The present invention generally involves an electronic assembly for a cover supported by a pole such as an outdoor patio umbrella. Particular embodiments of the present invention may be incorporated into umbrellas such as patio umbrellas used with or without tables. Elements of the electronic assembly may automatically deploy/engage when opened and retract/disengage when closed and may include configurable modules.
People often have a need for shade while outside, especially during the sunny and hotter seasons. Indeed, there are recorded uses of shading devices dating way back to early cave dwellers. Today there is an industry for producing what are called “patio umbrellas” which may often be used with a table. Generally speaking, a patio umbrella is an umbrella that is manufactured or created for outdoor use and usually designed to create a small shaded area where people will sit. As is well known, a shaded area is cooler and easier on the eyes. There are many types of patio umbrellas and associated accessories today that enhance cooling and provide other features.
Problems arise, however, with today's patio umbrellas related to deficiencies in the method of deployment and storage of features that may be associated with the patio umbrella. For example, while fans have been associated with patio umbrellas they (umbrellas or fans or both) are not convenient to relocate and store. Further, while some locations may need a fan to provide a cooling breeze, other locations may have plenty of wind (e.g. beach) but need other features such as shade, entertainment, secure storage, battery charging stations, and communications. Therefore, the need exists for an improved electronic fan assembly and configurable modules that may be associated with a portable umbrella product, such as a patio umbrella, that is easily deployed, collapsed and stored, and easily moveable that may be used in places without a convenient power source requiring the use of stored energy.
Aspects and advantages of the invention are set forth below in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
One embodiment of the present invention is an electronic assembly for a cover supported by a pole such as a patio umbrella. The electronic assembly comprises an electronic fan assembly defining a fan body housing a motor configured for rotating a hub with mechanically associated fan blades. The body may be movably associated with the pole which may extend through the center of the body so that the body may slide along the pole. The pole defines a top portion associated with a cover and an opposing bottom portion configured to engage a support surface. The cover defines an outer surface configured to face a light source to be blocked (to create shade) and an opposing inner surface. The fan assembly may engage the pole at a first latching point where the hub may rotate about an axis defined by the pole. A power source, such a typical battery used to power drills, is electronically associated with the fan assembly to supply the power required by the motor to rotate the hub. A sensor may be disposed at or adjacent to the first latch point and may be configured to disable the motor/fan assembly when the sensor does not sense the presence of the body at the first latch point. The fan blades, mechanically associated with the hub at one end in a typical ceiling fan configuration, may be configured to deploy when the hub is rotating and retract when the hub is not rotating. For example, the fan blades may be configured to automatically extend when the hub is rotating at or above a predefined speed and collapse toward the bottom portion of the pole when the hub stops rotating. The predefined speed will depend on the shape and weight of the blades. That said, ideally, the blades should automatically extend when the tips of the blades are above 1000 feet per minute. Alternatively, the blades may be configured to be manually extended and collapsed. For one embodiment, a photovoltaic device is associated with the cover's outer surface or the pole's top portion so that it may receive sunlight and generate power that may be provided to the battery and/or fan assembly. The configuration of the fan blades and the speed at which the hub rotates may be selected to generate a volume of air displacement that repels insects within a predefined zone below the fan blades wherein the predefined zone defines an airflow band under the perimeter of the umbrella. This airflow band may be useful, for example, in keeping insects, (such as flies, mosquitoes, and gnats), away from people sitting in the shade created by the cover as well as provide a cooling breeze.
One alternative embodiment of the present invention is an electronic assembly for a cover supported by a pole such as a patio umbrella. For this embodiment, the electronic assembly includes an interface associated with a pole where the interface is configured to receive electronic modules. As before, the pole defines a top portion associated with a cover and an opposing bottom portion configured to engage a support surface. The cover, which may be collapsible, defines an outer surface and an opposing inner surface. The interface may be movably associated with the pole. Similarly, an electronic module may be movably associated with the pole and may releasably engage the interface. Embodiments of electronic modules include one of (a) a collapsible fan module, (b) a squirrel fan module, or (c) a personality module. The electronic assembly may further comprise a power source configured to supply power to at least one of the interface and the electronic module. For some embodiments, the power supply may be integrated into the interface.
