Swimming pool with eductor jets

Abstract

A swimming pool designed for stationary swimming uses Venturi-based eductor jets to generate a forceful water flow augmented by entrained pool water drawn from within the pool enclosure. The eductor jets use the kinetic energy of the inlet flow to entrain the low-pressure pool water, completely mix the two, and then discharge the mixture as an augmented outlet flow. The energy from the motive inlet flow is transferred to the entrained pool water via the Venturi effect. As the motive inlet water passes through a tapered nozzle in the eductor jet, kinetic energy increases and pressure decreases. This produces a Venturi effect which draws surrounding pool water into the Venturi orifice of the eductor jet. Consequently, the volume of the outlet flow from the eductor jets is 3 to 5 times the volume of the inlet flow. A larger and more powerful stream of water is thereby discharged into the pool enclosure and provides optimal resistance for in-place swimming in an energy-efficient manner.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11 / 896,998, filed Sep. 7, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to swimming pools, and more particularly to swimming pools which generate a directed flow of water within the pool enclosure so as to create a current against which a swimmer can swim while remaining stationary.[0003]In a conventional swimming pool, a swimmer must swim back and forth from one end of the pool to the other. This requires that the pool be rather large, since in a small, short pool the swimmer will continually be turning around and interrupting their swimming stroke, thus making sustained swimming for exercise or recreation impractical. But large pools have several disadvantages. They are expensive to build and maintain, and they occupy a lot of space, which may not be available or may be put to other...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The present invention in its preferred embodiment uses one or more Venturi-based eductor jets that provide an augmented water flow within a pool enclosure to enable someone to swim in place against the flow. An eductor jet is type of pump in which the kinetic energy of a motive liquid is used to entrain a low-pressure liquid, completely mix the two, and then discharge the mixture as an augmented outlet flow. The energy from the motive liquid is transferred to the entrained liquid via the Venturi effect. As the motive liquid passes through a tapered nozzle, kinetic energy increases and pressure decreases. This produces a Venturi effect which draws liquid from the Venturi orifice into the flow stream.

[0011]By using eductor jets in a swimming pool, the kinetic energy of the water supplied to the jets is used to multiply the flow volume by entraining the pool water surrounding the jets. The educator jets generate an outlet flow that is 3 to 5 times the volume of the inlet flow. Consequently, the outflow from the eductor jets is much greater than the outflow from conventional jets or whirlpool jets for the same inflow. This augmented outflow provides much greater resistance for in-place swimming.

[0013]Optimally, multiple eductor jets are used to generate a broader and more uniform outflow. An array of eductor jets can include a combination of jets having two or more different inlet diameters to achieve a desirable comfortable combined outflow pressure. The array may comprise one or more horizontal rows of eductor jets to achieve a width and depth of the outflow current which is optimal for in-place swimming.

[0014]The use of eductor jets in the present invention allows a smaller pool to offer the recreational utility of a much larger pool in terms of continuous swimming time and distance. The eductor jets are superior to conventional jets and whirlpool jets because they can move greater volumes of water at the equivalent inlet pressure and volume. The pool of the present invention can be much shorter and more narrow and yet still provide the user a strenuous swimming workout. Thus, the eductor feature of the present invention reduces both space requirements and cost by reducing the overall pool footprint, reducing materials and construction costs, and reducing water pumping, filtering and heating costs. The present invention also promotes energy-conservation because it requires a much smaller volume of water to be pumped and heated while operating the pool.

Problems solved by technology

This requires that the pool be rather large, since in a small, short pool the swimmer will continually be turning around and interrupting their swimming stroke, thus making sustained swimming for exercise or recreation impractical.

They are expensive to build and maintain, and they occupy a lot of space, which may not be available or may be put to other better uses.

Because they contain a large volume of water, they are not energy-efficient, since great amounts of energy are consumed in heating, pumping and filtering the pool water.

Consequently, the volume of water flow expelled by the Mathis 1 jets into the pool enclosure is limited by maximum flow rate of the external “conventional source under pressure”, which would typically be the public water line or a private well pump.

Both of these factors will limit the effective swimming resistance produced by the Mathis 2 jets.

While the outflow produced by a Venturi air whirlpool jet has a messaging effect that is appropriate for such therapeutic purposes, it is not optimal for stationary resistance swimming.

Moreover, to the extent the whirlpool jet produces a turbulent outlet flow, it causes the total energy of the outlet stream to be diminished, because turbulence results in much greater internal energy losses as compared with laminar flow.

Since the energy dissipated by the whirlpool jet's turbulence is not available to provide flow resistance against the body of a swimmer, such jets are not optimal for in-place swimming applications.

In a stationary swimming application, therefore, whirlpool jets will create the irritating distraction of large air bubbles bursting against the swimmer's face.

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