JP7780415B2 - Fire System - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a fire system that monitors the status of fire prevention equipment, such as a home alarm, based on the sound pressure level of a specific sound output from the fire prevention equipment.

Various fire prevention devices are installed to detect the occurrence of fires in monitored areas. It is important that the fire prevention devices function properly in the event of a fire, and it is mandatory to conduct operational tests at predetermined intervals.

A conventional technology for conducting operational tests of disaster prevention equipment is an apartment building alarm information system that allows remote testing of fire detectors in each dwelling unit from a fire receiver installed in a management office or other location (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

According to Patent Document 1, fire detectors can be tested at any time from a remote location, such as a management office, without contacting the dwelling units, thereby improving the reliability of the fire alarm function. It is also possible to provide an apartment building alarm information system that can automatically perform periodic tests, further improving the reliability of the fire alarm function.

Patent No. 4062678

However, the conventional techniques have the following problems.
In Patent Document 1, the disaster prevention device to be tested must be connected to a fire alarm and have a configuration that enables mutual communication. However, the system according to Patent Document 1 cannot be applied to disaster prevention devices that are not connected to a fire alarm and are installed independently.

Therefore, there is a need for a system that can automatically perform operational tests on independently installed disaster prevention equipment. Furthermore, independently installed home alarms and other devices use batteries as their power source, and if the battery runs out, they will no longer be able to operate normally.

It is therefore important to predict when the batteries of disaster prevention equipment will run out before they become inoperable due to battery exhaustion. In particular, in monitored areas where various types of disaster prevention equipment are installed, it is desirable to be able to monitor the status of the disaster prevention equipment, including the risk of battery exhaustion, with a simple configuration before the batteries run out.

This disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a fire system with a simple configuration that can monitor the status of disaster prevention equipment using acoustic data.

The fire system disclosed herein is a fire system that is installed in a monitored area and includes battery-powered disaster prevention equipment , a sound collection device that collects sounds generated within the monitored area as acoustic data, and a controller that monitors the status of the disaster prevention equipment based on the acoustic data collected by the sound collection device, wherein the disaster prevention equipment outputs a specific sound that reflects the remaining battery charge as acoustic data representing a specific status of the disaster prevention equipment based on the battery voltage, and the controller monitors the status of the home alarm by estimating the remaining battery life based on the current sound pressure level of the specific sound collected by the sound collection device or the time series data of the specific sound over time .

This disclosure makes it possible to obtain a fire system with a simple configuration that can monitor the status of disaster prevention equipment using acoustic data.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of a fire system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure; 1 is a flowchart showing a series of processes relating to a battery life estimation method executed in the fire system according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the fire prevention system of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.
The present disclosure has a technical feature of enabling automatic monitoring of disaster prevention equipment based on the current sound pressure level calculated from acoustic data output using a battery equipped in the disaster prevention equipment as a power source, and as a result, it is possible to estimate the remaining time until the battery runs out and the equipment becomes inoperable.

Embodiment 1.
1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of a fire system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The fire system according to the first embodiment includes a plurality of disaster prevention devices 10, a microphone 20, and a controller 30.

The multiple disaster prevention devices 10 include, for example, home alarms, fire detectors, heat detectors, and smoke detectors, and perform a monitoring function to notify of the occurrence of a fire within a monitored area. The disaster prevention devices 10 in this embodiment 1 operate using batteries as their power source.

Each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 has a test function, separate from the monitoring function, that outputs a specific sound indicating a specific state of the battery-powered device at a pre-set timing as acoustic data reflecting the remaining battery charge.

Here, "pre-set timing" could be, for example, regular monthly timing, but it could also be set to shorten the timing as the battery life approaches its end.

The number of disaster prevention devices 10 installed within a monitored area may be one or more. Furthermore, when multiple disaster prevention devices 10 are installed, they are not limited to the same type of device. For example, in a monitored area where a mixture of home alarms and smoke detectors are installed, the home alarms and smoke detectors can be subject to status monitoring, including an estimate of the remaining time until their batteries run out.

The following explanation will use as a specific example a case where two disaster prevention devices 10, disaster prevention device 10(1) and disaster prevention device 10(2), are installed within a monitoring area as shown in Figure 1.

Microphone 20 is installed in the fire monitoring area and serves as a sound collection device for collecting specific sounds output from disaster prevention equipment 10(1) and disaster prevention equipment 10(2) within the monitoring area.

The controller 30 acquires the specific sounds output from each of the disaster prevention devices 10(1) and 10(2) as acoustic data via the microphone 20, and calculates the current sound pressure level of the acoustic data for each device. Note that, for example, the following methods can be considered for the controller 30 to identify the specific sounds output from each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 for each device.

Method 1: A different frequency is assigned to each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 in advance, so that each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 outputs a specific sound of a different frequency.

Method 2: A specific sound with a different output timing and a different sound pattern is assigned in advance to each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10, so that each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 outputs a specific sound with a different timing.

Method 3: Using "acoustic watermarking technology," each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 outputs a specific sound onto which digital information including an identification code uniquely assigned to each home alarm device is superimposed.

The controller 30 monitors the status of each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 based on the sound collection results. In particular, the controller 30 estimates the remaining time until the battery runs out for each disaster prevention device 10 based on the deterioration state of each sound pressure level calculated based on the sound collection results of each disaster prevention device 10, and outputs an alarm according to the remaining time.

