Smoke detector device insect control

Abstract

Described herein are devices, systems, and methods for controlling insects in a smoke detector device. An insect control smoke detector device includes a housing having a smoke detection chamber formed therein, a light source to direct a light beam through the smoke detection chamber, a light sensor to receive a portion of the light beam and analyze the received light beam to determine whether smoke particles are present in the chamber, and an insecticide injection device to inject an insecticide into the chamber.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to apparatus, systems, and methods for insect control in smoke detector devices. Background Technology

[0002] Fire alarm systems around the world rely on people's belief that, when activated, they are providing the correct information about a genuine life-threatening incident / emergency. One of the biggest reasons people "no longer believe" when an alarm is sounded is when they've experienced a false alarm. In many cases, building owners can even be fined when the local fire department is incorrectly called in response to an incident. Therefore, avoiding false alarms is a critical requirement for any building owner.

[0003] In many parts of the world, insects crawling or flying around the smoke detector chambers of smoke detector equipment are a major cause of false alarms in fire alarm systems because light source (e.g., photoelectric LED) sensors have great difficulty distinguishing between real smoke and small insects. Therefore, alarms may be triggered incorrectly when insects move around in the sensing chamber. For example, in Europe, especially near the harvest season, cicadas (e.g., thrips) can invade smoke detector chambers and create the appearance of smoke, which can cause false alarms.

[0004] In some cases, such as as part of a maintenance cycle, technicians may manually inject compressed air to drive insects out of the smoke detector chamber. However, this can be expensive, time-consuming, and ineffective, as the insects may not leave or may return to the chamber. Attached Figure Description

[0005] Figure 1 This is an example of a process for insect control according to one or more embodiments of this disclosure.

[0006] Figure 2A This is an example of a smoke detector device prior to the use of an insect control process, according to one or more embodiments of this disclosure.

[0007] Figure 2B Examples of smoke detector devices used during insect control processes according to one or more embodiments of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0008] This document describes devices, systems, and methods for insect control in smoke detector devices for fire alarm systems. In this disclosure, a quantity of insecticide or insect irritant may be introduced into the smoke detector chamber, which will deter, interfere with, or kill insects within the chamber, thereby no longer interfering with the optical sensing device used for smoke detection.

[0009] For example, an insect control smoke detector device includes: a housing having a smoke detection chamber formed therein; a light source guiding a light beam through the smoke detection chamber; a light sensor for receiving a portion of the light beam and analyzing the received light beam to determine the presence of smoke particles in the chamber; and an insecticide injection device for injecting an insecticide into the chamber.

[0010] Any suitable insecticide or irritant may be used, but preferably it should be harmless to humans. If materials that are harmful to humans are used, they may be used in small amounts, or when people are not in the area where the material will be applied when the material leaves the smoke detector device.

[0011] The embodiments disclosed herein can be used in both devices equipped with self-test and devices without self-test. Regarding devices equipped with self-test, traditionally, maintenance of alarm event devices involves the first user (e.g., a technician, engineer, etc.) performing functional tests on the alarm system's event devices and other components, while they also walk around the facility and visually inspect the alarm system components.

[0012] For example, smoke testing of smoke detectors and visual inspection of fire sensors can be performed simultaneously when the inspector is close enough to visually inspect each smoke detector device. While the first user is functionally testing and visually inspecting the event devices, the second user can typically interpret the signals received at the alarm system control panel at the location of the alarm system control panel based on the activities performed by the first user.

[0013] The self-test device is configured to initiate smoke detection tests from a remote device. The self-test device includes a smoke release unit that generates particles similar to smoke particles from an actual fire event and uses these generated particles to perform tests on the smoke detector device. Systems equipped with self-test devices can reduce the time spent testing fire systems and the labor required for testing them.

[0014] As discussed herein, self-testing and non-testing devices may be less effective when insects generate false alarms by blocking the beam of light passing through a smoke detection chamber. Therefore, embodiments of this disclosure allow for mitigation of the insect problem, thereby improving the ability of fire alarm systems to reliably perform.

[0015] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof. The drawings illustrate by way of example how one or more embodiments of this disclosure can be practiced.

[0016] These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable one or more embodiments of this disclosure to be practiced by a person skilled in the art. It should be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and process, electrical and / or structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0017] It should be understood that elements shown in the various embodiments herein may be added, exchanged, combined, and / or eliminated to provide multiple additional embodiments of this disclosure. The scale and relative dimensions of the elements provided in the accompanying drawings are intended to illustrate embodiments of this disclosure and should not be construed as limiting.

