IT201900007194A1 - WEARABLE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING WEARABLE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. - Google Patents

Description

WEARABLE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING WEARABLE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a wearable personal protective device and a system for managing wearable individual protective devices.

The term personal protective equipment (acronym PPE) refers to products that have the function of safeguarding the person who wears them from risks, typically relating to safety at work.

The current regulations establish in an extremely precise way which types of protective devices must be used depending on the function or work performed, also providing for the employer a series of obligations ranging from training of individual employees to control so that they correctly use the devices made available to them.

Practical examples of personal protective equipment used are gloves, protective eye masks, headphones, filters, helmets, safety shoes, harnesses, protective clothing, etc. .

A problem related to the use of personal protective equipment is undoubtedly linked to the difficulty, on the part of the employer or the safety officer, of being able to control whether and in what terms the employees, depending on their role or activities. they are intended for, are using the individual protection devices assigned to them correctly.

Furthermore, in some situations, especially for the workers destined to work with machine tools, it might be appropriate to effectively interface the protection device with the machine tools to block them if there are any risks for the worker.

In this regard, it should be noted that gloves of this type are already known, for example from the patent EP1445531, which however are extremely complex from the constructive point of view, as well as being extremely expensive.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a wearable personal protective device and a system for managing wearable individual protective devices that are capable of improving the known art in one or more of the aspects indicated above.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a wearable personal protective device and a system for the management of wearable individual protective devices that allows to manage, on the whole, all the management problems within companies, plants or construction sites of different sizes and with different needs.

Another object of the invention is to devise a system and a device which allows to monitor the conditions of the user, with particular reference to subjects who operate in conditions of high risk.

Not least object of the invention is to provide a wearable personal protective device and a system for managing wearable individual protective devices which are highly reliable, relatively easy to manufacture and at competitive costs.

This task, as well as these and other purposes which will become clearer hereinafter, are achieved by a wearable personal protective device and a system for the management of wearable individual protective devices according to the independent claims, optionally equipped with one or more of the characteristics of the claims. employees.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become clearer from the description of preferred, but not exclusive, embodiments of the wearable personal protective device and of the system for the management of wearable personal protective devices according to the invention, illustrated, by way of non-limiting indication. , in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 to 3 schematically show the use of the system according to the invention;

Figure 4 shows a possible further variant of use of the system according to the invention;

Figure 5 is a perspective and transparency view of the device of the master type;

figure 6 is a bottom perspective view of the master type device of figure 5;

Figure 7 is an exploded perspective view of the master type device of Figure 5;

Figures 8 and 9 show, again in perspective, a work glove with, respectively, associated and disassociated, the device of the master type.

With reference to the aforementioned figures, the system 10 for managing wearable personal protective devices 11 comprises at least one individual protective device 11, wearable by a user 2, which is associated or can be associated with a respective marker 12.

The system 10 further comprises at least one reader device 20 of the marker 12.

Specifically, means are provided for managing the data relating to the marker 12 read by the reader device 20.

According to a particularly important aspect of the invention, the individual protection device 11 comprises at least one glove 11a, and in particular a safety glove.

Advantageously, removable connection means 13 are provided between the glove 11a and the marker 12.

The aforesaid removable connection means 13 comprise first connection means 13b defined on the glove 11a and second connection means 13a defined on the marker 20.

This obviously allows the marker 12 to continue to be used effectively even if the gloves need to be changed or replaced.

The duration of the work gloves is in fact extremely limited, while the marker 12 has a significantly higher useful life (and cost).

Conveniently, the system 10 provides that the marker 12 associated with the gloves 11a is a master type device 12a comprising at least one transmission device 21 operatively connected to at least one sensor 22, which is able to detect whether the respective individual protection device 11 it is worn by the user.

The transmission device 21 is suitably activated only when the sensor 22 detects that the glove 11a is correctly worn.

Conveniently, the sensor 22 comprises a first heartbeat sensor for each glove 11a, which, having detected, thanks to the heartbeat reading, that the gloves 11a are correctly worn, activates any further sensors present in the master-type device 12a.

