JP2002257768A - Portable gas detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable gas detector capable of simply discriminating the contents of failure. SOLUTION: This portable gas detector has a display part 9 formed by arranging a plurality of light emitting displays 9B-9F whose on/off is individually controlled, and is equipped with a state detecting part 10 for detecting a working state of the portable gas detector; and a state display control part individually switching over the lighting and lights-out of the light emitting displays 9B-9F so that the light emitting displays 9B-9F form a luminescent afterimage when the display part 9 is moved in the direction crossing to the arranging direction of the light emitting displays 9B-9F.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable gas detector provided with a display unit in which a plurality of light-emitting display units which are individually controlled to blink can be arranged side by side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A portable gas detector is used by being carried on-site as needed, or is always worn on the body during work, and is used for detecting a gas to be detected on one side of a box-shaped housing. There is known a device having a light-emitting display member for displaying detection of a gas leak or the like. The light-emitting display body is provided in a plural number so as to be able to display a large number of detection signals and the like. Is known.

Conventionally, when a sensor portion of a portable gas detector fails or when the remaining power of a battery becomes small, a plurality of light emitting display members provided on one surface of a gas detector housing are damaged. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a lighting device that lights up in a lighting pattern according to the contents and informs the contents such as a failure thereof. In such a type of portable gas detector, the user checks the details of the failure while sequentially associating the displayed lighting pattern with the pattern code table carried with the gas detector.
Alternatively, it is necessary to confirm the details of the failure while recalling a lighting pattern stored in advance.

[0004]

However, when the user of the gas detector cannot carry the pattern code table,
When the stored lighting pattern is forgotten, there is a problem that the display content of the light emitting display of the portable gas detector cannot be determined. Particularly, the portable gas detector is sometimes used in an emergency situation such as a gas leak site, and in such an emergency site, the user forgets the lighting pattern stored in advance, In some cases, a code table cannot be carried, and there has been a demand for a gas detector that can easily determine the content of a failure or the like only with the gas detector main body.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable gas detector which can easily determine the content of a failure or the like.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable gas detector comprising a plurality of light-emitting displays which are individually controlled so as to be able to blink. Portable gas detector provided with a display unit,
A state detection unit that detects an operation state of the portable gas detector, and when the display unit is moved in a direction that intersects a direction in which the light-emitting display bodies are arranged, the light-emitting display unit is configured to be the state detection unit. And a state display control unit for individually controlling the turning on and off of the light emitting display so as to form a light emission afterimage based on the detection result.

[Operation] In other words, since the portable gas detector is provided with the above-mentioned state detection unit, what kind of operating state the portable gas detector is in, and more specifically, is usually mounted on the portable gas detector. It can be known by detecting whether a sensor, a pump, a battery, and the like are operating normally, whether the electromotive force of the battery is sufficient (whether the remaining power is not small), and the like.

[0008] Based on such a detection result, the state display control unit individually controls switching on and off of the light emitting display. Then, the light emitting display is turned on and off so as to form a light emission afterimage based on the detection result of the state detection unit. Here, since the display section formed by the light-emitting display forms an after-image of light emission, when the display is moved in a direction intersecting the direction in which the light-emitting displays are arranged, the after-image of light emission turns on and off. In accordance with the switching control of, significant characters, figures, symbols, and the like are projected onto a space so that they can be recognized. Then, since the information contents can be intuitively understood and the information contents can be immediately understood, various types of information contents can be easily recognized without having to carry around a pattern code table or the like. Furthermore, since the information content is obtained not from the light emitting display itself but from the image projected on the space, the information content is clearly understood even if the surface of the light emitting display is dirty. be able to.

