EMERGENCY AND/OR MARKER LIGHTING

Abstract: Emergency and/or marker lighting, particularly for aircraft in which a surface or part of a surface is provided with luminescent material, applied in such a way as to be invisible under normal lighting conditions with at least one source of radiation for the excitation thereof.

Description: Short title: Emergency and/or marker lighting. The invention relates to emergency and/or marker lighting, for instance for public buildings but also for the interior of aircraft, vessels and vehicles. Emergency lighting systems, in particular intended to come into operation in the event of an accident or disaster, are generally known and consist of one or more light sources fitted in the interior and fed by an autonomous electricity source. One disadvantage of these known emergency and/or marker lighting systems is that the lighting is no longer visible when the interior is filled with smoke, as a result of the "halo 1 ' phenomenon, brought about by the "scattering" of the light rays. This means that not only the exits, which have to be lit with the said lighting, are no longer visi¬ ble, but also the path to them is no longer clean, or is not even visible anymore. Furthermore, emergency and marker lightings are known, which are based on the principle of luminescence, thus emitting light when irradiated by a suitable source of radiation, for instance with U.V.-light. They have the disadvantage of also being visible under normal lighting conditions which is a physiological as well as an architectonical drawback - the presence of an abundance of information on warning signs, visible under all conditions, tends to distract the atten¬ tion. The object of the invention is to produce an emergency and/or marker lighting system which does not have these disadvantages. This object is obtained in that the lighting or marker consists of a surface or part of a surface provi¬ ded with luminescent material applied in such a way as to be invisible under normal lighting conditions, with at least one suitable radiation source for the excitation thereof. The material here is preferably fluorescent and/or phosphor¬ escent, and the radiation source produces in particular ultraviolet rays. Such emergency lighting, in which whole surfaces or parts of surfaces are therefore light-emitting, is clearly visible even in situations, in which the interior is full or partly full of smoke, in particular if the material thereof, according to a preferred embodiment, is provided on the floor of the interior. The material is also preferably provided on or in the panel of the exit(s) and the surroun¬ ding area thereof. However, under normal lighting conditions, the markersymbols are not visible and thus do not distract the attention - they become the more conspicuous when the source of irradia¬ tion is switched on, making them clearly visible. A particularly good use of the emergency and/or marker lighting is in aircraft. It has been found from experience with aircraft accidents that even in those cases in which the aircraft after crashing has suffered little structural damage, so that the passengers have not been exposed to serious mechanical damage, in many cases a fire soon breaks out and, although it may be slow to develop further, it is still accompanied by thick smoke, which makes the "emergen- cy" exits no longer visible, and causes a panic situation to arise in the aircraft. Such a situation can also occur in the case of accidents with vessels or vehicles. The inven¬ tion makes a considerable contribution to the solution of this problem, and the invention therefore also covers an aircraft, with seats arranged along an aisle and at least one exit where at least parts of the aisle floor and the accesses to the exit(s) are provided with an emergency and/or marker system as described above, cooperating with at least one radiation source for the excitation thereof, and with a configuration indicating the direction of access tot the exit(s). Then passengers need only follow the indicated direction without thinking, which of course gives a feeling of safety and reduces the chance of panic. The radiation sources will preferably be set up in the vicinity of the seats adjoining the aisle. The luminescent material will also preferably be provided on or in the panel of the exit(s) and the surrounding area thereof. The material may be provided by impregnation of the surface in question; but, it can also easily be provided in existing interiors by spraying or sσreenprinting of the surface in question.

Claims: C L I M S 1. Emergency and/or marker lighting, characterized by a surface of part of a surface provided with luminescent material, applied in such a way as to be invisible under normal lighting conditions, and at least one suitable source of radiation for the excitation thereof. 2. Emergency and/or marker lighting according to Claim 1, characterized in that the material is fluorescent and/or phosphorescent, and the source of radiation produces ultra¬ violet rays. 3. Emergency and/or marker lighting according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the material is provided on the floor of the interior. 4. Emergency and/or marker lighting according to Claim 1 to 3, characterized by surface parts which are designed with a configuration indicating the direction of access to one or more exits. 5. Emergency and/or marker lighting according to Claim 1 to 4, characterized in that the material is provided on or in the panel of the exit(s) and the surrounded area thereof. 6. Emergency lighting according to Claim 1 to 5, characte¬ rized in that the material is impregnated into the relative surface. 7. Emergency lighting according to Claim 1 to 6, characte¬ rized in that the material is applied on the relative surface by spraying or screenprinting. 8. Aircraft with seats arranged along an aisle and at least one exit, characterized in that at least parts of the aisle floor and the access to the exit(s) are provided with an emergency and/or marker lighter according to Claim 1 to 7 cooperating with at least one radiation source for the excitation thereof and with a configuration indicating the direction of access to the exit(s). 9. Aircraft according to Claim 8, characterized by radia¬ tion sources set up in the vicinity of the seats adjoining the aisle. 10. Aircraft according to Claim 8, characterized by lumi¬ nescent material included in the panel of the exit(s) or the surrounding areas thereof.

Inventors: HOLMAN HARM WILLEM, HOLMAN, HARM, WILLEM
Applicants: HOLMAN ASSOCIATES
Application year: 1986
Main classification: G09F13
IPC codes: B64D11, B64D25, G09F13