Swimming pool arrangement

Abstract

A swimmer training arrangement comprising a fluid filled tank provided with a fluid flow control unit and a monitoring arrangement comprising at least two monitor units monitoring the position of an object in the tank and generating signal data indicative of the position of the object; a processor unit operable to receive the signal data and output an activation signal, and an alarm mechanism operable to output an alarm signal, wherein, the processor unit is operable to determine if the signal data meets predetermined data criteria and output an activation signal operable to active the alarm mechanism if the predetermined criteria is met, such that upon activation of the alarm mechanism the processor unit monitors the signal data such that should the signal data continue to meet the predetermined data over a predetermined time period, the processor outputs a flow control signal operable to modify the fluid flow control unit output.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of GB 1204244.6 filed Mar. 9, 2012, which application is fully incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present invention relates to a swimming pool arrangement and in particular, a swimming pool arrangement which facilitates the positioning of a swimmer within a pool.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Large swimming pools are expensive to install and maintain and require a large area of land to be positioned in meaning relatively few owners have space for them or the money to maintain them. For those will restricted space, smaller pools are an option. However, small pools do not provide sufficient length for swimming more than a few strokes before having to turn around, which does not encourage use of the pool for long distance swimming, nor does such swimming give the enjoyable sensation of swimming in large, open pools.

[0004] To overcome this problem, small pools provided with a jet of water which creates a strong current have been developed. In these pools, known as continuous pools, the swimmer swims against the current, thus being able to swim continuously in the flow of water while remaining in a static position relative to the surround of the pool. For weaker swimmers, remaining in a static position relative to the surround of the pool can be a problem. For weak swimmers, the continuous current can be too strong for them to swim constantly against and therefore they can be pushed against the wall to which the current is directed.

[0005] To make continuous pools safer for all swimmers, including weaker swimmers, a variety of mechanical hoist arrangements have been developed. In GB2456776A there is detailed a harness and hoist arrangement for use in a swimming pool. A harness is provided to be worn by a swimmer and is attached to a suspended weight arrangement which acts to retain a pressure against which the swimmer can swim. Depending on the strength of the swimmer, the weights can be increased or decreased therefore increasing or decreasing the resistance against which the swimmer has to swim.

[0006] Alternative continuous pools systems have been developed such as that in JP11159173A which has a camera monitoring system that determines the position of the swimmer within the pool tank and which are connected to a control mechanism. The control mechanism uses the determined position of the swimmer to control the rate of flow of the water in the pool so that the position of the swimmer can be maintained. However, if the swimmer is swimming for a long period of time, such a monitor and control arrangement can, as the swimmer tires, gradually lessen the flow of the pool and thus provide the swimmer with a continually reducing resistance. Such a cycle of decreasing resistance would and therefore reduce the effectiveness of the training over the length of the training period.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide a swimming pool arrangement facilitates the positioning of a swimmer within a pool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a swimmer training arrangement comprising a fluid filled tank provided with a fluid flow control unit and a monitoring arrangement comprising at least two monitor units monitoring the position of an object in the tank and generating signal data indicative of the position of the object; a processor unit operable to receive the signal data and output an activation signal, and an alarm mechanism operable to output an alarm signal, wherein, the processor unit is operable to determine if the signal data meets predetermined data criteria and output an activation signal operable to active the alarm mechanism if the predetermined criteria is met, such that upon activation of the alarm mechanism the processor unit monitors the signal data such that should the signal data continue to meet the predetermined data over a predetermined time period, the processor outputs a flow control signal operable to modify the fluid flow control unit output.

[0009] Such an arrangement ensures that should a swimmer not be maintaining their position within the pool tank whilst swimming, an alarm will be raised and if the swimmer does not respond to the alarm such that they restore their position within the pool to a desired position the fluid flow in the pool will be adjusted to enable to them to resumed the desired position.

[0010] The alarm may be an audible alarm, alternatively it may be a visual alarm. The alarm may be arranged below the surface of the water or alternatively above the surface of the water. An audible alarm can be of use so that the swimmer does not need to be looking out in order to see an alarm, however, for swimmers that find it difficult to hear under water the alarm may be visual. A combination of audio and visual alarms may be used. Depending on the suitability for a given user, the alarm may be above or below the water surface and indeed an alarm may be provided above and below the water surface

[0011] Preferably, the monitor arrangement comprises two monitor units placed opposing one another in the pool tank. Alternatively, the monitor units may be arranged in any two suitable locations in the pool tank to provide desired range and coverage. Further alternatively the monitor arrangement may comprise a single monitor unit placed within the pool tank. The pool tank may further comprises four monitor units arranged as two sets of opposing units with the two sets arranged orthogonally to one another.

