Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Submerged cleaners with ambient flow guides
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-23
2001-09-25
Graham, Gary K. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Submerged cleaners with ambient flow guides
C015S387000, C415S141000, C418S266000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292970
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to swimming pool cleaners and, more particularly, to automatic pool cleaners driven by the flow of water therethrough. Still more particularly, the invention relates to automatic pool cleaners of the type having turbines for the purpose of providing pool cleaner movement along the underwater surfaces of a pool.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Automatic swimming pool cleaners of the type that move about the underwater surfaces of a swimming pool are driven by many different kinds of systems. A variety of different pool cleaner drive devices in one way or another harness the flow of water, as it is drawn through (or in some cases pushed through) the pool cleaner (by the pumping action of a remote pump) for debris collection purposes, to create forward pool cleaner movement. One kind of system often used for this purpose is turbines, which translate water movement into the turning of drive wheels.
Various turbine-driven automatic pool cleaners have been made and used, or at least disclosed in the prior art. However, turbine-driven automatic pool cleaners of the prior art have a number of problems and shortcomings. This invention is directed toward overcoming such problems and shortcomings, and to providing a substantially improved turbine-driven automatic pool cleaner.
The turbines of automatic pool cleaners involve securing locomotion power from debris-laden water, because pool cleaners by nature are involved with seeking to remove debris from the water. Indeed, large pieces of debris are occasionally sucked into the turbine chamber and of a pool cleaner turbine, and this obstructs the operation of the device. Because of this problem, turbine-driven automatic pool cleaners typically sought to accommodate the debris by providing some spacing between the tips (distal ends) of turbine vanes and the walls of turbine chambers. This approach is problematic because it involves a loss of power, in a situation in which the amount of hydraulic power provided (by a remote pump) is often already limited.
While some improvements have been made in recent years in turbine-driven automatic pool cleaners of various kinds, adequate solutions to the on-going conflict between the twin concerns of loss of power and risk of clogging have not been forthcoming, particularly in situations in which debris-laden water flows through the turbine. Furthermore, there has been a need for an improved turbine-driven automatic pool cleaner, and a particular need for improvements which allow turbine-driven pool cleaners of both the suction type and the pressure type.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved turbine-driven automatic pool cleaner overcoming problems and shortcomings of the prior art, including those mentioned above.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved automatic pool cleaner turbine which is able to accommodate substantial pieces of debris as they move through the turbine chamber, doing so without either significant losses of power or significant risks of clogging and malfunction.
Another object is to provide improvements in automatic pool cleaner of the turbine-driven type which are applicable in both vacuum pool cleaners and pressure pool cleaners.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved turbine for automatic pool cleaners for which dimensional tolerances and clearances are not of particular concern when it comes to preserving power and operability.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following descriptions and from the drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The automatic pool cleaner of this invention is an improvement in the type of pool cleaner which is motivated by the flow of water through it (caused by a pool-adjacent pump) to move along a pool surface to be cleaned. More specifically, the pool cleaner of this invention is of the type which include a turbine. The improved pool cleaner of this invention overcomes certain problems and shortcomings of devices of the prior art, and provides important advantages.
The improved pool cleaner of this invention includes: a turbine housing having a water-flow chamber formed by a chamber wall, the water-flow chamber having inlet and outlet ports; a turbine rotor rotatably mounted in the housing; and at least one, and most preferably several, turbine vanes each having a proximal end connected to the rotor and a distal end movable with respect to the rotor between extended positions adjacent to the wall and retracted positions spaced from the wall and closer to the rotor in order to facilitate passage of debris pieces of substantial size through the turbine.
Most preferably, the distal edges of the vanes contact the chamber wall in their extended positions. This provides high efficiency in the usage of energy provided by the pump by means of the water flow. Thus, pool cleaners in accordance with this invention can operate acceptably even with pumps which provide pressures low enough to have been problematic for operation of automatic pool cleaners of the prior art. The pool cleaner of this invention is able to draw water with substantial pieces of debris in it through the turbine without clogging, by virtue of the retraction of the vanes such that their distal ends provide space for debris flow. Thus, the turbine allows good engagement of the vanes with the chamber walls whenever possible, while allowing adjustment to accommodate debris flow.
In certain highly preferred embodiments of this invention, the inlet port is substantially adjacent to the pool surface, while the outlet port is aligned above the inlet port such that water and debris can flow through the turbine in a substantially straight line which is tangential to the rotor.
This invention can be in the form of an automatic pool cleaner which is a vacuum cleaner or in the form which is a pressure cleaner, depending on arrangements of the inlet and outlet ports and the manner in which water flow is directed. If used as a pressure cleaner, one or more venturi nozzles may be used to draw water and debris from the underwater surfaces to be cleaned. Details of one vacuum cleaner and one pressure cleaner in accordance with this invention are set forth in co-pending and commonly-owned patent documents filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty on or about May 25, 2000, namely: PCT Application No. PCT/US00/14771, entitled “Four-Wheel-Drive Automatic Swimming Pool Cleaner,” the inventors of which are Dieter J. Rief and Manuela Rief; and PCT Application No. PCT/US00/14770, entitled “Swimming Pool Pressure Cleaner with Internal Steering Mechanism,” the inventors of which are Dieter J. Rief and Manuela Rief.
In the automatic pool cleaner of the present invention, the turbine chamber is preferably substantially round in cross-sections normal (perpendicular) to the axis of the rotor, although other shapes are possible. In one preferred embodiment of this type, rather than having a rotor which is concentric with the chamber, the rotor is slightly offset to one side. More specifically, the turbine chamber has a first side where the water and debris flow from the inlet port to the outlet port and an opposite side which returns back to the first side, and the rotor has an axis of rotation offset toward the opposite side such that the chamber wall is closer to the rotor at the opposite side than it is at the first side. The vanes, particularly when they are rotatably mounted to the rotor (see below), tend to be extended as they move through the first side of the chamber, but tend to collapse as they move through the opposite side of the chamber.
This offset arrangement makes the flow cross-section reduced on the opposite side, which minimizes any tendency for flow of water in the wrong direction and encourages the flow of water and debris from the inlet port to the outlet port along the first side of the chamber as intended. Due to collapsing of turbine vanes on the opposite side of the chamber (i.e., their retraction away from the chamber wall),
Rief Dieter J.
Rief Manuela
Rief Rosemarie
Graham Gary K.
Jansson & Shupe & Munger Ltd.
Poolvergnuegen
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