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AssigneeHayward Industries, Inc.
InventorsDieter J. Rief, Hans Rainer Schlitzer, Manuela Rief, Rosemarie Rief, Benoit Joseph Renaud
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Disclosed herein are a steering system for a suction cleaning device, a locomotion system for a pool cleaner, and a turbine for use in an automatic cleaner. The steering system includes a fluid driven turbine that rotates a cam gear that is interconnected with a cam wheel for directing a drive pinion. The drive pinion is positionable in a plurality of positions to drive a nose cone that steers the suction cleaning device. The locomotion system includes first and second A-frame arms that respectively engage first and second bearings about first and second eccentrics of a turbine. Rotation of the turbine causes the first and second A-frame arms to rotate back and forth driving associated walking pod assemblies. The turbine includes a turbine rotor and a plurality of vanes connected to the turbine rotor. The plurality of vanes including lateral edges having lateral open regions to facilitate debris-removing efficiency.
In an automatic pool cleaner motivated by flow of water therethrough established by the pumping action of a remote pump, the cleaner including a turbine housing forming a water-flow chamber defining a flow-path cross-section and having flow inlet and outlet ports for debris-laden water flow through the chamber, the turbine including (a) a rotor having an axis and (b) at least one vane connected with respect to the rotor at a proximal vane edge, the vane extending from the proximal vane edge to a distal vane edge and forming a vane profile with opposed lateral edges extending between the proximal and distal edges, the vane edges defining a vane profile in the flow-path cross-section, the improvement comprising the vane profile being configured such that the flow-path cross-section includes a lateral open region adjacent to at least one of the lateral edges of the vane, thereby permitting unobstructed water flow beside the vane lateral edges to facilitate debris-removing efficiency of the cleaner.
In an automatic pool cleaner motivated by flow of water therethrough established by the pumping action of a remote pump, the cleaner including a turbine housing forming a water-flow chamber having inlet and outlet ports, a turbine mounted for rotation in the housing and providing a flow path for water and debris therearound, the turbine including a rotor having a rotor axis and at least one vane with a proximal edge connected to the rotor, the improvement comprising a vane-rotor interconnection permitting movement of the vane proximal edge in a plane tangential to the rotor to positions of varying angles with respect to the rotor axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.