Patent Grant
11725409
Large pools such as Olympic pools and pools of 50 meters or more are usually cleaned with a single commercial type pool cleaner. These type pool cleaners may also be referred to as public pool cleaners that may be used in any shape type pool. The size of such a pool cleaner may approximate 1 meter by 50 by×50 cm.
Examples of such pool cleaners may be manufactured by the applicant, Maytronics Ltd. For example: —2×2, wave 300 or wave 200. Similar pool cleaners are available from other vendors.
A similar situation exists in the private pool sector whereby a single pool cleaner is employed in swimming pool sizes of more or less 6 meter by 3 meter or 10 meter by 5 meter and the like that may be used in any shape type pool. The size of such a pool cleaner may approximate 40 cm by 40 cm by 30 cm.
It is common for pool owners to construct multiple pool basins in a pool complex. One large basin may incorporate other basins, or a private pool may integrate a smaller jet hydrotherapy basin or another low water level children pool.
For swimming pool operators, it is of utmost importance to have their swimming pool in a clean state when the pool is about to be used. For swimming pools that are businesses, an unclean pool may mean loss of swimmers who would rather stay away from an unclean pool and this may therefore mean loss of business to the pool operators or owners.
The cost and the advantages of purchasing and using pool cleaning equipment should be taken into account by said pool owners or operators.
A pool operator concern is related to downtime and after sale service. Namely, if a single commercial pool cleaner needs to be serviced or repaired, the said owner may remain without any pool cleaning equipment for an undefined period of time. This aggravates the pool owner's concerns and alternative pool cleaning systems are needed even if for a temporary period of time. The same applies in the private pool sector.
There is a growing need to reduce the human intervention and improve the efficiency of pool cleaners in swimming pools.
Sets of pool cleaning robots, one or more pool cleaning robots of a set, methods for programming one or more pool cleaning robots and methods for cleaning a pool by a set as illustrated in the specification and/or the claims and/or the drawings.
In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Any reference to a pool cleaner should be applied, mutatis mutandis to a method that is executed by a pool cleaner and/or to a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions that once executed by the pool cleaner will cause the pool cleaner to execute the method.
Any reference to method should be applied, mutatis mutandis to a pool cleaner that is configured to execute the method and/or to a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions that once executed by the pool cleaner will cause the pool cleaner to execute the method.
Any reference to a non-transitory computer readable medium should be applied, mutatis mutandis to a method that is executed by a pool cleaner and/or a pool cleaner that is configured to execute the instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium.
The term “and/or” is additionally or alternatively.
The terms “avoidance maneuver” and “avoidance step” are used in an interchangeable manner.
Pool owner or operator may be provided with a system that may include at least two pool cleaners available or a set of pool cleaners so that if the one is used elsewhere or that it is temporarily non-useable, another pool cleaner may continue performing the tasks.
In private pools especially, if the operator chooses to have multiple pool cleaners in his pool (or pools) instead of one, also it would be advantageous to have a downsized or miniaturized pool cleaner with a size of, as an example only, 20 cm by 20 cm by 15 cm. Other sizes may be provided. Such a size pool cleaners set will be most suitable in the said smaller pools and especially so if at least one of the set is a battery-operated pool cleaner.
There may be provided a set of pool cleaning robots for cleaning a pool.
The set of pool cleaning robots may be configured to clean the same pool. The cleaning may be executed simultaneously (by pool cleaning robots of the set), in a partially overlapping manner or in a non-overlapping manner. The pool cleaning robots may participate in cleaning the pool.
One or more pool cleaning robots of the set may cooperate with each other—thereby cleaning the pool in a cooperative manner. This may include an exchange of information, commands, maps of the pool, allocation of cleaning tasks, physically interacting, and the like.
An allocation of a cleaning task may include an allocation of a region of the pool to clean and/or defining cleaning parameters. Any reference to an allocation of a cleaning task should be applied mutatis mutandis to an allocation of a region—and vice versa.
Using a set of pool cleaning robots may speed the cleaning period, may improve the cleanliness of the pool. A subset of the set (that subset may include one or more pool cleaning robots) may clean the pool when a remaining pool cleaning robot are unavailable. The subset may clean the pool in a slower manner and/or less efficient manner than the entire set—but this is not necessarily so.
The set may include pool cleaning robots that are equal, even identical, to each other and/or may include pool cleaning robots that differ from each other. The difference may include different hardware components and/or different software, code, firmware or malware configurations.
This application may refer to a first pool cleaning robot, a second pool cleaning robot, a third pool cleaning robot and a fourth pool cleaning robot. The phrases first, second, third and fourth are merely used to differentiate between the pool cleaning robots.
The set may include a first pool cleaning robot and a second pool cleaning robot that differ from each other. The difference may be, for example, a difference between at least one unit out of a propulsion unit and a cleaning unit.
When such a set is provided at least one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
Each one of the first pool cleaning robot and the second pool cleaning robot may include a filtering unit for filtering fluid, a housing that may enclose various components such as the filtering unit, and a controller for controlling the operation of the pool cleaning robot.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may be configured to clean a sidewall of the pool. The pool cleaning robot may include cleaning unit components (such as dedicated brushes) and/or propulsion unit components (such as water jet propulsion units).
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may be configured to perform collision avoidance steps for preventing a collision between the first pool cleaning robot and the second pool cleaning robot.
Various collision avoidance steps are listed in the text below.
A collision avoidance step may include maintaining different pool cleaning robots at different regions of the pool, keeping at least a predefined distance between different pool cleaning robots, sensing the location of other pool cleaning robots, notifying the other pool cleaning robots when there is a possibility of collision, and the like.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may be configured to perform cable entanglement avoidance steps for preventing an entanglement of a cable connected to the first pool cleaning robot with a cable connected to the second pool cleaning robot.
At least one pool cleaning robot may sense the locations of its cable and a cable of another pool cleaning robot and may alert the other pool cleaning robot that the cables will be entangled if the other pool cleaning robot will continue its movement, may move itself in a manner that will prevent the cable entanglements, may be fed by information from another device (within or outside the water of the pool) that the cables may become entangled and change its position, its course and the like.
When the pool cleaning robots are allocated with different regions of the pool to clean—the allocation may take into account cable entanglements. The allocation can be dictated to the set, may be amended by one or more pool cleaning robot of the set, and/or may be determined by the set.
One or more pool cleaning robots may determine the allocation, may amend a previously provided (or preprogrammed) allocation, and the like. Pool cleaning robots of the set may participate in the allocation process—for example may negotiate the desired allocation.
The allocation may be dictated to the set—preprogrammed, downloaded during a software update, communicated from another device, and the like. The allocation may be generated by a computerized system such as mobile device that is controlled by a user or may be operated without user intervention—or any other computerized system. The computerized system may be included in an external docking system, an external power supply and/or within a submerged docking system.
The allocation of regions may change over time and/or may be fixed.
The allocation of regions may be determined and/or updated and/or generated with regarded to (or regardless) to at least one of the following:
A cable entanglement avoidance step may include changing the progress of one or more pool cleaning robot and/or allocating cleaning tasks to prevent such entanglement.
