JOURNAL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, VOLUME 22, ISSUE 1, FEBRUARY 2014 1

Novel Mechanisms for Variable Floor of Swimming Pools

Dr. Aeman M. Aead
AbstractThe variable floor for swimming pool has many mechanisms for lifting systems. Some of which are standard and traditional likes: Motorized Lifting System, Hydraulic Lifting System, and Lead screw Lifting System. These systems can be used for many purposes such as table lifting system, elevators system, automobile production line and maintenance. In the standard and traditional lifting systems there is a big height is lost for the lifting systems themselves. For that reason, we have looked for other mechanisms which are more efficient than the traditional systems, where the height of these systems is minimized. In this paper we have designed some novel mechanisms which are more suitable for variable floor of swimming pool. The novel mechanisms are Water Bag Lifting System, Ball Screw Lifting System, and Cable Lifting System. After comparing the novel with the traditional mechanisms, we have discovered that the novel mechanisms are safer, cheaper and require less maintenance than the traditional systems. Some of these novel mechanisms can be used in outdoor and the other can be used for indoor.

Index TermsNovel mechanisms, movable floor, pool, variable pool, swimming pool

1 INTRODUCTION
here are many lifting systems that are used in manufacturing, buildings (elevators), construction, and parking places. Lifting systems are categorized into four groups: Mechanical, Electrical, Hydraulic, and Pneumatic. Each group is specialized in a specific application. Forty years ago, mechanical lifting system was used in variable floor for swimming pool, since it does require much control and maintenance [6]. People with different ages today are more interested in swimming and due to the lack of the open spaces; their attention was directed to the indoor swimming pools. Since different ages of people use the indoor swimming pools, these pools must be constructed to suites all these group of people. Thus, lifting system was used in the swimming pools to become variable floor for swimming pools. The variable height of the pool floor will be appropriate for all group of ages. With the advances of technology in the all fields, it was used in the four lifting systems groups in the variable floor for swimming pools. The swimming pools became today fully computerized and safe. One can visualize and operate the position of the variable floor inside the pool through a touch screen [4]. The surface of the variable floor of the swimming pool is a very important element when the pool is closed. We have the choice of wooden decking, stone, tiles, PVC or

mosaic surface. In order to correctly make the pool completely hidden, an identical surface to match the area surrounding pool should be selected. Small areas are able to accommodate a pool while still keeping a space for relaxation or guests [6].

2 LITERATURE REVIEW OF MECHANISMS FOR VARIABLE FLOOR OF SWIMMING POOLS

There are a few traditional methods of mechanisms for constructing variable floor swimming pools such as Motorized Lifting System, Hydraulic Lifting System, and Lead screw Lifting System [7.8.9.10].

Department of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Information Technology, Al-Azhar University, Palestine

2.1 Motorized Lifting System for Variable Floor of Swimming Pools The innovative and economical motorization system makes use of water hydraulic principles to move the floor and is an integral part of the floor configuration itself. When pulled back, the profile of the Spiralift is included into the moving floor structure (low height) with no extra excavation necessary. All the equipment is intended to work in water, getting rid of the need for a dried up room to home additional machinery/cables. In fact, the whole drive system can be fixed into the floor structure proceeding to arrival on site [2]. Safe openings in the floor permit easy access to the drive for examination and maintenance as in fig. 1.
Spiralift units can be optimally located precisely where essential for an perfect sharing of the load between the

tion, is denoted as the pitch multiplied by the number of starts. Another important measure is the screws threads per inch (TPI) which refers to the number of grooves per inch, and can have implications for machine speed.

Fig. 1. Motorized Lifting System variable floor of Swimming Pool

actuators. This keeps the structure as light and reasonable as possible with a least number of Spiralift units necessary per platform. All components are intended to ensure the firmness and constancy of the platforms without any bounciness and to hold up rated floor masses. Running the platform is simply done by means of a simple control [3].

