Fire sensor and fire detecting method

• US 6,154,142 A
• Filed: 10/26/1999
• Issued: 11/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hochiki Corporation
• Original Assignee: Hochiki Corporation
• Inventors: Kosugi, Naoki, Ito, Masayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel J.
• Application Number:
  US09/427,072
• Time in Patent Office: 399 Days
• Field of Search: 340/577, 340/578, 340/579, 340/584, 340/589, 340/628, 340/629, 340/630
• US Class Current: 340/589
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/24 Self-calibration, e.g. compensating for environmental drift or ageing of components

Abstract

A temperature difference calculator portion detects temperature difference indicating the rate of temperature rise when it receives heat generated by the fire. A correction factor deciding portion decides a correction factor for a smoke signal based on an external temperature and the temperature difference. Finally, a smoke data correction portion corrects smoke data by multiplying the smoke signal detected by a smoke detector and the correction factor.

Claims

1. A fire sensor comprising:

a smoke detecting portion for detecting a smoke signal which changes in response to a smoke density to output it;

an external temperature detecting portion for detecting an external temperature of the sensor to output it;

a temperature difference calculating portion for calculating temperature difference, which indicates a rate of temperature rise when the sensor receives heat generated by a fire, between the external temperature and the internal temperature;

a correction factor deciding portion for deciding a correction factor for the smoke signal based on the external temperature and the temperature difference; and

a smoke signal correcting portion for correcting the smoke signal by multiplying the smoke signal by the correction factor.

2. A fire sensor according to claim 1, further comprising an internal temperature detecting portion for detecting an internal temperature of the sensor to output it.

3. A fire sensor according to claim 1, wherein the temperature difference calculating portion calculates temperature difference, which indicates a rate of temperature rise when the sensor receives heat generated by a fire, between the external temperature and a pseudo output (reference temperature) which is regarded as an internal temperature of the sensor.

4. A fire sensor according to claim 1, wherein the correction factor deciding portion divides the external temperature and the temperature difference into a plurality of temperature ranges each having a predetermined temperature width respectively, then previously sets the correction factor to each temperature range of the temperature difference so as to increase substantially in proportion to an increase of the temperature difference if the external temperature belongs to a same temperature range, then previously sets the correction factor to each temperature range of the external temperature so as to increase substantially in proportion to rise of the external temperature if the temperature difference belongs to a same temperature range, and then decides a previously set correction factor based on the temperature range to which the external temperature detected by the external temperature detecting portion belongs and the temperature range to which the temperature difference calculated by the temperature difference calculating portion belongs.

5. A fire sensor according to claim 4, wherein the correction factor deciding portion varies the correction factor substantially by changing the temperature range of the external temperature and/or the temperature range of the temperature difference while fixing the previously set correction factor itself, otherwise varies the correction factor itself while fixing the temperature range of the external temperature and the temperature range of the temperature difference.

6. A fire sensor according to claim 4, wherein the correction factor deciding portion decides the correction factor of 1.0 to output raw data of the smoke signal by the smoke signal correcting portion if the external temperature is below a first predetermined temperature, if the temperature difference is below a first predetermined temperature difference, or if the external temperature is more than a second predetermined temperature and the temperature difference is less than a second predetermined temperature difference.

7. A fire sensor according to claim 5, wherein the correction factor deciding portion has a nonvolatile memory which stores corresponding values of the correction factor to addresses being specified by the temperature range of the external temperature and the temperature range of the temperature difference, and decides the correction factor by reading the correction factor from the nonvolatile memory by using an address which is specified by the temperature range to which the external temperature detected by the external temperature detecting portion belongs and the temperature range to which the temperature difference calculated by the temperature difference calculating portion belongs.

8. A fire sensor according to claim 1, wherein the external temperature detecting portion has a temperature detecting element to be exposed to an outside of the sensor.

9. A fire sensor according to claim 2, wherein the internal temperature detecting portion has the temperature detecting element to be installed in an inside of the sensor.

10. A fire sensor according to claim 8, wherein the temperature detecting element comprises a thermistor whose resistance value is changed according to the temperature.

11. A fire sensor according to claim 9, wherein the temperature detecting element comprises a thermistor whose resistance value is changed according to the temperature.

12. A fire sensor according to claim 1, wherein the smoke detecting portion receives a scattered light emitted from a light source and scattered by the smoke, and then outputs the smoke signal which changes in response to the smoke density.

13. A fire sensor according to claim 1, further comprising:

a transmitting portion for transmitting to a receiver the smoke signal which is corrected by the smoke signal correcting portion.

14. A fire sensor according to claim 13, wherein the transmitting portion transmits to the receiver the smoke signal which is corrected by the smoke signal correcting portion based on a transmission request issued from the receiver.

15. A fire detecting method comprising:

a smoke detecting step of detecting a smoke signal which changes in response to a smoke density to output it;

an external temperature detecting step of detecting an external temperature of the sensor to output it;

an internal temperature detecting step of detecting an internal temperature of the sensor to output it;

a temperature difference calculating step of calculating temperature difference between the external temperature, which indicates a rate of temperature rise when the sensor receives heat generated by a fire, and the internal temperature;

a correction factor deciding step of deciding a correction factor for the smoke signal based on the external temperature and the temperature difference; and

a smoke signal correcting step of correcting the smoke signal by multiplying the smoke signal by the correction factor.

16. A fire detecting method comprising:

a smoke detecting step of detecting a smoke signal which changes in response to a smoke density to output it;

an external temperature detecting step of detecting an external temperature of the sensor to output it;

a temperature difference calculating step of calculating temperature difference between the external temperature, which indicates a rate of temperature rise when the sensor receives heat generated by a fire, and a pseudo output (reference temperature) which is regarded as an internal temperature of the sensor;

a correction factor deciding step of deciding a correction factor for the smoke signal based on the external temperature and the temperature difference; and

a smoke signal correcting step of correcting the smoke signal by multiplying the smoke signal by the correction factor.