Patent Publication Number: US-2019180579-A1

Title: Smart hazard detection and alarm enclosure

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     This patent specification relates to devices and apparatuses for hazard detection and remediation. More particularly, this specification relates to a hazard detection and alarm enclosure with communication capability. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Conventional hazard detection and remediation devices such as fire extinguisher enclosures include an enclosure having a front glass plate that makes visible a fire extinguisher stored inside the enclosure. Hazard detectors such as smoke detectors use sensors to detect substances in the air that may indicate a hazardous condition, such as fire, and typically have an alarm to alert a user in it&#39;s proximity. In the case of fire, the visibility of the user is typically reduced by the smoke in the environment making finding the fire extinguisher enclosure difficult. 
     SUMMARY 
     With reference to various embodiments, enclosures are described that facilitate the location of the enclosure by a user in hazardous conditions. In one embodiment, the enclosure has a hazard detector and an LED array disposed in the enclosure. The LED array may be activated when the hazard detector detects a hazardous condition to thereby illuminate the enclosure. 
     In another embodiment, the enclosure has a controller with communication capabilities to provide information such as the condition of the enclosure and the ambient environment to a local control server, a remote Web application server, or a wireless electronic device such as a smartphone, smart watch, tablet or personal computer. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of a hazard detection and alarm enclosure. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an embodiment of a rear wall of the enclosure. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment of an LED array. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment in exploded view. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment of a control system. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an embodiment of a controller. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates another embodiment of a hazard detection and alarm enclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A hazard detection and alarm enclosure may function to provide illumination based upon certain conditions being present in the ambient environment. For instance, when a hazardous condition is detected in the ambient environment by a hazard detector disposed in the enclosure, a light source may illuminate the interior and exterior portions of enclosure making it easier for the occupant to find the enclosure. Under such conditions, an audible alarm may also be activated to further alert the occupant of the hazardous condition. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of the hazard detection and alarm enclosure  100 . The enclosure  100  may have a body  101  formed by side panels  102  and  103 , a bottom panel  104 , a top panel  106 , a back panel  108 , and a front panel  110 . The side panels  102  and  103  may have a plurality of apertures  112  formed therethrough to provide ambient air to the interior of the enclosure  100 . The front panel  110  may be transparent. The body  101  may be sized and configured to receive a fire extinguisher (not shown) therein. 
     The body  101  may have a generally rectangular cross-section and the panels  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108  and  110  may be formed of any of a number of materials including non-light-transmissive materials such as sheet metal, and light-transmissive materials such as translucent and transparent materials. The material may comprise a fire-proof material. The panels  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108  and  110  may be formed by a process including injection molding, reaction injection molding, casting, vacuum forming, thermal forming, extrusion, CNC machining and manual machining. 
     A graphical representation  118  disposed on the side panel  102  may include a representation of a fire extinguisher. The graphical representation  118  may be formed as by etching or molding the representation on a light transmissive material forming the side panel  102 . Such a graphical representation  118  may transmit light differentially to accentuate the graphical representation  118  when illuminated by a light source. The graphical representation  118  may include a sticker or label affixed to the side panel  102  and a graphical representation printed on the side panel  102 . Additional graphical representations such as “FIRE EXTINGUISHER” and “BREAK GLASS” may be disposed on the side panel  102  as well as on the side panel  103  (not shown) and the top panel  106 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the back panel  108  is illustrated. The back panel  108  may have a plurality of spaced-apart apertures  110  formed therethrough and disposed within a peripheral channel  112  thereof. The peripheral channel  112  may be sized and configured to closely receive a light source such as an LED array  120  ( FIG. 3 ) as further disclosed below. The back panel  108  may include a plurality of apertures  114  formed therethrough to provide ambient air to the interior of the enclosure  100 . The back panel  108  may also have a plurality of spaced-apart apertures  116  for positioning and securing the enclosure  100  to a wall with fasteners such as screws (not shown). 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment of the LED array  120 . The LED array  120  may have a frame  122  sized and configured to be closely received in the peripheral channel  112  of the back panel  108 . A plurality of LEDs  124  are disposed around the frame  122  such that when the frame  122  is received in the peripheral channel  112  of the back panel  108 , the LEDs  124  align with the spaced-apart apertures  110  to thereby provide illumination to the interior and exterior of the enclosure  100 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , a control system  200  is illustrated as embodied in components of a printed circuit board  202 . A memory device may be enclosed in a fireproof enclosure  203 . The printed circuit board  202  may be disposed under the top panel  106 . 
     The control system  200  may have a controller  204  coupled to hazard detector  205  such as a smoke detector, heat detector and carbon monoxide detector, and to a light source  206  as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The controller  204  may implement a method having a step in which a signal is received indicating a hazardous condition in the ambient environment from the hazard detector  205  and in which current is provided from a power supply (not shown) to the light source  206  to thereby illuminate the interior and exterior of the enclosure  100 . 
     An embodiment of the controller  204  is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . The controller  204  may include a processor  208 , a memory  210 , an audio device  212 , a wireless transceiver  214 , a camera  216  and other I/O devices  218  coupled by means of a bus or interconnect. The processor  208  may include any type of logic circuit capable of executing instructions. The processor  208  is configured to execute instructions for performing the operations and methods discussed herein. The memory  210  may store information including sequences of executable program instructions that are executed by the processor  208  and digitized audio-video sequences captured by the camera  216 . The memory may include a memory enclosed in the fireproof enclosure  203 . 
     The audio device  212  may be operable to provide an audible signal indicating a hazard condition in the ambient environment. 
     The wireless transceiver  214  can be a WiFi transceiver, an infrared transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a WiMax transceiver, a wireless cellular telephony transceiver, or other radio frequency transceivers. The controller  204  may be operable to send information including the existence of a hazard in the ambient environment, a realtime audio-video stream of the ambient environment, and the condition of the fire extinguisher to a remote receiver (not shown) by means of the wireless transceiver  214 . The remote receiver may include a local control server, a remote Web application server, or a wireless electronic device such as a smartphone, smart watch, tablet or personal computer. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment of a hazard detection and alarm enclosure  700 . The enclosure  700  may include the features described above with reference to enclosure  100  and include a camera aperture  702  formed on a top panel  704  thereof. The camera aperture  702  may provide the camera  216  with a wide viewing angle of the ambient environment. The camera  216  may include an audio-video camera operable to capture audio-video sequences of the ambient environment. The captured audio-video sequences may be streamed to a remote receiver by the WiFi transceiver and stored in the memory enclosed in the fireproof enclosure  203  for subsequent retrieval. 
     It should be noted that the methods, systems, and devices discussed above are intended merely to be examples. It must be stressed that various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Also, it should be emphasized that technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and should not be interpreted to limit the scope of the invention. 
     Specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known, processes, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments. This description provides example embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention. Rather, the preceding description of the embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing embodiments of the invention. Various changes may be made in the shape, contour, positioning and arrangement of elements such as the panels and light source without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Further the light source can be disposed on the body of the enclosure by conventional means such as by the use of double stick tape, hardware screws, heat stake-ing and hook and loop features. 
     Having described several embodiments, it will be recognized by those of skill in the art that various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the light source may include an array having a different configuration and may be disposed in the body in an alternate manner. Accordingly, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.