If one of the two gloves 11a is not worn, the respective sensor 22 will not detect, for example, the heartbeat (or the temperature) and consequently will not send the signal.

At this point, the other master type device 12a, not receiving the signal, will signal the anomaly situation.

It can be envisaged that, if the glove or gloves 11a are not worn for a period of time exceeding a certain predetermined time within a working environment in which their use is envisaged, the transmission device 21 can send to the transmission means management of a warning signal or an alarm signal.

Advantageously, the glove 11a and more generally the individual protection device 11, is configured in such a way that the sensor 22 of the respective master type device 12a faces or is in contact with an area of the user's body 2.

By way of example, the glove 11a can be provided with an opening 11b in correspondence with the area intended to face the sensor 22.

It is possible to provide that both gloves 11a are associated with a respective master type device 12a capable of interacting with each other.

It is also possible that the master type device 12a is associated with only one glove 11a, while the other is provided with a sensor 22 able to detect that this further glove 11a is also correctly worn.

According to a first aspect of the invention, the reader device 20 comprises at least a first reader device 25 arranged in correspondence with a respective access passage 26 to an environment in which it is necessary to wear said at least one personal protection device 11.

The first reader device 25 is therefore able to detect whether the user univocally identified by the master type device 12a wears all the individual protective devices 12 determined by his role and required by the environment in which he must enter, and in compliance with risk assessment of the company.

Conveniently, the first reader device 25 is operatively associated with signaling means 25a, which are able to signal to the user 2 near the access passage 26 any non-conformities in relation to the individual protection devices 11 worn.

By way of example, the signaling means 25a can be of the visual type (for example a screen for displaying images or words) or of the acoustic type.

As illustrated in figures 1 to 3, the first reader device 25 does not allow the access of the user 2 inside the work environment if he is not wearing the personal protective device 11 associated with the master type device 12a, specifically gloves 11a (as shown in figure 1): in this case, in fact, the user 2 cannot be identified and the system 10 will not be able to assess whether he is actually wearing all the PPE provided for by his role and duties.

In the condition in which, on the other hand, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the user 2 actually wears the master type device 12a, the first reader device 25 will be able to correctly identify the user 2 and check whether the latter wears all the PPE foreseen.

If, as shown in figure 2, the user 2 actually wears all the PPE provided, the first reader 25, interfacing with the management means, will command the opening of the passage 26.

If instead it emerges that the user 2 is not wearing all the required PPE (in the case represented in figure 3 the user 2 is not wearing the shoes provided), the first reader 25 does not allow the opening of the passage 26 signaling, in the case illustrated by screen 25a, what is the missing DPI.

According to a further aspect of the invention shown in Figure 4, the reader device 20 comprises at least a second reader device 27, which is operatively connected to a machine tool 40.

Figure 4 shows how a machine tool 40 constituted by a bending press is represented but the present invention refers to any machine tool which includes parts in reciprocal movement such as, for example, lathes, cutters, machining centers, etc. .

In this case, means are provided, preferably operatively connected to the management means, suitable for blocking the operation of the machine tool 40 according to the position of the marker 12.

In particular, the second reader device 27 is able to detect the position relative to the machine tool of the marker 12, or possibly of each marker 12 worn by the user 2, in such a way as to intervene to stop the operation of the machine tool 40 if one of such markers 12 is brought to a distance less than a predetermined distance with respect to moving parts of the machine tool.

Preferably, the further sensors present in the master type device 12a comprise, for example, a temperature detection device, an accelerometer, or other sensors for vital parameters or for the presence of noxious or dangerous substances inside the environment.

The choice of additional sensors is naturally related to the type of activity of the individual user and to the specific environment in which it operates.

The possible presence of an accelerometer allows, in an extremely effective way, to detect the presence of a man on the ground, for example if he is hit by illness.

The fact that, in some applications, the use of additional sensors can be envisaged, may allow us to possibly know, if a possible fall condition is detected, if there are criticalities in other vital parameters, for example by detecting abnormalities of the heartbeat.

