Laser director for fire evacuation path
First Claim
1. A device for directing evacuation during a fire by illuminating a fire escape path, including:
- means for sensing an alarm condition indicative of a fire emergency and generating an alarm actuating signal;
means for responding to said alarm actuating signal by projecting at least one evacuation path indicator along said fire escape path;
said means for sensing an alarm condition including a primary fire alarm system extrinsic to said device and adapted to generate an audio alarm signal in response to a fire;
further including means for detecting said audio alarm signal and generating said alarm actuating signal in response thereto;
said means for detecting said audio alarm signal including audio pickup means for receiving ambient sound and generating an ambient sound signal, and means for detecting a valid audio alarm signal in said ambient sound signal;
said audio pickup means including a pair of microphones, and switching means for selecting the strongest ambient sound signal from said pair of microphones.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device for projecting an escape path to direct evacuation from a fire includes a plurality of laser diode projectors secured within a housing and aimed to project successive rays or images along a predetermined escape path. The images may comprise arrow indicators, graphics, or alphanumeric indicators. The laser beams are emitted through the same window in the housing to minimize heat infiltration into the housing. The laser diodes are triggered by an alarm condition, such as direct actuation by a smoke sensor, IR detector, or the like, or secondary actuation in response to the audio alarm signal of a primary fire alarm. For actuation by a primary alarm system, a microphone input is amplified and fed to a microprocessor. The microprocessor is programmed to digitally filter and process the signal to determine the presence of a primary alarm signal, and actuate a fire escape path illuminating module. The audio pickup includes a pair of microphones spaced apart approximately one-half wavelength of the primary alarm signal to avoid acoustic standing wave problems, the microphones switching periodically to acquire the best signal. The microprocessor operates in a low power mode, and activates only when the microphone signal exceeds a predetermined level. A housing for the system is mounted in the opposed arms of a C-shaped bracket, so that the housing may rotate (yaw) through a large angle and tilt (pitch) through an angular range to orient the projection of the fire escape path indicators.
175 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A device for directing evacuation during a fire by illuminating a fire escape path, including:
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means for sensing an alarm condition indicative of a fire emergency and generating an alarm actuating signal; means for responding to said alarm actuating signal by projecting at least one evacuation path indicator along said fire escape path; said means for sensing an alarm condition including a primary fire alarm system extrinsic to said device and adapted to generate an audio alarm signal in response to a fire; further including means for detecting said audio alarm signal and generating said alarm actuating signal in response thereto; said means for detecting said audio alarm signal including audio pickup means for receiving ambient sound and generating an ambient sound signal, and means for detecting a valid audio alarm signal in said ambient sound signal; said audio pickup means including a pair of microphones, and switching means for selecting the strongest ambient sound signal from said pair of microphones.
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2. A device for directing evacuation during a fire by illuminating a fire escape path, including:
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means for sensing an alarm condition indicative of a fire emergency and generating an alarm actuating signal; means for responding to said alarm actuating signal by projecting at least one evacuation path indicator along said fire escape path; a housing enclosing said means for sensing and means for responding, said housing having a generally closed curved shape defining an enclosed interior space; and
,a pair of microphone receptacles formed in said housing and separate from said enclosed interior space, said microphone receptacles having openings to receive ambient sound. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for directing occupants of a burning building to a designated exit, including the steps of:
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providing a path indicating device mounted on an upper structural surface in the building; detecting an alarm condition caused by a building fire; actuating a light projection module in said path indicating device to project at least one escape path indicator; said detecting step including the step of monitoring ambient sound and detecting the audio alarm signal of a primary fire alarm; said detecting step including providing a pair of microphones, and alternatively monitoring signals from the pair of microphones to detect the audio alarm signal.
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7. A device for directing evacuation during a fire by illuminating a fire escape path, including:
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means for sensing an alarm condition indicative of a fire emergency and generating an alarm actuating signal; means for responding to said alarm actuating signal by projecting at least one evacuation path indicator along said fire escape path; said means for sensing an alarm condition including a primary fire alarm system extrinsic to said device and adapted to generate an audio alarm signal in response to a fire; means for detecting said audio alarm signal and generating said alarm actuating signal in response thereto, said means for detecting said audio alarm signal including a pair of microphones. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A device for directing evacuation during a fire by illuminating a fire escape path, including:
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means for sensing an alarm condition indicative of a fire emergency and generating an alarm actuating signal; means for responding to said alarm actuating signal by projecting a plurality of evacuation path indicators along said fire escape path; wherein said path indicators includes a plurality of light beam projectors disposed within a common housing; and
,mounting means for supporting said housing in angularly adjustable fashion to permit simultaneous aiming of said plurality of light beam projectors toward the fire escape path. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A device for directing evacuation during a fire by illuminating a fire escape path, including:
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means for sensing an alarm condition indicative of a fire emergency and generating an alarm actuating signal; means for responding to said alarm actuating signal by projecting a plurality of evacuation path indicators along said fire escape path; wherein said path indicators includes a plurality of light beam projectors disposed within a common housing; and
,an opening in said housing through which said light beam projectors transmit respective light beams in mutually angularly diverging fashion to said fire escape path. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A device for directing evacuation during a fire by illuminating a fire escape path, including:
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means for sensing an alarm condition indicative of a fire emergency and generating an alarm actuating signal; means for responding to said alarm actuating signal by projecting a plurality of evacuation path indicators along said fire escape path; wherein said path indicators includes a plurality of light beam projectors disposed within a common housing; and
,said light beam projectors including means for projecting indicia denoting a preferred direction of evacuation along said fire escape path.
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32. A method for directing occupants of a burning building to a designated exit, including the steps of:
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providing a path indicating device mounted on an upper structural surface in the building; detecting an alarm condition caused by a building fire; actuating a light projection module in said path indicating device to project a plurality of light beams from a plurality of light beam projector within said path indicating device toward an adjacent floor surface; further including the step of rotating said path indicating device about yaw and pitch axes to aim said light projection module toward a designated escape path. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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Specification