Different cables of different pool cleaning robots may be stretched from different external units (such as power supply units) located outside the pool. The locations of these units may be fed to one or more pool cleaning robot of the set and/or to another computerized system. The cable entanglement avoidance steps may take into accounts these locations.
For example—the cable entanglement avoidance steps may include allocating the cleaning zones to reduce the chances of cable entanglements.
The allocation of regions for reducing the chances of cable entanglement may include:
The allocation of regions for reducing the chances of cable entanglement may include:
The checking and/or the changing (of step d above) may be executed in an iterative manner, in a non-iterative manner, by one or more pool cleaning robot, by a master pool cleaning robot, by a slave pool cleaning robot, in a distributed manner, in a non-distributed manner, by an external computerized system (external to the pool), and the like.
For example—one or more pool cleaning robots may receive the information from steps a, b, and c, and may perform the checking of step d.
Distributed manner indicates that a pool cleaning robot and at least one other pool cleaning robot (or another computerized entity) participates in the process.
If the one or more pool cleaning robot finds a possible collision it may update the cleaning paths to prevent the cable entanglement.
If the one or more pool cleaning robot finds a possible collision then they may inform at least one of the involved pool cleaning robots (pool cleaning robots that are involved in the potential cable entanglement) about the possible collision.
One or more of the involved pool cleaning robots may re-calculate their cleaning path and communicate the at least one updated cleaning path to the one or more pool cleaning robots.
The one or more pool cleaning robots may evaluate whether this amendment solved the potential cable entanglement.
The cable entanglement avoidance steps may include, in addition to or instead of the steps mentioned above, determining cable entanglement reduction measures that may include sensing a cable entanglement event, sensing a potential cable entanglement event, responding to the sensing.
The cable entanglement avoidance steps may include, in addition to or instead of the steps mentioned above, resolving a cable entanglement event after the cables were entangled. This may include introducing a movement between entangles pool cleaning robot (pool cleaning robots that have their cables entangled).
The sensing (of the cable entanglement event and/or of the potential cable entanglement event) may be performed using images sensors, proximity sensors that may sense that two or more cables are too proximate to each, that may sense that the pool cleaning robots are too close to each other, that pool cleaning robots are cross each other paths in a manner that will result in a cable entanglement. The sensors may be included in one or more pool cleaning robot, and/or outside the pool cleaning robots.
The sensing may involve monitoring the movement of the pool cleaning robots and sensing when their cable may be entangled. This may involve speed sensing and/or acceleration sensing and/or direction sensing, and the like.
The sensing may involve sensing forces applied on the pool cleaning robots and/or deviations from expected propagation of the pool cleaning robot due to cable entanglement. The sensing may include accelerometers, motion sensors, image sensors and the like.
The responding to the sensing may include stopping the progress of one or more pool cleaning robot until another pool cleaning robot will change its position and avoid the cable entanglement. The pool cleaning robot that stops may be requested or instructed to stop for a certain period and/or may determine the predefined period by itself.
The responding to the sensing may include changing the progress of one or more pool cleaning robot. For example, changing the speed and/or direction of movement.
The change of speed and/or movement may be dictated to the pool cleaning robot and/or may be determined by the pool cleaning robot.
The change of direction may include reversing the direction or changing the direction by ninety to two hundred and seventy degrees, propagating to a direction that will increase the distance between the pool cleaning robots, propagating in a direction that will increase the distance between the pool cleaning robots and the cleaning region allocated to the other pool cleaning robot.
Any step or measure mentioned in relation to the cable entanglement avoidance steps may be applied mutatis mutandis to pool cleaning robot collision avoidance.
Only one (or both) of the first pool cleaning robot and the second pool cleaning robot may include a jet propulsion unit. A jet propulsion unit may enable cleaning slippery flat surfaces, slippery wall climbing, slippery slopes cleaning, waterline cleaning, overcoming obstacles and sidewall sideways cleaning.
The term “jet” refers to a jet of fluid.
The cleaning unit and/or the propulsion unit of the pool cleaning robots of the set may be determined based on the characters of the pool. The shape, size and materials of the pool sidewalls and bottom may determine the profiling of which pool cleaning robots should populate the set that should clean the pool or a certain region.
Pools with a flat bottom are easier to clean than pools that have one or more sloped bottom surfaces—especially steep sloped bottom surfaces. Pools that include sloped bottom surfaces may or may not include a hopper (deepest part of the pool) that interfaces with one or more sloped bottom surfaces. There are pools that include hoppers of significant size of insignificant size. Controlled movement along sloped bottom surfaces—and especially steep sloped bottom surfaces may be challenging—especially when the sloped bottom surfaces are slippery.
It should be noted that the grip level of any surface of a pool may be determined by the material of that surface (ceramics, marble, painted and certain PVC or GRP may be more slippery than concrete painted or not), the slope of the surface and the cleanliness of that surface—especially whether algae or other or slippery dirt is aggregated on that surface.
Moving and/or cleaning sidewalls as well as moving and/or cleaning sloped bottom surfaces and slippery flat surfaces may be eased (and even facilitated) by having dedicated brush wheels such as a sponge brush wheel—especially a Polyvinyl acetate (PVA) sponge brush wheel (such as the synthetic chamois by Kanebo co. Ltd in Japan) and/or with a hybrid brush that includes a sponge brush portion and a non-sponge brush portion. For example—a hybrid brush that may include a PVC portion and a PVA sponge portion.
Sponge brush wheels are more expensive—and only a part of the pool cleaning robots of the set may have sponge brush wheels.
The set may include a pool cleaning robot that is configured to perform sidewall cleaning and another pool cleaning robot that is not configured to perform sidewall cleaning.
Different brushes have different costs and using a set that includes pool cleaning robot that have different brushes may reduce the cost of the set.
Different pool cleaning robots of the set may be configured to remove different types of dirt—one pool cleaning robot may be configured to remove coarser dirt than the second pool cleaning robot.
The set may include a pool cleaning robot that may be configured to hover between a bottom of a pool floor and a waterline performing as a hovering submarine pool cleaner—while another pool cleaning robot of the set may or may not have this capability.
The set may include a pool cleaning robot that may be configured to skim the water surface and then sink to the bottom floor—while another pool cleaning robot of the set may or may not have this capability.
One of pool cleaning robots of the set may include a detachable module that may be interchangeably exchanged between the pool cleaning robots of the set.
The detachable module may be a battery, a filtering unit, a sensor, a controller, and the like.
Exchanging the detachable module may reduce cost (by sharing the detachable module between the pool cleaning robots),
One detachable module (that may be detached to different pool cleaning robot at different points in time) may increase the redundancy of the set, enables to perform a flexible resource management, and the like.
The exchange may occur for different reasons—for example a malfunction in one of the pool cleaning robots, a shortage of power supply, a clogged filter, a task that requires the detachable module, and the like.
During such an exchange, a detachable module is removed from a first pool cleaning robot and received by a second pool cleaning robot. The exchange may require human intervention or may be executed without human intervention.