[0018] The figures in this document follow the following numbering convention: one or more first digits correspond to the figure number, while the remaining digits identify elements or parts in the figure. Similar elements or parts between different figures can be identified by using similar digits. For example, 101 can be referenced... Figure 1 The element in Figure 2 is “01”, and a similar element in Figure 2 can be referenced as 201.

[0019] As used in this article, "one" or "several" can refer to one or more such things, while "multiple" can refer to more than one such thing. For example, "numerous components" can refer to one or more components, while "multiple components" can refer to more than one component.

[0020] Figure 1 These are examples of processes for insect control according to one or more embodiments of this disclosure. Figure 1 As shown, the smoke detector device has a smoke detection chamber 101 in which a light source 108 projects a light beam 106 through the chamber. In the chamber 101 on the left side of the figure, the chamber contains a plurality of insects 102-1 (a close-up of an exemplary insect shown in 104). Although generally referred to herein as “insects” and “insecticides”, these terms are also intended to include arachnids and chemicals or other materials that, as used herein, stimulate or kill arachnids.

[0021] In an embodiment of the invention, an insecticide injection device is used to inject an insecticide into a chamber. This device can be of any type suitable for providing sufficient amounts of insecticide to immobilize or kill insects.

[0022] For example, in self-testing devices, the test particle (e.g., aerosol) release device is positioned such that, when the self-test is initiated, it generates particles similar to smoke from a fire. These particles travel through a smoke detection chamber to allow optical detectors (using a light source and a beam of light projected from it) to be tested to ensure they can detect smoke. In some embodiments, particles are formed by heating a wax material (e.g., a solid, paraffin material), where the wax material is melted and particles are generated. In such self-testing devices, insecticides or irritants can be embedded in the wax material and released when the wax melts.

[0023] Such release devices can also be manufactured or installed in non-self-testing equipment to release insecticides or irritants. In such implementations, the wax will not need to form particles to simulate smoke, but will only need to melt to release the insecticide or irritant.

[0024] Figure 1 An example of a release device is shown. It is constructed of an outer housing 110 that forms a space inside the device. Within the space, a heater may be positioned to melt wax to release an insecticide or irritant from a wax material (not shown) as discussed above (insecticide is referred to below for simplicity, but the reader should understand that in the case of insecticide mentioned herein, irritant may be used instead of insecticide), or some other mechanism may be used to make the insecticide airborne within the space.

[0025] The space may also include a fan 112, which is located within the space and in a duct between the space and the room (e.g., Figure 2A and Figure 2B The insecticide 113 is directed out of the space and into the smoke detection chamber 101 via a conduit 207 or located within chamber 101. A release device may be located within or in air communication with the smoke detection chamber 101 to move the insecticide 113 from the space within the release device into the smoke detection chamber 101. Once the insect control process is complete, a fan may also be used to remove the insecticide from the chamber and / or the smoke detector device.

[0026] During insect control, when insects interact with the insecticide, they may remain immobile, which can cause them to fall from the air or become detached from the inner surface of the smoke detection chamber 101 or the smoke detection components therein, thereby clearing the path of the beam used for indoor smoke detection. In some embodiments, a sufficient amount of insecticide may be used to kill the insects; however, in other embodiments, a lower amount may be provided that will prevent them from entering the chamber or render the insects incapacitated for a sufficiently long period to perform a self-test, or incapacitate the insects in the event of an initial smoke indication (where the insects may be incapacitated before a retest following the initial indication test). When an irritant is used, it may stimulate the insects to prevent them from entering the chamber, or it may induce them to move outside the chamber or to a different location inside the chamber that is not in the beam path.

[0027] Insecticides can be released at any time during the operation of a smoke detector device. For example, insecticides can be released periodically according to a schedule (e.g., monthly), during peak insect cycles (e.g., weekly during May), initiated in conjunction with another process (e.g., in conjunction with a self-test process), or initiated by a field or remote technician. For example, a smoke detector device may include a processor and memory, and instructions stored in the memory can be executed via the processor to determine whether the release of the insecticide should be initiated and to initiate the insecticide release process. The determination of whether to release the insecticide can be made, for example, based on one or more calendar dates, time periods, and / or light sensor data as discussed herein. Such determinations can be made by a processor on a smoke detector device, another smoke detector device (where the master device determines the initiation of one or more slave devices), an alarm system control panel, and / or a remote device (a handheld device used by a technician in the building or a monitoring system device located away from the building).

