INTEGRATED, INTERDEPENDENT SYSTEM FOR VERIFYING FIRE ALARMS

One method includes identifying a fire event by analyzing sensor data from at least one sensor of a fire sensing device of a fire alarm subsystem at a facility being monitored by the fire alarm subsystem, after identifying the fire event by analyzing the sensor data from the at least one sensor of the fire sensing device, accessing data from at least one secondary subsystem to determine if the secondary subsystem data indicates the fire event is occurring, and if the fire event has been identified by analyzing the sensor data from the at least one sensor of the fire sensing device and data from at least one secondary subsystem indicates the fire event is occurring, then initiating an alarm to an emergency response center.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and devices of providing an integrated, interdependent system for verifying fire alarms.

BACKGROUND

Facilities equipped with fire alarm subsystems allow for early detection of a fire event, such as a fire within a building. Typically, such facilities are large and can be complex (e.g., large building, multiple floors, facilities with multiple buildings) and such alarm subsystems allow for firefighting personnel to arrive more quickly.

The systems utilize specialized fire/smoke sensing devices (e.g., fire detectors that detect heat and/or smoke detectors that detect smoke particles to detect fires) spread throughout the facility that can detect when a fire may be occurring. These alarm subsystem devices communicate sensor data to an on premise alarm subsystem control panel that collects and analyzes the data to determine whether a fire event is occurring, and contacts emergency personnel to come to the facility to deal with the fire.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices of providing an integrated, interdependent system for verifying fire alarms. Current fire alarm systems provide very little protection from false alarms and, accordingly, fire alarm systems initiate a physical visit from emergency personnel even though ninety percent of these events are false alarms. This is a substantial waste of financial and human resources. These false alarms also may make the emergency personnel unavailable or inconveniently located when actual fire events occur.

Embodiments of the present disclosure integrate data from different subsystems within a facility, that are not connected to a fire alarm subsystem, to reduce false alarms. For example, one method includes identifying a fire event by analyzing sensor data from at least one sensor of a fire sensing device of a fire alarm subsystem at a facility being monitored by the fire alarm subsystem, after identifying the fire event by analyzing the sensor data from the at least one sensor of the fire sensing device, accessing data from at least one secondary subsystem to determine if the secondary subsystem data indicates the fire event is occurring, and if the fire event has been identified by analyzing the sensor data from the at least one sensor of the fire sensing device and data from at least one secondary subsystem with each indicating the fire event is occurring, then initiating an alarm to an emergency response device, such as a portable device of an emergency responders or at an emergency response center that receives alarm indications and forwards them to emergency responders.

In another example, a fire alarm subsystem can utilize one type or a variety of fire sensing devices, such as smoke detectors, temperature sensors, and/or pull stations, to sense if a fire event is occurring in an area of the facility being monitored by these fire sensing devices. This sense data or an indicator (an initial fire alarm signal) of a fire generated by a fire sensing device is then confirmed or the accuracy improved with data from other subsystems within the facility and then sent to a fire control panel that alerts emergency personnel to respond if a fire event is detected.

If a smoke detector of a fire alarm subsystem indicates the presence of a fire in a particular area of a building within the facility (a facility could have more than one building) and a fire sprinkler subsystem reports a water flow event in the same area, the presence of these two fire related events occurring in the same area at nearly the same time and in different subsystems can confirm or increase the certainty that an accurate alarm condition exists and a physical response (rolling fire trucks to the facility) by emergency responders is necessary.

Further, in various embodiments of the present disclosure, an event detected by a fire alarm subsystem device can be confirmed or accuracy increased by data from a surveillance subsystem having one or more cameras and/or audio sensors installed at the facility. These devices are for surveilling the facility and not for fire event detection. Again, here, when the fire alarm subsystem detects a fire event, this system for verifying fire alarms can access camera and/or audio sensors to determine whether the device(s) are also indicating a fire event is occurring.

Likewise, in some embodiments, air quality and/or air density from a heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) subsystem can be used with the fire alarm subsystem to confirm or more accurately determine whether a fire event is occurring. This data is collected by HVAC subsystems for the purposes of occupant comfort, not for fire detection.

Further, HVAC temperature sensors can, additionally or alternatively, be used with fire alarm subsystem data to confirm or more accurately determine whether a fire event is occurring. Here, again, this HVAC data is utilized by the HVAC subsystem for occupant comfort, not fire detection.

It should be noted that any combination of the above additional resources can be combined with the data from the fire alarm subsystem to confirm or more accurately determine whether a fire event is occurring. For example, some embodiments can utilize fire sprinkler subsystem data and HVAC air quality data together with fire alarm subsystem data to confirm or more accurately determine whether a fire event is occurring.

In other embodiments, fire sprinkler subsystem data and HVAC air quality data together with fire alarm subsystem data can be utilized to confirm or more accurately determine whether a fire event is occurring. Further, in various embodiments, air quality and air density can be utilized to confirm or more accurately determine whether a fire event is occurring.

And, temperature sensing from the HVAC subsystem can be utilized with fire alarm subsystem data and with HVAC air density, air quality, and/or sprinkler subsystem data to confirm or more accurately determine whether a fire event is occurring. By using more than one data resource, accuracy of determining whether a fire event is occurring can be substantially increased.