The detachable module may be detachably connected to the housing of the pool cleaning robot or to any other part of the pool cleaning robot by any mechanical and/or magnetic and/or electrostatic manner—such as by a locking and unlocking mechanism.
The set may include pool cleaning robots that may be allocated to clean different regions of the pool, the same region of the pool and the like. The different regions of the pool may not overlap or may partially overlap.
A partial overlap may be required, for example, to prevent gaps in the coverage of the set.
The different regions may be of the same type or different types. Regions of different types may include sidewall regions, flat bottom regions, sloped bottom regions, and the like.
Different regions may have the same size and/or the same shape and/or different sizes and/or different shapes.
One or more regions may be allocated to a pool cleaning robot. A region may include any part of the pool—one or more sidewalls of the pool, one or more parts of one or more sidewalls of the pool, one or more bottom surface of the pool, one or more parts of one or more bottom surface of the pool, one or more stairways of the pool, one or more parts of one or more stairways of the pool, one or more part of the waterline of the pool, one or more external surface of the pool, one or more parts of one or more external surface of the pool, one or more peripheral region of the pool that may be submerged and/or not submerged, and any combination thereof.
When a set of pool cleaning robots (the set include first and second pool cleaning robots) includes pool cleaning robots such as the first and the second pool cleaning robots—that are allocated to clean the same regions of the pool, at least one of the following conditions may be fulfilled:
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may act as master pool cleaning robot—it may control at least one slave pool cleaning robot of the set. A single master pool cleaning robot may control one or more other pool cleaning robots. A single slave pool cleaning robot may be controlled by one or more master pool cleaning robots.
The roles of the pool cleaning robots may be fixed or may be changed over time.
When the roles change over time a slave pool cleaning robot may become a master pool cleaning robot. The change of roles may occur when the master pool cleaning robot malfunctions—or for any other reason.
A pool cleaning robot may be a master pool cleaning robot in relation to certain operations—and may be a slave pool cleaning robot in relation to other operations—either at the same time and/or at different times.
There may be provided multiple control layers so that a pool cleaning robot may be a slave of another pool cleaning robot and at the same time be a master of a further pool cleaning robot. For example, a third pool cleaning robot may control a second pool cleaning robot, and the second pool cleaning robot may control a first pool cleaning robot. Yet for another example—the second pool cleaning robot may be controlled by each one of the first and third pool cleaning robots.
Assuming that the set includes at least a master pool cleaning robot and a slave pool cleaning robot then at least one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
The master pool cleaning robot may include an image sensor that may be a detachable modular sensor to be reattached to a slave pool cleaning robot.
A cleaning process executed by a certain pool cleaning robot may be monitored by the certain pool cleaning robot. Additionally or alternatively, one or more pool cleaning robots of the set may be configured to monitor the cleaning process executed by the certain pool cleaning robot.
The monitoring of the cleaning process may include imaging a region (or a part of the region) that is cleaned by the pool cleaning robot, evaluating a turbidity or lighting quality (by an image sensor or any other sensor) of the fluid near the region (or a part of the region) that is cleaned by the pool cleaning robot, measuring the grip level of the region (or a part of the region) that is cleaned by the pool cleaning robot, measuring the outcome of the cleaning process (whether the entire region was cleaned, are there any cleaning gaps, what is the cleanliness level of different locations within the region, the duration of the cleaning process, energy consumed during the cleaning process, and the like.
An automatic co-operative allocation and reallocation of cleaning tasks within the set may be based on the outputs of the monitoring as compared to pre-set failure or success rates to complete tasks that may be measured by ongoing trial and error during a single cleaning cycle. These are based on preset normal conditions that are a function of the propulsion abilities and the cleaning abilities in ideal pool conditions.
For example—a pool cleaning robot that successfully cleaned a certain region may be re allocated to a larger region and/or a tougher region to clean in a cleaning cycle.
Yet for another example—a pool cleaning robot that cleaned its region at a faster rate than another pool cleaning robot may be allocated a larger region than the other pool cleaning robot.
Fast rate or slow rate may be a function of the success or failure to match nominal expected propagation movements by the pool cleaning robot.
For example, an odometer or acceleration device that measures a failure of the pool cleaning robot to move despite movement of the wheel(s) or track(s) may mean that this specific pool cleaning robot may need to be reallocated to another task. The same rules apply to tasks such as cleaning walls, waterlines, slopes and the like.
The determination may be responsive to the state of the region before and after the cleaning process, to the type of the region (sidewall, bottom surface—sloped of flat), to the energy consumption associated with the cleaning process (energy consumption may be reported by the pool cleaning robot—for example by monitoring the level of its battery), ability to overcome slippery surfaces on vertical walls, slopes or without idling on flat surfaces and the like.
A movement of a certain pool cleaning robot may be monitored by the certain pool cleaning robot. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more pool cleaning robots may be configured to monitor the movement of the certain pool cleaning robot. The movement may be a part of a cleaning process and/or may follow (or precede) the cleaning process.
One or more pool cleaning robots of the set may help one or more other pool cleaning robots of the set. The one or more pool cleaning robot of the set may request the help. Additionally or alternatively, another pool cleaning robot of the set may detect that the one or more pool cleaning robot needs help.
A first pool cleaning robot may help a second pool cleaning robot by performing, for example, at least one out of:
At least one of the pool cleaning robot of the set may have an ultrasonic wave generator for removing particles. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is provided in U.S. Pat. RE45852 which is incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of: (i) a ballast tank for controlling a buoyancy of the submarine pool cleaner, (ii) at least one cleaning element for cleaning debris from an underwater surface of a pool while the pool cleaning robot hovers over the underwater surface, (iii) a propulsion module (unit) that is configured to propel the submersible pool cleaner and a steering module that includes a rudder and diving planes. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of (i) a side brush located at the side of the housing of the pool cleaning robot, (ii) an upper brush that is located (at least at certain points of time) above the housing, (iii) a bottom brush located beneath the housing, (iv) one or more arms that are coupled to one or more cleaning brushes, any arm may extend outside the housing, may include one or more joints, may be static or movable. Non-limiting examples of arms and brushes are illustrated in
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include a propulsion unit that may include one or multiples jet generators. For example—the propulsion unit may include first jet generator that is configured to generate first fluid jets while the pool cleaning robot propagates towards the underwater surface; a second jet generator of the propulsion unit may be configured to generate second fluid jets while the pool cleaning robot hovers over an underwater surface. The first fluid jets may be may not be stronger than the second fluid jets. Non-limiting examples of jet propulsion units are illustrated in
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of a transmission coupled between a brushing element and a drive motor, the transmission is arranged to convert a rotary movement induced by the drive motor to a combination of (a) a rotary movement of the brushing element about a brushing element axis, and (b) a reciprocal movement of the brushing element in parallel to the brushing element axis. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in either one of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,145,699, 9,410,338 and 9,222,275, all being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of (i) multiple movable elements that are coupled to the housing, each movable element is arranged to induce a movement of the housing when the movable element is in contact with a surface of the pool; and (ii) an imbalance induction unit that is arranged to introduce an imbalance between at least two movable elements, the imbalance results in a change in a direction of propagation of the cleaning robot; wherein the imbalance induction unit is arranged to induce the imbalance as a result of at least one out of (a) a movement of a nozzle that is arranged to output fluid from the cleaning robot, and (b) a movement of a diaphragm that is coupled to the housing.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of a housing that includes a right opening, a left opening and a center opening; wherein the right opening is preceded by a right fluid conduit that is arranged to direct fluid to the right of the housing, the left opening is preceded by a left fluid conduit that is arranged to direct the fluid towards the left of the housing; and the central opening is preceded by a central conduit; a nozzle manipulator that is coupled to the nozzle and arranged to rotate the nozzle about an nozzle axis such as to alter an orientation of the nozzle in relation to an imaginary longitudinal axis of the housing; a fluid interfacing unit arranged to direct fluid from the nozzle (a) towards the central fluid conduit when the nozzle is at a first orientation, (b) towards the right fluid conduit when the nozzle is at a second orientation, and (c) towards the left fluid conduit when the nozzle is at a third orientation; wherein the first orientation differs from the second and third orientations.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of a pump motor, a drive motor and an impeller that are substantially closer to a front edge of the housing than to a rear edge of the housing. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in either one of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,145,699, 9,410,338 and 9,222,275, all being incorporated herein by reference.
