U.S. patent application number 13/789782 was filed with the patent office on 2013-09-12 for swimming pool arrangement.
This patent application is currently assigned to WFS Technologies Ltd.. The applicant listed for this patent is Brendan Hyland. Invention is credited to Brendan Hyland.
Application Number | 20130237375 13/789782 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46026328 |
Filed Date | 2013-09-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130237375 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hyland; Brendan |
September 12, 2013 |
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.
Inventors: |
Hyland; Brendan; (Edinburgh,
GB) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Hyland; Brendan |
Edinburgh |
|
GB |
|
|
Assignee: |
WFS Technologies Ltd.
Edinburgh
GB
|
Family ID: |
46026328 |
Appl. No.: |
13/789782 |
Filed: |
March 8, 2013 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
482/8 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 71/06 20130101;
A63B 2220/836 20130101; A63B 2220/89 20130101; A63B 2220/12
20130101; A63B 69/125 20130101; A63B 2230/06 20130101; A63B
2024/0093 20130101; A63B 2220/13 20130101; A63B 24/0087 20130101;
A63B 2071/0627 20130101; A63B 2220/30 20130101; A63B 2225/50
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
482/8 |
International
Class: |
A63B 71/06 20060101
A63B071/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 9, 2012 |
GB |
1204244.6 |
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.
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.
* * * * *