The collapsible fan module may be configured to fit around the pole in the same way as the fan assembly described above. The collapsible fan assembly may comprise an electronic motor configured to rotate a hub about an axis defined by the pole. The hub may be mechanically associated with fan blades that extend from the hub in a direction generally perpendicular from the pole, (such as the fan blades found in a typical ceiling fan) when the hub is rotating. Conversely, the fan blades may be configured to collapse to a position more parallel to the pole when the hub is not rotating. A squire fan module has similar features to the collapsible fan module but for the fan blades—they define a squirrel fan configuration, and thus, such blades generally do not collapse when the hub is not rotating. A personality module may be considered a module that determines the “personality” of the electronic assembly as something more than an electronic fan assembly. For example, when the personality module is a secured storage module, the electronic assembly's “personality” may be one of a security system. That said, there may be a plurality of modules associated with the interface, perhaps in a stacked configuration.
A sensor may be provided for detecting when the interface is positioned at the first latch point and/or an electronic module is engaging the interface. The sensor may enable or disable the electronic module based on predefined module criteria.
As noted above, for one embodiment, the interface is movably associated with the pole and the cover defines a collapsible umbrella configured to extend and collapse. The umbrella may be mechanically associated with the interface so that the umbrella extends as the interface moves toward the top portion and collapses as the interface moves toward the bottom portion. Where the electronic module defines a collapsible fan module, such fan module may comprise a body that houses the fan components, and that may be movably associated with the pole, which extends through the body thereby defining an axis through the center of the body. The collapsible fan blades may collapse toward the bottom portion when the hub is rotating slower than a predefined speed.
The interface may further define a smart interface containing electronics that control the electronic modules in response to control signals transmitted to the interface. For example, a user may use a transmitter to wirelessly communicate with the interface to control the speed and on/off state of a collapsible fan module.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will better appreciate the features and aspects of such embodiments, and others, upon review of the specification.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof to one skilled in the art, is set forth more particularly in the remainder of the specification, including reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to present embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description uses numerical and letter designations to refer to features in the drawings. Like or similar designations in the drawings and description have been used to refer to like or similar parts of the invention. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit thereof. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
As used in the claims, the definite article “said” identifies required elements that define the scope of embodiments of the claimed invention, whereas the definite article “the” merely identifies environmental elements that provide context for embodiments of the claimed invention that are not intended to be a limitation of any claim.
Referring now to the drawings, wherein identical numerals indicate the same elements throughout the figures, embodiments of the present invention include an electronic assembly 10 for a cover 12 supported by a pole 14 defining a top portion 16 associated with the cover 12 and an opposing bottom portion 18 configured to engage a support surface 20. The cover 12 may be collapsible/folding and any suitable cover material may be used, including canvas, wood, and metals. The cover 12 defines an outer surface 22 and an opposing inner surface 24. One embodiment of cover 12 supported by a pole 14 is a patio umbrella where the cover is made out of canvas material. The umbrella may or may not be associated with a table. For the current embodiment, the electronic assembly 10 comprises an electronic fan 26 defining a fan body 28 housing a motor configured for rotating a hub 30. The hub 30 may be mechanically associated with fan blades 32, and the body 28 may be movably associated with the pole 14. For example, the pole 14 may extend through the body 28 so that the body 28 may slide along the pole 14. For this embodiment, the hub 30 and associated fan blades 32, rotate about an axis 34 defined by the pole 14. A first latch point 36 may be provided where the electronic fan 26 engages the pole 14 so that the electronic fan 26 remains at the first latch point 36 until disengaged/folded up.
As best seen in
A power source 42, which may include a power storage device 44 and/or a power generating device 46, may be electronically associated with and configured to supply power to the electronic assembly 10. For example, the power source 42 may supply power to the electronic fan 26 and/or the interface 38. Where there is a separate interface 38 (i.e. for configurations comprising modules), the power source 42 may supply power to the interface 38, which distributes the power as needed to the electronic assembly 10 components. Embodiments of a power storage device 44 include rechargeable batteries such as the batteries used by electric drills. Embodiments of a power generating device 46 include photovoltaic devices, wind-powered turbine devices, and energy harvesting devices such as RF scavengers. When the electronic assembly 10 comprises an electronic fan 26, the power source is configured to supply the power needed to rotate the hub 30.
