GB2478740A - Intelligent rope - Google Patents

Abstract

A rope incorporates sensors to measure and report its three-dimensional geometry and optionally data about the local environment in which the rope is located using temperature, flame, smoke or pressure detectors 208, 212. A data-processor 107 converts the data into status and/or alarm signals and may receive the data wirelessly. The data, used to determine the three-dimensional geometry, may come from bend sensors 204 which exhibit a resistance change when bent and associated groups of three mutually perpendicular inclinometers 206. The rope may be attached to personnel at waist level and paid-out from a reel as they enter a hazardous environment. An alarm may be sounded if the reel is at floor level or has stopped moving. The track and current position of the rope can be monitored to improve safety of personnel in dangerous and hazardous situations such as fire-fighting, diving, caving and climbing. Some sensors 212 may be freestanding and are placed near the rope and left behind by the person carrying the reel. Such sensors communicate with transceivers 210 in the rope. The rope may be incorporated into networks, trees, nets and frameworks.

Description

INTELLIGENT ROPE

DESCRIPTION

The present invention is an intelligent rope that senses its three-dimensional positional arrangement and uses this data to generate safety information. This enables the track and current position of the end of the rope to be monitored, and improves the safety of personnel in dangerous and hazardous situations.

CURRENT STATE OF THE ART

Patent US 2009160426 provides a detailed description of the means of manufacturing ropes and cables and the like.

That same patent also includes a survey of the prior art as regards the use of technology for detection of unsafe loading of ropes and also diagnosis of damage in ropes caused by tearing, abrasion, stretching etc. It is known in the prior art to incorporate a means of communication into a rope, for example by weaving electrical cables and/or an optical fibres into it.

It is known to incorporate strain gauges at a number of points into such a rope, so that the rope can signal the load at each such point, and warn of potential overloads.

It is known to incorporate multiple electrical wires into ropes and to detect deformation by detecting changes in the impedance between them.

It is known to incorporate optical fibres into ropes and to detect deformation by the use of reflectometry.

Existing inventions and techniques as discussed above are concerned with detecting the condition of a rope and do not generate positional information. It is the object of embodiments of the present invention to provide positional information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows an application of an embodiment of the present invention Figure 2 shows the incorporation of sensors into an embodiment of the present invention. For clarity the twist of the rope has been omitted.

The drawings are intended to make clear the structure and operation of the present invention but are not to scale and do not show the precise geometry of embodiments (which in any case vary).

ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention is an intelligent rope that senses its three-dimensional positional arrangement and uses this data to generate safety information.

The present invention is suitable for use by emergency services personnel in dangerous or hazardous situations where a central command facility needs to know the position of people and/or equipment. It is common practice for such personnel to carry a reel of rope and to attach the free end to a fixed point external to the hazard zone. They then pay out rope from the reel when entering and progressing through a hazardous situation. For example this may include search and rescue in confined spaces where visibility is rendered almost zero by smoke and/or darkness. The rope thus provides a return route. The reel is preferably carried by the person, as this minimises the longitudinal movement of the rope and the potential of snagging.

In such situations the personnel operate largely autonomously, as conventional radio communications do not always function. Control staff would like to know the position of mobile personnel for safety reasons, but currently they do not have that information.

There are many well-known wireless positioning systems, such as GPS and Galileo.

They too do not always function well enough in such situations.

The present invention addresses these problems by providing positional information. It is also applicable to the safety of divers, cavers, climbers and in other situations where similar safety considerations apply.

Referring to the Figures, the present invention provides data by means of a channel (202) incorporated as one of its strands, for example one or more electrical wires and/or optical fibres. When the free end of the rope (101) is fixed (prior to departure of the personnel (103)), a data connection (105) is also made.

The curvature of the rope (101) is sensed by a plurality of bend sensors (204) incorporated at intervals into the fabric of the rope (101). Such devices (204) are thin enough to integrate into the rope (101) and their use is well-known to those skilled in the art. Typically such devices (204) change impedance when bent, and so when they are incorporated into a simple microelectronic circuit (for example a bridge circuit), bending causes an electronic signal. Further, the amplitude of the signal indicates the degree of bending. For example the Bi-Flex SensorTM FLX-02 sensor from Images Scientific Instruments Inc. changes resistance positively when bent one way and negatively when bent the other way.

The optimal spacing of the bend sensors (204) depends on the diameter and stiffness of the rope (101) but separation in the range of 10cm to 30cm is preferred to avoid missing any significant curvature.

However, the degree of bending alone is not sufficient for calculating the overall geometry of the rope (101), because bend sensors (204) do not provide the orientation of the bending, only the magnitude. Each bend sensor therefore has one or more associated orientation sensors (206), also integrated into the rope (101) close to the bend sensor (204). The combined data from bend sensors (204) and orientation sensors (206) is sufficient to define the three-dimensional orientation and curvature of the rope (101).

The orientation sensors (206) may take a number of forms, including tilt sensors, and are preferably microelectronic inclinometers, producing a signal indicating the degree of inclination of the sensor (206) with respect to the vertical or horizontal.

Over recent years the older liquid/mechanical designs of inclinometer have been replaced and miniaturised using techniques developed from microelectronics.

