US20080295264A1

US20080295264A1 - Swimming pool cleaning vehicle

Info

Publication number: US20080295264A1
Application number: US12/044,931
Authority: US
Inventors: Wing-kin HUI; Fong-man Hui
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Smartpool LLC
Priority date: 2007-04-03
Filing date: 2008-03-07
Publication date: 2008-12-04
Also published as: CN101280633A; EP1980686A2; CN100593621C; EP1980686A3

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a swimming pool cleaning vehicle including a housing having an outer shell and defining a hollow interior. The housing having at least one intake port and at least one outlet port. The intake port(s) being located adjacent the drive mechanism. The pool cleaning vehicle includes a drive mechanism which in different embodiments has pairs of wheels and/or rollers and various combinations thereof for moving the vehicle. The vehicle includes a bottom and the bottom is concaved inwardly toward the interior.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of swimming pool cleaning vehicles, and more particularly the invention relates to improvement on its bottom design for preventing the swimming pool cleaning vehicle from becoming stuck or hung as it runs along the floor of the swimming pool from various floor obstacles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Existing swimming pool cleaners can be classified by the means for moving the cleaner along the pool, for example wheel, roller, belt or hydraulic propulsion type. Prior art construction is illustrated in FIG. 1 which consists of the following: an exterior body (100) which forms a hollow interior (110), at least one intake port (120) located on the said body (100); at least one filter bag (130) filtering water receiving from intake port (120). The filter bag is located inside the hollow interior (110) of the body (100); at least one outlet port (140) located on the body (100) and at least one water pump (150) placed under the said water outlet port (140) for pumping water out from the body (100), creating the partial vacuum and water flow inside the body (100) required in order to pull up dirt and debris at swimming pool floor, ensure water with debris could enter the body (100) through the intake port (120), a filter bag(130) which secured by the inside edge of intake port (120), filtering the dirt and debris and cleaning the swimming pool water. Moreover, there are wheels and/or rollers (160) placed at the corresponding body (100) bottom, the wheels and/or rollers (160) are driven by motor inside/outside the body (100) or jet propelled, moving the unit around in a swimming pool.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, existing swimming pool cleaner bottoms are generally flat. The bottom has at least one intake port. Since swimming pool cleaner has to suck water in through this intake port, the intake port cannot have floor clearance which is too high. If it is too high, debris set at swimming pool floor cannot be picked up by the limited partial vacuum and water flow generated by the water pump. If it is too low, as illustrated in FIG. 2 which has the main drain on certain type of swimming pools, or naturally formed uneven obstacles. For example, a layer up to 2″ thick sand is laid under PVC film liner for water proof purpose when a new swimming pool is constructed. After this type of swimming pool is used in a period of time, it will have foot prints of different sizes by swimming pool users. Swimming pools of such construction naturally have an uneven pool floor causing the typical swimming pool cleaner to become stuck or at least not run normally or cause extra drive motor wear caused because of slippage, which prevents the swimming pool cleaner from operating normally, and even running the risk of being hit and damaged, causing higher defective rate and higher maintenance cost.
To handle the above mentioned existing problems, known design raises the floor clearance as illustrated in FIG. 3. By adding a skirt (300) at the intake port, the segregated dirt is stirred up when the swimming pool cleaner moves. Such a skirt (300) is made of elastic material or makes a hinge such as elastic axle between the skirt (300) and intake port, enabling the skirt (300) to swing when it meets segregated dirt and stir the dirt without affecting swimming pool cleaner motion. The skirt actually lowers the effective floor clearance at the intake port. If the skirt (300) is lowered too far, it will have the effect of only pushing the segregated dirt around and therefore segregated dirt will not be sucked up into the swimming pool cleaner body. One drawback to such a skirt is that it could be caught by uneven swimming pool floor. If the skirt remains closed, the cleaner cannot pass dirt through its filter. On the other hand, a non-closed skirt cannot limit the water flow and therefore cannot generate enough partial vacuum and flow rate to bring debris and segregated dirt up to be filtered.
What is needed is a swimming pool cleaner, which will clean the pool floor without getting stuck as it does so.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of this invention is to make a swimming pool cleaner that overcomes swimming pool floor obstacles as it operates normally along the pool floor.
To achieve this objective, the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with this invention, comprises:

- a body shell including a hollow interior, at least one inlet port on the body, and
- at least one outlet port on the body
- means for moving the vehicle; and
- the body having a bottom which defines a concave surface, directed toward the hollow interior.