The monitoring of the cleaning process may include imaging a region (or a part of the region) that is cleaned by the pool cleaning robot, evaluating a turbidity or lighting quality (by an image sensor or any other sensor) of the fluid near the region (or a part of the region) that is cleaned by the pool cleaning robot. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in either one of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,145,699, 9,410,338 and 9,222,275, all being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of a first compass arranged to generate first directional information; a second compass arranged to generate second directional information; wherein the first and second compasses are spaced apart from each other; and a processor; arranged to receive directional information from the first and second compasses and to determine at least one of a location parameter and a directional parameter of the cleaning robot based upon at least the first and second directional information.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include a filtering unit includes a first filter that has a first filtering level and a second filter that has a second filtering level that differs from the first filtering level. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in either one of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,145,699, 9,410,338 and 9,222,275, all being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of a housing having a front portion, a rear portion, a door and a hinge; wherein the door is pivotally connected to the rear portion of the housing via the hinge; wherein the rear portion includes a rear opening; wherein the door is arranged to move between a closed position in which the door substantially closes the rear opening and an open position in which the door does not close the rear opening; wherein the door includes a floating element or is coupled to a floating element, wherein the floating element is positioned and shaped to induce the door to move to the closed position when the cleaning robot is submerged in fluid and to remain in an open position when out of water in a horizontal position. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in either one of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,145,699, 9,410,338 and 9,222,275, all being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of a housing that include a front portion and a rear portion, and further includes a door and a hinge. Wherein the door is pivotally connected to the rear portion via the hinge; wherein the rear portion includes a rear opening; wherein the door is arranged to move between a closed position in which the door substantially closes the rear opening and an open position in which the door does not close the rear opening; wherein the door includes a floating element or is coupled to a floating element, wherein the floating element is positioned and shaped to induce the door to move to the closed position when the cleaning robot is submerged in fluid. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in either one of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,145,699, 9,410,338 and 9,222,275, all being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include one or more brush wheels (auxiliary brush wheels) that may be positioned at the center of the bottom of the pool cleaning robot or be positioned such that the one or more brush wheels does not extend beyond the sides of the bottom of the pool cleaning robot. Thus—a top view of the pool cleaning robot would not reveal the bottom brush wheel. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in either one of U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,424,142, 9,021,645 and 9,021,645, all being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include at least one out of (i) interfacing modules (such as wheels and/or tracks) arranged to interface between the pool cleaning robot and the environment, and (ii) an interface manipulator that is arranged to change a spatial relationship between (a) the housing and (b) a selected interfacing module of the group, during an exit process during which the pool cleaning robot exits the pool. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2015/0101135 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one of the pool cleaning robots of the set may include an interface for coupling an extraction element to the pool cleaning robot, during a pool exit process; and wherein during at least a part of the pool exit process an upper end of the interface may be higher than the housing. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2017/0057760 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one out of (i) a propulsion unit such as a drive system that is configured to move the pool cleaning robot, during a pool exit process, at a path that leads outside the pool, (ii) a pump motor that is configured to rotate an impeller during at least a part of the pool exit process for forcing water to exit the pool cleaning robot. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2017/0057759 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one out of (i) a sensor for sensing a cleanliness of a filtering unit while submerged in water, (ii) a controller that is configured to determine, based on the cleanliness of the filtering unit, a cleaning process to be applied on the pool cleaning robot by an external system; and (iii) a communication unit that is configured to transmit information about the cleaning process. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2017/0037648 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one out of (i) a filtering unit for filtering water that passes through the pool cleaning robot; (ii) a sensor for sensing a cleanliness of the filtering unit (a) before the pool cleaning robot reaches an external system that is configured to apply a cleaning process on the pool cleaning robot and (b) at one or more points in time during the cleaning process; and (iii) a communication unit that is configured to transmit information about the cleanliness of the filtering unit. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2017/0037648 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include a cleaning brush (brush wheel) that may include a central portion that has a longitudinal axis; a right-handed fin that surrounds a first section of the central portion; a left-handed fin that surrounds a second section of the central portion; first protuberances that are oriented in relation to the right-handed fin; and second protuberances that are oriented in relation to the left-handed fin. A non-limiting example of such a cleaning brush is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2014/0366297 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include a cleaning brush (brush wheel) that may include a central portion that has a longitudinal axis; first fins that have a positive slope in relation to the longitudinal axis and surround a first section of the central portion; second fins that have a negative slope in relation to the longitudinal axis and surround a second section of the central portion; first protuberances that are oriented in relation to the first fins; and second protuberances that are oriented in relation to the second fins. A non-limiting example of such a cleaning brush is illustrated in US patent application publication number 2014/0366297 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include a filter manipulator that is at least partially located within the housing and is arranged to (a) receive a filter and (b) introduce a movement between the filter and the housing thereby positioning the filter within a filtering position in which the filter is at least partially disposed within a fluid path formed between a first fluid opening and a second fluid opening of the housing thereby allowing the filter to apply a filtering operation on fluid that passes through the fluid path. The filter manipulator may be arranged to receive the filter and at least one additional filter and to position the filter at the filtering position. The filter manipulator may include (i) a filter storage module that includes multiple compartments for receiving multiple filters including the filter, and (ii) a movement mechanism that is arranged to introduce the movement between the filter and the housing by moving the storage module. The movement may include extracting the filter from the housing, receiving the filter to the housing, positioning the filter at a filtering position or at another position within the housing, and the like. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2015/0292222 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may be controlled in an interactive or non-interactive manner by another device (such as but not limited to a mobile computer).
