Skimming devices may use pressurized water from, for example, a return line of a swimming pool or spa. The devices may be adjustable vertically and levelled relative to an upper water surface (waterline) of a pool. They additionally may create “blades” of debris-laden pool water entering their floating heads so as to move debris smoothly and efficiently over wings or foils into associated filters.

Debris filters for automatic swimming pool cleaners may be formed of metal, carbon fibers, or composites more rigid than soft nylon bags. In at least one version, the filter may be made of, or include, steel or stainless steel. Non-uniform sizes, densities, and/or shapes of openings in the filtration material may be created to provide different levels of filtration in a single device.

A pool cleaning robot that includes a ballast tank for controlling a buoyancy of the submarine pool cleaner; at least one cleaning element for cleaning debris from an underwater surface of a pool while the pool cleaning robot hovers over the underwater surface; a propulsion module that is configured to propel the submersible pool cleaner; and a steering module that comprises a rudder and diving planes.

Disclosed herein is a pool cleaning device having filtering and pumping capabilities. Some embodiments of the disclosed device can be unencumbered by hoses, cables, and the like when in use in the pool. The device may be buoyant and can be configured to float at or just below the surface of the water. The device can comprise a strainer, a pump, a housing for the strainer and pump, and one or more floatation devices. Such a design may allow for a floating skimmer and pump with no need for installation in a side wall. In some embodiments, the device can further comprise a pre-filter. For example, in some embodiments, the strainer and filter can remove large objects and particulates, respectively, before the water passes through the pump. As disclosed in some embodiments, various components of the device may be removeable and replaceable to extend the lifetime of the device.

A smart pool skimmer is disclosed. In one embodiment, the pool skimmer includes a body housing having electronics and sensors extending from the body housing to monitor pool conditions. The sensors detect a plurality of pool condition, including but not limited to pH, ORP, temperature, water level, water movement, chlorine levels, and salt concentration. The smart pool skimmer receives data from the sensors and sends the information to a user computing device or a cloud-based analytics server, which tracks conditions of the pool water. A solar panel may be provided on the housing to enable the smart skimmer to run on renewable energy. Additionally, visual light indicators can be mounted on top of the cover plate to provide visual indications of pool conditions.

A pool cleaning robot that includes a ballast tank for controlling a buoyancy of the submarine pool cleaner; at least one cleaning element for cleaning debris from an underwater surface of a pool while the pool cleaning robot hovers over the underwater surface; a propulsion module that is configured to propel the submersible pool cleaner; and a steering module that comprises a rudder and diving planes.

A floating liquid intake for a liquid suction removal system, the liquid intake comprising housing defining an internal cavity. The housing has a hollow and buoyant annular body, an upper cover and a lower cover. The internal cavity is formed between the upper and lower covers. A substantially annular inlet is formed in the annular body for ingress of liquid into the cavity. The annular body has a buoyancy sufficient for the liquid intake to float in a liquid with the annular inlet submerged below the surface of the liquid in which the liquid intake is floating. A pipe extends into the cavity and the pipe includes an inlet that in use is open below the surface of the liquid within the cavity. The pipe extends outside of the cavity for connection to a liquid suction removal system.

Systems and methods can support an autonomous pool skimming system. The pool skimming system may have a body with two or more hulls. Two or more paddlewheels may be coupled to the body. An independent motor may drive each paddlewheel. The motors may be independently controllable to support steering. The pool skimming system may have one or more processing units, two or more distance sensors, one or more solar cells, and a power supply operable to power the processing units and the motors from energy supplied by the solar cells. One or more processing modules may configure the processing units to plan and execute a traversal path across the surface of a body of water, such as a swimming pool, to collect debris into a removable basket. A portion of the traversal path may be established according to signals from distance sensors.

A robotic pool cleaner can operate while submerged to clean floor and side wall surface areas of the pool. A second embodiment of the pool cleaner can clean debris while skimming water along the top surface of the pool water. A third embodiment of the pool cleaner when inverted from submerged cleaning mode into skimmer mode, exposes on its bottom surface solar panels by which the pool cleaner's internal batteries can be recharged. A fourth embodiment of the pool cleaner includes different combinations of the submerged cleaning mode, the skimming mode and the battery charging mode.

The present invention provides a water surface cleaning machine, comprising a hull, a cleaning device provided at the bottom of the hull for collecting and storing water surface floating debris, a propulsion device provided at the front end and/or the back end of the hull for propelling the hull to travel on the water surface, a steering device provided at the corner portion between the front end and the side edge of the hull, wherein steering device causes the hull to rotate relative to an obstacle for adjusting traveling direction of the hull when the hull comes into contact with the obstacle during traveling on the water surface, and a power unit provided inside the hull for providing power to the propulsion device and the steering device.