[0009]

As a result, it has become possible to provide a portable gas detector capable of easily determining the content of a failure or the like.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

A portable gas detector according to the present invention is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a substantially rectangular parallelepiped main body 1, a gas suction port 2 for sucking a gas to be detected, and a drain filter 3 for removing water droplets and dust contained in the gas to be detected sucked from the gas suction port 2. A sensor unit 4 inside the main body, the sensor unit 4 being capable of detecting the presence of the gas to be detected when the gas to be detected is contained in a predetermined amount per unit space;
A pump 5 that can promote the flow of the gas to be detected, a power supply 6 that can supply power such as a battery, a power switch 7, an alarm set knob 8 that can adjust the detection sensitivity level of the gas to be detected, and The display unit 9 is provided with a plurality of light-emitting display elements arranged in a blinkable manner, and an exhaust port 15 for discharging the sucked detection target gas to the outside. The power supply 6 supplies electric power for operating the pump 5 and emitting light from the light emitting display.

The sensor section 4 includes a sensor element and a bridge circuit, and the bridge circuit is configured to detect a change in resistance of the sensor element. As the sensor element, for example, a thermal linear metal oxide semiconductor type gas detecting element having a sensitive portion which is formed by applying a metal oxide semiconductor such as tin oxide to a platinum wire coil and firing it can be used. Such a gas detection element has the following characteristics.

Although the sensing part usually has a high resistance, a change in the resistance value is observed when electrons are exchanged due to adsorption of the gas to be detected or oxidation reaction of the gas to be detected. When grasped, an output corresponding to the detected gas amount is obtained. The platinum wire coil, the Joule heat by energization, the sensitive portion, for example,
The sensitive portion may be heated to or maintained at a predetermined temperature at which it reacts only to a specific gas to be detected, or may adhere to the sensitive portion,
In addition to having a role of a heater for volatilizing moisture or the like, the gas detection element can also be considered as a combined resistance in which the platinum wire coil and the sensitive part are connected in parallel, so that the resistance of the sensitive part is Also, it functions as an electrode for detecting the presence of the gas to be detected by detecting a change due to adsorption or oxidation of the gas to be detected.

Accordingly, since the sensor section 4 incorporates the gas detection element in a bridge circuit, the sensor section 4 is configured to be able to output a change in the combined resistance as a deviation voltage. And the type and concentration of the detected gas can be determined. Also, for example, when the output is significantly out of the general output range such as the type and concentration of the gas to be detected, or when the response shows an extremely different response from the normally expected output history. In addition, it is possible to grasp the failure of the sensor unit assuming that an electric disconnection or a short circuit has occurred in the bridge circuit or the like.

Similarly, a pump failure can be detected by detecting the presence of an electrical disconnection or the like used in the pump or a sudden increase in the load on the pump. Further, by monitoring the battery voltage of the power supply 6, it is possible to grasp the situation where the remaining power is small, and it is possible to detect that it is time to replace the battery.

Therefore, the state detection unit 10C can detect a failure point and the like and transmit it to the state display control unit 11. Here, in the normal gas detection mode, the status display control unit 11 lights and displays gas detection information (information on gas type, gas concentration, and the like) when the device is normal. If it is, a lighting display indicating the occurrence of a failure or the like is also performed (for example, all of the alarm lamps are turned on and off at predetermined time intervals). Then, the user of the detector can select a display mode for the details of a failure, etc., which will be described later, based on the lighting display.

As shown in FIG. 1, the display unit 9 includes, as the light emitting display, a power supply lamp 9A capable of clearly turning on and off the power supply 6, and a light source when the gas to be detected is detected by the sensor unit 4. Alarm lamps 9B, 9 that enable the presence of the detected gas to be clearly indicated according to the type and concentration level of the gas to be detected.
C, 9D, 9E, and 9F (hereinafter, alarm lamps 9B to 9F), and the power lamp 9A and the alarm lamps 9B to 9F are constituted by high-brightness LEDs.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the state display control unit 11 for controlling the display unit 9 of the portable gas detector according to the present invention. During normal use, the mode switching unit 10A
It is set to a normal gas detection state, and is set to be able to output the gas detection information by detecting the type, presence or absence and concentration of the gas to be detected (gas detection mode). In the use state of the gas detector, when the state detection unit 10C including the failure detection circuit or the like detects a failure of the sensor or the pump or a device abnormality that is considered to be malfunctioning due to a low battery level, By switching the mode switching unit 10A by selecting a failure content etc. display mode, a part causing a device abnormality can be identified.
The operating state can be changed so that it can be specified and displayed by a failure detection circuit. That is, in the gas detection mode, when the presence of the gas to be detected is detected by the sensor 4, the gas detection circuit 10B enables the alarm lamps 9B to 9F to be turned on according to the type of the gas to be detected. Further, in the failure content etc. display mode, the failure etc. detection circuit 10C is provided with the alarm lamp 9B when the sensor 4 or the pump 5 has a failure or when the remaining power of the battery 6 becomes small. To 9F can be made to blink.

