Pool Cleaning Device With Adjustable Buoyant Element

• US 20120103365A1
• Filed: 11/02/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hayward Industries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hayward Industries, Inc.
• Inventors: SUMONTHEE, Jirawat
• Granted Patent: US 8,869,337 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 134/18
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 4/1654 Self-propelled cleaners

Abstract

An automatic pool cleaner has a plurality of components, some of which have a density greater than water, giving the cleaner an overall negative buoyancy. The cleaner has a buoyant element which is adjustable in position relative to the center of gravity of the cleaner. Adjusting the position of the buoyant element changes the probable motion path of the cleaner on the pool floor and on the walls to allow the cleaner to execute a variety of motion paths to clean various parts of the pool. The adjustable element may be slidably positioned by a handle extending through a slot in the housing or be slidable on a slide band attached to the housing, which may be pivotable, translatable and rotatable, providing an additional range of position alternatives. A selected position is held by a detent or other holding mechanism. The adjustable element permits the cleaner to be adapted to clean various pool shapes and surfaces.

Claims

1. A cleaner for cleaning surfaces of a pool containing water and having a plurality of elements, including a housing directing a flow of water, the housing having a water inlet and a water outlet, said plurality of elements being composed at least partially of materials having a density greater than water, said cleaner having a center of gravity and an overall negative buoyancy, comprising:

at least one buoyant element having a density less than water, said buoyant element being positionable at a selected position of a plurality of alternative positions relative to the center of gravity of said cleaner, said at least one buoyant element being retained in said selected position while said cleaner moves relative to the pool surfaces until being selectively repositioned at another of said plurality of alternative positions, said at least one buoyant element exerting a buoyancy force contributing to a biasing of said cleaner toward at least one specific orientation when said cleaner is in the water.

2. The cleaner of claim 1, wherein said cleaner has a plurality of buoyant elements including said at least one buoyant element, said plurality of buoyant elements exerting a resultant buoyant force on said cleaner at any given orientation of said cleaner, said resultant buoyant force being expressable as a force emanating from a center of buoyancy, said at least one specific orientation characterized by the resultant buoyant force acting in line with and opposite to the gravitational force, a first said at least one specific orientation having said center of buoyancy directly above the center of gravity and a second said at least one specific orientation having said center of buoyancy directly below said center of gravity.

3. The cleaner of claim 2, wherein, when said cleaner is not in said first specific orientation or in said second specific orientation, said resultant buoyant force is exerted at a distance from the gravitational force exerted on the center of gravity, said resultant buoyant force and the gravitational force acting as a couple biasing said cleaner toward said specific orientation.

4. The cleaner of claim 3, wherein the surface of the pool is a floor surface, a first of said plurality of alternative positions causing the resultant buoyancy force to be more distant from the center of gravity than a second of said alternative positions when viewed from a first perspective, said at least one buoyant element, when in said first of said plurality of alternative positions causing a more uneven distribution of weight on one side of said cleaner relative to another side than said second of said plurality of alternative positions, such that the side bearing the greater weight engages the pool surface more strongly than the side bearing the lesser weight.

5. The cleaner of claim 4, wherein said cleaner further comprises at least one motive element disposed on each of said one side and said another side of said cleaner, said cleaner movable by activating said motive elements, said first alternative position causing the motive element on said side bearing greater weight to engage the floor surface more strongly than said side bearing the lesser weight, causing the cleaner to turn when said motive elements are active in moving the cleaner, the arc of turning bending toward said side bearing the lesser weight.

6. The cleaner of claim 5, wherein said cleaner has a motor-driven impeller that creates a cleaning flow through said cleaner, said cleaning flow creating a down-force pushing the cleaner into contact with the pool surface on which it is moved and wherein said motive elements tend to drive said cleaner in a straight line when evenly engaged on the pool surface, said down-force urging said motive elements to evenly engage said floor surface and resist said buoyancy force which biases the cleaner to have an uneven weighting on one side compared to the other, thereby resisting the turning attributable to an uneven weighting, the resultant path of the cleaner being at least partially determined by the relative strengths of the frictional force that drives the cleaner on a straight path and the position and orientation of the resultant buoyancy force which biases the cleaner to turn, as at least partially determined by the position of said at least one buoyant element.