[0028] Smoke detector devices may include a processor and memory, wherein the processor executes instructions stored in the memory to perform certain smoke detector device tasks, such as initiating a self-test or insecticide release process, detecting the presence of smoke in the chamber, determining whether the particles in the chamber are test particles or insects, and other normal smoke detector device functions. Initiation of insecticide release may be accomplished via executable instructions (executed by the processor to provide scheduling) or via user input through a user interface associated with one of the computing devices.

[0029] The smoke detector device may be connected to the fire system control panel 116, other computing components (e.g., computing device 118), or directly to a network access device 120 (which is connected to one or more remote computing devices 122). The remote computing device may be, for example, a mobile device used by technicians within the building and communicating at least in part with a gateway device of the local fire alarm system. The remote device may also be a computing device located at a remote monitoring location, where one or more fire alarm systems are monitored for alarms and tasks are assigned to coordinate responses to the alarms (e.g., coordinating first responders, contacting building owners / management, etc.).

[0030] The memory can be any type of storage medium accessible by a processor to perform various examples of this disclosure. For example, the memory can be a non-transitory computer-readable medium on which computer-readable instructions (e.g., executable instructions / computer program instructions) are stored, which can be executed by a processor to perform event device maintenance according to this disclosure. The computer-readable instructions can be executed by a processor to provide initiation and execution of insecticide injection.

[0031] Memory can be volatile or non-volatile. Memory can also be removable (e.g., portable) or non-removable (e.g., internal) memory. For example, memory can be random access memory (RAM) (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or phase-change random access memory (PCRAM)), read-only memory (ROM) (e.g., electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) and / or optical disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)), flash memory, laser disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical storage devices, and / or magnetic media, such as magnetic tape cassettes, magnetic tapes or disks, and other types of memory.

[0032] Furthermore, although the memory is shown as being located within the smoke detector device, embodiments of this disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, the memory may also be located within another computing resource (e.g., enabling computer-readable instructions to be downloaded via the Internet or another wired or wireless connection).

[0033] As discussed above, a user (e.g., an operator) can interact with the smoke detector device via a user interface. For example, the user interface can provide (e.g., display and / or present) information to the user and / or receive information from the user (e.g., input by the user). For instance, in some embodiments, the user interface can be a graphical user interface (GUI) that provides and / or receives information from the user.

[0034] The display may be, for example, a touchscreen (e.g., the GUI may include touchscreen functionality). Alternatively, the display may include a television, a computer monitor, a mobile device screen, other types of display devices, or any combination thereof, and the display is connected to the computing device and configured to receive video signal output.

[0035] In some implementations, the processor and memory may take the form of a controller that controls multiple functions of the insecticide injection process, the self-test process, and / or the smoke detection process. For example, the controller may utilize the processor to execute instructions stored in the memory to receive data about a portion of a light beam received by a light sensor associated with the smoke detector chamber, and analyze the data to determine whether smoke particles are present in the chamber or whether insects are present in the chamber. Additionally, when one or more insects have been determined to be in the chamber, the controller initiates the injection of insecticide into the chamber.

[0036] Other functions may include, for example, the following: wherein the controller initiates the melting of a solid having an insecticide embedded therein (e.g., wherein the melting of the solid causes the insecticide particles to become airborne), wherein the controller initiates actuation of a fan device to move the insecticide throughout the room, and / or wherein the controller initiates a second actuation of the fan after a predetermined time to remove the insecticide from the room.

[0037] As an additional example, the user interface may include a keyboard and / or mouse that the user can use to input information. However, embodiments of this disclosure are not limited to a particular type of user interface.

[0038] Figure 2A This is an example of a smoke detector device prior to the use of an insect control process, according to one or more embodiments of this disclosure. Figure 2A In the smoke detector device 200, therein is a smoke detection chamber 201 containing an insect 204.

[0039] One or more light sources 208 each guide a beam 206 through a chamber 201 to a particle sensor 209. The particle sensor detects the light from the beam and can determine whether there are smoke particles in the chamber that reduce the beam's transmittance based on the amount of light received by the sensor. When one or more insects are in the path of the beam, the reduction in light blocked by the insects can cause the detector to believe that there is smoke in the chamber rather than insects.