As used herein, “a”, “an”, or “a number of” something can refer to one or more such things, while “a plurality of” something can refer to more than one such things. For example, “a number of sensors” can refer to one or more sensors, while “a plurality of sensors” can refer to more than one sensor.

FIG.1is a fire alarm subsystem in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments of the present disclosure allow data from unrelated subsystems within a facility to confirm or increase the accuracy of determining whether a fire event (e.g., smoke or fire) is occurring within an area that is being monitored by both, the fire alarm subsystem and a secondary subsystem (e.g., a fire sprinkler system, a surveillance subsystem, a heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) subsystem).

In some embodiments, the secondary subsystems can send data to a computing device of the fire alarm subsystem. For example, the fire alarm subsystem can have a fire alarm subsystem computing device, such as a subsystem controller (e.g., fire alarm system control panel) that can be used as the computational resource to review the data from various resources to determine if a fire event is occurring. This can be accomplished by having executable instructions on a secondary subsystem computing device that stores sense data from sensing devices in the secondary subsystem and sends the data to the fire alarm subsystem computing device. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the fire alarm subsystem computing device can request the data be sent from the secondary subsystem device.

Further, in some embodiments, a facility control computing device can have access to both, the fire alarm subsystem and the secondary subsystems. In this manner, the facility control computing device can access any sense data from any desired subsystem via such access.

In such an embodiment, the devices of the subsystems and the facility control computing device can be connected via a network relationship. Examples of such a network relationship can include a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), personal area network (PAN), a distributed computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment), storage area network (SAN), Metropolitan area network (MAN), a cellular communications network, Long Term Evolution (LTE), visible light communication (VLC), Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Near Field Communication (NFC), infrared (IR) communication, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), radio waves, and/or the Internet, among other types of network relationships.

As used herein, the term “computing device” refers to an electronic system having a processing resource (processor), memory resource (memory), and/or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that can process data. Examples of computing devices can include, for instance, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, an All-In-One (AIO) computing device, a server, networking equipment (e.g., router, switch, etc.), and/or a mobile device, among other types of computing devices. As used herein, a mobile device can include devices that are (or can be) carried and/or worn by a user. For example, a mobile device can be a phone (e.g., a smart phone), a tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA), smart glasses, and/or a wrist-worn device (e.g., a smart watch), among other types of mobile devices.

The facility control computing device can receive data from the various subsystem devices as illustrated inFIG.1. For example, the computing device can receive temperature data, camera images, water flow data, air quality data, air density data, and/or data regarding information provided by occupants of the facility, such as voice recordings, as is further described herein.

FIG.1illustrates a facility having a number of subsystems operating independently therein. These subsystems are: fire alarm subsystem102, surveillance subsystem104, HVAC subsystem106, and fire sprinkler subsystem108. However, as this is an example of an interdependent system for verifying fire alarms of the present disclosure, the system includes executable instructions to determine whether a fire event is occurring based on data from the fire alarm subsystem as well as data from at least one of the secondary subsystems.

In the illustrated example ofFIG.1, the computing device130has these executable instructions stored in memory134and they are executed by processor132. Although shown as a separate computing device, the functions described herein could be accomplished, for example, by a fire alarm subsystem computing device or a control panel computing device of the fire alarm subsystem (e.g., fire alarm subsystem controller) or other computing device communicatively connected to each subsystem. Such a computing device could be located at a location outside the facility (at a remote location).

The fire alarm subsystem102includes air sampling devices110, such as smoke detectors, and temperature detection devices112, such as flame or fire detectors that can determine the temperature in an area being monitored. The device data from one or more of these devices can be used to determine whether a fire event is occurring. If data from more than one device is utilized, the accuracy is increased. If data from different types of devices is utilized, the accuracy may be increased even more.

The surveillance subsystem104can include cameras114and/or audio sensors116. For example, single frame or video cameras can be utilized as well as microphones. The surveillance subsystem is used to the movements of occupants on the facility.

However, in embodiments of the present disclosure, the camera data can be analyzed to determine if there is smoke or a flame visible in the field of view. The audio sensors can be used to receive sound data from the area being monitored or can be used to receive voice data from an occupant which may confirm (e.g., as an eyewitness) there is a fire event or that there is smoke but no fire or other helpful information.

The HVAC subsystem106includes air density sensing devices120and air quality sensing devices122. HVAC subsystems are utilized to adjust the air passing through an area to make it more comfortable for the occupants. This can include heating and cooling the area to change the air temperature as well as using filters to filter out particulate. Sensors are used to determine the air quality and/or density.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, this air quality and/or density sensor data can be used to determine if there is a fire event occurring in the monitored area. For example, the sensor can identify when there is smoke or ash particulate in the air within the monitored area.

The sprinkler subsystem108is used to activate and deactivate fire sprinklers during fire events. Fire sprinkler subsystem108includes an activation monitoring component118that monitors the activation of sprinklers of the subsystem. One type of monitoring component is a water flow sensor that identifies when water is flowing through the subsystem (out a sprinkler head and into the area being monitored). Such systems are normally independent of a fire alarm system.

The use of more than one of the technologies, mentioned above, can ensure a much higher likelihood of accurately detecting a fire event. This can be beneficial in reducing the number of false alarms that are generated by the fire alarm system, among other benefits.