JP4862831B2 - Alarm - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an alarm which prevents outputting of an alarm sound while a user is sleeping and reliably alarms functional abnormalities. <P>SOLUTION: This alarm detects physical quantity in environment and outputs an alarm sound when the detected physical quantity exceeds a predetermined value. The alarm comprises an illuminance measuring part 5 which measures surrounding brightness, a functional abnormality detecting part which detects functional abnormalities by performing a functional test on its own machine, and a control part 7 which outputs the alarm sound for reporting the functional abnormalities when the measured brightness is detected to exceed the predetermined value. The control part 7 outputs the alarm sound even when the brightness beyond the predetermined value is not measured from detection of the functional abnormalities until passing for a predetermined time period. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an alarm device that detects an environmental abnormality such as a fire or a gas leak and outputs an alarm sound.

  Conventionally, in an alarm device that detects an environmental abnormality such as a fire or a gas leak and outputs an alarm sound, an alarm device that outputs a notification sound when a functional abnormality is detected by performing a function test of the device itself is known. . By providing such a test function, the user can know a failure of the alarm device in advance, and can prevent a situation in which an alarm sound is not output due to a function abnormality at the time of a disaster.

  However, this test function has been proposed to output a notification sound only when the surroundings are bright, since a user's sleep is disturbed when a notification sound of malfunction is output at night. For example, the following Non-Patent Document 1 includes a light receiving element that detects ambient brightness and a light receiving output detection unit that detects that the light receiving output from the light receiving element is reduced to a setting level or less. In the case of the level or lower, an alarm device having a control means for prohibiting battery voltage drop alarm output is shown.

Therefore, in this case, since the warning output of the battery voltage drop is performed only when the surroundings are bright, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the user's sleep is disturbed by the warning output.
Published Utility Model Publication 1-68593

  However, in the alarm device described in Non-Patent Document 1, in a room that is not normally used and closed, the surroundings of the alarm device may remain dark for a long time, and no alarm output for battery voltage drop is made. There was a possibility that the battery would run out.

  This invention is made in order to solve the subject which concerns, and the objective is to provide the alarm device which notifies a functional abnormality reliably while preventing the output of the notification sound during a user's sleep. is there.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is an alarm device that detects a physical quantity in the environment and outputs an alarm sound when the detected physical quantity is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. An illuminance measurement unit that measures the thickness, a functional abnormality detection unit that detects a functional abnormality by performing a functional test of the device itself, and a function abnormality detected when the measured brightness is equal to or greater than a predetermined value And a control unit that outputs the notification sound, and the control unit is configured to output the notification sound even when a brightness higher than the predetermined value is not continuously measured for a predetermined time after a functional abnormality is detected. Is output.

Further, in the invention according to claim 2 of the present application, in the alarm device according to claim 1, when the brightness of the predetermined value or more is not measured, the control unit measures the brightness of the predetermined value or more. Compared to the above, the output volume of the notification sound is increased.
Further, in the invention according to claim 3 of the present application, in the alarm device according to claim 1 or 2, the alarm device is operated by the power of the battery, and the function abnormality detecting unit reduces the battery voltage to a predetermined value or less. This is detected as the functional abnormality, and the control unit outputs a notification sound for notifying the decrease in the battery voltage.

  According to the alarm device of the first aspect of the invention, control is performed to output a notification sound when the measured brightness is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and the brightness equal to or greater than the predetermined value continues for a predetermined time. Since the notification sound is output even when it is not measured, it is possible to prevent the user from outputting the notification sound during sleep and to prevent the functional abnormality from being notified.

  According to the alarm device of the invention according to claim 2, the notification sound when the brightness of the predetermined value or more is not measured for a predetermined time increases the output sound volume. Even in an alarm device installed in a place where it is difficult to notice the notification sound, the user can easily hear the notification sound.

  According to the alarm device of the invention according to claim 3, in notifying the decrease in the battery voltage, it is possible to reliably notify while preventing the user from sleeping.

