GB2267594A - Lighting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus includes a light (not shown) and an intrinsically safe alarm 17 for sensing the presence of noxious gases such as carbon monoxide or smoke and which gives an alarm indication when these gases are sensed. The alarm indication can comprise an audible indication provided by a piezo buzzer and/or a visible indication provided by flashing the light on and off. The alarm is mounted on a ceiling and is connected to the mains circuit, and may be in the form of a ceiling rose. <IMAGE>

Description

LIGHTING APPARATUS This invention relates to lighting apparatus and more particularly to lighting apparatus incorporating a gas and/or smoke alarm.

Domestic smoke alarms have been available for many years and have become popular as an early warning against domestic household fires. This type of alarm is usually battery powered which enables easy fitting of the alarm since it is not necessary to wire the alarm into the domestic ring mains circuit.

Domestic gas alarms have also been available for many years, however these have not been popular because of the high cost and the fact that it is necessary for these types of alarms to be wired into the ring mains circuit.

Furthermore, carbon monoxide poisoning is increasingly becoming a problem, usually being caused by faulty gas heaters and gas fires which can emit this gas under fault conditions.

Proposed UK legislation stipulates that alarms of all the abovementioned type must be fitted to all new homes and furthermore must be wired into the domestic ring mains circuit.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide lighting apparatus which incorporates an intrinsically safe alarm of one or more of the abovementioned types thereby enabling the alarm to be conveniently installed in such a manner as to satisfy the relevant legislation, when enacted.

According to the present invention therefore there is provided lighting apparatus comprising in combination a light to illuminate a room and an alarm, said alarm being electrically connected to a ring mains circuit and said light being connected to said alarm, said alarm being adapted to sense gaseous discharges and upon said sensing to cause an alarm indication to be produced.

With this arrangement it is possible to conveniently fit an alarm into the ring mains circuit of a domestic house and/or other premises.

Preferably said light is suspended from said alarm in the manner of a conventional ceiling light fitting and in this case, said alarm may take the place of a ceiling rose which is commonly used to cover the end of a wire for the fitting at or adjacent the ceiling.

The alarm may comprise a semi-conductor sensor which can detect natural or LPG gases, smoke and carbon monoxide or any desired combination of the abovementioned gaseous substances.

The alarm may comprise a piezo buzzer connected to said sensor and in this case said alarm indication may be provided by actuation of said buzzer.

Alternatively or additionally an alarm indication may be produced by causing on-off flashing of the light when a gaseous discharge is detected by the sensor.

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings of which: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a conventional light fitting suspended from a ceiling; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side view of a part of a light fitting of Fig. 1 incorporating an alarm.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 a conventional light fitting 10 which is suspended from a ceiling of, for example, a room 11 of a house.

The fitting 10 comprises a pendant shade 12 partially enclosing a filament bulb 13. The filament bulb 13 is connected to the ring mains circuit (not shown) of the house via two core wire 14. The wire 14 passes through a ceiling rose 16 which acts to cover the wire adjacent the ceiling and also acts to stabilise the light fitting 10.

Fig. 2 shows a light fitting according to the invention in which a combined gas, smoke and carbon monoxide alarm 17 forms, and takes the place of, the ceiling rose of Fig. 1. However in this case, the ceiling rose, which comprises the alarm 17, is wired directly into the ring mains circuit of the house and is held in position on the ceiling surface by way of a fixing plate 18. The filament bulb (not shown) is electrically connected to the alarm 17 by way of a length of two core wire 19 suspended from the alarm 17.

With regard to the alarm 17, this includes a piezo buzzer (not shown) and a semiconductor sensor (not shown) which is able to detect natural or LPG gases, smoke and carbon monoxide. The piezo buzzer and sensor are connected by control circuitry (not shown) which allows the buzzer to be actuated when any of the abovementioned gases is detected by the sensor. The control circuitry may be microprocessor based. The alarm can also include a visible light which illuminates when the alarm is in its active or operational state.

In use, the fixing plate 18 is fixed to the ceiling and is wired into the ring mains circuit of the premises.

The alarm 17 is adapted to be a push fit onto the fixing plate 18 and is connected to the ring mains circuit via the fixing plate 18 in such a manner that the alarm is continuously in an active state irrespective of whether the light is in use or turned off. The abovementioned operations are carried out with the mains supply to the ring circuit turned off and when the mains supply is turned back on the alarm will be active and this state will be indicated by illumination of the LED device 21.

When one of the gases mentioned above is detected by the sensor then the piezo buzzer is actuated, raising the alarm for an occupant of the premises. Alternatively or additionally, the detection of gas by the sensor may cause the light of the fitting to flash on and off. It will of course be realised that the causing of the light of the fitting to flash will raise the alarm for deaf persons, or persons of impaired hearing, in the premises who may not be able to hear the buzzer.

With this arrangement is is possible to conveniently fit an alarm of the abovementioned type into the ring mains circuit of a house and/or other premises.

It is of course to be understood that the invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above embodiment which are described by way of example only.

Claims (7)

1. Lighting apparatus comprising in combination a light to illuminate a room and an alarm, said alarm being electrically connected to a ring mains circuit and said light being connected to said alarm, said alarm being adapted to sense gaseous discharges and upon said sensing to cause an alarm indication to be produced.

2. Lighting apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said light is suspended from said alarm.

3. Lighting apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said alarm replaces a ceiling rose of a conventional ceiling light fitting.

4. Lighting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said alarm comprises a semiconductor sensor.

5. Lighting apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said alarm comprises a piezo buzzer connected to said sensor, said alarm indication being provided by actuation of said buzzer.

6. Lighting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said alarm indication is produced by causing on-off flashing of the light when a gaseous discharge is detected by the sensor.

7. Lighting apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.