[0040] The microparticles may include, for example, particles for self-testing a light sensor. For example, the particles may be airborne wax particles. In some embodiments, the microparticle injection device may also inject insecticide particles and particles for self-testing the light sensor. The microparticle injection device may inject insecticide particles in a first time period and particles for self-testing the light sensor in a second time period.

[0041] Figure 2B Examples of smoke detector devices during use in an insect control process according to one or more embodiments of this disclosure are provided. Therefore, as described herein, embodiments of this disclosure may include a release device. An example is shown at 210. In this embodiment, the release device forms airborne insecticide or irritant particles 212, and a fan or other mechanism configured to move the particles 212 from the insecticide release device 210 into the smoke detector chamber 201 (e.g., via duct 207).

[0042] The implementation is also designed to perform a smoke self-test. When the self-test is initiated, the heating element in the release device 210 heats the solid wax material to form wax particles that simulate the airborne propagation of smoke particles for the purpose of testing the smoke detector device 200.

[0043] In this way, insects can be repositioned or eliminated to allow the smoke detector device to function correctly. The embodiments disclosed herein reduce the number of false alarms, thereby increasing device reliability and customer satisfaction.

[0044] As discussed herein, embodiments of this disclosure can benefit by providing reduced insect interference in smoke detection. Among other benefits, such embodiments can reduce the time required for technicians and the number of skilled personnel needed in the field.

[0045] Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, those skilled in the art will understand that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same technology may replace the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all modifications or variations of the various embodiments of this disclosure.

[0046] It should be understood that the above description is given in an illustrative rather than restrictive manner. Combinations of the above embodiments, as well as other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the above description.

[0047] The scope of the various embodiments of this disclosure includes any other application using the structures and methods described above. Therefore, the scope of the various embodiments of this disclosure should be determined with reference to the appended claims and the full scope of their equivalents.

[0048] In the above specific embodiments, for the purpose of simplifying this disclosure, various features are combined in the example embodiments shown in the drawings. This disclosure method should not be construed as reflecting an intention to require more features than expressly recited in each claim.

[0049] Instead, as reflected in the following claims, the subject matter of the invention lies in fewer than all the features of a single disclosed embodiment. Therefore, the following claims are incorporated herein by reference, wherein each claim exists independently as a separate embodiment.

Claims

1. An insect control smoke detector device (200), comprising: A housing having a smoke detection chamber (201) formed therein. A light source (208) guides a light beam (206) through the smoke detection chamber (201). A light sensor (209) is used to receive a portion of the light beam (206) and analyze the received light beam to determine whether smoke particles are present in the room; and An insecticide release device connected to the air of the smoke detection chamber via a pipe generates an airborne insecticide within the smoke detection chamber (201) to detach any insects from the inner surface of the smoke detection chamber, thereby clearing any insects in the path of the beam passing through the smoke detection chamber (201). as well as A fan located in the duct between the insecticide release device and the smoke detection chamber is used for: The insecticide is moved from the insecticide dispensing device to the smoke detection chamber; The insecticide is moved around within the smoke detection chamber; as well as After the insects in the smoke detection chamber have detached from the inner surface of the smoke detection chamber, the insecticide is removed from the smoke detection chamber.

2. The insect control smoke detector device (200) according to claim 1, wherein the insecticide is embedded in a solid.

3. The insect control smoke detector device (200) according to claim 1, wherein the insecticide is embedded in a wax material.

4. The insect control smoke detector device (200) according to claim 3, wherein the wax material is heated and the insecticide becomes airborne.

5. The insect control smoke detector device (200) according to claim 3, wherein the wax material is paraffin material.

6. The insect control smoke detector device (200) according to claim 1, further comprising a controller that receives data about a portion of the light beam (206) received by the light sensor (209), and analyzes the data to determine whether smoke particles are present in the chamber (201) or whether one or more insects are present in the chamber (201), and wherein when the one or more insects are determined to be present in the chamber, the controller initiates the injection of an insecticide into the chamber.

7. The insect control smoke detector device (200) according to claim 1, further comprising a controller that receives data about a portion of the light beam (206) received by the light sensor (209), and analyzes the data to determine whether smoke particles are present in the chamber (201) or whether one or more insects are present in the chamber (201), and wherein when the one or more insects are determined to be present in the chamber, the controller initiates the melting of a solid having an insecticide embedded therein.

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