[0012] The monitoring arrangement may comprise an external monitoring unit operable to be linked to GPS. Such an arrangement would facilitate the use of the relative position of the swimmer to a GPS relay in order to map the exact position of swimmer relative to pool, this may be of particular value given GPS accuracy is continuing to improve and will soon be <1 m.

[0013] By arranging two units opposing one another, the lateral position, or longitudinal position of the swimmer can be monitored and determined. By arranging two opposing sets of units orthogonally to one another, both the longitudinal and lateral position of the swimmer within the pool tank can be monitored and determined.

[0014] Preferably, the monitoring units comprise wireless transceivers. The use of wireless transceivers minimises the requirement for cabling within a pool environment.

[0015] The monitoring units may be located at a water surface line of a wall of the pool tank. By arranging the monitoring units at the water surface line of a wall of the pool tank, the swimmer can be monitored as they swim on the surface of the water.

[0016] The monitoring units may be permanently installed in the walls of the pool. Such an arrangement would be of use if the pool was being used regularly for the purposed of training or long distance swims. The monitor units may alternatively be located on the roof of the building in which the pool is located. Such an arrangement would be of particular use when an arrangement with only one monitoring unit is used. The monitor units may further alternatively be removably attached to the edge of the pool. This would be of particular use when the pool was not being used as a regular training pool.

[0017] Preferably, the processor unit is operably to automatically calculate the relative location of the swimmer in relation to the monitor unit or units which may be located on the pool wall or roof and this data may be used to determine the swimmer position in relation to the known dimension of the pool.

[0018] Each monitor unit may be a low frequency relay operating, for example, in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 10 MHz. Preferably, the swimmer training arrangement further comprises at least one sensing unit. Each sensing unit may be worn by, or attached to, the swimmer such and may be operable to communicate with the monitoring units. By providing the swimmer with a sensing unit which can be in communication with the monitoring units, communication signals can be used to determine criteria such as distance of the swimmer from one or more of the sides of the pool tank, velocity of the swimmer within the pool tank as well as sensing data relating to physiological aspects of the swimmer such as heart rate.

[0019] Conveniently each monitoring unit and each sensing unit comprises a transceiver. By having a transceiver in each of the units, two way communications between monitoring units and sensing units is possible, therefore enabling the monitoring unit to activate an alarm on the sensing unit when predetermined criteria are met.

[0020] Each transceiver may be provided with at least one electrically insulated, magnetically coupled antenna. The antenna may be a wire loop, coil or similar arrangement. Such antenna create both magnetic and electromagnetic fields. The magnetic or magneto-inductive field is generally considered to comprise two components of different magnitude that, along with other factors, attenuate with distance (r), at rates proportional to 1/r2 and 1/r3 respectively. Together they are often termed the near field components. The electromagnetic field has a still different magnitude and, along with other factors, attenuates with distance at a rate proportional to l/r. It is often termed the far field or propagating component.

[0021] Preferably, the data is transmitted as an electromagnetic and/or magneto-inductive signal. Signals based on electrical and magnetic fields are rapidly attenuated in fluids which are electrically conductive in nature. Propagating radio or electromagnetic waves are a result of an interaction between the electric and magnetic fields. The high conductivity of a fluid will attenuate the electric field. The magnetic permeability of a material or fluid will affect the magnetic field. Water has a magnetic permeability close to that of free space so that a purely magnetic field is relatively unaffected by this medium. However, for propagating electromagnetic waves the energy is continually cycling between magnetic and electric field and this results in attenuation of propagating waves due to conduction losses. Fluids present in the wellbore provide attenuation losses in a workable bandwidth which still provide for data transmission over practical distances.

[0022] The data may be compressed prior to transmission. In this way the occupied transmission bandwidth can be reduced. This allows use of a lower carrier frequency which leads to lower attenuation. This in turn allows data transfer through the fluids over greater transmission distances.

[0023] Preferably, the data transmission is bi-directional. In this way, command and control signals can be transferred to and from the monitoring units to the sensing units as required.

