shaped and conjugate to the shapes and dimensions of grooves 24 integral with the hollow body 1. These grooves 24 integral with the hollow body 1 extend vertically along the inner faces of the vertical side walls of the hollow body 1.
• the ribs 25 of the filtering device 11 are therefore adapted to cooperate with the grooves 24 of the hollow body 1 of the apparatus.
• the extraction of the filtering device 11, as shown in FIG. 5, results from a displacement in translation of the filtering device 11 along the grooves 24 of the hollow body 1.
• a user can easily remove the filtering device 11 from the hollow body 1 for example to clean it.
• a user can easily reintroduce the filtering device 11 into the hollow body 1 by orienting the filtering device 11 so that the ribs 25 of the filtering device 11 are facing the grooves 24 of the filtering device 11. hollow body, then sliding the filtering device 11 into the hollow body 1.
• the filtering device 11 further comprises a handle 28 formed on an upper portion of the filtering device 11 so as to facilitate the handling of the filtering device 11.
• a user can easily assemble / disassemble the filtering device 11 via this handle 28 when the device is out of the liquid and rests on a horizontal surface.
• an apparatus comprises a motorized liquid pumping device comprising an electric pumping motor 12 having a rotary motor shaft 13 coupled to a pumping propeller 14 interposed in the hydraulic circuit so as to generate a flow of liquid therebetween the inlet 9 of liquid and the liquid outlet 10.
• the liquid outlet 10 is directly opposite the pumping propeller so that the liquid flows out of the liquid outlet 10 in a direction corresponding to the flow of liquid generated by the pumping propeller, this flow having a speed oriented along the axis 51 of rotation of the propeller 14.
• the pumping propeller 14 has an orientation for generating a liquid flow with a horizontal component to the rear.
• the pumping propeller 14 interposed in the hydraulic circuit between the liquid inlet 9 and the liquid outlet 10 has an inclined axis of rotation making, with said longitudinal direction and with the theoretical rolling plane 50, an angle ⁇ different from 90 °.
• This propeller 14 is rotated by the electric pumping motor 12 which preferably has a rotating motor shaft 13 parallel to the axis of rotation of the propeller 14.
• the electric pumping motor 12 is arranged under the hydraulic circuit, entirely outside this hydraulic circuit which entirely bypasses the pump motor 12 from above.
• the rotary shaft 13 of the pump motor 12 passes through an inclined lower wall defining the hydraulic circuit.
• the seal is provided by an O-ring 18.
• FIG. 6 shows a representation of the liquid flow in the hollow body 1 of the apparatus. This circulation is represented diagrammatically in FIG. 6 by the arrows 66.
• Liquid enters the hollow body 1 through the liquid inlet 9 arranged under the apparatus. This liquid passes into the liquid inlet duct 15 to reach the filtering device 11. This filtering device 11 passes the liquid through the filter cloth and retains the solid debris. The filtered liquid then reaches the liquid outlet 10 and is ejected at the rear of the apparatus, in the basin from which it comes.
• the orientation of the hydraulic reaction force created by this output flow, and therefore the amplitude of its longitudinal component depend on the inclination ⁇ , with respect to the theoretical rolling plane 50, of the axis 51 of rotation. of the propeller and the liquid outlet.
• this inclination ⁇ is between 15 ° and 45 °.
• the electric pumping motor is arranged under the hydraulic circuit, entirely outside this hydraulic circuit, so that the filtering device 1 1 of the hydraulic circuit can be removed from the apparatus from above. of the apparatus as previously mentioned, without being hindered by the pumping motor.
• Only the pumping propeller 14 is arranged in the hydraulic circuit so as to ensure the flow of liquid.
• This pumping propeller 14 is arranged at the rear of the apparatus, close to the liquid outlet 10. In other words, the pump propeller 14 and the liquid outlet 10 form the end portion of the hydraulic circuit.
• the rolling members for guiding and driving the apparatus comprise a front axle comprising front driving wheels, one on each side, and a rear axle comprising 3 non-drive rear wheels, one on each side.
• the apparatus comprises brushes 4 arranged at the front of the apparatus. These brushes 4 are intended to ensure a brushing of the immersed surface and to move the brushed debris towards the rear of the apparatus towards the inlet 9 of liquid arranged under the apparatus.