  1-3 has shown the alarm device which is 1st embodiment corresponding to this invention. This alarm device is an alarm device that detects a physical quantity in the environment and outputs an alarm sound when the detected physical quantity is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and includes an illuminance measuring unit 5 that measures ambient brightness, A functional abnormality detection unit that detects functional abnormality by performing the functional test, and a control unit 7 that outputs a notification sound for notifying the functional abnormality detected when the measured brightness is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. The control unit 7 causes the notification sound to be output even when the brightness above the predetermined value is not measured continuously for a predetermined time after the functional abnormality is detected. And when the brightness more than a predetermined value is not measured, the control part 7 makes the output volume of the said notification sound large compared with the case where the brightness more than a predetermined value is measured.

  Hereinafter, the alarm device of this embodiment will be described in more detail. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an alarm device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of the alarm device. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the basic operation of the alarm device. The alarm device in the present embodiment is a battery-driven alarm device that issues a fire alarm by detecting smoke concentration as a physical quantity in the environment, and detects a decrease in battery voltage as a function abnormality.

  As shown in FIG. 1, this alarm device includes a fire detection unit 1 that detects smoke concentration, a notification unit 2 that outputs a notification sound and an alarm sound, a battery 3 that serves as a drive source, and a battery voltage. A voltage measuring unit 4 that measures brightness, an illuminance measuring unit 5 that measures ambient brightness, an operation button 6 that is used for various operations, and a control unit 7 that controls each unit. In addition, the control unit 7 is provided with a timer unit 8 that starts timing at a predetermined timing.

  Here, the alarm device main body A is a container for storing each component, and is formed in a substantially disk shape by plastic or the like as shown in FIG. An opening 9 for introducing outside air is provided. This alarm device main body A is attached to a structure such as a ceiling or a wall.

The fire detection unit 1 is a sensor that detects smoke as a physical quantity in the environment, and since it has the same configuration as that conventionally used, a structure having a light emitting element and a light receiving element in the smoke sensing chamber is not shown in detail. It has become. Then, the light emitting element is driven at a predetermined cycle, and the emitted light is applied to the smoke particles flowing into the smoke sensing chamber, and the scattered light from the smoke particles is received by the light receiving element and converted into an electric signal, so that the smoke The concentration is detected.

  The notification unit 2 includes a speaker that outputs a warning sound by voice under the control of the control unit 7 when the smoke concentration detected by the fire detection unit 1 exceeds a predetermined value. A warning sound such as “Hugh, Hugh, Fire, Fire” is output. The alarm sound output from the speaker can be stopped by pressing the operation button 6.

  The voltage measuring unit 4 measures the voltage of the battery 3, and when the measured voltage becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, the voltage measuring unit 4 detects a battery exhaustion and transmits a battery exhaustion signal to the control unit 7. Note that the battery exhaustion threshold is set to a voltage value at which a fire alarm can be output for a while after the threshold is lowered. For example, when a battery with a rated voltage of 3 V is used, the battery exhaustion threshold is set. Is set to about 2.7V.

  The illuminance measurement unit 5 measures the illuminance using a light receiving element, and transmits the measured illuminance to the control unit 7.

  The control unit 7 is configured by a printed circuit board (not shown) on which electronic components such as ICs are mounted, and when the battery measurement signal is received from the voltage measurement unit 4, the illuminance of the illuminance measurement unit 5 is predetermined. If it is equal to or greater than the threshold value, a notification sound for notifying that the battery has run out is output from the notification unit 2. In addition, when the illuminance is below a predetermined threshold when receiving the battery exhaustion signal, the time measurement unit 8 starts timing, and the illuminance continues to be below the predetermined threshold even after the predetermined time has elapsed. To output a notification sound for notifying that the battery has run out. In addition, as predetermined time, it can set to about 10 hours so that a user's sleep may not be disturbed, for example.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the voltage measurement unit 4 functions as a functional abnormality detection unit. Note that the illuminance threshold can be set to an illuminance that does not allow a person to act indoors, for example, about 10 lx, and the notification sound is, for example, “beep, battery is dead”. . However, the above threshold values (battery depletion threshold value, illuminance threshold value) and notification sound are not limited to this.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the flow from when the alarm is detected to the time when the alarm is output will be described. First, when the battery measurement is detected by the voltage measuring unit 4 (S01), the control unit 7 determines whether or not the illuminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (S02). 2 outputs a battery-run notification sound (S06). On the other hand, when the illuminance falls below a predetermined threshold, the time measuring unit 8 starts time measurement (S03).