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one of a receiver and a controller. The receiver may be a part of a communication module. The receiver may be configured to receive demarcation information that defines pool zones and pool cleaning robot operational parameters related to the pool zones. The demarcation information may be generated by a mobile computer and under a control of a user. The controller may be configured to control a cleaning operation of the pool cleaning robot, based on the demarcation information. The cleaning operation may include passing the non-filtered fluid through a filtering unit to provide the filtered fluid while moving the pool cleaning robot by the propagation system. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in US patents application publication number 2017/0212523 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one of a receiver and a controller. The receiver may be a part of a communication module. The communication module is configured to receive end of cycle location information that defines an end of cycle location; wherein the end of cycle location information is generated by a mobile computer and under a control of a user. The controller is configured to control multiple cleaning cycles of the pool cleaner; wherein a performing of the multiple cleaning cycles comprises positioning the pool cleaner, at an end of each cleaning cycle of the multiple cleaning cycles, at the end of cycle location; wherein each cleaning cycle comprises passing the non-filtered fluid through the filtering unit to provide the filtered fluid while moving the pool cleaner by the propagation system. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/463,161 that is being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one out of (i) one or more sensors for sensing an actual yaw of the pool cleaner and an actual orientation of the pool cleaner (ii) a propulsion unit that may be configured to move the pool cleaner along a cleaning path, during a cleaning process of a certain region of a sidewall of the pool; wherein the cleaning path comprises a cleaning path segment that has a cleaning path segment yaw that is a non-vertical yaw; wherein the certain region is fully submerged; and (iii) a controller that is configured to control the at least one steering element, based on the actual yaw of the pool cleaner. The cleaning path segment may or may not be horizontal. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one out of (i) a controller that is configured to determine a cleaning path of a region of a sidewall of the pool to include less than a predetermined number of turns; wherein the predetermined number of turns is associated with a cleaning path that mostly includes vertical yaw cleaning path segments; (ii) at least one sensor for sensing an actual yaw of the pool cleaner and an actual orientation of the pool cleaner; (iii) at least one steering element that is configured to move the pool cleaner along the cleaning path, during a cleaning process of the certain region; and wherein the controller if further configured to control the at least one steering element, based on the actual yaw of the pool cleaner. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 15/586,288 and 15/600,794 that are being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one out of (i) at least one sensor for sensing an actual yaw of the pool cleaner and an actual orientation of the pool cleaner; (ii) at least one steering element that is configured to move the pool cleaner along a cleaning path, during a cleaning process of a certain region of a sidewall of the pool and while maintaining contact with the pool sidewall; wherein the cleaning path comprises a cleaning path segment that has a cleaning path segment yaw that is a non-vertical yaw; and (iii) a controller that is configured to control the at least one steering element, based on the actual yaw of the pool cleaner. A non-limiting example of such a pool cleaning robot is illustrated in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 15/586,288 and 15/600,794 that are being incorporated herein by reference.
At least one pool cleaning robot of the set may include at least one out of (i) an intake aperture; (ii) a first fluid conduit; (iii) a first grille that comprises two or more movable first panes, (iv) a filtering element that is configured to filter fluid from the intake aperture to provide filtered fluid. The first fluid conduit is configured to direct the filtered fluid towards the first grille. The first grille is configured to output the filtered fluid at a first direction that is responsive to a position of the two or more movable panes. See, for example,
As indicated above different pool cleaning robots of a set may be configured to clean different regions of the pool. For example—it is assumed that a first pool cleaning robot and a second pool cleaning robot are configured to clean different regions of the pool. Under these assumptions at least one of the following conditions may be fulfilled:
The set may fulfill any of the conditions listed in the specification and/or drawings of the current patent application.
First pool cleaning robot 21 is configured to clean a region of the pool that includes a first bottom portion 31 and a first sidewall portion 31′. First pool cleaning robot 21 follows a cleaning path 41 for cleaning first bottom portion 31 and follows a cleaning path 41′ for cleaning first sidewall portion 31′.
Second pool cleaning robot 22 is configured to clean a region of the pool that includes a second bottom portion 32 and a second sidewall portion 32′. Second pool cleaning robot 22 follows a cleaning path 42 for cleaning second bottom portion 32 and follows a cleaning path 42′ for cleaning second sidewall portion 32′.
Third pool cleaning robot 23 is configured to clean a region of the pool that includes a third bottom portion 33 and a third sidewall portion 33′. Third pool cleaning robot 23 follows a cleaning path 43 for cleaning third bottom portion 33 and follows a cleaning path 43′ for cleaning third sidewall portion 33′.
While
It is expected that one of more of the pool cleaning robots is scheduled to clean the other three sidewalls of the pool and maybe the stairs 12.
It should be noted that any other regions may be defined. One or more of the regions may include only a sidewall area, only a bottom area or a combination thereof.
The pool cleaning robots may move and/or perform cleaning operations based on the locations of obstacles such as drains 17 and/or light elements and/or return water jets 19.
In
There may be defined an overlap area.
Although the said “invaded” pool cleaning robot may seem to be traversing into another pool cleaner bottom or wall portions, the entry into the overlap area 34 is important and may be governed by a special division of task cleaning program to ensure that the overlap areas are cleaned by either pool cleaners without collisions, entangled cables, or the leaving behind of an uncleaned dirty strip. Path 42″ depicts an entry along the travelling path that runs along the width section of the pool. Also see 16 in
The cleaning regions that are allocated to the different pool cleaning robot may change over time.
The said shape non-preserving changes may be particularly pertinent to circular shaped pools, kidney shapes, free-style pond type contoured pools and the like.
The leftmost part of
The potential collision may be detected by one or more of the pool cleaning robots using any sensor—for example an image sensor, a proximity sensor and the like. The potential collision may be sensed by another pool cleaning robot and/or another sensor that is not located on (or within) a pool cleaning robot.
One or more of the pool cleaning robots may be informed, over a communication link, about the potential collision.
The first and/or second pool cleaning robots may inform the other pool cleaning robot of the pair that the distance between them is (or is about to be) too small and/or that they are in a collision path.
The first and/or second pool cleaning robot may wait for a response from the other pool cleaning robot of the pair—and if such a response does not arrive—may send another alert, increase the power and/or the repetition rate and/or the carrier frequency and/or the modulation of the communication until receiving a response from the other pool cleaning robot or determining that a communication failure occurred.
In case of a communication failure the pool cleaning robot that attempted to communicate they may perform a collision avoidance maneuver without counting on the other pool cleaning robot to perform such a collision avoidance maneuver.
It should be noted that both pool cleaning robots may perform a collision avoidance maneuver.
It should be noted that a pool cleaning robot may perform a collision avoidance maneuvers even without communicating with the other pool cleaning robot of the pair.
It should be noted that one or more pool cleaning robot may pass the border—and clean an overlap area. This may involve notifying the “invaded” pool cleaning robot about the overlap area cleaning process.
Moving along sloped bottom portion 102 and/or cleaning the sloped bottom portion 102 may be challenging—especially when the grip level of the sloped bottom portion is low. Nevertheless, moving along a flat surface 101 may be equally challenging if the flat area is slippery. Second and third pool cleaning robots 22 and 23 may propagate along the sloped bottom portion 102. First pool cleaning robot 21 may or may not propagate and/or or clean the sloped bottom portion 102.
