Personal alarm device with vibrating accelerometer motion detector and planar piezoelectric hi-level sound generator

• US 5,317,305 A
• Filed: 01/30/1992
• Issued: 05/31/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GRACE INDUSTRIES, INC.
• Original Assignee: GRACE INDUSTRIES, INC.
• Inventors: Campman, James P.
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US07/828,170
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573-574, 340/669, 340/384 E, 340/593-594, 340/566, 340/636, 340/691, 200/61.45 R, 200/61.48, 310/321-325, 73/517 AV, 128/782, 338/43, 338/47, 2/5, 2/7, 2/8, 331/64-66, 381/159
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0415 detecting absence of activity per se
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 17/00 Piezoelectric transducers; Electrostrictive transducers piezoelectric or electrostrictive elements in general H10N30/00; details of piezoelectric or electrostrictive motors, generators or positioners H10N30/00

Abstract

A personal alert safety system, having visual and audio safety components, in a small, lightweight, high impact casing with two compartments separated by a planar wall providing a watertight wall between the two compartments, the planar wall being a sealed laminated piezoelectric sound transducer. One of the compartments is sealed to provide a watertight chamber containing the electronic and electrical control and operating circuitry for the system. The second compartment is a resonating chamber with sound ports for the piezoelectric sound generating transducer. Two manual switch operators are located on opposite exterior sides of the casing and in a sealed manner actuate switches in the interior circuitry to turn the unit on and off, and simultaneous operation of both switches is required to turn the system "on" or "off". A vibrating accelerometer motion detector is included within and connected with the circuitry inside of the casing. There are several embodiments of each of the planar sound transducer and the vibrating accelerometer motion detector.

Claims

1. A personal alert safety system having condition responsive sensor means and alarm means indicative of personal safety conditions comprising:

a small size portable casing, said casing comprising an internal divided two part chamber, the first part being a watertight sealed cavity and the second part being a sound resonating cavity with surrounding walls including at least one sound port providing a passage from the interior to the exterior of said resonating cavity;

a sealed flat wall means comprising a dividing wall between said two chamber parts;

electric and electronic control and operating circuitry means disposed in said first part of said chamber including a source of electric power, two series connected, single pole, push button control switches each having "on" and "off" positions and being spring biased to the "off" position, and flip-flop electronic switching means controlled by said control switches to enable said circuitry means to be turned "on" and "off" respectively by a sequence of simultaneous operations of said two control switches;

said sealed flat wall means comprising a thin flat sound generating piezoelectric transducer device electrically connected to said circuitry means;

a motion detector, and means rigidly mounting said motion detector within said first part of said two part chamber, said motion detector generating a sine wave voltage output a characteristic of which changes responsive to motion of said casing; and

said circuitry means further including a tone oscillator, a rate oscillator and an amplifier, connected between said motion detector and said piezoelectric sound generating transducer and responsive to the output of said motion detector to cause a specific high intensity sweeping alarm signal to be emitted when the circuitry means is turned on and in the event that the casing is motionless.

2. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 1, wherein said motion detector is a vibrating accelerometer.

3. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

two sealed manual operating means located on opposite sides of said casing for actuating said two control switches.

4. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 3, further comprising:

a third emergency electric switch in said circuitry means and a sealed operating means for said third switch located in a wall of said casing;

visual indicating means connected to said circuitry means; and

a lens adjacent said visual indicating means located in said casing, said visual indicating means being rendered operable when said circuitry means is turned "on"; and

said third switch, when actuated during the "on" condition of said control and operating circuitry means, operates a part of said circuitry means to cause a high intensity continuous tone sound to be generated by said piezoelectric sound generating transducer.

5. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a thermocouple temperature responsive means, connected to said circuitry means, operable in response to high temperature to actuate a portion of said circuitry means to cause a predetermined high intensity constant level tone to be generated by said sound generating transducer device.

6. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 1, wherein said flat sound generating transducer device comprises:

a thin sealed laminated structure having at least two flat diaphragm means, all of which are bonded together, and include adjacent first flat diaphragm means and second flat diaphragm means;

a hollow central flat air pocket defined by portions of said adjacent first and second flat diaphragm means which provide upper and lower flat walls for said pocket, at least a first one of said upper and lower flat walls comprising a thin metal substrate on said first flat diaphragm means;

a thin piezoelectric wafer;

electrically conductive bonding means rigidly bonding said piezoelectric waver to said thin metal substrate within said pocket;

a first electric conductor lead electrically bonded to said piezoelectric wafer and passing through a hole in said second flat diaphragm means;

sealing means, at said hole, sealing the first electric conductor lead to said second flat diaphragm means through which it passes; and

a second electric conductor lead electrically bonded to said thin metal substrate;

said central pocket being a sealed air pocket which insures uniform distribution of sound energy from said piezoelectric wafer over a surface of the flat sound generating transducer device; and

said first and second conductor leads being connected to said amplifier.

7. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 6, wherein all of said diaphragm means are rectangular and are the same rectangular size.

8. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 7, wherein said first flat diaphragm means is a copper clad flat thin fiberglass board with a round opening in a central portion thereof, said opening extending from an exterior side of said first flat diaphragm means to an interior side thereof;

said thin metal substrate is a brass disc electrically conductively bonded to said copper cladding on said exterior side of said first flat diaphragm means which seals said opening at said exterior side in water tight manner;

said second flat diaphragm means is a flat thin fiberglass board securely attached to the interior side of said first flat diaphragm means to provide with said brass disc and said first flat diaphragm means, at the round opening therein, said central sealed flat air pocket; and

said piezoelectric wafer is electrically bonded to said brass disc inside of said central flat pocket.

9. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 7, wherein said first flat diaphragm means is a thin brass plate with a central depression providing a flat recessed surface spaced from the flat wall provided by said portion of said second flat diaphragm means to provide therewith said control flat air pocket;

and said piezoelectric wafer is electrically bonded to said flat recessed surface.

10. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 7, wherein said casing is a rigid plastic casing having a box-like configuration with parallel top and bottom walls, two parallel side walls and one end wall;

said sealed laminated structure having at least two flat diaphragm means constituting said sealed flat wall means and being disposed within said casing adjacent said bottom wall and between and engaging said two side walls and engaging a portion of said bottom wall and inclined up from said bottom wall toward and in engagement with a lower portion of said end wall; and

said personal alert safety system further comprising second sealing means securely bonding said laminated structure to said side walls, said bottom wall and said end wall to thereby form said sound resonating cavity in the proximity of the bottom wall of said casing; and

said at least one sound port comprises a plurality of sound ports provided in the portions of said casing walls which are part of said resonating cavity.

11. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 6, wherein said motion detector is a vibrating accelerometer and comprises:

an integral combination of an interconnected flexible thin metal substrate and a spring wire means mounted on a rigid support internal of said casing, said integral combination also including a weight mass, motion of which causes a vibratory flexing of said spring wire means and said flexible thin metal substrate;

electric signal emitting means including means bonded to said flexible thin metal substrate and responsive to said vibratory flexing of said flexible thin metal substrate to generate a harmonic sine wave of voltage in said electric signal emitting means indicative of movement of said rigid support; and

two electrical conductors connecting said signal emitting means to said circuitry means.

12. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 11, wherein said means bonded to said flexible thin metal substrate is a layer of piezoelectric material, and a second electrically conductive bonding means bonds said piezoelectric material to said flexible thin metal substrate;

said two electrical conductors comprise two electric conductor leads, one of said leads being electrically bonded to a surface of said layer of piezoelectric material, and the other of said leads being electrically bonded to said flexible thin metal substrate, whereby flexing of said piezoelectric material due to flexing of said flexible thin metal substrate generates a sine wave of voltage between said two conductor leads.

13. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 2, wherein said motion detector comprises:

an interconnected flexible thin metal substrate and a spring wire means mounted on a rigid support internal of said casing, said motion detector further comprising;

a weight mass, motion of which causes a vibratory flexing of said spring wire means and said flexible thin metal substrate;

electric signal emitting means including means bonded to said flexible thin metal substrate and responsive to said vibratory flexing of said flexible thin metal substrate to generate a harmonic sine wave of voltage in said electric signal emitting means indicative of movement of said rigid support; and

two electrical conductors connecting said signal emitting means to said circuitry means.

14. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 13, wherein said means bonded to said flexible thin metal substrate is a layer of piezoelectric material, and electrically conductive bonding means bonds said piezoelectric material to said flexible thin metal substrate;

said two electrical conductors comprise two electric conductor leads, one of said leads being electrically bonded to a surface of said layer of piezoelectric material, and the other of said leads being electrically bonded to said flexible thin metal substrate, whereby flexing of said piezoelectric material generates a sine wave of voltage between said two conductor leads.

15. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 14, wherein said thin flexible metal substrate and said rigid support comprise an integral sheet metal brass housing having a thin flat top wall, which constitutes said flexible thin metal substrate, and rear and side walls and a base constituting said support rigidly secured to the casing;

edge parts of the side walls and base on a front side of said brass housing constitute the peripheral edges of a small opening; and

said spring wire means is a straight elongate piece of spring wire, with two ends, projecting into said housing through said small opening with electrically conductive bonding means rigidly securing one end of said spring wire means to an interior surface of said thin flat top wall adjacent said rear wall of said brass housing, the other end of said spring wire means extending out through, and spaced away from the peripheral edges of, said opening; and

said weight mass is a small ball mass secured to said other end of said spring wire means, whereby relative movement of said casing and said ball mass causes harmonic flexing of said spring wire means, said thin flat top wall and said layer of piezoelectric material being fastened thereto.

16. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 14, wherein said thin flexible metal substrate is a narrow elongate flat strip of brass;

said spring wire means is a piece of spring wire with two ends;

electrically conductive bonding means rigidly secures one end of said narrow strip of brass to one end of said piece of spring wire and the other end of said piece of spring wire is rigidly connected to said rigid support internal of said casing; and

said weight mass is a small ball mass secured to the other end of said narrow strip of brass whereby relative movement of said casing and said ball mass causes a harmonic motion of said brass strip, via said wire spring, resulting in harmonic flexing of said brass strip and the layer of piezoelectric material bonded thereto.

17. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 13, wherein said means bonded to flexible thin metal substrate is a fabricated thin structural portion of said electric signal emitting means constituting a layer of an elongate strip of electrically conductive variable resistance means with two ends, the resistance of which between said two ends changes due to flexing of said layer;

non-conductive bonding means secures said fabricated strip of electrically conductive resistance means to said flexible thin metal substrate;

said power source includes a source of D.C. voltage and said electric signal emitting means includes a connection to said source of D.C. voltage wherein a series electrical connection exists between said voltage source, a constant resistance and the two ends of said strip of electrically conductive variable resistance means, said constant resistance and said resistance means in series providing a voltage divider whereby the voltage signal between the two ends of said strip of variable resistance means will vary as a sine wave voltage output signal when the resistance of said strip of electrically conductive resistance means undergoes changes of resistance due to flexing of said flexible thin metal substrate as a result of vibration caused by relative motion between said weight mass and said rigid support structure.

18. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 17, wherein said thin flexible metal substrate is a narrow elongate flat strip of brass;

said spring wire means is a piece of spring wire with two ends;

electrically conductive bonding means rigidly secures one end of said narrow strip of brass to one end of said piece of spring wire and the other end of said piece of spring wire is rigidly connected to said rigid support internal of said casing; and

said weight mass is a small ball mass secured to the other end of said narrow strip of brass whereby movement of said ball mass causes a harmonic motion of said brass strip, resulting in flexing of said brass strip and the layer of an elongate strip of electrically conductive resistance means bonded thereto.

19. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 18, wherein said layer of an elongate strip of electrically conductive resistance means is a fabricated strip of a plurality of spaced-apart small copper blocks and a conductive resistance material comprising a mixture of carbon grains disposed in conductive relationship between adjacent copper blocks, said fabricated strip being bonded to a non-conductive plastic foil and said plastic foil being adhesively bonded to said flexible brass strip;

end ones of said small copper blocks constituting terminals for said series connection of said strip of conductive resistance means with the constant resistance and said voltage source, which are respectively connected to said two electrical conductors which connect to said circuitry means.

20. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 19, wherein said copper block has a dimension of approximately 1 mil×

3 mil×

0.3 mil and the space between adjacent copper blocks in which the carbon grain mixture is disposed in approximately 1 mil wide;

a conductive jumper connects the copper block at one end of the fabricated strip to said brass strip; and

the copper block at the other end of said fabricated strip has one of said electrical conductors bonded thereto and the brass strip is electrically connected to the second of said electrical conductors.

21. A personal alert safety system as defined in claim 13, wherein said spring wire means is a C-shaped piece of spring wire, one end of the C-shaped piece being electrically bonded to said flexible thin metal substrate and the other end of the C-shaped piece being secured to said rigid support;

and said weight mass is a small ball mass.