7. The cleaner of claim 3, wherein the surface of the pool is a wall surface, a first of said plurality of alternative positions causing the resultant buoyancy force to be more distant from the center of gravity than a second of said plurality of alternative positions when viewed from a perspective perpendicular to the wall surface, said at least one buoyant element, when in said first of said plurality of alternative positions causing a more uneven distribution of weight on one side of said cleaner relative to another side, such the cleaner is biased to turn on the wall surface until said cleaner achieves said at least one specific orientation, the arc of turning bending toward said side bearing the greater weight.

8. The cleaner of claim 7, wherein said cleaner has a motor-driven impeller that creates a cleaning flow through said cleaner, said cleaning flow creating a down-force pushing the cleaner into frictional engagement with the pool surface on which it is moved, said frictional engagement resisting said buoyancy force which biases the cleaner to turn on the wall surface.

9. The cleaner of claim 8, wherein said cleaner further comprises motive elements which tend to drive said cleaner in a straight line, said cleaner movable by activating said motive elements, said down-force causing said motive elements to engage said wall surface and resist said buoyancy force which biases the cleaner to turn on the wall surface, the resultant path of the cleaner being at least partially determined by the relative strengths of the frictional force that drives the cleaner on a straight path and the position and orientation of the resultant buoyancy force which biases the cleaner to turn, as at least partially determined by the position of said at least one buoyant element.

10. The cleaner of claim 1, wherein the center of gravity is substantially geometrically centralized when viewed from at least one perspective of top, bottom, left side, right side, front and rear perspectives.

11. The cleaner of claim 10, wherein the center of gravity is substantially geometrically centralized when viewed from at least two perspectives of top, bottom, left side, right side, front and rear perspectives.

12. The cleaner of claim 11, wherein the center of gravity is substantially geometrically centralized when viewed from more than two perspectives of top, bottom, left side, right side, front and rear perspectives.

13. The cleaner of claim 1, wherein the center of gravity is geometrically asymmetrically positioned when viewed from at least one perspective of top, bottom, left side, right side, front and rear perspectives.

14. The cleaner of claim 1, wherein said at least one buoyant element is the only element of said cleaner having a density less than water, said at least one buoyant element, exerting a resultant buoyant force on said cleaner at any given orientation of said cleaner, said resultant buoyant force being expressable as a force emanating from a center of buoyancy, said at least one specific orientation characterized in the resultant buoyant force acting in line with and opposite to the gravitational force, a first said specific orientation having said center of buoyancy directly above the center of gravity and a second specific orientation having said center of buoyancy directly below said center of gravity.

15. A cleaner for cleaning surfaces of a pool containing water and having a plurality of elements at least partially composed of materials having a density greater than water, said cleaner having a center of gravity and a overall negative buoyancy, comprising:

(a) a housing assembly;

(b) a motor-driven impeller for inducing a flow of water though said housing;

(c) a filter for filtering debris from water that is passed through the filter by the flow created by the impeller;

(d) a motor-driven motive element assembly for moving the cleaner over the pool surfaces and having motive elements disposed on two opposing sides of said cleaner;

(e) at least one buoyant element having a density less than water, said buoyant element being positionable at a selected position of a plurality of alternative positions relative to the center of gravity of said cleaner, said at least one buoyant element being retained in said selected position while said cleaner moves relative to the pool surfaces until being selectively repositioned at another of said plurality of alternative positions, said at least one buoyant element exerting a buoyancy force contributing to a biasing of said cleaner toward at least one specific orientation when said cleaner is in the water.

16. The cleaner of claim 15, wherein said at least one buoyant element is coupled to said cleaner at a slot through said housing, such that said plurality of alternative positions are selected by sliding said at least one buoyant element along said slot.

17. The cleaner of claim 16, wherein said at least one buoyant element is substantially contained within said housing and said slot is substantially arcuate, a handle coupled to said at least one buoyant element external to said housing allowing a user to position said at least one buoyant element relative to said slot.

18. The cleaner of claim 17, wherein said handle has a pair of arcuate extensions covering said slot in said plurality of alternative positions, said selected position being maintained by a detent mechanism.

19. The cleaner of claim 18, wherein said housing includes a lid with an aperture for said impeller flow and said arcuate slot is positioned proximate said aperture and has a center of curvature approximating coaxiality with the axis of rotation of said impeller.

20. The cleaner of claim 15, further including a slide member attached to said housing, said slide member having a slot such that said selected position is selected by sliding said at least one buoyant element along said slot, said selected position being maintained by a releasable gripping mechanism.

21. The cleaner of claim 20, wherein said slide member is attached to said housing in a manner such that said at least one buoyant member is external to said housing.