Advantageously, the further protective devices 11 in addition to the gloves 11a have respective secondary markers 12b.

Conveniently, these secondary markers 12b are substantially passive and are not associated with batteries or sensors, but serve exclusively to detect their presence and, consequently, to allow the reader device 20 to detect, in correspondence with the respective access passages 26, that the user identified by the master type device 12a also wears the additional personal protective equipment provided for his role and for the environment into which he is intended to enter.

As already explained above, the first reader devices 25 arranged in correspondence with the openings 26 of the respective environments are operatively connected to opening / closing means of the respective openings 26, in such a way as to allow access to users only if they wear the individual protection provided.

It is appropriate to provide safety means associated with each marker 12 and suitable for preventing accidental or malicious removal from the respective protection device 11.

In this regard, it can be envisaged that the removal of the markers 12 determines, for example, the breaking of the latter in the case of secondary markers 12b while, in the case of the master type device 12a, an interruption of the transmission or power supply.

According to a further aspect, it is advantageous to provide that the master type device 12a communicates cyclically with the secondary markers 12b so that it can cyclically check whether the user 2 who is in a given environment wears all the required PPE.

If the master type device 12a, possibly equipped with a proximity reader, does not detect the proximity of all the secondary markers 12b associated with the PPE to be worn in that environment by that user 2, it will proceed to activate a signal to the user 2 itself (which can be a vibration, a sound or light signal), and at the same time will send a signal to the office in charge in which it is noted that the user 2 is not working safely.

The aforementioned signaling is conveniently sent via a wi-fi or bluetooth signal or by means of other transmission systems, to detectors which activate the signaling in real time.

The same procedure can be envisaged if the user removes the PPE associated with the master type device 12a (specifically the glove or gloves 11a).

In particular, the fact that at least one glove 11a is not worn, for example since the heartbeat is not detected by the respective sensor 22, will trigger the detection.

Advantageously, also the sending of the signal relating to the man on the ground will follow the same protocol and the same means described above.

Conveniently, in correspondence with areas, which we could identify as relaxation areas, where the user 2 is not required to use PPE (bathrooms, canteen, break areas, etc.), interface means are advantageously provided to allow the possibility of temporarily disconnect the wi-fi or bluetooth transmission.

Obviously, when the user 2 leaves these zones, the respective master type device 12a will resume its normal operation with relative activation of the sensors 22.

In the case of implementation of system 10 in environments where the use of private mobile phones is not allowed, it works after installation and coverage of the work areas with wi-fi or bluetooth sensors or other transmission systems with a set frequency for monitoring. the presence of users 2 and vital parameters, while for the relaxation areas, various wi-fi or bluetooth devices or other transmission systems, etc. they will disable the operation of the master type device 12a.

Conveniently, an activation reader 20 adapted to activate the master type device 12a can be installed in correspondence with the entrance gate of the working environment or of the area in which the stamping is foreseen.

In the case of applications in outdoor working environments, the system 10 can be operatively associated with a monitoring application of the master type device 12a, associated with the respective glove 11a, and of the secondary markers 12b.

This application, if anomalies are detected, will report it by vibration, sound or light signal, etc. to user 2, as well as remotely sending an alarm or warning.

The report of the anomaly may also be sent to a person in charge and / or to a nearby colleague and / or, possibly, to the rescue services, by means of a mobile phone call and / or by sending a GPS location signal, if a sensor indicates a situation of danger for the life or health of the user 2 and if the user 2 is unable to send this signal autonomously.

If necessary, the system 10 can be configured so that, before sending a signal to the emergency services, a signal is sent to a colleague, conveniently located nearby, able to verify the actual state of danger for the 'user.

According to a practical embodiment, the master type device 12a has an alarm sending device.

Specifically, the alarm sending device comprises two keys 30 which, if pressed simultaneously for longer than a predetermined time, determine a call from the mobile phone and / or a GPS location.

