Smart safety hook and fastening detection method using IoT sensor

Abstract

A smart safety hook using an IoT sensor, according to the present invention, comprises: an ultrasonic sensor (S1) which is provided on one side of the inner bottom surface of a pushing part (120) and scans ultrasonic waves, inside a safety hook (100), oscillating from an ultrasonic oscillator provided to the pushing part (120); a control unit receiving a signal from the ultrasonic sensor (S1); a battery (B) mounted inside a safety strap (140) and connected to the ultrasonic sensor (S1) by a signal line (L); a communication module (M); and an acceleration sensor (S2).

Description

Smart safety hook and fastening detection method using IoT sensors

[0001] The present invention relates to a safety hook, and more particularly, to a smart safety hook and a method for detecting fastening using an IOT sensor, which detects whether there is an object inside the safety hook using an ultrasonic sensor to determine whether it is fastened, determines whether a worker is moving / stopping or working using an acceleration sensor, and then determines whether the safety hook is fastened, and installs a BLE - P-LTE / LoRA gateway on a safety status board to enable communication within the corresponding high-altitude work area without installing a gateway in the entire work area.

[0002] Generally, when working at heights, workers work by hanging from safety ropes attached to temporary structures or structures. However, in order to protect workers from the risk of falling during work at heights, workers are required to wear safety harnesses and secure the safety hooks attached to the safety harnesses to fixed surrounding structures to prevent falls.

[0003] Workers are required to fasten safety harnesses to ensure their own safety, and supervisors are obligated to check them. However, in cases where there is a lot of moving work at high altitudes or work occurs in various locations, workers may not fasten safety harnesses or it may be difficult for supervisors to check them on a daily basis, leading to frequent fall accidents.

[0004] Figure 1 is a side view of a conventional safety ring.

[0005] As shown, a conventional safety ring (10) is known to have a configuration including a pushing part (20) to which elastic pressure is applied by a spring to a hook part (11).

[0006] Recently, smart safety hook systems utilizing proximity sensors, microcurrent sensors, etc. have been developed and are being used by safety managers. However, there was a problem in that the safety hook detection did not work properly when the worker attached the safety hook to a safety vest biner or hook instead of a safety harness, or when the safety hook was attached to a safety rope so that microcurrent did not flow.

[0007] In the case of a smart safety hook that uses a proximity sensor, the proximity sensors that detect both sides of the safety hook are used to detect an object, and when the safety hook is attached to the body, an object is detected by the proximity sensor on one side, indicating that the safety hook is not fastened. When the safety hook is attached to a structure, if no object is detected on either side, it is detected that it is fastened. In this case, if the safety hook is fastened to a structure but the proximity sensor on one side is near a wall, it is detected as not fastened, resulting in a false detection of whether or not it is fastened.

[0008] In addition, a sensor is installed on the mounting device that attaches the safety hook to the safety harness, and a sensor is installed on one side of the safety hook, so that when the safety hook is attached to the mounting device and the two sensors are close together, the safety hook is recognized as attached to the body, and when nothing is close together, it is recognized as not attached, and when an object is detected only on the sensor on the safety hook side, it is recognized as attached. However, in this case, the sensor is located on the outside of the safety hook and can be easily damaged, or when the worker does not attach the safety hook to the mounting device but attaches it to another part of the body, a problem occurs in which the safety hook is detected as attached even though it is not attached.

[0009] When detecting a fastening by sending a small current to a safety hook or temporary facility, a situation occurs where the safety hook cannot be fastened to a conductive temporary facility, or when a non-conductive safety rope is extended to fasten the safety hook because there is no structure to which fastening is possible, and the fastening cannot be detected.

[0010] That is, the conventional safety hook technology has a problem in that it cannot accurately determine whether the safety hook is fastened / not fastened / attached to the body.

[0011] Additionally, smart safety rings usually transmit signals using BLE communication, which can cause problems in power plants or plants with a lot of equipment and enclosed spaces due to poor communication, or the need to install a large number of gateways to resolve this issue, which can result in high costs.

[0012] The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and provides a smart safety hook and a method for detecting fastening by using an IOT sensor, which detects whether there is an object inside a safety hook using an ultrasonic sensor to determine whether it is fastened, and determines whether a worker is moving / stopping or working using an acceleration sensor and then detects whether the safety hook is fastened, and installs a BLE - P-LTE / LoRA gateway on a safety status board to enable communication within the corresponding high-altitude work area without installing a gateway in the entire workplace.