In one exemplary embodiment in accordance with the swimming pool cleaning vehicle of the invention, the bottom is symmetrical along one or both of its longitudinal and/or lateral axis.
In another exemplary embodiment in accordance with the swimming pool cleaning vehicle of the invention, the means for moving the vehicle includes a variety of combination of wheels and/or rollers.
In another exemplary embodiment in accordance with the swimming pool cleaning vehicle of the invention, the bottom is significantly concave inwards.
In another exemplary embodiment in accordance with the swimming pool cleaning vehicle of the invention, the means for moving the vehicle is adjacent the water inlet port facing downwards.
In another exemplary embodiment in accordance with the swimming pool cleaning vehicle of the invention, a water inlet port is adjacent more than one means for moving the vehicle.
In another exemplary embodiment in accordance with the swimming pool cleaning vehicle of the invention, a water inlet port is adjacent at each means for moving the vehicle.
It is an advantage of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with invention to overcome obstacles on the pool surface while operating without affecting the partial vacuum and water flow required at water inlet port.
It is another advantage of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with invention to efficiently suck up dirt and debris into the swimming pool cleaning vehicle filter bag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a further understanding of the objects and advantages of the present invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which like parts are given like reference numerals and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows the existing swimming pool cleaner construction.

FIG. 2 shows the existing swimming pool cleaner becoming stuck when it encountering obstacles.

FIG. 3 shows the existing swimming pool cleaner having a skirt at the water intake port.

