Patent Publication Number: US-2009224868-A1

Title: Personal Protective Equipment and Managing System Thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a personal protective equipment and managing system thereof and more particularly, to a personal protective equipment and a managing system for calculating the use time thereof. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally, working in a hazardous environment requires wearing protective equipment (such as protective suits, protective gloves, respiratory protective device and so on) so as to let the worker work safely in the hazardous environment (such as the environment having chemical solvents like methylbenzene, xylene and n-Hexane, etc) and to protect the worker&#39;s occupational health. 
     The protective capability of the protective equipment depends on the resistivity of the material of the protective equipment to the toxic substance and different environmental conditions; therefore the use time of the protective equipment varies. Hence, in order to protect the worker, it is crucial to stop using the protective equipment before reaching its safety limit, thus to ensure proper protection of the worker. 
     Presently there&#39;s no certain method or standard regarding to the replacing time, safety limit time, or the lifetime of protective equipment. Usually, the protective equipment is replaced or renewed according to the “Rule of Thumb” or customized rules. In other words, there&#39;s no objective measure or statistics in evaluating the effectiveness of the protective equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a personal protective equipment and its managing system which can calculate the accumulated use time and the use history thereof and to further gather environmental data, performance data thereof for the information system to evaluate and analyze, so as to provide effective and necessary protection to the worker who wears with the personal protective equipment in the hazardous environment. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the above deficiencies, one of the object of the present invention is to provide a personal protective equipment and its managing system for effectively providing a user necessary and effective protections in the hazardous environment. It is another object of the present invention to provide a personal protective equipment and its managing system which can accumulate the use time and record the use history of the personal protective equipment, then to provide safety information evaluated and gained by the information system to the user for determining the time to replace or to change his/her personal protective equipment for effective protection. 
     The present invention discloses a personal protective equipment for providing a user necessary protection in a hazardous environment, which is characterized in that the personal protective equipment can communicate with a reader, and the personal protective equipment comprises a main body and an identification element. The main body of the personal protective equipment can be protective gloves, a protective suit, a respiratory protective device, or a protective boot for protecting the user in the hazardous environment. 
     The identification element comprises information for the reader to read and to identify the personal protective equipment and its related use history, whereby a use time of the personal protective equipment in the hazardous environment is calculated, and the use history is recorded as well. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the personal protective equipment communicates with a host via the reader, and the information of the identification element comprises an individual equipment data of the personal protective equipment and an accumulated time data used for the personal protective equipment; the reader further transmits a start time data and an end time data to the host, whereby the host calculates the use time of the personal protective equipment in the hazardous environment. The identification element can be a Radio Frequency Identification (REID) device, barcode, or the like. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, the identification element is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) device and comprises a memory, a processor (such as an IC chip processor) and an antenna module, wherein the processor is electrically coupled with the memory and the antenna module. The memory stores the information for processing by the processor; and the processor can also receive a signal from the reader. In this embodiment, the antenna module enables the processor to transmit the information in the memory to the reader according to the signal of the reader. 
     Furthermore, in addition to the individual equipment data of the personal protective equipment, the information further comprises an accumulated use time data for an information system to calculate the use time of the personal protective equipment in the hazardous environment. The memory can be a read-only memory for recording the individual equipment data of the personal protective equipment for the reader to identify the personal protective equipment, wherein the reader or the host can record the accumulated use time and the use history of the personal protective equipment. Alternatively, the memory can also be a rewritable memory for the reader or the host to analyze the accumulated use time and the use history of the personal protective equipment in the hazardous environment and to write the information therein. Moreover, the RFID device comprises the processor for analyzing and recording the individual equipment data, the accumulated use time and the use history of the personal protective equipment in the hazardous environment. The antenna module can transmit the processed information to the reader and the host according to the signal from the reader. Based on different kinds of RFID devices, there can be different embodiments; however, all of them can achieve the object of the present invention. 
     Besides, another aspect of the present invention is to provide a managing system for managing a use time of a personal protective equipment for providing a user necessary protection in a hazardous environment. The managing system comprises a reader and a personal protective equipment having an identification element. As described above, the personal protective equipment communicates with the reader to calculate the use time of the personal protective equipment in the hazardous environment. 
     Furthermore, it is still another object of the present invention to provide a managing system for managing a use time of a personal protective equipment, which comprises the personal protective equipment having an identification element, the managing system also comprises a reader and a host. In this embodiment, the host analyzes and evaluates the current condition of the personal protective equipment according to the accumulated use time and individual equipment data, and also according to the user defined parameters and environmental parameters, then the host can issue an alert indicating that the personal protective equipment has reached its safety limit or the personal protective equipment should be replaced immediately in order to maintain the effectiveness of the personal protective equipment. 