22. The cleaner of claim 21, wherein said slide member is a band attached at opposite ends to said housing.

23. The cleaner of claim 22, wherein said band has an arcuate shape when attached to said cleaner, said arcuate shape extending over a geometrically central portion of said cleaner in a generally side-to-side direction, said arcuate band being pivotally attached to said cleaner at each of said opposite ends by a fastener such that said arcuate band can be positioned at a selected pivotal orientation relative to said cleaner and affixed in that orientation by said fasteners.

24. The cleaner of claim 23, wherein said pivotal attachment on opposite ends of said band is made at a corresponding slot in said housing permitting said arcuate band to be rotated and translated relative to said housing.

25. A method for controlling the motion path of an automatic pool cleaner having motive elements for moving the cleaner, a given geometry, and at least one buoyant element positionable at a selected position of a plurality of alternative positions relative to the geometry of the cleaner, each of the plurality of alternative position having an associated probability of inducing a motion path of a particular type when the cleaner moves, comprises the following steps:

(A) positioning said at least one buoyant element at a selected position of one of said plurality of alternative positions, said step of positioning moving the center of buoyancy of the cleaner to a corresponding position and defining an initial geometric position relative to the geometry of the cleaner;

(B) operating the cleaner, including moving the cleaner via the motive elements thereof, while maintaining the initial geometric position of the at least one buoyant element.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein prior to said step (A) of positioning,

(C) evaluating the conditions of the pool to determine what portion of the pool requires cleaning;

(D) given the information acquired from said step (C) of evaluating, corrolating one of said plurality of alternative positions and the associated probability of inducing a motion path of a particular type to the portion of the pool that needs cleaning; and

(E) selecting the position of the plurality of positions with the closest corrolation between the cleaning needs and the anticipated cleaner motion path.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the steps of

(F) observing the cleaner motion path when the cleaner is moved by the motive elements;

(G) ascertaining if the cleaner motion path is cleaning the pool satisfactorily; and

, if not,

(H) repositioning the at least one buoyant element to another of the plurality of alternative positions.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein said step (C) of evaluating includes assessing the likely frictional interaction between the cleaner and the pool surfaces due to factors effecting the coefficient of friction of the pool surfaces, including the type of pool surface and the presence of materials deposited on the pool surface.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step (C) of evaluating indicates a low level of frictional interaction between the cleaner and the pool wall and wherein during said step of (D) correlating, a correlation is made to one of the plurality of alternative positions that has an associated probability of inducing a motion path with a slow rate of ascent up the pool walls.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the step (C) of evaluating indicates a high level of frictional interaction between the cleaner and the pool wall and wherein during said step of (D) correlating, a correlation is made to one of the plurality of alternative positions that has an associated probability of inducing a motion path with a high rate of ascent up the pool walls.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein said step (B) of operating the cleaner results in the cleaner breaching the surface of the water, then (I) continuing to operate the cleaner in the same direction, with the cleaner executing a sawtooth cleaning pattern on the pool wall near the water line due to the cleaner experiencing a decreased buoyancy upon raising out of the water and falling back into the water, whereupon the process of breaching the water and falling back is (J) repeated a selected number of times or until the motion leg giving rise to this repetitive motion is terminated.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein said step of (B) operating the cleaner results in the cleaner traveling on the pool surfaces until it exits the water, then (K) sensing upon the out-of-water condition and (L) inducing the cleaner to execute a retrograde motion path to return it to the water.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein said step (L) is continued for a limited time with periodic checking for a return of the cleaner to the water and if the cleaner does not return to the water then (M) terminating cleaner motion and placing the cleaner in a state requiring operator intervention to reactivate the cleaner.

34. The method of claim 28, wherein the cleaner has an impeller inducing a flow which presses the cleaner against the pool surfaces and increases the frictional interaction between the cleaner and the pool surfaces and wherein said step (C) of evaluating suggests that the cleaner will have sufficient frictional interaction with the pool surfaces to allow the cleaner to exit the pool water and then (N) restricting the impeller induced flow to reduce the down-force associated therewith to reduce the probability that the cleaner will exit the pool water.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising the step of reorienting the cleaner after it has re-entered the water before resuming normal cleaning operation.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising the step of sensing an out-of-water condition on first starting the cleaner and causing the cleaner to shut down after a first delay period if the cleaner is out-of-water, requiring operator intervention to reactivate the cleaner, the first delay period being shorter in length than the limited time said step (L) of inducing is continued.