Determining conditions of personal protection articles against at least one criterion

• US 9,901,125 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2008
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Insley, Thomas I., Ptasienski, Lawrence J., Rakow, Neal A., Thomas, Cristina U.
• Primary Examiner(s): TUN, NAY L
• Application Number:
  US12/671,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20110234374A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,473 Days
• Field of Search: 340521, 340523, 340584, 340586, 3405721, 3405734, 340 101, 12820422, 12820423, 12820219, 12820624, 12820626, 128903, 12820127
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 13/00 Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches helmets A42B3/00; clothing affording protection against chemical agents or for use at high altitudes A62B17/00; life-saving garments for use at sea, diving suits B63C; bulletproof or armoured clothing F41H; clothing affording protection against radiation G21F3/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 42/30 Devices for detecting perforations, leaks or tears
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons

Abstract

The present disclosure is particularly adapted for determining whether the condition of personal protection equipment PPE articles satisfies at least one criterion. A method and system provide at least one predetermined criterion that governs use of the PPE article in a working environment; a PPE article is configured with a smart tag, and a sensing device is provided that is configured to sense data in a working environment related to the predetermined criterion. Acquired data from the sensing device and the smart tag are processed in a data processing system to determine whether the condition of the PPE article satisfies the at least one predetermined criterion.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a plurality of respiratory protection devices, each respective respiratory protection device of the plurality being configured with a respective smart tag;

providing at least one predetermined criterion that governs use of a particular respiratory protection device in a working environment that is external to the particular respiratory protection device, the at least one predetermined criterion being related to whether the particular respiratory protection device should be serviced, repaired, or treated;

providing at least one sensing device configured to sense data that is related to hazardous contaminant concentration levels of the working environment, hazardous contaminant type in the working environment, hazardous contaminant presence in the working environment, or hazardous contaminant absence in the working environment, or chemical breakthrough in the working environment;

acquiring, from the at least one sensing device, sensed data related to the working environment that is external to the respiratory protection device

retrieving smart tag data from the respective smart tag associated with the particular respiratory protection device, the smart tag data including an identification of the particular respiratory protection device and timestamp information indicating at least one of an entry time or an exit time of the respiratory protection device with respect to the working environment; and

storing the sensed data sensed by the sensing device and the smart tag data acquired from the respective smart tag to a database;

processing the sensed data and the smart tag data stored to the database to determine a real-time assessment of a condition of the particular protection device with respect to the working environment, as indicated by a combination of the sensed data and the smart tag data; and

determining whether the real-time assessment of the condition of the particular respiratory protection device satisfies the predetermined criterion pertaining to whether the particular respiratory protection device should be serviced, repaired, or treated.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising attaching the respective smart tag to the particular respiratory protection device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing one or more results of processing the sensed data and the smart tag data to the database.

4. The method of claim 1, further including generating at least one report relating to the condition of the particular respiratory protection device.

5. The method of claim 3, further including generating at least one report relating to the sensed data and the smart tag data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing device is configured to transmit the sensed data wirelessly, and wherein the smart tag is configured to transmit the smart tag data wirelessly.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a condition of the particular respiratory protection device comprises determining the particular condition based on a condition determining mechanism in a data processing system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the smart tag data includes location information of the respective smart tag.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating decision information based on the determination of whether the real-time assessment of the condition of the particular respiratory protection device satisfies the predetermined criterion.

10. A system comprising:

a plurality of respiratory protection devices, each respective respiratory protection device of the plurality being configured with a respective smart tag;

a data processing system including at least one predetermined criterion that governs use of the particular respiratory protection device in a working environment that is external to the particular respiratory protection device, the at least one predetermined criterion being related to whether the particular respiratory protection device should be serviced, repaired, or treated;

at least one sensing device configured to sense data that is related to hazardous contaminant concentration levels of the working environment, hazardous contaminant type, hazardous contaminant presence in the working environment, or hazardous contaminant absence in the working environment, or chemical breakthrough in the working environment;

an informational retrieval system configured to acquire sensed data from the at least one sensing device in the working environment that is external to the respiratory protection device and to acquire smart tag data from the smart tag associated with the particular respiratory protection device, the smart tag data including an identification of the particular respiratory protection device and timestamp information indicating at least one of an entry time or an exit time of the respiratory protection device with respect to the working environment; and

a database configured to store the sensed data and the smart tag data acquired by the informational retrieval system,

the data processing system including a condition determining mechanism configured to process the smart tag data and the sensed data stored to the database to determine a real-time assessment of a condition of the particular respiratory protection device with respect to the working environment, as indicated by a combination of the sensed data and the smart tag data and to determine whether the real-time assessment of the condition of the particular respiratory protection device satisfies the predetermined criterion pertaining to whether the particular respiratory protection device should be serviced, repaired, or treated.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the respective smart tag is coupled to the particular respiratory protection device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the database is further store one or more results of the processing of the sensed data and the smart tag data.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising a report mechanism configured to generate at least one report relating to the determination of whether the real-time assessment satisfies the predetermined criterion.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the report mechanism is further configured to generate at least one report relating to at least one of the sensed data or the smart tag data stored to the database.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensing device is configured to transmit the sensed data wirelessly, and wherein the smart tag is configured to transmit the smart tag data wirelessly.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the smart tag data includes location information of the respective smart tag.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising a communication unit configured to communicate decision information based on the determination of whether the real-time assessment of the condition of the particular respiratory protection device satisfies the predetermined criterion.