Smoke detector maintenance indication method and apparatus

• US 20030234732A1
• Filed: 05/08/2003
• Published: 12/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Building Technologies Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Rhodes, Neil, Rule, Tom
• Granted Patent: US 6,989,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.16
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 17/10 Actuation by presence of smoke or gases , e.g. automatic alarm devices for analysing flowing fluid materials by the use of optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/188 Data fusion; cooperative systems, e.g. voting among different detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/24 Self-calibration, e.g. compensating for environmental drift or ageing of components

Abstract

A method of displaying status information of a plurality of smoke detectors includes obtaining first data including a first measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of a first smoke detector, the first measurement value falling within a first range. The method also includes obtaining second data including a second measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of a second smoke detector, the second measurement value falling within a second range, the second range different from the first range. The method further includes displaying first information representative of the first measurement value and second information representative of the second measurement value, the first information and the second information falling within a uniform range.

Claims

1. A method of displaying status information of a plurality of smoke detectors, comprising:

obtaining first data including a first measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of a first smoke detector, the first measurement value falling within a first range;

obtaining second data including a second measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of a second smoke detector, the second measurement value falling within a second range, the second range different from the first range; and

providing as human-perceptible output first information representative of the first measurement value and second information representative of the second measurement value, the first information and the second information falling within a uniform range.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the maintenance condition of the first smoke detector relates to a level of sensor obscuration and the maintenance condition of the second smoke detector relates to a level of sensor obscuration.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

converting the first measurement value to the first information such that the first information falls within the second range, such that the second range is the uniform range.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining the first data from the first smoke detector, wherein the first measurement value includes data representative of an obscuration value of the first detector; and

obtaining the second data from the second smoke detector, wherein the second measurement value includes a value representative of a fraction of remaining available compensation for ambient obscuration.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the value representative of a fraction remaining available compensation for ambient obscuration is a percentage of remaining available compensation;

and further comprising

converting the data representative of the obscuration value to a percentage of an alarm threshold value of the first smoke detector of the obscuration value.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying smoke detector type information corresponding to the first smoke detector adjacent the first information and displaying smoke detector type information corresponding to the second smoke detector adjacent the second information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the smoke detector type information corresponding to the first smoke detector is representative of a compensating smoke detector type and the smoke detector type information corresponding to the second smoke detector is representative of a non-compensating smoke detector.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing as human-perceptible output further comprises displaying on a display device.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein providing as human-perceptible output further comprises storing the first information and second information as a data file and subsequently providing the data file to a human-perceptible output.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein providing as human-perceptible output further comprises printing onto print media.

11. An apparatus for providing status information of a plurality of smoke detectors, comprising:

an output device operable to provide a human-perceptible output;

a processing circuit operably coupled to the display device, the processing circuit operable to

obtain first data including a first measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of a first smoke detector, the first measurement value falling within a first range;

obtain second data including a second measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of a second smoke detector, the second measurement value falling within a second range, the second range different from the first range; and

cause the output device to provide as human perceptible output first information representative of the first measurement value and second information representative of the second measurement value, the first information and the second information falling within a uniform range.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to convert the first measurement value to the first information such that the first information falls within the second range, such that the second range is the uniform range.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to:

obtain the first data from the first smoke detector, wherein the first measurement value includes data representative of an obscuration value of the first detector; and

obtain the second data from the second smoke detector, wherein the second measurement value includes a value representative of a fraction of remaining available compensation for obscuration.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is further coupled to a communication interface, the communication interface operably coupled to a fire safety system, and wherein the first smoke detector and the second smoke detector are operably coupled to the fire safety system.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the value representative of a fraction remaining available compensation for obscuration is a percentage of remaining available compensation;

and the processing circuit is further operable to convert the data representative of the obscuration value to a percentage of a sensitivity value of the first smoke detector of the obscuration value.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to cause the output device to provide as human-perceptible output smoke detector type information corresponding to the first smoke detector adjacent the first information and provide as human-perceptible output smoke detector type information corresponding to the second smoke detector adjacent the second information.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the smoke detector type information corresponding to the first smoke detector is representative of a compensating smoke detector type and the smoke detector type information corresponding to the second smoke detector is representative of a non-compensating smoke detector.

18. A smoke detector arrangement, comprising

a first smoke detector operable to generate a first measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of the first smoke detector, the first measurement value having a first range;

a second smoke detector operable to generate a second measurement value representative of a maintenance condition of the second smoke detector, the second value having a second range;

a display device;

a processing circuit operably coupled to the display device, the first smoke detector and the second smoke detector, the processing circuit operable to

obtain first data including the first measurement value,

obtain second data including the second measurement value, and

cause the display device to display first information representative of the first measurement value and second information representative of the second measurement value, the first information and the second information falling within a uniform range.

19. The smoke detector arrangement of claim 18, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to convert the first measurement value to the first information such that the first information falls within the second range, such that the second range is the uniform range.

20. The smoke detector arrangement of claim 18, wherein:

the first smoke detector is operable to generate the first measurement value such that the first measurement value includes data representative of an obscuration value of the first smoke detector; and

the second smoke detector is operable to generate the second measurement value such that the second measurement value includes a value representative of a fraction of remaining available compensation for obscuration.

21. The smoke detector arrangement of claim 18, further comprising a data network that operably connects the processing circuit to the first smoke detector and the second smoke detector.

22. The smoke detector arrangement of claim 20, wherein the value representative of a fraction remaining available compensation for obscuration is a percentage of remaining available compensation, and the processing circuit is further operable to convert the data representative of the obscuration value to a percentage of a sensitivity value of the first smoke detector of the obscuration value.

23. The smoke detector arrangement of claim 18, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to cause the display device to display smoke detector type information corresponding to the first smoke detector adjacent the first information and displaying smoke detector type information corresponding to the second smoke detector adjacent the second information.

24. The smoke detector arrangement of claim 23, wherein the smoke detector type information corresponding to the first smoke detector is representative of a compensating smoke detector type and the smoke detector type information corresponding to the second smoke detector is representative of a non-compensating smoke detector.