Patent Application
20230381063
This application claims priority from Chinese Application CN 202121570207.4, filed Jul. 12, 2021 in China, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to an inflatable pool having a massage function.
In inflatable massage pools or spa inflatable pools, a wave-making channel in the pool is generally inflated to a high pressure by means of an air pump, and the wave-making channel includes several holes therein to generate bubbles or water jets in the water, thereby achieving a massage effect.
In existing products, a wave-making channel is generally arranged on an inner wall of an inflatable pool or arranged at a junction of the inner wall and a pool bottom. No matter which arrangement manner is chosen for the wave-making channel, when an air chamber of the inflatable pool is inflated, the air chamber expands, causing the inner wall and the wave-making channel connected to the inner wall to deform sequentially, which may be detrimental to the generation of desired bubbles or water jet effect from the wave-making channel. Furthermore, edges of the multiple holes provided in the wave-making channel are continually pulled during the generation of bubbles or water jets, such that after long-term usage, undesired deformations or notches may appear at the edges of the holes, which is also detrimental to the generation of desired bubbles or water jet effect from the wave-making channel. If these holes are provided at the junction of the inner wall and the bottom of the inflatable pool, the undesired deformations or notches may cause ruptures at the junction.
Example embodiments may address at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, example embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and may not overcome any of the problems described above.
According to an aspect of an example embodiment, an inflatable pool comprises: a pool wall; a pool bottom comprising an outer bottom sheet and an inner bottom sheet, wherein the pool wall and the pool bottom together define a fluid accommodation cavity; an annular enclosing strip comprising a lower rim connected to an outer annular portion outer bottom sheet and an upper rim connected to an outer annular portion of the inner bottom sheet; wherein an inner annular portion of the inner bottom sheet is connected to an inner annular portion of the outer bottom sheet, such that a bottom channel is defined by the enclosing strip, a portion of the inner bottom sheet between the outer annular portion of the inner bottom sheet and the inner annular portion of the inner bottom sheet, and a portion of the outer bottom sheet between the outer annular portion of the inner bottom sheet and the inner annular portion of the outer bottom sheet; wherein a plurality of holes are formed through both the enclosing strip and the inner bottom sheet, in an overlapping region where the enclosing strip overlaps with the inner bottom sheet, and the bottom channel is in communication with the fluid accommodation cavity through the plurality of holes.
The pool may further comprise air inlet channel in fluid communication with the bottom channel and configured to supply pressurized air into the bottom channel.
The air inlet channel may comprise an air inlet pipe and an air inlet pocket comprising a first end connected to an opening in the bottom channel, and a second end comprising a fastener connected to the air inlet pipe.
The pool wall may comprise an inflatable chamber
The air inlet pipe may comprise a first end connected to the fastener and a second end configured to connect to an air pump; and the air inlet pipe traverses the inflatable chamber such that an airtightness of the inflatable chamber is maintained.
The pool may further comprise: an air inlet sleeve; wherein the pool wall comprises an inner side wall and an outer side wall, the inflatable chamber defined between the inner side wall and the outer side wall; and wherein a first end of the air inlet sleeve is connected to the inner side wall and a second end of the air inlet sleeve is connected to the outer side wall, the air inlet sleeve thereby defining defines a passage through which the air inlet pipe extends.
The pool may further comprise a porous elastic material is disposed within an accommodation space between the outer bottom sheet and the inner bottom sheet.
The inner bottom sheet may be sealed to the enclosing strip at edges of each of the plurality of holes.
The inner bottom sheet may be completely sealed to the enclosing strip over an entirety of the overlapping region.
According to an aspect of another example embodiment, an inflatable pool comprises: a pool wall; a pool bottom, wherein the pool wall and the pool bottom together define a fluid accommodation cavity, the pool bottom comprising a bottom sheet; a bottom channel sheet comprising an outer annular portion sealed to an outer annular portion of the bottom sheet and an inner annular portion sealed to an inner annular portion of the bottom sheet, such that a bottom annular channel is defined by the bottom sheet between the outer annular portion and the inner annular portion of the bottom cavity sheet and the bottom sheet between the outer annular portion of the bottom sheet and the inner annular portion of the bottom sheet; wherein the annular bottom channel sheet comprises an overlapping region, between the outer annular portion of the bottom channel sheet and the inner annular portion of the bottom channel sheet, the overlapping region comprising at least a first sheet layer sealed to a second sheet layer; wherein a plurality of holes are formed through both the first sheet layer and the second sheet layer in the overlapping region; and wherein the bottom annular channel is in communication with the accommodation cavity via the plurality of holes.
The above and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of example embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to example embodiments which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. In this regard, the example embodiments may have different forms and may not be construed as being limited to the descriptions set forth herein.
It will be understood that the terms “include,” “including”, “comprise, and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It will be further understood that, although the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections may not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section.
As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.
Various terms are used to refer to particular system components. Different companies may refer to a component by different names—this document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function.
Matters of these example embodiments that are obvious to those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which these exemplary embodiments pertain may not be described here in detail.
Referring to
As shown in conjunction with
For the arrangement of wave-making holes in fluid communication with the wave-making channel 14, as shown with reference to
With reference to an example embodiment shown in
The outer bottom sheet 131 of the wave-making channel 14 may be provided with an air inlet pocket in fluid communication with the wave-making channel 14, and the air inlet pocket may be connected to the air inlet pipe located below the pool bottom 13 and outside the pool; or, in order to avoid any deterioration in the comfort of stepping on the pool bottom, the air inlet pipe may be directly placed in the fluid accommodation cavity 11 from above the pool and may be connected to the air inlet pocket 15 shown in
The air inlet pipe 16 may be constructed such as to not affect the airtightness of the inflatable chamber 120, in addition to the air inlet pipe 16 itself being connected, in a sealed manner, to the inner side sheet 122 and the outer side sheet 123 which form the inner side wall and the outer side wall, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in conjunction with
According to one or more example embodiments, an inflatable massage pool comprising a wave-making channel that utilizes a pool bottom structure, may be made using a simple manufacturing process and this process and structure may be applicable to inflatable pools of any number of different shapes, compared to a wave-making channel provided on the side wall of the pool. Still further, the wave-making holes of the wave-making channel may be arranged in the overlapping region of the sheets that form the wave-making channel, such that the whole wave-making channel is not likely to be damaged at the wave-making holes.
According to an example aspect, at edges of the wave-making holes, the inner bottom sheet 132 may completely abut the strip 141, the abutting either completed before the wave-making holes are formed, or completed by means of fusion welding when the wave-making holes are formed, so as to prevent the inner bottom sheet 132 and the strip 141 from being separated from each other or delaminated at the wave-making holes, thereby ensuring that the wave-making holes provide a stable bubble effect or water jets.
According to another example aspect, the outer annular rim 1322 of the inner bottom sheet 132 may completely abuts the strip 141 in the entire overlapping region 1410, for example, by means of welding to achieve complete connection, which may ensure the sealing at the junction, and also may enhance a strength of the overlapping region 1410 as a whole.
It may be understood that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each exemplary embodiment may be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other exemplary embodiments.
While exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined by the following claims.