[0013] The smart safety ring utilizing the IoT sensor of the present invention is characterized by including an ultrasonic sensor that is provided on one side of the inner bottom surface of the pushing part and scans ultrasonic waves inside the safety ring generated by an ultrasonic generator provided in the pushing part, a control part that receives a signal from the ultrasonic sensor, a battery and a communication module that are installed inside the safety strap and are connected to the ultrasonic sensor by a signal line, and an acceleration sensor.

[0014] In addition, the acceleration sensor detects the fall of the worker using the signal and detects unsafe behavior, and the communication module transmits the measured data to the gateway equipped on the work status board placed in the work area for high-altitude work to detect whether the worker is in danger, and the control unit measures the safety hook boundary where there is nothing inside the safety hook after the initial installation and sets it as the initial value, and when an object is detected within the detection area when fastening, the measured value changes, and this is used to determine whether fastening is done, and when setting the initial value, the 3D measurement data is characterized by extracting the surface where the safety hook is detected and converting it into 2D and using it as the initial value, and thereafter, real-time measurement uses the parameter that converts it into 2D when measuring the initial value, and detects an object with respect to the 2D data.

[0015] The smart safety hook fastening detection method using the IoT sensor of the present invention sequentially includes a step of connecting to a gateway in which a communication module that links with a fastening detection sensor mounted on a worker's safety hook is connected to the gateway and a determination of whether or not fastening is detected is initiated; an acceleration sensor measurement step in which the presence or absence of shaking is measured by an acceleration sensor mounted on the safety strap; a movement measurement step in which a movement state is considered when the instantaneous acceleration change amount exceeds a preset threshold and when the average value of the acceleration change amount over a preset period of time exceeds a fixed threshold; a stop or working step in which the movement of the worker is considered to be absent if neither the instantaneous acceleration change amount exceeds a preset threshold nor the average value of the acceleration change amount over a preset period of time exceeds a fixed threshold; a step in which an ultrasonic sensor measures an initial value when it is initially mounted on the safety hook and collects the measured values ​​of the ultrasonic sensor using this as a reference value if it is considered to be stop or working; a normal fastening step in which the safety hook is marked as normally fastened if an object is detected; a safety hook release step in which the work is completed and the next work is performed, returning to the acceleration sensor measurement step. It is characterized by progress.

[0016] In addition, after the step of collecting the measurement value of the ultrasonic sensor, if the measurement value of the ultrasonic sensor matches the stored reference value within the error rate, it is characterized in that it is considered that there is no object within the safety ring, i.e., it is not fastened, and an alarm notification step is performed in which an alarm notification is triggered on the server or sensor.

[0017] The present invention has the effect of reducing costs incurred by installing multiple gateways for the operation of smart safety equipment at construction sites, power plants, chemical plants, storage tanks, etc.

[0018] In addition, the improvement in false detection of smart safety rings has the effect of fundamentally blocking cases where false detection occurs when the safety ring is fastened to a non-conductor when using a microcurrent sensor, and cases where false detection occurs due to surrounding structures when using a smart safety ring using a proximity sensor.

[0019] Figure 1 is a side view of a conventional safety ring.

[0020] Figure 2 is a perspective view of a smart safety ring utilizing the IOT sensor of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 3 is a time-series flow chart of a smart safety ring fastening detection method using an IoT sensor.

[0022] An ultrasonic sensor (S1) is provided on one side of the inner bottom surface of the pushing unit (120) and scans the ultrasonic waves inside the safety ring (100) generated by the ultrasonic generator provided in the pushing unit (120).

[0023] A control unit that receives a signal from an ultrasonic sensor (S1),

[0024] A smart safety ring utilizing an IOT sensor, characterized in that it is mounted inside a safety strap (140) and includes a battery (B), a communication module (M), and an acceleration sensor (S2) connected to an ultrasonic sensor (S1) by a signal line (L).

[0025] Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the sizes of components, line thicknesses, and the like depicted in the drawings used to describe the present invention may be somewhat exaggerated for ease of understanding.

[0026] Furthermore, the terms used in the description of the present invention are defined in consideration of their functions within the present invention and may vary depending on the user, operator, intent, custom, etc. Therefore, the definitions of these terms should be based on the overall content of this specification.

[0027] And in this application, terms such as 'include', 'have', etc. should be understood to indicate the presence of a specific number, step, operation, component, part or combination thereof described in the specification, and not to exclude in advance the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof.