     In short, the accumulated use time of the personal protective equipment can be generated by the RFID device of the personal protective equipment spontaneously, or it is generate by the reader using the information read by the reader, or it is generate by the host processing the received information. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a perspective view of a managing system for managing a use time of a personal protective equipment according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows a user wearing many kinds of main body of the personal protective equipment according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a block diagram of the identification element according to the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  illustrates another one of embodiments of the managing system for managing a use time of a personal protective equipment according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In order to explain the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention, various embodiments along with accompanying drawings are described as follows. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1  for an embodiment of a personal protective equipment  1 , which is characterized in that the personal protective equipment  1  can communicate with a reader  2 . The personal protective equipment  1  comprises a main body  10  and an identification element  11 . Although the main body in this figure is illustrated as a pair of gloves  10 , it is not intended to limit the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the main body of the personal protective equipment  1  can be protective gloves  10 , a protective suit  10   a , a respiratory protective device  10   c , a protective helmet  10   d  or protective boots  10   b  to provide the user necessary protection in the hazardous environment (such as working with the chemical tank or the poisonous gas). For the sake of convenience, the gloves  10  (or can be only one glove  10 ) will be used as an example to illustrate the present invention (hereinafter as the main body  10 ), however, it is not intended to limit the present invention. 
     Please refer back to  FIG. 1 , the identification element  11  is disposed on the main body  10 , and the identification element  11  comprises information (such as basic specification of the protective equipment, user information, the material used in the main body  10  and so on), which is read by the reader  2  to identify the personal protective equipment  1 . For example, the identification element  11  can be a Radio frequency Identification (RFID) device. When the user puts on the personal protective equipment  1  and wants to enter or is in a hazardous environment, as long as he/she passes through or is in the communication range of the reader  2 , the use time of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment can be calculated or accumulated through the communication between the identification element  11  on the main body  10  and the reader  2 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3 . In this embodiment, the identification element  11  is a RFID device, which further comprises a memory  113 , a processor  112 , and an antenna module  111 , wherein the processor  112  is electrically coupled with the memory  113  and the antenna module  111 . The memory  113  stores the information for processing by the processor  112 , and the processor  112  can also receive a signal from the reader  2 . For example, the reader  2  can emit a radio wave to generate alternating magnetic field to enable the antenna module  111  and the processor  112  to operate accordingly, thus to enable the processor  112  to send the information in the memory  113  to the reader  2 . Since the operation of RFID and related functions are well known, there will not be further described for the sake of brevity. 
     In this embodiment, the antenna module  111  operates according to the signal from the reader  2 , whereby the processor  112  enable the memory  113  to record the use time of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment. Furthermore, the information further comprises an accumulated time data (for example, the RFID tag can have a timer capability) for the processor  112  to calculate the use time of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment, then the antenna module  111  transmits the processed information (for example, available time data) to reader  2  according to the signal from the reader  2 . 
     The memory  113  can be a read-only memory for recording the individual equipment data of the personal protective equipment  1 , which is intended for the reader  2  to identify the personal protective equipment  1 , wherein the reader  2  or the host  3  (as shown in  FIG. 3 ) can record the accumulated use time and the use history of the personal protective equipment  1 . Alternatively the memory  113  can also be a rewritable memory for the reader  2  or the host  3  to analyze the accumulated use time and the use history of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment and to write the information therein. Moreover, the RFID device  11  comprises the processor  112  for analyzing and recording the individual equipment data, the accumulated use time, and the use history of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment. The antenna module  111  can transmit the processed information to the reader  2  and the host  3  according to the signal from the reader  2 . Based on different kinds of RFID devices, there can be different embodiments; however, any of them can achieve the objects of the present invention. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4 , in another embodiment of the present invention, the personal protective equipment  1  can communicate with a host  3  via the reader  2 , and transmits the information to the host  3  through the reader  2  for the host  3  to calculate the accumulated use time of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment. If the identification element  11  does not transmit the information spontaneously, for example, the identification element  11  can be a barcode sticker, an identification chip storing user data, or the like, instead, the identification element  11  passively provides the information (for example, the barcode information) for the reader  2  to read, and then the reader  2  transmits the information to the host, thereby the host  3  calculates the accumulated use time of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment, and gathers the individual equipment data of the personal protective equipment  1 . Afterwards the host  3  can analyze and evaluate the current condition of the personal protective equipment  1  according to the accumulated use time and individual equipment data, and also according to the user defined parameters and environmental parameters, then the host  3  can issue an alert indicating that the personal protective equipment  1  has reached its safety limit or the personal protective equipment  1  should be replaced immediately in order to maintain the effectiveness of the personal protective equipment  1 . 