  Thereafter, when the illuminance is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold value, a notification sound is output (S06). However, when the illuminance remains below the threshold value, the notification sound is not output as it is (S04). And when predetermined time passes with illumination intensity falling below a threshold value (S05), a notification sound is output (S07). Here, if the illuminance continues below the threshold for a predetermined time, it is expected that the room where the alarm is installed is a room that is not normally used, so the notification sound that is louder than the normal notification sound Is output.

  In addition, the measured illuminance has a threshold value continuously several times in order to prevent notification when, for example, the room is brightened for a moment when someone else opens the door during sleep. You may make it the structure which outputs a notification sound, only when exceeding.

  As described above, the alarm device according to the embodiment of the present invention controls the alarm sound to be output when the measured brightness is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, so that the user turns off the light in the room. It is possible to prevent the user's sleep from being disturbed by the notification sound being output during sleep.

  When the illuminance is less than or equal to a predetermined value even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the detection of the battery exhaustion, the notification sound is output, so that the battery exhaustion can be reliably notified even in a closed room that is not normally used. .

  Further, when the illuminance has been below the threshold for a predetermined time, the volume of the notification sound is increased, so that the user can easily hear the notification sound from the closed room. Note that the present invention does not need to increase the volume of the notification sound as described above, but in this case, the above effect is not achieved.

  In addition, the notification function as described above is more effective when used for notification of the detection of battery exhaustion that needs to be surely notified within a predetermined time, although it is not necessary for the user to know immediately after detection.

  However, the notification function of the present invention is not applied only to battery exhaustion as a function abnormality to notify, but can be applied to notification of various function abnormalities. In another embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a functional abnormality detection unit 10 is provided, and the functional abnormality detection unit 10 detects various functional abnormalities such as detection performance deterioration of the fire detection unit 1. And since the process of the notification sound output after a functional abnormality is detected is the same as that of said 1st embodiment, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  In the first embodiment and the other embodiments, the fire alarm device has been described as detecting a fire. However, the alarm device of the present invention is not limited to this, and various alarms such as a gas alarm device can be used. Can be adapted to the vessel.

The block diagram which shows the alarm device which is one Embodiment of this invention. The perspective view which shows the external appearance of the alarm device. The flowchart which shows the flow of the notification sound output of the same alarm device. The block diagram of the alarm device which is another embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Fire Detection Unit 2 Notification Unit 3 Battery 4 Voltage Measurement Unit (Function Abnormality Detection Unit)
5 Illuminance measurement unit 7 Control unit 8 Timekeeping unit 10 Function abnormality detection unit

Claims (3)

An alarm device that detects a physical quantity in the environment and outputs an alarm sound when the detected physical quantity is a predetermined value or more,
An illuminance measurement unit that measures ambient brightness, a functional abnormality detection unit that detects functional abnormalities by performing a function test of the device itself, and functional abnormalities that are detected when the measured brightness exceeds a predetermined value A control unit for outputting a notification sound for notification,
The control unit causes the notification sound to be output even when the brightness exceeding the predetermined value is not continuously measured for a predetermined time after the functional abnormality is detected.   The control unit increases the output volume of the notification sound when the brightness of a predetermined value or more is not measured, compared to when the brightness of a predetermined value or more is measured. Alarm.   The alarm is operated by battery power, and the function abnormality detection unit detects that the battery voltage has dropped below a predetermined value as the function abnormality, and the control unit notifies the battery voltage drop. The alarm device according to claim 1, wherein an alarm sound is output.

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