[0024] These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments of the present invention which are given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a plan view of a first embodiment of a swimming pool arrangement according to the present invention, and

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an antenna and transceiver unit for use in monitoring and sensing units of the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0027] With reference to FIG. 1 there is shown a continuous swimming pool arrangement 10 which consists of a swimming pool tank 12 with two opposing lateral sides 14a and 14b and two opposing longitudinal sides 16a and 16b which, together with pool bottom 18 form a rectangular tank which is filled with fluid 20. In use, a flow generator (not shown) creates a current within the fluid 20 pool tank 12 which a swimmer 22 can swim against, thus achieving the effect of swimming a long distance whilst staying contained within the small area of the tank. A communications system 23 is arranged around the pool arrangement 10 to form a swimmer training arrangement 8. The communications system 23 is provided with communication modules 24a-d which are placed within the tank on sides 14a, 14b, 16a and 16b respectively with modules 24a and 24b opposing one another on the lateral sides 14a, 14b of the tank 12 and modules 24c and 24d opposing one another on the longitudinal sides 16a, 16b of the tank 12. The swimmer is provided with at least one, in this case two, limb systems, in this case an ankle system 33 and a wrist system 34, which are operable to interact passively with communication modules 24. The communication system 23 is further provided with a processing unit 26 and an alarm mechanism 28 which in this case are arranged adjacent communications module 24c.

[0028] The communications modules 24 output monitoring signals which determine the position of the swimmer 22 relative to each particular communication module 24a-d, the monitoring signals may be emitted continuously or may be repetitive pulsed signals output regularly at a predetermined interval. Each communications module 24a-d is arranged such that the monitoring signals which are output are subsequently received by the communications modules 24a-d and provided to the processor 26 which determines if the received signals indicate whether the swimmer 22 is swimming within a desired position in the pool tank 12. The desired position will be either be predetermined by the swimmer before going into the pool 10 or may be programmed into the communications system 23 prior to the system 23 being installed. The predetermined distances will be set for each of the communications modules 24 so that in effect a virtual wall arrangement 30 with virtual walls 30a, 30b, 30c and 30d relating to communications module 24a; 24b, 24c and 24d respectively.

[0029] In use, should a swimmer 22 not be able to swim effectively and drift backwards relative to wall 14a towards wall 14b, when the swimmer 22 gets to a position where they breach virtual wall 30b, an signal is provided to the processor unit 26. The processor unit 26 determines if one or more of the signals provided by the communication modules 24a-d meet predetermined criteria such as the indicating that the swimmer has breached one of the virtual walls. If it is shown that the predetermined criteria has been met, the processor 26 creates an activation signal which activates alarm mechanism 28. The alarm mechanism 28 then provides an alarm signal to an alarm output 30. The alarm output 30 outputs an alarm event, such as a sound or a visual effect which notifies the swimmer 22 that a breach of one of the virtual walls has occurred. Simultaneously, the alarm mechanism 28 also triggers the processor 26 to monitor the continued output signals from the communication modules 24a-d over a predetermined period of time to establish if action has been taken by the swimmer 22 to change his swimming position such that none of the virtual walls 30a-d are being breached. This may mean that the swimmer has to speed up, slow down or move to one side or another. If the swimmer 22 is able to adjust his swimming position so that the he is no longer breaching the predetermined data criteria then the system 23 returns to a state where it is simply monitoring the position of the swimmer 22 in the pool to ensure that no breach of the virtual walls 30a-d is made. If, the swimmer 22 is not able to adjust his swimming position then, after the expiration of the predetermined period of time, the processor 26 sends a signal to the system (not shown) controlling the flow of the fluid in the continuous pool instructing the pace of the flow of water which is being generated within the continuous pool to be adjusted to return the swimmer 22 to within the virtual walls 30a-d of the pool tank 12. Plural alarm system outputs 30 may be provided around or in the pool so that a clear indication, particularly if the alarms are visual alarms, is provided to the swimmer 22 of whether they need to speed up, slow down, move to their right side (for example, towards wall 16a) or move to their left side (for example, towards wall 16b).

[0030] It will be appreciated that to increase the accuracy of the system 8, the swimmer 22 can alternatively be provided with ankle and wrist systems 32, 33 which each includes a communications module (not shown) similar to that in any of communications modules 24 such that the communications modules can communicate with the ankle and wrist systems 32, 33 to determine whether the virtual walls 30-d of the pool tank 12 have been breached.

[0031] It will be appreciated that the communications modules 24a-d may be positioned fully within the pool tank; at the surface line between the water in the tank and the air outside, or may be positioned fully above the surface line. Similarly, the processor 26 and alarm mechanism 28 and output 30 may be located above, on or below the surface line of the pool water and air.

[0032] FIG. 2 shows an example of an antenna that can be used with the transceiver of the communications modules of the system in FIG. 1. Each antenna 40 is an electrically insulated, magnetically coupled antenna. The antenna 40 is in this case a coil arrangement but could be a wire loop, or similar arrangement. Such an antenna creates both magnetic and electromagnetic fields. The magnetic or magneto-inductive field is generally considered to comprise two components of different magnitude that, along with other factors, attenuate with distance (r), at rates proportional to 1/r2 and 1/r3 respectively. Together they are often termed the near field components. The electromagnetic field has a still different magnitude and, along with other factors, attenuates with distance at a rate proportional to l/r. It is often termed the far field or propagating component. In this case, antenna 40 has a high permeability ferrite core 80. Wound round the core are multiple loops 82 of an insulated wire. As the number of turns of the wire and length to diameter ratio of the core 80 can be selected depending on the application and in this case, for operation at 125 kHz, one thousand turns and a 10:1 length to diameter ratio is suitable.