• the apparatus further comprises at least one electric motor for driving the front 2-wheel drive wheels.
• the apparatus comprises two drive motors, one on each side, respectively for the independent drive of each of the front wheels.
• each front wheel 2 has an internal toothing 5 cooperating with a pinion driven by the corresponding drive motor 20.
• Electric motors 20 drive and 12 pumping can be of any known type. According to a preferred embodiment, these electric motors are low voltage motors. They can be powered by a power supply external to the device via an electric cable, not shown in the figures, which is connected to the device at an input zone 19 of the electrical cable in the apparatus, as shown in FIG.
• the apparatus comprises two coaxial front brushes 4.
• Each brush 4 is adapted to be rotated about an axis extending in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.
• Each brush 4 comprises a plurality of fins 41 extending radially from a brush shaft forming the axis of rotation of the brush 4.
• the fins 41 are for example made of rubber made of a resistant plastic material.
• the brushes 4 are preferably also rotated from at least one electric drive motor 2 of the front wheels 2 via a gear system.
• the rolling members consist of front 2-wheel, non-driving rear 3 and brush 4 which participate in driving and guiding the device on the immersed surface.
• the rolling members 2, 3, 4 have areas intended to come into contact with the immersed surface which are coplanar and define a theoretical rolling plane 50.
• the longitudinal direction of advancement of the apparatus is parallel to this theoretical plane of rolling.
• the front wheels 2 preferably have a diameter of between 100 mm and 500 mm, in particular between 150 mm and 250 mm. According to the embodiment of the figures, the front wheels 2 have a diameter of the order of 200mm. In this way, these front wheels 2 facilitate the crossing of obstacles and have improved motor skills.
• their peripheral tread is formed or coated with a non-slip material
• the front wheels 2 and the brushes 4 constitute forward driving members 2, 4 which extend projecting forwardly relative to the other components of the apparatus, in particular the hollow body, so as to form the forward end of the apparatus and come first into contact with an obstacle encountered during the forward movement.
• the apparatus also comprises a maneuvering handle 7 allowing a user to wear the device to immerse in a liquid and out of the latter.
• This handle 7 is preferably arranged opposite the outlet 10 of liquid so that when the hollow body 1 is suspended by this handle, the apparatus switches spontaneously under the effect of gravity in a position in which the outlet 10 liquid is located under the inlet 9 of liquid, which allows a drain of the device.
• the appliance is moved from the cleaning position to the emptying position, the debris sucked by the appliance is held in the filtering device and is not likely to come out of the appliance.
• the filtering device 11 may have an upper wall forming the upper wall of the housing of the apparatus, so that a user can seize the device 11 directly. filtering and extracting the device
• the design and design of the device, including its hydraulic circuit are subject to infinite variants.
• the invention applies to a bidirectional apparatus capable of retrograde movement.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Filtration Of Liquid (AREA)
• Cleaning In General (AREA)
• Cleaning By Liquid Or Steam (AREA)
• Electrical Discharge Machining, Electrochemical Machining, And Combined Machining (AREA)
• Separation Using Semi-Permeable Membranes (AREA)
• Acyclic And Carbocyclic Compounds In Medicinal Compositions (AREA)
• Organic Low-Molecular-Weight Compounds And Preparation Thereof (AREA)

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• 2007
  • 2007-12-21 FR FR0708995A patent/FR2925550B1/fr active Active
• 2008
  • 2008-12-18 AT AT08865322T patent/ATE513962T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2008-12-18 AU AU2008339718A patent/AU2008339718B2/en active Active
  • 2008-12-18 WO PCT/FR2008/052369 patent/WO2009081059A2/fr active Application Filing
  • 2008-12-18 PT PT08865322T patent/PT2235296E/pt unknown
  • 2008-12-18 ES ES08865322T patent/ES2368474T3/es active Active
  • 2008-12-18 CA CA2709870A patent/CA2709870C/en active Active
  • 2008-12-18 US US12/808,436 patent/US8393030B2/en active Active
  • 2008-12-18 EP EP08865322A patent/EP2235296B1/de active Active
• 2010
  • 2010-07-20 ZA ZA2010/05173A patent/ZA201005173B/en unknown

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