An area may be regarded as slippery if its grip level or the co-efficient of friction of the pool cleaning robot is less than 1 or that the movement of the pool cleaning robot is measured to be, say, half than a certain ideal nominal speed of, say for example, 14 meters per minute
A flat area may be regarded as an area that has a slope between zero and ten degrees—and the like.
In
The sidewall of the pools may be cleaned by one or more pool cleaning robots of the set.
Because dirt in pools tends to propagate by gravity to the lower regions of a pool, slopes and deep ends may be slippier than other areas. There are no definite rules on this, and the flat regions may be equally slippery due to dirt accumulation that may also be a result of shock treatments such as, but not exclusively, the use of flocculants. It is common for a pool cleaning robot 23 to not be able to effectively clean area 103 let alone exit that area and climb back uphill on slope 102. Within the framework of a set of pool cleaning robots, the second pool cleaning robot 22 or 21 may possess special brushes and/or propulsion jets that allow it to descend on a slippery slope 102 to clean area 103 and exit back to area 102 or 101.
Central power supply unit 28 supplies power to the first, second and third power supply units 39, 38 and 37. First, second and third power supply units 39, 38 and 37 are connected via first, second and third cords 39, 38 and 37 to first, second and third pool cleaning robots.
First pool cleaning robot 21 is configured to clean flat bottom portion 101. The first pool cleaning robot 21 follows a zig-zag cleaning path 111 for cleaning the flat bottom portion 101.
Second pool cleaning robot 22 is configured to clean sloped bottom portion 102. The second pool cleaning robot 22 follows a zig-zag cleaning path 112 for cleaning the sloped bottom portion 102.
Third pool cleaning robot 23 is configured to clean hopper 103. The third pool cleaning robot 23 follows a zig-zag cleaning path 113 for cleaning hopper 103.
Fourth pool cleaning robot 24 is configured to clean sidewalls 104, 105 and 106 as well as a narrow flat strip between sidewalls 104 and 105. The fourth pool cleaning robot 24 follows a zig-zag cleaning path 114 for cleaning the sidewalls 104, 105 and 106.
Fourth pool cleaning robot 24 is illustrated as a cordless pool cleaning robot.
First, second and third pool cleaning robots may or may not clean sidewalls. For example—it may be assumed that first, second and third pool cleaning robots may not clean sidewalls and/or that first pool cleaning robot 21 may not clean sloped bottom portion 102.
While
It is expected that one of more of the pool cleaning robots (for example fourth pool cleaning robot 24) may be scheduled to clean the other three sidewalls of the pool 100.
Pool cleaning robot 120 includes a maneuverable handle 122, a PVC bristled brush wheel 121, outlets 124 of a water jet propulsion unit, and interfacing elements such as wheels 127 and track 129.
Pool cleaning robot 130 includes a maneuverable handle 122, a PVA sponge brush wheel 131, outlets 134 of a jet propulsion unit, and interfacing elements such as wheels and a track.
Pool cleaning robot 140 includes (i) a maneuverable handle 142, (ii) a hybrid brush wheel that includes PVA sponge brush wheel portions 141 and PVC brush wheel portions 142, (iii) side brushes 143 and 144, and (iv) outlets 147 of a jet propulsion unit, and (v) interfacing elements such as wheels and a track.
Pool cleaning robot 150 includes (i) a maneuverable handle 142, (ii) a hybrid brush wheel that includes PVA sponge brush wheel portions 141 and PVC brush wheel portions 142, (iii) side brushes 143, 144, 145 and 146, (iv) an auxiliary brush 146′, and (v) interfacing elements such as wheels and a track.
Pool cleaning robot 150 depicts a double brush wheel 142 that is separated by a sleeve insert (not numbered). By comparison to pool cleaners 120, 130, and 160, pool cleaner 150 can rotate 360 degrees in each direction by means of an additional drive motor for more sophisticated maneuvering abilities.
Pool cleaning robot 150 includes (i) a handle, (ii) a brush wheel 161 that may have any of the said brush types (iii) sensors—such as a camera- and especially a detachable camera, and (iv) interfacing elements such as wheels and a track.
Pool cleaner 160 includes any type cleaning brush 161 and a camera compartment 169 that may further comprise LED lighting, laser rangefinder, acoustic sensors and the like.
Each output fluid interface 207 may or may not control the direction of the fluid jet 208 that it outputs. Each output fluid interface 206 may or may not control the direction of the fluid jet 209 that it outputs.
For example—each output fluid interface may include a grille that includes two or more movable first panes that may be moved by one of more motors thereby determined the position and/or orientation of the two or more movable panes- and the direction of the jet of fluid outputted from the output fluid interface.
Arm 301 may include one or multiple joints and one or more segments that are connected to the joints. Pool cleaning robot 300 may include one or more motors and/or control elements that control the position of arm 301 and external brush 302 that is connected to the arm 301.
Pool cleaning robot 300 may be configured to position the external brush 302 at a position that allows external brush 302 to clean surfaces that are above the housing 322.
In
It is noted that during the cleaning of any of said surfaces the pool cleaning robot 300 may maintain static by countering any force applied on the external brush 302 by any cleaned surface using fine-tuned fluid jets.
Pool cleaning robot 300 may also hover above any surface illustrated in
Filtering unit 1000 includes a base 1002 and two frames 1010 and 1020 that support replaceable filtering panels such as 1011 and 1012 (filtering panels or cartridges 1011 are coarser than filtering panels 1012). Fluid enters the filtering panels via apertures (not shown—concealed by the frames) formed in base 1002.
Filtering unit 1003 includes a base 1004, and two bag type filtering components 1020. Fluid enters the filtering components 1020 via apertures 1021 formed in base 1004.
Different pool cleaning robots of the set may have different filtering units and/or may have different filtering, nets that may be characterized by pore sizes, assembled in their filtering units.
One or more pool cleaning robots of the set may be configured to clean the same region of the pool. They may clean the same region at different manners or at the same manner.
The first and second pool cleaning robots may clean the same region at the same time, at different points of time that are proximate to each other or that are substantially different from each other. There may be no-overlap, a partial overlap or non-overlap between the cleaning period of the region by the different pool cleaning robots
If the first and second pool cleaning robots clean the same region at different manners. The first pool cleaning robot may be configured to perform a preliminary cleaning of the region and the second pool cleaning robot may be configured to perform a supplementary follow up cleaning of the region. The preliminary cleaning may be faster, slower or of the same duration as the supplementary cleaning. The preliminary cleaning may be coarser, finer or of the same granularity as the supplementary cleaning.
A movement mechanism such as motor with a gear or other interfacing elements may move the filters along the rail. The movement mechanism may be located within the housing 1102.
Another option to create and market a set with pre-defined characteristics is at the OEM source premises by offering sets with specific differentiating features. Alternatively or additionally, the set may be assembled at one of its distributors or service centers. Whereby, in any scenario, a user may specify the profile of its pool and the vendor(s) may tailor-adapt at least two pool cleaning robots to operate as an optimal set at the said end user premises.