FIG. 4 shows the construction of a swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 5 shows the construction of another exemplary embodiment of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 6 shows the construction of another exemplary embodiment of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To explain the objects and advantages of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention, the following description of the drawing and the exemplary embodiments are provided in detail. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the exemplary embodiments are provided to explain the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention in detail and not to be used to limit its scope.
The swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention improves the art by providing a swimming pool cleaner with concave bottom to ensure the vehicle can easily overcome obstacles found on the pool surface. Additionally, by locating the water intake port adjacent to the vehicle's drive means, either using wheels and/or rollers water with dirt and debris is most likely to be sucked into the swimming pool cleaner interior and filtered.
FIG. 4 illustrates the construction of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention in a first exemplary embodiment. The first embodiment includes: an outer shell (400) having a hollow interior (410). Additionally, one or more water intake ports (420) are provided on the outer shell (400). A filtering mechanism including one or more filter bags (430) are provided inside the hollow interior (410) or in another emobodiement on the outer shell (400) for filtering water from water intake ports (420) and the filter mechanism traps the debris.
One or more water outlet ports (440) are provided on the outer shell (400). The vehicle includes a water pump mechanism including one or more water pumps (450) placed under the corresponding water outlet port (440) for pumping water from outer shell (400) to outside pool water.
The drive mechanism of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention includes a certain number of wheels and/or rollers and various combination thereof. The wheels and/or rollers (460) (this disclosure assigns 460 on both wheels and rollers) are located adjacent the bottom (480) of the outer shell (400).
If only wheels (460) are provided, the wheel (460) will comprise 2 pairs located on the bottom (480) of the outer shell. Quite clearly to those skilled in the art, it is clear that 3 or more pairs of wheels (460) could be located on the bottom (480) in another exemplary embodiment.
If only rollers (460) are provided, the roller (460) will be generally 2 members, each member located on the ends of bottom (480) of the outer shell (400). Quite clearly to those skilled in the art, 3 or more rollers (460) could be located on the bottom (480) in another exemplary embodiment.
If a combination of wheels and rollers (460) are provided, normally one pair of wheels and 1 roller member will be located oneach end of bottom(480). Quite clearly to those skilled in the art, more pairs of wheels and rollers (460) could be placed at the bottom(480) of the outer shell (400) an another exemplary embodiment.
The wheels and/or rollers (460) are driven by motor placed inside or outside the outer shell (400). The pairs of wheels and/or rollers (460) can also be hydraulically propelled e.g. via water jet via pressurized water generated by water pump placed inside or outside the outer shell (400). (Not shown in the illustration).
In the exemplary embodiment shown here he swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention runs around the pool surface without being affected by floor obstacles. The 480 is concaved inwardly toward the hollow interior. This allows the swimming pool cleaner easily overcome swimming pool floor obstacles such as the main drain cover or even steps.
In various exemplary embodiments, the bottom (480) is symmetrically concave or asymmetrically concave. In one exemplary embodiment the bottom (480) has two drive members. In one embodiment, the drive mechanism includes two pairs of wheels (460). In another exemplary embodiment there are two roller members (460). In thiis embodiment, the bottom (480) is a front to back symmetrical while being concaved inwardly either between front wheel and rear wheel, or between front roller and rear roller. If more than 3 pairs of wheel or 3 rollers are used, the body shell (400) bottom (480) is symmetrical front to back and concaved inwardly between adjacent wheels or rollers. Furthermore, amount of the bottom being concave inwardly can be increased to accommodate greater swimming pool floor obstacles.
Since the bottom (480) is concaved inwardly, most of the bottom (480) has a high floor clearance. In order to ensure water intake port (420) will suck in water with dirt and debristhe intake port is located adjacent to the the drive mechanism, namely the wheels and/or rollers or combinations thereof. It will be appreciated that during operation of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention, the floor clearance remains unchanged.
In the above exemplary embodiment, the water intake port (420) is located on the bottom (480) and closely adjacent to the drive mechanism. Also, as will be appreciated to those skilled in the art, the required partial vacuum and water flow at the water intake port (420) remains effective so that dirt and debris are easily sucked up into the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention.
In one exemplary embodiment, the water intake port (420) points downwards. In another exemplary embodiment, the water intake port (420) is located closely adjacent to the drive mechanism.
It will be appreciated that the number of water intake ports (420) in other exemplary embodiments varies according to the cleaning needs. Additional water intake ports are provided as needed.
Another exemplary embodiment of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention is illustrated in FIG. 5. In this exemplary embodiment the bottom (480) is asymmetrically concaved inwardly. The bottom (480) includes a variety of wheel and roller (460) combinations the bottom (480) is asymmetrically concaved inwardly between front roller and rear wheel. In another exemplary embodiment, the bottom is asymmetrically concaved inwardly between the front and rear drive mechanisms. The asymmetricly concaved bottom is defined by more than one curved surface. The water intake port (420) is located on the bottom (480), and located adjacent the drive mechanism.
Another exemplary embodiment of the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention is illustrated in FIG. 6. In this exemplary embodiment, the water intake port (420) is located on the bottom (480) and directly under the drive mechanism.
This location has the lowest clearance between vehicle and swimming pool floor. The water intake port (42) here allows the dirt and debris to be sucked up into the vehicle easily. In this exemplary embodiment the water intake port (420) opening points downward toward the pool surface, while in operation
In conclusion, the swimming pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with the invention includes the vehicle having a concaved bottom for overcoming swimming pool floor obstacles as it runs along the swimming pool surface.
While the foregoing detailed description has described several embodiments of the pool cleaning vehicle in accordance with this invention, it is to be understood that the above description is illustrative only and not limiting of the disclosed invention. It will be appreciated there are also various modifications to the vehicle that are suitable for use in the exemplary embodiments discussed above and that there are numerous embodiments that are not mentioned but within the scope and spirit of this invention. Thus, the invention is to be limited only by the claims as set forth below.

Claims

1. A swimming pool cleaning vehicle, comprising:

a housing having an outer shell, and defining a hollow interior the housing including at least one water intake port on the outer shell and at least one outlet port on the outer shell; and

the housing including drive mechanism for propelling the vehicle along the pool surface; and

the housing having a bottom, the bottom being concaved inwardly towards the interior.

2. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bottom is symmetrically concaved inwardly.

3. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 1 wherein the drive mechanism comprises a plurality of wheels.

4. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the bottom is asymmetrically concave.

5. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in of claim 4, wherein the bottom has a lateral and a longitudinal axis and wherein the bottom is asymmetrical along one of the axis.

6. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein deeply concaved inwardly.

7. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in of claim 1, wherein the intake ports open towards the bottom.

8. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in any of claims 1-7, wherein the water intake port is located proximate the drive mechanism.

9. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 8, wherein the drive mechanicism includes at least two pairs of wheels and wherein the housing has openings for the wheels.

10. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 9, wherein the bottom includes intake ports and wherein there is an intake port located at each wheel opening. pg,15

11. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism comprises at least two rollers.

12. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism comprises a combination of wheels and rollers.

13. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 5, wherein the housing is asymmetrical on one side of the lateral axis.

14. The swimming pool cleaning vehicle as set forth in claim 5, wherein the housing is asymmetrical on one side of the lateral axis at least one side of the lateral axis and one side of the longitudinal axis.