Alert system with zoning using wireless portable detectors and a central station

• US 9,792,808 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2009
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Gnanasekaran, Senthilnathan, Kamalakannan, Arunkumar, Kumar, Nukala Sateesh
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US12/621,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20110115623A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,889 Days
• Field of Search: 34053926, 340506, 340502, 340504, 340505, 3405391, 34053911, 34053913, 34053922, 34053923
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/002 Generating a prealarm to the central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/001 Signalling to an emergency team, e.g. firemen
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion

Abstract

A system and method of monitoring zones for alarm conditions and automatically alerting individuals in a plurality of zones about the safety of a particular zone is provided. The method includes providing a site map of a predefined area, configuring a plurality of zones in the predefined area, receiving ambient condition data and location data from a plurality of wireless devices located in the predefined area, computing an alarm level for each zone in the plurality of zones based on the received ambient condition data and location data, and transmitting alert notifications to the plurality of wireless devices. The alert notification sent to each wireless device is based on the computed alarm level of the zone in which that wireless device is located relative to the computed alarm level of the other zones in the plurality of zones.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a site/floor map of a predefined area of a facility to a central station;

configuring, by the central station, a plurality of zones in the predefined area of the facility;

receiving, by the central station, ambient gas condition data and location data from a plurality of wireless gas detector devices located in the predefined area, wherein the plurality of wireless gas detector devices comprises one or more portable gas detector devices, each of which is worn by an individual located within the predefined area;

computing, by the central station, an alarm level for each zone in the plurality of zones of the facility based on the received ambient gas condition data and location data;

determining, by the central station, whether each zone of the plurality of zones in the predefined area of the facility is an active zone due to detection of an alarm condition; and

in response to determination of one or more active zones, tranmitting, by the central station, an alert notification to each of the plurality of wireless gas detector devices within the active zones in the predefined area of the facility, wherein the alert notification sent to each wireless gas detector device includes an indication of relative safety based on the computed alarm level of the zone in which that wireless gas detector device is located relative to the computed alarm level of the other zones in the plurality of zones; and

determining, by the central station, whether any wireless gas detector device is not within at least one of the active zones but is approaching at least one of the active zones; and

in response to determination that one or more gas detector device is approaching at least one of the active zone, sending a pre-alert notification to the one or more wireless gas detector devices that is approaching at least one of the active zones.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a site map of a predefined area includes importing or loading the site map for the facility with one or more areas with potential gas leak hazard onto the central station.

3. The method of claim 1. wherein configuring a plurality of zones in the predefined area includes assigning a zone criticality to each zone in the plurality of zones.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the zone criticality of each zone of the site map of the facility is assigned one of the following:

critical, non-critical, or safe area.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the zone criticality of each zone of the site map of the facility is assigned one of the following levels:

high, medium, or low.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising reassigning the alarm level of each zone based on the received ambient gas condition data and location data from the plurality of wireless gas detector devices.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising assigning an active zone level to a zone in which ambient gas condition data indicates the presence of an alarm condition.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein transmitting alert notifications includes transmitting an emergency alert to active zones, transmitting a first warning alert to zones within a predetermined distance away from active zones, and transmitting a second warning alert to zones outside of the predetermined distance away from active zones, wherein the first and second warning alerts differ.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein configuring a plurality of zones in the predefined area includes pre-assigning a zone criticality to each zone in the plurality of zones, wherein the central station transmits an emergency notification to an emergency response team about a plurality of active zones, and wherein the emergency response team prioritizes response based on the zone criticality of the pluraUty of active zones.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the emergency notification from the central station to the emergency response team comprises zone criticality information for each of the active zones.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising determining whether any wireless gas detector device in the plurality of wireless gas detector devices is approaching the active zone.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising sending a pre-alert notification to the wireless gas detector device approaching the active zone with instructions to avoid the active zone.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein sending a pre-alert notification to the wireless gas detector device approaching the active zone comprises sending the pre-alert notification to one or more of the wireless gas detector devices which are not located within either one of the active zones or within the predetermined distance from the active zones, but which are moving in a direction towards the active zones.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising each of the plurality of wireless gas detector devices transmitting a confirmation notification upon receiving an alert notification.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising transmitting an emergency notification to an emergency response team when no confirmation notification is received from any one or more of the plurality of wireless devices within a predetermined period of time.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the wireless gas detector devices are one of fixed, portable, or mobile device.

17. A central station comprising:

circuitry that configures a plurality of zones in a predefined area of a facility with one or more areas with potential for a gas leak hazard;

circuitry that receives ambient gas condition data and location data from a plurality of wireless gas detector devices located in the predefined area;

circuitry that computes an alarm level for each zone in the plurality of zones based on the received ambient gas condition data and location data;

circuitry that, in response to determination of one or more active zones, transmits an alert notification to each of the plurality of wireless gas detector devices within the active zones in the predefined area of the facility, wherein the alert notification sent to each wireless gas detector device includes an indication of relative safety based on the computed alarm level of the zone in which that wireless gas detector device is located relative to the computed alarm level of the other zones in the plurality of zones; and

circuitry that in response to determination that one or more gas detector device is approaching at least one of the active zone, sends a pre-alert notification to the one or more wireless gas detector devices that is approaching at least one of the active zones.

18. The central station of claim 17 including a server or a personal computer and including an interactive viewing screen and software stored on a local computer readable medium.

19. The central station of claim 17 further comprising circuitry that communicates with a plurality of access points in communication with the plurality of wireless gas detector devices.

20. The central station of claim 17 further comprising circuitry that recomputes the alarm level of each zone based on the received ambient gas condition data and location data from the plurality of wireless gas detector devices.