[0033] The antenna 40 is connected to the necessary transceiver parts 42 and is included in a sealed housing 84. Within the housing the antenna 40 may be surrounded by air or some other suitable insulator 86, for example, low conductivity medium such as distilled water that is impedance matched to the propagating medium 36.

[0034] In use, these antenna create both magnetic and electromagnetic fields thus, in this case, the data is transmitted as an electromagnetic and/or magneto-inductive signal. In the system detailed in and FIGS. 1 and 2, the data can be compressed prior to transmission. In this way the occupied transmission bandwidth can be reduced. This allows use of a lower carrier frequency which leads to lower attenuation. This in turn allows data transfer through the propagating medium over greater transmission distances.

[0035] Furthermore, in the system detailed in FIGS. 1 and 2 the data transmission is bi-directional so that each communication modules can send and receive data.

[0036] The principle advantage of the present invention is that communications modules can be used to aid a swimmer in training effectively within a continuous swimming pool.

[0037] Another advantage of the present invention is that the training system may be arranged to ensure that a swimmer is given sufficient time to adjust their pace before the monitoring system activates a process of adjusting the current flow within the tank.

[0038] Various modifications can be made to the embodiments as hereinbefore described without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the communications system may comprise four or more communications modules, wherein 4 modules could be arranged orthogonally to one another, alternatively the system may contain two communications modules arranged opposing one another. The alarm output 30 may be a sound, such as, for example a buzzer, a visual effect, such as, for example a light flashing within the pool (not shown) or a signal being provided to the wrist system 32 to provide a data output which the swimmer will can look at and interpret before adjusting their swimming position accordingly. In addition, the monitoring arrangement may comprise an external monitoring unit operable to be linked to GPS. Such an arrangement would facilitate the use of the relative position of the swimmer to a GPS relay in order to map the exact position of swimmer relative to pool, this may be of particular value given GPS accuracy is continuing to improve and will soon be <1 m.

Claims

1. A swimmer training arrangement comprising a fluid filled tank provided with a fluid flow control unit and a monitoring arrangement comprising: at least two monitor units monitoring the position of an object in the tank and generating signal data indicative of the position of the object; a processor unit operable to receive the signal data and output an activation signal, and an alarm mechanism operable to output an alarm signal, wherein, the processor unit is operable to determine if the signal data meets predetermined data criteria and output an activation signal operable to active the alarm mechanism if the predetermined criteria is met, such that upon activation of the alarm mechanism the processor unit monitors the signal data such that should the signal data continue to meet the predetermined data over a predetermined time period, the processor outputs a flow control signal operable to modify the fluid flow control unit output.

2. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the alarm mechanism comprises at least one of a visual alarm component and an audible alarm component.

3. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the alarm mechanism is arranged below the surface of the water.

4. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the alarm mechanism is arranged above the surface of the water.

5. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the alarm mechanism comprises an alarm component arranged above the surface of the water and an alarm component arranged below the surface of the water.

6. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the monitor arrangement comprises two monitor units placed opposing one another in the pool tank.

7. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the monitor units are arranged in any two suitable locations in the pool tank to provide desired range and coverage.

8. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one monitor unit is placed within the pool tank.

9. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the monitoring arrangement comprises four monitor units arranged as two sets of opposing monitor units with the two sets arranged orthogonally to one another.

10. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the monitoring arrangement may comprise at least one external monitor unit operable to be linked to GPS.

11. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one monitor unit comprises a wireless transceiver.

12. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one monitor unit is located in at least one of a water surface line of a wall of the pool tank; the walls of the pool and the roof of the building in which the pool is located.

13. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the processor unit is operable to automatically calculate the relative location of the swimmer in relation to the monitor units.

14. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the swimmer training arrangement further comprises at least one sensing unit.

15. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 14 wherein each sensing unit is attached to a swimmer and is operable to communicate with the monitoring units.

16. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 11 wherein each transceiver is provided with at least one electrically insulated, magnetically coupled antenna.

17. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 16 wherein the antenna is a wire loop, coil or similar arrangement.

18. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 17 wherein each antenna is operable to transmit data as an electromagnetic and/or magneto-inductive signal.

19. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 18 wherein the data is compressed prior to transmission.

20. A swimmer training arrangement as claimed in claim 19 wherein data transmission is bi-directional.