It should be noted that inter communication between pool cleaning robots may be achieved by pool cleaning robots that may recognize the pool underwater features (for example, by optical or acoustic means).
Namely, the pool cleaning robots may recognize their relative position inside the pool in relation to pool features and in relation to other pool cleaning robot.
The pool cleaning robots may be able to recognize a pre-demarcated area or working zone from which the pool cleaner will not trespass to its neighboring pool cleaner zone.
Each pool cleaning robot may communicate its position to the neighboring pool cleaning robot(s) thereby ensuring that each cleaner remains within its demarcated zone.
The pool cleaning robots may communicate with each other directly or indirectly. The indirect communication can be executed by using submerged and/or above-water relays or communication modules.
A communication module may be wirelessly coupled to the pool cleaning robot. The communication module may be wired coupled to a pool cleaning robot via the cable that is also used for power supply.
A certain communication module may communicate with a certain pool cleaning robot and may communicate with other pool cleaning robots or may communicate with other communication modules that in turn communicate with their associated pool cleaning robots.
The inter communication may be achieved by a wireless device (such as a Bluetooth® device) located in each Power Supply unit that is positioned outside the pool (the PS is an electrical device that is not submerged). Each pool cleaning robot is electrically connected and tethered to the PS by means of an electrical cord.
In another embodiment, the pool cleaning robot(s) is/are operated by means of on-board rechargeable batteries so the underwater inter-communication between pool cleaning robots may be achieved by optical or acoustical means.
The pool cleaning robot 850 may include at least one of the following elements on-board (see
a. A hollow body (housing) 851.
b. A water intake aperture 852.
c. A water outlet aperture 853.
d. A hydraulic path 854 stretching between the said intake and outlet.
e. A filtering and/or sieving element (such as a filtering unit) positioned inside the said hydraulic path 855.
f. A pumping motor 856 (also referred to as pump motor) positioned in the hydraulic path.
g. A driving motor and reduction gears (also referred to as drive motor and gear) 857.
h. Travelling wheels (also referred as wheels) 858.
i. Wheels connecting shafts 859.
j. Pool surface dirt brushes or scrappers (also referred as brush wheels) 860.
k. Auxiliary brushing or scrapping member (also referred to as auxiliary brush wheel) 861.
l. Tracks 862.
m. Electrical tethered power supply cable (also referred to as cable) 863.
n. A chargeable battery 864.
o. A communication unit for communicating (wirelessly or in a wired manner) with a control unit (also referred as a communication module) 865.
p. One or more sensors 870.
q. Image sensor 871—especially an on-board day and/or night camera
r. A video device 872 that captures, memorizes locations of pool features or obstacles and calculates the relative angle and distance of the robot from these features to further calculate the robot location in the pool.
s. A lighting optical recognition aid unit 873 for nighttime and/or for high turbidity conditions that may also employ an infrared light device.
t. One or more motion sensors 874 such as an accelerometer and/or a gyroscope and/or an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and/or a laser wall recognition device.
u. A turbidity sensor 875.
v. A heading direction measurement sensor 876 such as magnetometer, compass, and/or a gyrocompass
w. Impact sensors and/or pressure sensors 877
x. Pump motor velocity/current sensors 878
y. A control box (also referred to as a controller) 879 that may include a processor and cleaning program software.
z. Impeller 880
aa. A processor 882 that may be configured to perform any mentioned above calculations. The processor and the controller 879 may be combined. Any reference to a controller may be referred to as a reference to a processor or to a combination of controller and a processor. The controller and/or the processor may include one or more integrated circuits.
bb. Memory module 884 for storing programs, commands, allocation of regions, sensors information, and the like.
Such programs may include, for example, commands whereby when one pool cleaning robot approaches or is travelling towards a demarcation line, the other pool cleaning robot will direct its movement away from that said demarcation line. This will allow each pool cleaning robot to ensure cleanliness of the area around or on the demarcation lines.
There may be provided submerged radiation beacons transmitters for transmitting radiation beacons that represent the limits of the separate
Although the pool cleaning robots are able to inter-communicate and automatically assign work programs and demarcation zones between them, another embodiment, that is incorporated herein in its entirety, was disclosed in Provisional U.S. application No. 62/287,006 dated 26th of January 2016 and in US patent application publication serial number 2017/0212523.
This concerns the overriding possibility of allowing the end-user or pool operator to switch off from automatic inter demarcations by the pool cleaning robots to a manual demarcation. This may be achieved by a control device that may be a remote control that can be dedicated or by use of smart phone or mobile devices that comprise screens that may depict the pool environment.
Manual demarcations may be achieved by use of said control device that will enable the user to add features or lines on screen and draw virtual scanning demarcation lines for cleaning zones in the pool, mark special pool areas that may need special attention by marking that area, mark end-point to arrive to at the end of the cleaning cycle, ability to overrule the preset cycle time and the like.
The pool cleaning robot may be powered by an electrical power cord tethered to an external power supply. It may autonomously exit the pool in order to evacuate the swimming pool area and/or in order to service its filtering unit in an external docking station that may be located on the deck near the pool or it may be located in an underground parking area in the pool deck or its environs. See U.S. provisional patent Ser. No. 62/146,335 filing dated Apr. 12, 2015 and the continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/501,098 filing date Sep. 30, 2014 which claims priority from U.S. provisional patent Ser. No. 61/890,260 filing date Oct. 13, 2013, and all their ensuing patent applications that are all, for the purpose of this “exiting embodiment”, being incorporated herein by reference.
The pool cleaning robot may be powered by on-board batteries and may employ a submerged docking station for recharging its batteries. Alternatively, it may autonomously exit the pool in order to be charged by an external docking system.
A cord connected to a pool cleaning robot may include at least one out of transmitters for transmitting electromagnetic information that once sensed by one or more pool cleaning robots may allow the one or more pool cleaning robots to determine the location of the cord. These transmissions may include a unique identifier or may have any other character (such as carrier frequency) that will enable the pool cleaning robot to detect that transmission s resulting from the cable—and not from another pool cleaning robot. There may be multiple transmitters that are located at multiple locations along the cord. A single pool cleaning robot may determine the location of any cord. Alternatively—the determination may be made in a distributed manner—for example by comparing the reception parameters of the transmissions of the transmitter—as received by different pool cleaning robots—a triangulation process or other location finding process may be performed.
Additionally or alternatively—one or more receivers may be attached to the cord and the receiver may determine its location by analyzing received transmissions from one or more pool cleaning robots. Alternatively—the receiver receives the transmission and send information about the transmission (identifier, source of transmission, reception parameters such as strength, RSSI) to one or more pool cleaning robot and/or to another device for analysis and location determination.
Additionally or alternatively—the cords may be coupled to or include any type of proximity sensors that may sense that a pair of cords are too close to each other—and then send an alert to one or more pool cleaning robot and/or to another device.
The cord may be coupled to or may include an image sensor for sensing the location of the pool cleaning robot. The image acquired from the image sensor may be used to determine the relative position of the cord and the camera.