Inclinometers are now tiny microelectronic devices, often built into mobile phones for example. Preferably at least three inclinometers (206) mutually perpendicular (as shown in Figure 2) are associated with each bend sensor (204), to provide the three dimensional orientation of the rope (101). The key data required from the orientation sensors (206) are the gradient of the rope (101), and where on the circumference of the rope (101)the bend sensor (204) is currently located.

Preferably the rope (101) also includes means to acquire data from other sensors (208, 212) such as temperature detectors and/or flame detectors and/or smoke detectors and/or pressure detectors, so that the integrity of the physical return route is monitored via the rope (101). In some embodiments this is achieved by incorporating such sensors (208) directly into the rope (101). In other embodiments short range wireless transceivers (210) are incorporated into the rope (101). These transceivers (210) communicate with freestanding compatible sensors (212) placed near the rope (101) and left behind by the person (103) carrying the reel as they progress.

For clarity the connections between the individual components (204, 206, 208 and 210) and the communications channel (202) are not shown in the Figures.

The sensors (204, 206 and 208) along the rope (101) send data to one or more data ports (105) preferably one of which is located at the fixed end of the rope (101) via the communications channel (202). There may be one physical channel per sensor, but preferably there is a single primary channel (preferably with one or more parallel backup channels for redundancy and resilience) onto which all data is placed. The associated electronics is miniaturised so as to be integrated into the fabric of the rope (101). Where there is a single data channel (202), the data is multiplexed onto the channel (202) for example by frequency domain multiplexing or time domain multiplexing or by using a network protocol (preferred).

Figure 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention in use. The rope (101) has been paid out by a person (103), having first been attached to a fixed point. The rope (101) sends data via a data port (1 05) to a data processing unit (107) which calculates the current geometry of the rope (101) and makes it available to software applications, for example code to generate a visual display (109) for the use of command personnel.

Certain embodiments of the present invention incorporate a plurality of intelligent ropes (101) into larger assemblies, including without limitation networks, trees, nets and frameworks.

The data ports (105) may each be a simple physical connection (such as a USB port) or may include electronics and signal processing componentry. Preferably (for ease of deployment) each data port provides a wireless data connection to data processing devices (107). The data port (105) allows connection of a power supply to the rope. This is for example provided by a mains supply or a portable generator or a vehicle battery.

The power requirements for the sensors and associated electronics are minimal and provided by power conductors integrated into the fabric of the rope.

By means of the plurality of sensors (204, 206) integrated along the length of a rope, the rope (101) provides a matrix of readings relating to its geometric state. Data processing devices (107) access this data in real-time via the data port(s) (105).

Using this matrix of sensor geometry data and knowledge of the tensile and torsional properties of the rope (101), the data processing system (107) calculates the three-dimensional arrangement of the rope (101).

Preferably the data processing system (107) is a computer, and the position information is provided as a display (109) to the operator. Preferably the system displays the positions of a plurality of ropes (101) on the same display (109).

The freestanding sensors (212) may be detected by more than one rope (101) and thus provide a means of cross-checking positions of a plurality of ropes (101).

Preferably the data processing system (107) (under the control of an operator) makes use of knowledge of the geometry of the environment to make appropriate adjustments to positional data. This knowledge may be as simple as applying a rule based on knowing that the internal and external walls of a particular building are all constructed at right angles, or as complex as relating the positional data to a detailed map or plan of the area.

In certain embodiments, the use of temperature and/or smoke and/or flame sensors and/or pressure sensors (208 and 212) (for example to detect masonry collapse) on or off the rope (101) allows command personnel to monitor the status of the return route of the personnel (103).

The positional information available from the rope (101) is useful in checking that the personnel (103) do not enter locations deemed unsuitable by command personnel. The data processing system (107) is optionally configurable to generate appropriate alarm signals in this case.

The presence of loops (for example encircling a pillar) in the geometry of the rope (101) (other than when tightly wound on a reel) causes difficulties in retracing a route and is identified by the data processing system (107), which optionally generates appropriate alarm signals.

The reel of rope (101) is normally attached to personnel (103) at about waist height. The data processing system (107) optionally generates appropriate alarm signals if the rope (101) geometry indicates that the reel is at floor level and/or the reel has stopped moving for a significant period of time.

While the present invention has been described in terms of several embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but can be practised with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The Description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS1 A safety device comprising: a multi-stranded fibrous linear unit incorporating a plurality of sensors so as to measure and report its three-dimensional geometry together with local environmental data; and a data processing system converting the sensor data into status signals and/or alarm signals 2 A device as in Claim I including bend sensors 3 A device as in any previous Claim including orientation sensors 4 A device as in Claim 3 where the orientation sensors include without limitation tilt sensors, inclinometers and 3D orientation sensors A device as in any previous Claim including environmental sensors 6 A device as in Claim 5 including without limitation temperature and/or pressure and/or flame and/or smoke sensors 7 A device as in any previous Claim including wireless transceivers to communicate with external sensors including without limitation sensors of the types according to Claim 6 8 A device as in any previous Claim comprising electrical and/or optical and/or wireless means of signalling to and from sensors 9 A device as in any previous Claim where communication between the unit and the data processing system is wireless A device as in any previous Claim adapted to be waterproof and pressure resistant 11 A device as in any previous Claim where a plurality of units are connected as a multidimensional structure