A sensor 48 may be disposed at or adjacent to the first latch point 36 and may be configured to disable the electronic assembly 10, interface 38, and/or the electronic fan 26 when the sensor 48 does not sense the presence of an object at the first latch point 36. The particular sensor 48 for performing this function may be any suitable sensor technology including a reed switch, a photoelectric sensor, a magnetic field sensor, a proximity sensor, a simple mechanical switch or other sensors known to one of ordinary skill in the art for sensing the presence of one or more components. For one example, the electronic fan 26 is disabled when the sensor 48, disposed at or adjacent to the first latch point 36, does not sense the presence of body 28. For configurations comprising a separate interface 38 that is not stationary, the sensor 48 may be configured to sense the presence of interface 38. Alternatively, as depicted in
Attention is now directed more specifically to the electronic fan 26 described above. For one embodiment, fan blades 32 are mechanically associated with the hub 30 at one end and extend away from the hub 30, much like a traditional ceiling fan. Alternatively, such fan blades may be configured like a propeller and secured to the hub 30 in the middle of the fan blade. Any suitable fan technology and configuration may be used. Unlike traditional fans, however, and as depicted in
As best seen in
Attention is now directed to the embodiments comprising electronic modules 40. As best seen in
As noted above, a personality module is simply a module that helps establish the “personality” of the electronic assembly 10. The personality module depicted in
As before, at least one sensor 48 may be configured to detect when the interface 38 is positioned at the first latch point 36. Similarly, a sensor may be used to detect when the module 40 is engaging the interface 38 as described above. Where the electronic module 40 defines a fan module, the electronic module 40 may be disabled by sensor 48 according to predefined fan/module criteria. Such predefined fan criteria may include (a) disabling the electronic fan 26 when not engaging interface 38, (b) disabling the electronic fan 26 when the interface 38 is not engaging the first latch point 36, or (c) disabling the interface 38 when the interface is not engaging with first latch point 36.
While the simplest version of the electronic assembly 10 may comprise only mechanical switches and sensors, some embodiments comprise digital technologies. Referring now to
For embodiments comprising digital electronics, such as a processor as depicted in
For configurations comprising communication technology, such technology may define a transmitter and/or a transceiver configured to transmit a data signal to a remote device such as a smartphone, WiDi enabled display, remoter computer. Embodiments of suitable communication technologies include custom designs as well as WiFi and Bluetooth transceivers, GPRS, GSM, GPRS, 3G, 4G, 5G and EDGE enabled networks as well as WAP networks. Such communications may take the form of SMS and e-mail messages.
One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the inherent flexibility of computer-based systems allows for a great variety of possible configurations, combinations, and divisions of tasks and functionality between and among components. For instance, methods discussed herein may be implemented using a single server or multiple servers working in combination. Similarly, databases and logic for manipulating the databases may be implemented on a single system or distributed across multiple systems sequentially or in parallel. Data transferred between components may travel directly or indirectly.
The various computer systems discussed herein are not limited to any particular hardware architecture or configuration. Embodiments of the methods and systems set forth herein may be implemented by one or more general-purpose or customized computing devices adapted in any suitable manner to provide the desired functionality. The device(s) may be adapted to provide additional functionality complementary or unrelated to the present subject matter, as well. For instance, one or more computing devices may be adapted to provide desired functionality by accessing logic or software instructions rendered in a computer-readable form. When software is used, any suitable programming, scripting, or another type of language or combinations of languages may be used to implement the teachings contained herein. However, software need not be used exclusively, or at all. For example, some embodiments of the systems and methods set forth herein may also be implemented by hard-wired logic or other circuitry, including, but not limited to application-specific circuits. Of course, combinations of computer-executed software and hard-wired logic or other circuitry may be suitable, as well.
Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein may be executed by one or more suitable computing devices. Such system(s) may comprise one or more computing devices adapted to perform one or more embodiments of the methods disclosed herein. As noted above, such devices may access one or more computer-readable media that embody computer-readable instructions which, when executed by at least one computer, cause the computer(s) to implement one or more embodiments of the methods of the present subject matter. Additionally, or alternatively, the computing device(s) may comprise circuitry that renders the device(s) operative to implement one or more of the methods of the present subject matter. Furthermore, components of the presently disclosed technology may be implemented using one or more computer-readable media. Any suitable computer-readable medium or media may be used to implement or practice the presently-disclosed subject matter, including, but not limited to, diskettes, drives, and other magnetic-based storage media, optical storage media, including disks (including CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and variants thereof), flash, RAM, ROM, and other memory devices, and the like.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
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