To estimate the remaining battery life, the controller 30 pre-stores, as table data, remaining battery life-sound pressure level data that indicates the relationship between the remaining battery life according to the battery voltage and the sound pressure level when a specific sound output according to the battery voltage is picked up by the microphone 20.

The controller 30 can then estimate the remaining life corresponding to the current sound pressure level calculated based on the sound pickup results by referencing table data relating to remaining life vs. sound pressure level data. Furthermore, the controller 30 outputs an alarm that can be distinguished between multiple disaster prevention devices 10, depending on the remaining time estimated individually for each disaster prevention device 10.

Instead of creating remaining life vs. sound pressure level data in advance, a function for calculating remaining life from the current sound pressure level can be defined in advance. Furthermore, instead of estimating remaining life based on the current sound pressure level, the controller 30 can generate time-series data showing the transition state of sound pressure levels calculated sequentially over time, and estimate remaining life from the time-series data.

In other words, the controller 30 may estimate the battery's state of deterioration from the current sound pressure level, or may estimate the battery's state of deterioration from the transition state of the sound pressure level calculated over time.

Next, a series of processes executed in the fire system according to the first embodiment will be described using a flowchart. Figure 2 is a flowchart showing a series of processes related to the battery life estimation method executed in the fire system according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

First, in step S201, the controller 30 performs a sound collection process for specific sounds output from disaster prevention devices 10 within the monitoring area via a sound collection device 20 installed in the monitoring area. Each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 individually outputs a specific sound at a predetermined timing, and this sound collection process is performed each time.

Next, in step S202, the controller 30 calculates the current sound pressure level for the corresponding disaster prevention device 10 each time it performs the sound collection process in step S201.

Next, in step S203, the controller 30 performs a battery life estimation process for the corresponding disaster prevention device 10 based on the calculated current deterioration state of the sound pressure level, and estimates the remaining time until the battery runs out.

Next, in step S204, the controller 30 determines whether an alarm is necessary based on the remaining time estimated in step S203. If the controller 30 determines that an alarm is necessary, the process proceeds to step S205. On the other hand, if the controller 30 determines that an alarm is not necessary, the process ends.

For example, the controller 30 may determine that an alert is necessary if the remaining time is estimated to be one month or less.

If the process proceeds to step S205, the controller 30 outputs an alarm so that the disaster prevention device that should issue the alarm can be identified from among the multiple disaster prevention devices 10. For example, the controller 30 outputs an alarm by displaying text or outputting an audio pattern so that the disaster prevention device 10 that should issue the alarm regarding the remaining time can be identified.

Note that the flowchart in Figure 2 describes a series of processes related to the battery life estimation method. However, each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 can output a different specific sound depending on its current state. Therefore, the controller 30 can monitor the current state of each of the multiple disaster prevention devices 10 based on the acoustic data and the type of specific sound.

Furthermore, by equipping the controller 30 with a communication function that notifies an external device of the status of the home alarm as a monitoring result, the monitoring results of each disaster prevention device based on acoustic data can be effectively used in other devices as well.

As described above, according to embodiment 1, it is possible to easily realize a fire system configured to monitor the status of each disaster prevention device based on the results of collecting specific sounds output from the disaster prevention devices within the monitoring area.

In particular, the fire system according to this embodiment 1 has the technical feature of being able to individually estimate the battery life of each piece of disaster prevention equipment through calculation processing based on acoustic data collected within the monitored area, resulting in the following effects:

Effect 1: When estimating remaining battery power based on acoustic data collected using a sound collection device, the focus is on pressure fluctuations in the low frequencies of the acoustic data, making attenuation less likely. Therefore, for example, if the monitoring area is a closed room, acoustic data can be collected regardless of the location of the disaster prevention equipment, which has the advantage of not requiring the installation location of the sound collection device. Furthermore, unlike disaster prevention equipment, the sound collection device does not need to be installed on the ceiling, allowing for greater flexibility in determining the installation location.

Effect 2: Because there is flexibility in the placement of the microphone, the fire system disclosed herein can be easily constructed even if a battery degradation diagnosis function is to be added later or temporarily. In other words, with a relatively simple configuration, battery life estimation processing for disaster prevention equipment can be realized in various monitoring areas.

Effect 3: The timing for outputting a specific sound from each disaster prevention device can be appropriately selected, and the battery life estimation process can be automatically executed at the desired timing according to the monitored area. For example, by executing the battery life estimation process during a time when there are no users in the monitored area, the battery life estimation process for the disaster prevention devices can be executed while minimizing the impact of noise generated in the monitored area. As a result, normal operation of the fire system can be guaranteed and reliability can be further improved.

10, 10(1), 10(2) Disaster prevention equipment, 20 Sound pickup device (microphone), 30 Controller.

Claims (2)

Disaster prevention equipment installed in the monitoring area and powered by batteries;
a sound collection device that collects sounds generated within the monitoring area as acoustic data;
a controller that monitors a state of the disaster prevention equipment based on the acoustic data collected by the sound collection device,
The disaster prevention device outputs a specific sound that reflects the remaining battery level as sound data that represents a specific state of the disaster prevention device based on the voltage of the battery,
The controller monitors the status of the disaster prevention equipment by estimating the remaining life of the battery based on the current sound pressure level of the specific sound picked up by the sound pickup device or time series data of the specific sound over time . The fire system of claim 1, wherein the sound collection device generates the time series data by collecting the specific sound output from the disaster prevention equipment , monitors the status of the disaster prevention equipment by estimating the remaining time from the transition state of the specific sound in the time series data until the battery runs out as the remaining life , and outputs an alarm according to the remaining time.