This allows the user 2, independently and voluntarily, to send, regardless of his state of health, a danger signal and subsequent localization via GPS.

According to a further aspect, the invention relates to a wearable personal protection device 11.

The personal protective device 11 comprises a respective marker 12.

Also provided are removable connection means 13 between a garment wearable by a user 2 and the marker 12.

According to a particularly important aspect of the invention, the individual protection device 11 comprises at least one glove 11a, and in particular a safety glove.

The aforesaid removable connection means 13 comprising first connection means 13a defined on the glove 11a and second connection means 13b defined on the marker 12.

By way of example, the removable connection means 13 can comprise automatic buttons arranged partly on the glove 11a and partly on the master type device 12a, but also strips of VELCRO, containment pockets or removable rivets.

Preferably, the marker 12 comprises a master-type device 12a comprising at least one transmission device 21 operatively connected to at least one sensor 22 suitable for detecting whether the respective individual protection device 11 is worn by the user.

In practice it has been found that the invention achieves the intended aim and objects.

In particular, the solution which provides for the use of the master type device 12a and the secondary markers 12b allows, with extremely reduced costs, to evaluate whether each user 2 wears, in correspondence with the access to the various work areas, all the devices. individual safety requirements, with a fairly limited expense limited to the components of the master type device 12a.

The sensor and analysis part (including the vital functions of the user or the environment) is in fact exclusively provided on the master type device 12a, while the secondary markers 12b can substantially consist of passive elements, such as for example an RFID.

Of course, nothing prevents the master type device 12a, in some applications, from being associated with an individual protection device 11 other than gloves 11a, such as for example a helmet and goggles.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept; moreover, all the details can be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials employed, so long as they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

Where the features and techniques mentioned in any claim are followed by reference marks, these marks have been affixed for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and consequently such reference marks have no limiting effect on the interpretation of each element. identified by way of example by these reference signs.

Claims (11)

CLAIMS 1. System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective equipment (11), characterized by the fact of comprising at least one individual protection device (11) wearable by a user and associated or associated with a respective marker (12), called system (10) comprising at least one reader device (20) of said marker (12), with means for managing data relating to said marker read by said reader device (20) being provided. 2. System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective devices (11) according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one personal protective device (11) comprises at least one glove (11a), connection means being provided removable (13) between said at least one glove (11a) and said marker (12). System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective devices (11) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said removable connection means (13) comprising first connection means (13a) defined on said glove (11a) and second connection means (13b) defined on said marker (20). 4. System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective devices (11) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said marker (12) comprises a master type device (12a) comprising at least one transmission device (21) operatively connected to at least one sensor (22) suitable for detecting whether the respective individual protection device (11) is worn by the user. 5. System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective devices (11) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said reader device (20) comprises at least a first reader device (25) arranged in correspondence with a respective access passage to an environment in which it is necessary to wear said at least one personal protective device (11). 6. System (10) for managing wearable personal protective devices (11) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said reader device (20) comprises at least a second reader device (27) operatively connected to a machine tool being provided means suitable for blocking the operation of said machine tool according to the position of said marker (12). 7. System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective devices (11) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said sensor (22) comprises a device for detecting the beat and / or a device for detecting the temperature and / or an accelerometer. 8. System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective devices (11) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said marker (12) comprises a master type device (12a) associated with said glove (11a ) and at least one secondary marker (12b) associated with a respective further individual protection device (11). System (10) for the management of wearable personal protective devices (11) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said master type device (12a) is configured to communicate, cyclically, with said secondary markers (12b) in such a way as to verify whether the respective user (2) who is in a given environment wears all the required personal protective equipment (11). 10. Wearable personal protection device (11) characterized in that it comprises a respective marker (12), with removable connection means (13) being provided between at least one garment that can be worn by a user (11a) and said marker (12). 11. Personal protective device (11) according to claim 10, characterized in that said marker (12) comprises at least one master type device (12a) comprising transmission (21) operatively connected to at least one sensor (22) adapted to detect if the respective personal protective equipment (11) is worn by the user.