h a l f b a k e r yThe halfway house for at-risk ideas
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register.
Please log in or create an account.
|
"Surface-Floating" Pool/ "Bed Of Water"
Never sink. New swimming experience. Keeps you as high up on surface of the water as desired, perhaps even high enough for you to sleep in the pool on warm nights w/o fear of drowning. | |
Water-jets on pool bottom hold up swimmers, and are
arranged so they form an overlapping pattern when they
reach the surface. They act as a single upward current
throughout the pool, holding up the swimmers. If you are
worried about the energy costs of this scheme, I think
the
average upward
pressure exerted on a swimmer by this
"single upward current" can be as low as 1/4 ounce per
square inch, yet support swimmers as well as life jackets
can.
However, the above-mentioned water-jet pressure
is
only an average and assumes swimmers keep their
weight
evenly distributed across the water. In case they don't,
like
they try to prop themselves up, sit up, or do other things,
I
suggest putting electronically controlled valves on the
jets,
and sensors somewhere in the pool, so as to re-adjust the
water-jets' actual pressures appropriately when
swimmers
start to sink, or prop-up attempts fail to work. This can
also save energy costs by turning some jets down, or off,
when there is nothing in the water above them.
Of
course,
in order for this valve-and-sensor scheme to keep any
swimmers from sinking, the water-jets would have to be
capable of pressures greater than 1/4 ounce per square
inch, even if usually held at that low pressure, or lower,
by
the valves.
Space Fountain
https://en.wikipedi...wiki/Space_fountain a loop of string can reach above the atmosphere if you shoot it upward really really fast [sninctown, Feb 17 2017]
[snictown], are you really a fan ?
http://www.sharenat...ebook_Become_a_fan/ [normzone, Feb 17 2017]
People adding salt to swimming pools.
https://www.theguar...cience_b-gdnscience I wouldn't just float better, I'd practically levitate right the hell out of the pool. [AusCan531, Mar 02 2017]
[link]
|
|
Why bother with energy-intensive jets? Just increase the density of the water by adding salt (or possibly other stuff) so you float better (a la sensory-deprivation tanks). |
|
|
[Ponce], I don't believe my eyes. According to the search tool, you joined up back in 2002, annoed on one idea in 2006, and just now posted your first idea. |
|
|
welcome to the halfbakery. |
|
|
while i am a fan, the experience of being sprayed with a
high-pressure hose suggests this may be less than restful.
the difference is: floating in water exerts even, steady
pressure on the body (calming), while jets of water
impacting the body exert uneven, varying pressure (not
calming. in principle, i see nothing wrong with this,
though the practicalities of doing turbulent fluid flow
calculations in real time in order to drive a control loop
with limited bandwidth (due to water flight time from
nozzle to swimmer) may be problematic. |
|
|
a simpler solution would be a single large water blast,
which would suck in neighboring swimmers through the
bernoulli effect. i suggest this idea be carried to full
implemetation in the form of a space fountain, offering
scenic experiences of low Earth orbit. |
|
|
There are hydro-massaging units that use a membrane between jets and the massaged. Inverting and modifying such a unit might give the idea substance. |
|
|
With solutes added, can water form multiple boundaries under different pressure streams? I was imagining Macrame with curvy water jets, in a pool of water. The jet streams don't mix because of the different solutes they carry. |
|
|
Why DON'T more people with swimming pools put
salts in
them then float in them? That would be a good question. |
|
|
* In reply to neutrinos_shadow: |
|
|
// Why bother with energy-intensive jets? Just increase
the density of the water by adding salt (or possibly other
stuff) so you float better (a la sensory-deprivation
tanks).// |
|
|
Water jets can create more bouyancy than salts or other
soluables. You could even prop yourself up in a water jet
pool. You could even lie in the pool facing down. All this
would make any "floating pool" more woth it. Might make
a nicer place to swim around in, or socialize in. |
|
|
Also, the jets might be cleaner, with fewer problems with
chemicals getting into scratches and any sores, and less
chance of the pool water making you sick (from
swallowing it). |
|
|
Another advantage is that, once the equipment was
installed, it would Be more convenient. Just turn the turn
the jets on if you want a "floating pool", then if you want
to go back to an ordinary swimming pool, just turn them
off again. No salts to fool around with, drive to the store
for, or store. |
|
|
As for water jets being energy-intensive, I think the cost
for power would be 7 to 14 cents (or .7 to 1.4 KWH) per
swimmer per 8 hours spent in the pool, assuming my
sensor-snd-valve system works as intended. This looks like
modest energy use to me. |
|
|
// while i am a fan, the experience of being sprayed
with a high-pressure hose suggests this may be less than
restful.// |
|
|
I've had some experience with underwater water
inlets(jets out of the pool wall) in both swimming pools
and Jacuzzis. In cases where the jets did not mix the
incoming water with air, the impact was blunted by the
pool water so that the jets exerted a gentle, but still
powerful, froce that felt good, actually. |
|
|
I would think that the central position where floating
occurs would be an inherently unstable zone. |
|
|
//Why DON'T more people with swimming pools put salts in
them then float in them? That would be a good question.// |
|
|
People DO. It's not a good question when you really don't
want to know the answer. [link] |
|
|
* In reply to RayfordSteele: |
|
|
//I would think that the central position where floating
occurs would be an inherently unstable zone.// |
|
|
I think you are talking about the tendency swimmers
would have to slide to where there are no jets, or just
slide all over the pool if there is no such place. If so, what
if we make the pressure of some of the jets slightly lower
than the rest so that swimmers' seats or knees slide to
positions just over those lower-pressure jets, pushed
there by the normal-pressure jets? |
|
|
To preserve freedom of movement, my valve-and-
sensor system (best described in this page's idea entry,
rather than in any annotation)
could be set up to change which jets get a slightly lower
pressure, and
which do not, so as to accommodate swimmers' efforts to
move about the pool. |
|
|
Hey! Do any of you Halfbakery users and visitors suppose
they
could create "surface-floating"
pools of their own? Perhaps some of you have both the
mechanical skills to do so, and the money for the required
parts and equipment, as well as
swimming pools (I don't have a swimming pool, sorry!).
Seriously, What do you think? |
|
| |