Fig. 3. Lead screw Lifting System for Variable Floor of Swimming Pools

2.2 Hydraulic Lifting System for Variable Floor of Swimming Pools A hydraulic cylinder system with variable floor consists of: moving floor, supported by four hydraulic cylinders as seen in fig. 2. To adjust the depth of the water which are controlled by a control unit [2].

3 NOVEL MECHANISMS METHODS FOR VARIABLE FLOOR OF SWIMMING POOLS

The study of the novel mechanisms was done on private outdoor and indoor swimming pools dimension 7 by 4 meters approximately.

3.1. Mechanism for indoor variable floor of swimming pools 3.1.1 Water Bag Lifting System
The water bag lifting system was inspired from the air bags lifting system [9]. The air bags lifting system have proven to be the solution for lifting and creating space between structures. It can lift cars, trucks, trains, subways and collapsed buildings with ease and control like no other system. It is the answer to the limitations and complexity faced with conventional lifting equipment! With all the advantages of the air bag lifting system, it is not appropriate for the variable floor of swimming pools. There will an excess of water in the pool if air is used; so, the in the pool will be used to fill the water bag. The water bag lifting concept is a breakthrough in lifting the variable floor of swimming pool, combining the high and low pressure system in one lifting system, and solving limitations of both. It can cope with the movement through a solid metal connector that is located in the middle of the bag. The high operating pressure of 10 bar, cylindrical shape and metal top area give optimum power and height as shown in fig.4 and fig. 5. The bags are quickly and easily deployed and diminishes the need for cribbing, due to the ability to connect for height The bags can lift directly from pointed objects without losing power, due to point load plate.

Fig. 2. Hydraulic Lifting system for variable floor of Swimming Pool

2.3. Lead screw Lifting System for Variable Floor of Swimming Pools The four lift arms connecting with two leading screws when closing the pool, moving up as shown in the fig. 3. The lead screw is driven by an electrical motor which located outside the pool. The depth of the water can be controlled by the number of revolutions of the lead screws [1].
The lead screw is run on what is called a thread helix which describes the grooves that are around the outside of the shaft. The spiral grooves on the outside of the screw match with ones that are on the inside of the nut. There are various technical considerations such as the direction of the threads, the size of the screw, pitch, number of starts, lead, and TPI. The pitch of the screw is the distance between the threads and the number of starts distinguishes how many threads are on a single screw. The lead, which is the distance the nut travels per revolu-

Fig. 4. The water bags

Fig. 6. Ball

screw lifting system

Fig. 5. Integrating the water bags with variable floor of swimming pools

Four ball screw lifting system are placed on the corners of the swimming.
Fig. 7.

We have used 4 synchronized water bags to lift the variable floor of the swimming pool. The dead height is little when the water bags are empty.

3.1.2 Ball Screw Lifting System The mechanical components convert rotary motion to linear motion. By altering components of the drive system, cutting speed, accuracy and precision can be controlled. It is important to understand the various mechanisms that contribute to performance of the variable floor of swimming pools [7,8].
The ball screw lifting system is an ideal solution for the variable floor of swimming pools. It provides a high level of efficiency at 90-95% and requires Low power. The ball screw lifting system runs on ball bearings, which circulate around the screw and nut through helical grooves. Once the balls reach the end of the nut they are returned to the leading end of the circuit and are recirculated. This allows there to be no physical contact between the screw and nut, which decreases friction and contributes to the high level of efficiency. The force is distributed over a large number of ball bearings, leading to a low load per bearing, and allowing for heavier loads to be processed with smaller motors or less power. In this type it is required four ball screw lifting system to be placed on the corners and controlled to together to lift the swimming floor up and down as shown in fig. 6 and fig 7.

Here are some guidelines for mounting the vertical ball Screw lifting system in the variable floor of swimming pools: 1. Place the motor at the top This will keep the screw in tension preventing it from being under a compressive load which can cause buckling. 2. Be sure to refer to the screw or slide manufacturers Maximum Column Loading Chart. Column strength is the ability of the screw to hold compressive loads without buckling. Column strength may be substantially lower than its nominal capacity when using longer screw lengths. 3. 4. Be sure to consider the driven thrust load acting on the screw and remember to take into account the actual mass or load due to gravity. To aid in controlling vertical loads, consider using a counter weight or balance. This can be accomplished by weights, springs, and hydraulics or air cylinders. Consider utilizing a brake to ensure that the load will not suddenly drop in a crash situation.

