The purpose of this senior design project is to develop a concept of a marketable low-cost automated reel for a residential swimming pool equipped with a solar cover. The sponsor of this project has a 16 ft by 32 ft pool that the project will be based off, with goals to make it adjustable to any size residential swimming pool. The target cost to sell this product is around $1000, so with that, the materials and time to put together must cost around $650 to make this product profitable. The proposed design combines a DC gear motor with a carbon steel strip on both long edges, as well as a foam material on the short edge to help guide the pool cover in and out so that it does not get stuck or folded over. The pool reel will be powered with a Bluetooth controlled remote and phone app to power the cover. The reel and cover will be nested in the last foot of the pool, underneath the diving board to keep the clutter around the pool minimal. The product will come with a very detailed setup instructions booklet so that the customer will be able to set up the pool cover on their own, without having to pay a third party to come in and install it. To better the design, the team reached out to a group of local pool owners to survey what was most important to them with an automated pool cover. This year, ME 11 completed the total design process.

Our team collaborated with Electrical and Computer Engineering 5 on this project.