[0028] In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in various different forms, and the present embodiments are provided only to ensure that the disclosure of the present invention is complete and to fully inform a person having ordinary skill in the art of the scope of the invention.

[0029] Therefore, the present invention can have various modifications and various forms, and the embodiments (aspects) (or examples) are described in detail in the specification. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to a specific disclosed form, and it should be understood that it includes all modifications, equivalents, or substitutes included in the technical spirit of the present invention, and the singular expression used in this specification includes plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0030] However, in describing the present invention, specific descriptions of well-known or publicly known functions or configurations will be omitted in order to clarify the gist of the present invention.

[0031] Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0032] Figure 2 is a perspective view of a smart safety ring utilizing the IOT sensor of the present invention.

[0033] As illustrated, the 'smart safety ring utilizing an IoT sensor' (100, hereinafter referred to as 'safety ring') of the present invention includes a configuration of an arc-shaped hook part (110) with one side open, a pushing part (120) that selectively opens and closes the open area of ​​the hook part (110) by pressing the elastic force of a spring (not illustrated), and a safety strap (140) that connects the portion where the hook part (110) and the pushing part (120) are combined.

[0034] In addition, the safety ring (100) includes an ultrasonic sensor (S1), a signal line (L), a battery (B), a communication module (M), an acceleration sensor (S2), and a control unit (not shown), and is organically connected to a safety status board and a gateway (130).

[0035] The ultrasonic sensor (S1) is provided on one side of the inner bottom surface of the pushing part (120) and scans ultrasonic waves inside the safety ring (100) generated from an ultrasonic generator (not shown) provided in the pushing part (120).

[0036] The control unit receives a signal from the ultrasonic sensor (S1), and after initial installation, measures the boundary of the safety ring (100) where there is nothing inside the safety ring (100), sets it as an initial value, and when an object is detected within the detection area during fastening, the measured value changes, and this is used to determine whether fastening has been performed.

[0037] When setting the initial value, the 3D measurement data is extracted from the surface where the safety ring (100) is detected, converted into 2D, and then used as the initial value. After that, real-time measurement detects an object for the 2D data using the parameter that converts it into 2D when measuring the initial value.

[0038] The battery (B), communication module (M), and acceleration sensor (S2) are mounted inside the safety strap (140) and connected to the ultrasonic sensor (S1) by a signal line (L).

[0039] It is obvious that the above battery (B) supplies power to the ultrasonic sensor (S1), etc., and it goes without saying that the above battery (B) can be installed as a rechargeable type.

[0040] The above acceleration sensor (S2) can detect a worker's fall and unsafe behavior using the signal.

[0041] The above communication module (M) has a function of detecting whether a worker is in danger by transmitting measured data to a gateway (130) installed on a work status board placed in a work area for high-altitude work.

[0042] Below, the safety ring fastening detection method is described.

[0043] Figure 3 is a time-series flow chart of a smart safety ring fastening detection method using an IoT sensor.

[0044] As shown, the safety hook fastening detection method first proceeds with a step (ST 1) of connecting to a gateway (130) where a BLE communication module (M) that is connected to a fastening detection sensor (not shown) mounted on a worker's safety hook (100) is connected to a gateway to start determining whether fastening has been detected.

[0045] Next, an acceleration sensor measurement step (ST 2) is performed to measure whether there is shaking using an acceleration sensor (S2) mounted on a safety strap (140).

[0046] Since the acceleration sensor (S2) is attached to the body and continues to shake when moving, the output of the acceleration sensor (S2) continuously changes. Therefore, if the instantaneous acceleration change amount exceeds a preset threshold value and the average acceleration change amount over a preset period of time exceeds a fixed threshold value, the movement measurement step (ST 3) is performed, which is considered a moving state.

[0047] If neither the instantaneous acceleration change amount exceeds the preset threshold nor the average acceleration change amount over the preset time exceeds the fixed threshold, the process proceeds to the stop or working stage (ST 4) where the worker is considered to be not moving.

[0048] When considered as stationary or in operation, the ultrasonic sensor (S1) measures the initial value when it is mounted on the initial safety ring (100), and proceeds to the step (ST 5) of collecting the measurement value of the ultrasonic sensor using this as a reference value.