There may be provided a method for cleaning a pool by a set of robots. The cleaning may be executed simultaneously, in a partially overlapping manner or in a non-overlapping manner.
The cleaning of the pool may require a participation of the pool cleaning robots of the set. Cleaning a pool using a set of pool cleaning robots may speed the cleaning period, may improve the cleanliness of the pool.
There may be provided a method for cleaning the pool using only a subset of the set (that subset may include one or more pool cleaning robots)—for example when the remaining pool cleaning robot are unavailable—or for any other reason. Cleaning the pool by using only the subset may be slower and/or less efficient than cleaning the pool using the entire set—but this is not necessarily so.
The cleaning may use a set of pool cleaning robots that may be equal to each other or may differ from each other. The difference may include different hardware components and/or different software, code, firmware or malware configurations.
Method 890 may start by an initialization step 895.
The initializing step may include at least one out of:
Initialization step 895 may be followed by step 900 of cleaning a pool using at least two pool cleaning robots of a set of pool cleaning robots. The at least two pool cleaning robots may form the entire set or may form only a sub-set of the set.
In the following list any reference to a set of pool cleaning robots may also apply to a sub-set of pool cleaning robots. Thus, any step executed by one or more pool cleaning robot of a set may be executed by one or more pool cleaning robots of a sub-set of the set. The sub-set includes fewer pool cleaning robot than the set.
Step 900 may include at least one out of the following steps:
Method 2000 may include step 2010 of programming a pool cleaning robot to participate in a cleaning of a pool by a set of pool cleaning robots. The programming may include updating the programming, programming the pool cleaning robot in a remote manner—for example sending programming instructions over a communication link, programming the pool cleaning robot by sending programming commands over a wired connection, inserting to the pool cleaning robot a preprogrammed non-transitory computer readable medium, downloading programming instructions to the pool cleaning robot and the like.
Step 2010 may include ay one out of:
Step 2010 may be followed by step 2020 of verifying or checking that the programming succeeded. This may include monitoring the operations of the pool cleaning robot during a cleaning process, before a cleaning process, by using a verification tool, and the like.
Any of the cleaning processes may be applied to one or more regions that cover the entire pool or only some part (or some parts) of the pool.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise (for example “only one of the first and second pool cleaning robot is configured to . . . ”) any ability allocated to the first pool cleaning robot may be an ability of the second pool cleaning robot or any number of pool cleaning robots of the set. Unless explicitly stated otherwise any operation executed by the first pool cleaning robot may be executed by another pool cleaning robot of the set. For example—if the specification refers to a first pool cleaning robot that pushes a second pool cleaning robot—then the second pool cleaning robot may push the first pool cleaning robot. If the first pool cleaning robot is regarded as a master pool cleaning robot—then any other pool cleaning robot of the set may be a master pool cleaning robot and the first pool cleaning robot (and any number of pool cleaning robot of the set) may become slave pool cleaning robot.
A pool cleaning robot may be a master in correction to some operations (for example allocation of regions) but a slave pool cleaning robot in regard to other operations.
The terms “region”, “portion” and “area” are used in an interchangeable manner.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific examples of embodiments of the invention. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Moreover, the terms “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
Any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality may be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that boundaries between the above described operations merely illustrative. The multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, a single operation may be distributed in additional operations and operations may be executed at least partially overlapping in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments.
However, other modifications, variations and alternatives are also possible. The specifications and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense.
The phrase “may be X” indicates that condition X may be fulfilled. This phrase also suggests that condition X may not be fulfilled. For example—any reference to a pool cleaning robot as including a certain component should also cover the scenario in which the pool cleaning robot does not include the certain component. For example—any reference to a method as including a certain step should also cover the scenario in which the method does not include the certain component. Yet for another example—any reference to a pool cleaning robot that is configured to perform a certain operation should also cover the scenario in which the pool cleaning robot is not configured to perform the certain operation.
The terms “pool cleaner” and “pool cleaning robot” are used in an autonomous manner and may refer to a self-propelled pool cleaner.
The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having”, “consisting” and “consisting essentially of” are used in an interchangeable manner. For example—any method may include at least the steps included in the figures and/or in the specification, only the steps included in the figures and/or the specification. The same applies to the pool cleaning robot and the mobile computer.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific examples of embodiments of the invention. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Moreover, the terms “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the boundaries between logic blocks are merely illustrative and that alternative embodiments may merge logic blocks or circuit elements or impose an alternate decomposition of functionality upon various logic blocks or circuit elements. Thus, it is to be understood that the architectures depicted herein are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality.
Any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that boundaries between the above described operations merely illustrative. The multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, a single operation may be distributed in additional operations and operations may be executed at least partially overlapping in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments.
Also for example, in one embodiment, the illustrated examples may be implemented as circuitry located on a single integrated circuit or within a same device. Alternatively, the examples may be implemented as any number of separate integrated circuits or separate devices interconnected with each other in a suitable manner.
Also for example, the examples, or portions thereof, may implemented as soft or code representations of physical circuitry or of logical representations convertible into physical circuitry, such as in a hardware description language of any appropriate type.
Also, the invention is not limited to physical devices or units implemented in non-programmable hardware but can also be applied in programmable devices or units able to perform the desired device functions by operating in accordance with suitable program code, such as mainframes, minicomputers, servers, workstations, personal computers, notepads, personal digital assistants, electronic games, automotive and other embedded systems, cell phones and various other wireless devices, commonly denoted in this application as ‘computer systems’.
However, other modifications, variations and alternatives are also possible. The specifications and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense.
In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word ‘comprising’ does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps then those listed in a claim. Furthermore, the terms “a” or “an,” as used herein, are defined as one as or more than one. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as “at least one” and “one or more” in the claims should not be construed to imply that the introduction of another claim element by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an.” The same holds true for the use of definite articles. Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements the mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
Any system, apparatus or device referred to this patent application includes at least one hardware component.
While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents will now occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.
Any combination of any component of any component and/or unit of pool cleaning robot that is illustrated in any of the figures and/or specification and/or the claims may be provided.
Any combination of any pool cleaning robot illustrated in any of the figures and/or specification and/or the claims may be provided.
Any combination of any set of pool cleaning robots illustrated in any of the figures and/or specification and/or the claims may be provided.
Any combination of steps, operations and/or methods illustrated in any of the figures and/or specification and/or the claims may be provided.
Any combination of operations illustrated in any of the figures and/or specification and/or the claims may be provided.
Any combination of methods illustrated in any of the figures and/or specification and/or the claims may be provided.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/747,576 filing date Jan. 21, 2020 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/702,774 filing date Sep. 13, 2017 which claims priority from U.S. provisional patent Ser. No. 62/393,816 filing date Sep. 13, 2016—all applications are incorporated herein by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20210324650 A1 | Oct 2021 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16747576 | Jan 2020 | US |
| Child | 17304939 | US | |
| Parent | 15702774 | Sep 2017 | US |
| Child | 16747576 | US |
