Equipment and method for identifying, monitoring and evaluating equipment, environmental and physiological conditions

• US 8,085,144 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2006
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mine Safety Appliances Company (MSA Safety, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Mine Safety Appliances Company (MSA Safety, Inc.)
• Inventors: Appelt, Daren R., Brunson, Kevin K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu, Julie
• Application Number:
  US11/346,060
• Publication Number:
  US 20060125623A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,154 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/539.11
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/20 Workers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0276 Determining malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/145 Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration, pH value; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g. interstitial fluid, cerebral tissuemeasuring of blood pressure or blood flow A61B5/02; non-radiation detecting or locating of foreign bodies in blood A61B5/06
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6814 Head
• CPC Class Codes: A62B 18/08 Component parts for gas-masks or gas-helmets, e.g. windows, straps, speech transmitters, signal-devices eye-pieces for protective goggles A61F9/02; composition of materials for the windows or other transparent parts A62D7/00

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for identifying monitoring and evaluating hazardous or potentially hazardous conditions. The system may be worn by safety personnel to detect equipment conditions such as low power supply, environmental conditions such as ambient temperature and/or physiological conditions such as heart rate of a wearer. The system may further include a control unit having electronics operable to communicate signals associated with equipment, environmental and physiological conditions.

Claims

1. A system for identifying, monitoring and evaluating environmental and physiological conditions comprising:

a control unit stored within a housing, the control unit operable to communicate signals associated with environmental and physiological conditions;

an environmental sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit, the environmental sensor operable to be positioned within an ambient environment and configured to sample the ambient environment at a first rate if an ambient condition is less than a first threshold and to sample at a second rate if the ambient condition is greater than the first threshold, the first rate less than the second rate;

a physiological sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit, the physiological sensor operable to detect at least one physiological condition of a person wearing the system; and

an indicator operable to provide an indication to the person representing at least one hazardous or potentially hazardous condition, the indicator further including an optical transmission channel to provide the indication to at least one other person.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least portions of the environmental sensor integrated into and forming a part of a protective facemask, including a first sensor exposed to ambient conditions external to the protective facemask and a second sensor internal to the protective facemask.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least portions of the physiological sensor integrated into and forming a part of a protective facemask.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least portions of the control unit integrated within and forming a part of a protective facemask.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least portions of the indicator integrated into and forming a permanent part of a protective facemask.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising one or more components of the system integrated into and forming a permanent part of the protective mask.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a sensor operable to measure various characteristics of gas mixtures supplied to a person wearing the facemask.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a sensor operable to measure nuclear radiation affecting a person wearing the facemask.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a biohazard sensor operable to measure the presence of a hazardous biological material affecting the person.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the person is to program set points for the environmental and physiological conditions.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the indicator is to provide the indication to the person if at least one of the environmental and physiological conditions is greater than a first set point of the set points.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the indicator is to provide a second indication to the person if at least one of the environmental and physiological conditions is greater than a second set point of the set points.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicator is to illuminate with a first color for a safe environmental condition and with a second color for an unsafe environmental condition.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the indicator is to illuminate in a solid manner if the environmental condition is changing in a first direction and to illuminate in a blinking manner if the environmental condition is changing in a second direction.

15. A system for identifying, monitoring, evaluating and alerting a wearer of at least one critical condition comprising:

a control unit stored within a housing, the control unit operable to communicate signals associated with environmental and physiological conditions;

an environmental sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit, the environmental sensor operable to be positioned within an ambient environment and configured to sample the ambient environment at a first rate if an ambient condition is less than a first threshold and to sample at a second rate if the ambient condition is greater than the first threshold, the first rate less than the second rate;

an equipment sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit, the equipment sensor operable to detect and monitor at least one condition of safety equipment associated with a person wearing the system;

a physiological sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit, the physiological sensor unit operable to detect and monitor at least one physiological condition of the person wearing the system; and

an indicator operable to provide an indication to the person representing the at least one critical condition, the indicator further including an optical transmission channel to provide the indication to at least one other person.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising at least one component integrated into an exterior portion of a protective facemask.

17. The system of claim 15 further comprising at least one component integrated into an interior portion of a protective facemask.

18. The system of claim 15 further comprising at least one component integrated into a protective facemask.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising more than one component integrated into and made a permanent part of a protective facemask.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the person is to program set points for the environmental and physiological conditions.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the indicator is to provide the indication to the person if at least one of the environmental and physiological conditions is greater than a first set point of the set points.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the indicator is to provide a second indication to the person if at least one of the environmental and physiological conditions is greater than a second set point of the set points.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the indicator is to illuminate with a first color for a safe environmental condition and with a second color for an unsafe environmental condition.

24. A system for identifying, monitoring and evaluating environmental and physiological conditions comprising:

a control unit stored within a housing, the control unit operable to communicate signals associated with environmental and physiological conditions and to perform a user initiated system check;

an environmental sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit, the environmental sensor operable to be positioned within an ambient environment and configured to sample the ambient environment at a first rate if an ambient condition is less than a first threshold and to sample at a second rate if the ambient condition is greater than the first threshold, the first rate less than the second rate;

a physiological sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit, the physiological sensor operable to detect at least one physiological condition of a person wearing the system; and

an indicator operable to provide an indication to the person representing at least one hazardous or potentially hazardous condition, the indicator further including an optical transmission channel to provide the indication to at least one other person.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

an equipment sensor communicatively coupled to the control unit; and

the equipment sensor operable to detect and monitor at least one condition of safety equipment associated with the person wearing the system.

26. The system of claim 24, further comprising the control unit operable to receive and display real time messages from a base station.

27. The system of claim 24, further comprising an operating mode based upon the presence of at least one hazardous or potentially hazardous condition.

28. The system of claim 24 further comprising the environmental sensor removably coupled to safety equipment associated with the person wearing the system.

29. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

a microprocessor operable to identify, monitor and evaluate the at least one hazardous or potentially hazardous condition; and

the microprocessor operable to provide a signal to the indicator in response to the at least one hazardous or potentially hazardous condition.

30. The system of claim 24 wherein the physiological sensor comprises a sensor operable to measure the heart rate of the person wearing the system.

31. The system of claim 24 further comprising the indicator operable to display selected environmental and physiological information.