[0049] If the measurement value of the ultrasonic sensor (S1) matches the stored reference value within an error rate (e.g., ± 2 mm), it is considered that there is no object within the safety ring, i.e., it is not fastened, and the warning notification step (ST 6) in which a warning notification is triggered on the server or sensor is performed.

[0050] Additionally, when an object is detected, the safety ring (100) proceeds to the normal fastening stage (ST 7) to indicate that it is normally fastened.

[0051] When the work is completed, the safety ring release step (ST 8) is performed, and when the next work is performed, the steps are sequentially performed to return to the acceleration sensor measurement step (ST 2), thereby achieving the safety ring fastening detection method.

[0052] The present invention as described above has the effect of reducing the cost incurred by installing a number of gateways for the operation of smart safety equipment at construction sites, power plants, chemical plants, inside storage tanks, etc., and by improving the occurrence of false detection of smart safety rings, in the case of using a microcurrent sensor, there is a non-detection of safety ring fastening to a non-conductor, and in the case of a smart safety ring using a proximity sensor, there is an effect of fundamentally blocking the occurrence of false detection due to surrounding structures.

[0053] The present invention relates to a safety harness used in high-altitude work, where workers hang from safety harnesses attached to temporary structures or structures. To protect workers from the risk of falling during high-altitude work, they wear safety harnesses and secure safety hooks connected to the harnesses to fixed, surrounding structures to prevent falls. The present invention relates to a safety harness that can be used in such high-altitude work.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic sensor (S1) provided on one side of the inner bottom of the pushing part (120) and scanning ultrasonic waves inside the safety ring (100) generated by the ultrasonic generator provided in the pushing part (120); A control unit that receives a signal from an ultrasonic sensor (S1), A smart safety ring utilizing an IOT sensor, characterized in that it is mounted inside a safety strap (140) and includes a battery (B), a communication module (M), and an acceleration sensor (S2) connected to an ultrasonic sensor (S1) by a signal line (L).

2. In claim 1, The acceleration sensor (S2) uses the signal to detect the worker's fall and unsafe behavior. A smart safety collar utilizing an IOT sensor characterized in that the communication module (M) transmits measured data to a gateway (130) installed on a work status board placed in a work area for high-altitude work, thereby detecting whether a worker is in danger.

3. In claim 1, The control unit, after initial installation, measures the boundary of the safety ring (100) where there is nothing inside the safety ring (100), sets it as the initial value, and when an object is detected within the detection area during fastening, the measured value changes, and uses this to determine whether or not fastening is performed. A smart safety ring utilizing an IOT sensor characterized in that, when setting an initial value, the 3D measurement data is converted into 2D by extracting the surface where the safety ring (100) is detected and used as an initial value, and then real-time measurement thereafter uses a parameter that converts to 2D when measuring the initial value, thereby detecting an object for 2D data.

4. A step (ST 1) of connecting to a gateway (130) in which a communication module (M) connected to a fastening detection sensor mounted on a worker's safety ring (100) is connected to the gateway, and a determination of whether a fastening has been detected is initiated. Acceleration sensor measurement step (ST 2) that measures whether there is shaking by the acceleration sensor (S2) mounted on the safety strap (140); A movement measurement step (ST 3) that considers a moving state when the instantaneous acceleration change exceeds a preset threshold and when the average acceleration change over a preset period of time exceeds a fixed threshold. If neither the instantaneous acceleration change amount exceeds the preset threshold nor the average acceleration change amount over the preset time exceeds the fixed threshold, the worker is considered to be in a stationary or working stage (ST 4). When considered as stationary or in operation, the ultrasonic sensor (S1) measures the initial value when it is mounted on the initial safety ring (100) and uses this as a reference value to collect the measurement value of the ultrasonic sensor (ST 5). When an object is detected, the safety ring (100) is marked as normally fastened at the normal fastening stage (ST 7). A smart safety hook fastening detection method using an IOT sensor, characterized in that when a task is completed, the safety hook release step (ST 8) is performed, and when the next task is performed, the steps return to the acceleration sensor measurement step (ST 2) and are performed sequentially.

5. In claim 4, After the step of collecting the measurement values ​​of the ultrasonic sensor (ST 5), A smart safety hook fastening detection method using an IOT sensor, characterized in that if the measurement value of the ultrasonic sensor (S1) matches the stored reference value within an error rate, it is considered that there is no object in the safety hook (100), i.e., it is not fastened, and a warning notification step (ST 6) in which a warning notification is activated on the server or sensor is performed.

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