5.

Vertical loads can also be controlled when designing resistance into the drive system by using screw drives which have built-in reduction and inefficiency, such as

with Anti-back driving screw leads (acme or lead screw) with inefficiency 50%.

TABLE 1 COMPARISON OF TRADITIONAL AND NOVEL MECHANISMS

3.2 Cable Lifting System for Outdoor Variable Floor of Swimming Pools
The Cable Lifting system design is simple, safe, and does not require much maintenance due to the minimal number of components [10]. In the four corners of the swimming pool, 4 mounting Pillars are located. On the top of each mounting Pillar, a motor is mounted. The motor is covered in away look like a lamppost see fig. 8. The

Fig. 8.

The motor

swimming pool is safe because the motors are far away

Four mounting Pillars are located on the corners of the swimming.

Fig. 9.

5 CONCLUSION
In this research paper, we have shown that the variable floor for swimming pool has many mechanisms for lifting systems. Some of which are standard and traditional likes: Motorized Lifting System, Hydraulic Lifting System, and Lead screw Lifting System; furthermore, in the standard and traditional lifting systems there is a big height is lost for the lifting systems themselves. For that reason, we have searched for other mechanisms which are more efficient than the traditional ones, where the height of these systems is minimized. In this paper we have designed some novel mechanisms which are more suitable for variable floor of swimming pool. The novel mechanisms are Water Bag Lifting System, Ball Screw Lifting System, and Cable Lifting System. After comparing the novel with the traditional mechanisms, we have discovered that the novel mechanisms are safer, cheaper and require less maintenance than the traditional systems. Furthermore, the water bag lifting system was the ideal mechanism for the variable floor of swimming pool. Some of these novel mechanisms can be used in outdoor and the other can be used for indoor.

from the water. The dead height is little because the motors are mounted on the top of the mounting Pillars away from the floor of the swimming pool; furthermore, there are no components under the floor of the swimming pool as shown in fig. 9.

4 COMPARISON OF TRADITIONAL AND NOVEL

MECHANISMS FOR VARIABLE FLOOR OF SWIMMING POOL

We have carried out a detailed study of the traditional and Novel mechanisms to enable us to compare them in terms of dead height, maintenance, safety, noise, speed, and corrosion resistance. We have found the water bag lifting system is best for the variable floor of swimming pool systems as shown in table 1.

REFERENCES
[1] AGOR Engineering Enterprises, Movable floors for swimming pools http://www.agor-eng.com/. 11-11-2013. [2] Materialicious , Hydrofloors Swimming Pool With Movable Floors, www.enpundit.com, Accessed on: 10-11-2013. [3] Barr and Wray , Variopool Moveable Floors, http://www.variopool.nl/, Accessed on: 13-11-2013. [4] AFW Movable Floors, Movable swimming pool floor systems, Aquatic Development Group, Inc, http://www.aquaticgroup.com, Accessed on: 15-11-2013. [5] BRS Pools, Swimming Pools , Lanark, Scotland, http://www.brspools.co.uk, Accessed on: 17-11-2013. [6] Abu Naser S. and Aead A. (2013). Variable Floor for Swimming Pool Using an Expert System , International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER),3(6) ,3751-3755. [7] http://www.alibaba.com/productgs/532658382/Synchronized_Vertical_Screw_Lift.html, Accessed on: 20-12-2013. [8] http://multicamcanada.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/the-ball-screwvs-lead-screw/, Accessed on: 27-12-2013 [9] http://www.rescueproducts.co.uk/products/low_lifting_bags.php, Accessed on: 7-01-2014 [10] http://www.sjahydraulics.com/electric-lifting-winches/, Accessed on: 8-01-2014