Sensitivity fault indication technique implemented in smoke detector system with self-diagnostic capabilities
US5708414A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 12, 1996 |
| Grant date | Jan 13, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 12, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG08B29/145
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Self-contained smoke detector systems each have internal self-diagnostic capabilities and function as components of an automatic fire alarm communication system implemented with a conventional two-wire alarm initiating circuit. Each system includes a microprocessor-based self-diagnostic circuit that periodically checks sensitivity of radiation sensor electronics to smoke obscuration level. By setting tolerance limits on the amount of change in voltage measured in clean air, the system can provide an indication of when it has become either under-sensitive or over-sensitive to the ambient smoke obscuration level. An algorithm implemented in software stored in system memory determines whether and provides a sensitivity fault condition signal indicating that for a time (such as 27 hours) the clean air voltage has strayed outside established sensitivity tolerance limits. The sensitivity fault condition signal includes multiple time displaced pulses, each of which having a duration and a magnitude that cooperate to diminish the probability of approximately concurrent sensitivity fault condition signals produced by multiple smoke detector systems causing the alarm initiating circuit to ge…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.