Networked Hazard Detectors Monitoring Readiness via Broadcasts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable fire extinguisher cylinders in buildings often go unserviced, leading to reduced readiness and availability during emergencies due to missed maintenance schedules, resulting in potential unavailability during fire incidents.
Innovation Solution
An interactive network of hazard detectors and fire extinguishers that monitor signal strength and periodic broadcasts to identify and alert on maintenance needs and readiness, using a system panel to visually and audibly indicate alert conditions and maintenance requirements across the network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If fire extinguishers are installed at specified locations throughout a building, then accessibility during emergencies is improved, but reliability deteriorates when utility service providers fail to adhere to service and maintenance schedules
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a networked monitoring system where fire extinguishers continuously broadcast their status (pressure, temperature, maintenance history) and receive acknowledgments from monitoring devices. This feedback loop enables real-time tracking of extinguisher readiness, alerting facility managers when servicing is needed, thus maintaining reliability without compromising accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The fire extinguishers autonomously monitor their own status parameters (pressure, temperature, usage history) and self-report to the network without requiring manual inspection. This self-service capability ensures continuous readiness monitoring while reducing dependency on human operators to maintain reliability.
2Reliability
If fire extinguishers are serviced and maintained at regular intervals, then readiness is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to removal from service during maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system detects readiness degradation trends (pressure drops, temperature changes) before they result in complete failure. By providing advance warning, the system enables scheduling of maintenance during planned downtime rather than unexpected failures, minimizing disruption to productivity while maintaining readiness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts maintenance scheduling based on actual usage patterns and condition monitoring data. Extinguishers are serviced based on their actual wear and usage rather than fixed intervals, optimizing the balance between maintaining readiness and minimizing removal from service.
3Reliability
If fire extinguishers are monitored continuously for readiness, then reliability is improved, but use of energy increases due to continuous monitoring and broadcasting
Solution Approach 1:
Fire extinguishers broadcast their status at periodic intervals rather than continuously, and monitoring devices check status at scheduled intervals. This periodic monitoring approach maintains reliability by detecting readiness changes over time while significantly reducing energy consumption compared to continuous monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring frequency and broadcast intervals are dynamically adjusted based on extinguisher conditions. When parameters are stable, monitoring occurs at lower frequency to conserve energy. When parameters indicate potential issues, monitoring intensity increases to maintain reliability.
4Measurement precision
If signal strength thresholds are set low to detect all extinguishers, then measurement precision is improved, but false alerts increase due to ambient interference
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary baseline measurements of signal strength and ambient interference levels during installation and normal operation. These baselines are stored and used to distinguish between normal variations and actual alerts, improving detection sensitivity while reducing false alerts caused by ambient interference.
Solution Approach 2:
Signal strength thresholds are dynamically adjusted based on environmental conditions, time of day, and historical data. The system learns normal signal patterns and adapts thresholds accordingly, maintaining high detection sensitivity while filtering out false alerts from ambient interference.
Data Source
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Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
Disclosed is a system that includes a first device of a plurality of devices operatively connected over a network for responding to a detected hazard, wherein the first device: monitors the network for self-identifying broadcasts the plurality of devices, and when the first device receives over the network self-identifying broadcasts from a second device, the first device retransmits the self-identifying broadcasts into the network.