     In this embodiment, a barcode or passive RFID device is provided for illustrating the present invention and it is not intended to limit the present invention; the identification element  11  can be an active RFID device actively transmits the information to the reader  2 , and then the reader  2  further transmits the information to the host  3 . 
     Moreover, the information provided by the identification element  11  comprises user data and the material of the main body  10 , therefore it is viable to set environmental parameters at the host  3  to calculate the accumulated use time. The use time varies due to the material of the main body  10  and different environmental parameters so as to let the user know when to replace (or change), to clean or even renew his/her personal protective equipment  1  to maintain effective protection. 
     Hence, another aspect of the present invention is to provide a managing system for managing a use time of a personal protective equipment, wherein the managing system comprises the personal protective equipment  1  and a reader  2 . As described above, the personal protective equipment  1  communicates with the reader  2  to enable the managing system to calculate the use time of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment. Then the user can determine when to replace (change), to clean or even to renew his/her personal protective equipment  1  to maintain effective protection. 
     Furthermore, it is still another object of the present invention to provide a managing system for managing a use time of a personal protective equipment, wherein the managing system comprises the personal protective equipment  1 , a reader  2  and a host  3 . In this embodiment, the host  3  can analyze and evaluate the current condition of the personal protective equipment  1  according to the accumulated use time and individual equipment data, and also the user defined parameters and environmental parameters, then the host  3  can issue an alert in order to maintain the effectiveness of the personal protective equipment  1 . The alert can be an alarming sound or a SMS/MMS message, or the like. However, since the present invention focuses on how to calculate the accumulated use time of the personal protective equipment  1  by using the communication between the identification element  11  and the reader  2 . It will not be further described as to how to generate the alert for the sake of brevity. 
     To sum up, the present invention discloses a personal protective equipment and its managing system in which the identification element  11  can be a passive or active read-only RFID tag (for example, there&#39;s only a serial number or 2D barcode on it) for the reader  2  to read. In this embodiment, the reader  2  can identify the personal protective equipment  1  and calculate the accumulated use time of the personal protective equipment  1 . 
     In further another embodiment of the present invention, the identification element  11  can be a passive or active read-only RFID tag (for example, there&#39;s only a serial number or 2D barcode on it) for the reader  2  to read. In this embodiment, the reader  2  can read the information and send it to the host  3  for identifying the personal protective equipment  1  and calculating the accumulated use time of the personal protective equipment  1 . 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, the identification element  11  can be a passive or active rewritable RFID tag (for example, it contains serial number and accumulated time data or performance data) for the reader  2  to read. In this embodiment, the reader  2  identifies the use time of the personal protective equipment  1  and calculates the performance/allowable use time of the personal protective equipment  1 , and writes the accumulated time data or performance data back to the RFID tag for storing the information therein. 
     In still another embodiment of the present invention, the identification element  11  can be a passive or active rewritable RFID tag (for example, it contains serial number and accumulated time data or performance data) for the reader  2  to read. In this embodiment, the reader  2  reads the information from the identification element  11  and sends it to the host  3 . The host  3  calculates the accumulated use time and determines the performance of the personal protective equipment  1 , and then the host  3  writes the accumulated time data or performance data back to the RFID tag for storing the information therein. 
     For a further embodiment, the identification element  11  can be an active read-only RFID tag (for example, it contains only the serial number) which can accumulate the use time of the personal protective equipment  1 , the identification element  11  is activated by the reader  2  to start time counting, thus the reader  2  or the host  3  can receive the accumulated time data from the identification element  11  to calculate the performance and to determine the performance of the personal protective equipment  1 . 
     Other embodiment includes that the identification element  11  can be an active rewritable RFID tag (for example, it contains serial number and accumulated time data or performance data), the identification element  11  is activated by the reader  2  to start time counting, thus the reader  2  or the host  3  can receive the accumulated time data from the identification element  11  to calculate the performance and to determine the performance of the personal protective equipment  1 , and then to write the accumulated time data or performance data back to the RFID tag. 
     In short the accumulated use time of the personal protective equipment  1  can be generated by the identification element  11  (for example, RFID device) of the personal protective equipment  1  spontaneously, or it can be generated by the reader  2  using the information read by the reader  2 , or it is generated by the host  3  processing the information sent from the reader  2 . Besides, the host  3  can control and set up related information, such as the environmental parameters, performance parameters of the identification element  11  to more accurately calculate the use time of the personal protective equipment  1  in the hazardous environment. 
     Many changes and modifications in the above described embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.