Escalator Safety Sensor Using Passenger Nodal Tracking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Escalator and moving walkway safety incidents occur due to passenger behavior, such as falls, which existing safety systems fail to effectively detect and respond to in a timely and efficient manner.
Innovation Solution
A conveyer system equipped with sensors, such as video and infrared cameras, that track nodal models of passengers to measure displacement differentials and rates, determining alert conditions like falling or being stuck, and communicating these to a building management system to halt the escalator or apply safety actions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing safety systems are used, then the system structure is simple, but the detection capability and response time to passenger falls or hazards are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the passenger body into multiple nodal points (head, torso, limbs, feet) and tracks each node's position and movement independently. This segmentation enables detailed analysis of passenger behavior and fall detection while using existing camera infrastructure, resolving the contradiction between enhanced safety detection and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical safety sensors with vision-based detection using video cameras and image processing algorithms. This substitution maintains system simplicity while significantly improving detection capability by analyzing passenger nodal point movements, orientations, and displacement patterns to identify falls and hazards.
2Loss of time
If traditional safety sensors are installed, then the installation is straightforward, but the system cannot effectively detect and respond to passenger falls in a timely manner
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously tracks and monitors passenger nodal point positions and movements in real-time before actual falls occur. By establishing baseline movement patterns and detecting anomalies such as unusual displacement rates or orientations, the system can predict and respond to potential falls before they happen, reducing response time while maintaining detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback by monitoring passenger nodal point movements and immediately responding to detected anomalies. When falls or hazards are detected through analysis of displacement differentials and movement patterns, the system triggers alerts and safety responses, creating a closed-loop feedback mechanism that reduces response time while improving detection accuracy through iterative monitoring.
3Reliability
If advanced safety monitoring is implemented, then passenger safety is enhanced, but the cost and infrastructure requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses existing video cameras and image processing infrastructure for multiple purposes: general surveillance, passenger counting, and safety monitoring. By making the vision system multi-functional, the patent enhances passenger safety through advanced fall detection without requiring additional specialized sensors or infrastructure, thereby reducing installation costs while maintaining high reliability.
Data Source
Figure 1~4
Figure 5
AI summary
Disclosed is a system including a conveyer, a sensor operationally directed to engage the conveyer, a controller for controlling the conveyer and the sensor, the controller renders a plurality of determinations including: a first determination that the conveyer is in an operational state, a second determination that first sensed data dynamically obtained from the sensor is indicative of a first passenger on the conveyer, a third determination to model shape of the first passenger, while the first passenger is on the conveyer, with a first nodal model, a fourth determination to track displacement differentials for the first nodal model, a fifth determination to identify from the differentials an occurrence of an alert condition with the first passenger, at an occurrence of an alert condition, a sixth determination to stop the conveyer, and the controller transmits first instructions to the conveyer to effect the sixth determination.