Untethered and Clean Zodiac Pool Care’s Modular Battery Pool Cleaner

Zodiac Pool Care Europe, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of automatic swimming pool cleaning equipment, has filed a patent for a battery-powered automatic pool cleaner with a modular battery block design – an approach that resolves several practical challenges around battery access, gas management and operational flexibility in cordless pool cleaning.

The Problem

Automatic swimming pool cleaners have evolved significantly over the decades, from simple suction-based devices tethered to the pool’s filtration system, through pressure-side cleaners using booster pumps, to modern robotic cleaners with their own motors, brushes and filtration. Robotic pool cleaners in particular have become popular because they operate independently of the pool’s circulation system and can provide thorough, programmable cleaning.

Traditional robotic pool cleaners are powered by low-voltage electricity delivered through a floating cable that runs from the cleaner to a power supply unit at the pool edge. While effective, this cable creates practical limitations. It can become tangled, restrict the cleaner’s movement around the pool, create a trip hazard on the pool deck, and require careful management during operation and storage. For many pool owners, the cable is one of the most frustrating aspects of robotic cleaner ownership.

Battery-powered cordless pool cleaners address the cable problem but introduce their own engineering challenges. Swimming pool cleaners operate in a wet environment, making battery and electrical system design more complex than in dry applications. Batteries used in pool cleaners can generate gas – particularly during charging or when subjected to stress – and this gas must be safely managed. Additionally, batteries need to be accessible for charging or replacement without requiring the entire device to be disassembled.

What This Invention Does

Zodiac Pool Care’s invention centres on a modular battery block that can be attached to the pool cleaner’s chassis as a distinct, separable unit. The modular battery block contains at least one battery or other electrical power source, and is designed so that the battery is accessible from outside the chassis – meaning it can be removed, replaced or charged without dismantling the cleaner itself.

When the modular battery block is attached to the chassis, it forms an integrated device with a direct electrical connection to the cleaner’s motor. This integration is designed to be both mechanically secure and electrically reliable, ensuring that the cleaner operates as a unified system despite the modular architecture of its power supply.

A particularly important feature is the venting system included in the modular battery block design. Batteries can produce gas during operation or charging – hydrogen gas from lead-acid batteries, or gases from lithium cell venting events – and if this gas is not safely managed, it can create safety risks. The venting arrangement described in the invention allows gas to be safely released from the battery block to the external environment, preventing dangerous pressure buildup within the chassis.

Key Features

Modular battery block architecture. The battery power source is contained in a distinct modular block that can be attached to and removed from the cleaner chassis, enabling easy battery access for charging, replacement or servicing without disassembling the device.

External battery accessibility. The battery within the modular block is accessible from outside the chassis, making maintenance and charging operations straightforward for pool owners without specialist technical skills.

Integrated electrical connection. When the battery block is attached to form the integrated device, an internal electrical connection is established between the motor and the battery, ensuring reliable power delivery during pool cleaning operation.

Battery venting system. A dedicated venting arrangement allows gas produced by the battery to be safely discharged externally, managing a key safety consideration in battery-powered equipment operating in an enclosed or semi-enclosed space.

Cordless operation. By eliminating the need for a power cable tethering the cleaner to the pool edge, the battery-powered design resolves the tangle and restriction problems associated with corded robotic cleaners.

Who Is Behind It?

Zodiac Pool Care Europe is part of the Fluidra group, a global leader in pool and wellness equipment. Zodiac is one of the most recognised brands in automatic pool cleaning, with a product range spanning robotic, pressure and suction cleaners for residential and commercial pools. The inventors – Arnaud Lancry, Louis Favie and Remi Deloche – are engineers with expertise in pool cleaning device design and power systems. The application is filed through FB Rice Pty Ltd and is a divisional of an earlier filing (AU 2022207745).

Why It Matters

The residential swimming pool market in Australia is one of the largest in the world on a per capita basis. Australian homeowners are significant consumers of pool maintenance equipment, and automatic pool cleaners are a staple of backyard pool ownership. As battery technology improves and cordless devices become the norm across categories from power tools to garden equipment, the transition of pool cleaners from corded to cordless is an important product evolution.

The modular battery design addresses a practical consumer pain point that has slowed the adoption of battery-powered pool cleaners: the difficulty of managing the battery in a device that lives in and around water. By making the battery a separable, externally accessible module with its own venting system, Zodiac Pool Care Europe has found an approach that is both safer and more user-friendly than integrated battery designs. For pool owners, this could mean a cordless cleaning experience that is genuinely convenient to own and operate – a meaningful step forward in making battery-powered pool cleaning the mainstream choice it has the potential to become.

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AU 2026201587 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 19 March 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.