The portable gas detector according to the present invention has a gas detection mode which is a normal use mode for detecting the presence of a gas to be detected, and a gas detection mode when a failure occurs in a sensor portion of the portable gas detector according to the present invention. The mode can be changed and used, such as a failure content display mode for displaying failure content. When the user uses the portable gas detector according to the present invention in the gas detection mode in the mode switching unit 10A, the display start switch 14 is turned off to refer to the gas detection circuit 10B, When the failure detection circuit 10C detects a failure or the like, the display start switch 14 is turned on, and a failure content etc. display mode can be selected and used. That is, in the case of the gas detection mode, the alarm lamps 9B to 9F on the display unit 9 are provided.
Can be used as an alarm lamp of the gas detection result, while in the case of the failure content etc. display mode, the alarm lamps 9B to 9F can be used as a result display such as a sensor unit failure.

The failure detection circuit 10C is electrically connected to the alarm lamps 9B to 9F so that the flashing of the alarm lamps 9B to 9F is switched on and off according to time. When the user uses the portable gas detector according to the present invention in the failure detection mode, as shown in FIG. 3, the user holds the portable gas detector near the bottom 11 and holds the alarm lamp 9B. When the main body 1 is reciprocated in the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the alarm lamps 9F to 9F are juxtaposed, the afterimages caused by the flashing of the alarm lamps 9B to 9F are expanded over time, and the area of the image is enlarged, and the image of characters and the like is displayed. Appear. That is, the display data that has been bit-mapped is stored in the failure detection circuit 10C, and the display data is sequentially read out in a predetermined order at an appropriate speed. And display control for switching on / off of each of the alarm lamps 9B to 9F. By synchronizing the display control with the reciprocating operation of the main body 1, an image due to the afterimage effect is displayed on the moving surface in the space so as to emerge. The failure detection circuit can display the character “sensor” when the sensor 4 has a failure, and can display the character “pump” when the pump 5 has a failure.
If a failure occurs, the character "Denchi" can be displayed.

The failure content display circuit is an ultra-high-speed LED.
RO that stores data of the afterimage pattern caused by blinking
M (built-in CPU) and a CPU that controls the blinking of the LEDs according to a certain rule according to the afterimage pattern. The operation of the failure detection circuit 10C will be described briefly.
Flashes the data of the ROM on the LED and repeats the same operation when the display start switch is triggered again.

As shown in FIG. 4, the status display control unit 1
Reference numeral 1 denotes a clock 16 for determining the blinking frequency of the super-high-brightness LED as the light-emitting display bodies 9B to 9F, and a ROM for storing data of an afterimage pattern caused by the blinking of the super-brightness LED.
A binary counter for sequentially converting data into data addresses in the ROM 18 in synchronization with the clock 16;
LED driver 19 for switching ED blinking and pattern selection switch 20 for selecting display pattern data
, A display start circuit 22 and a display stop circuit 21. The operation of the state display control unit 11 will be briefly described. When the binary counter 17 starts clock counting by the display start circuit 22, the binary address is sequentially converted to a data address in the ROM 18 and output for each column. LED
The driver 19 controls the blinking of the high-brightness LED, and when the final display of the image is completed, the display stop circuit 21 operates to complete one cycle of the displayed image, and the display start circuit 22 is again triggered by the trigger. And the same operation is repeated.

[Alternative Embodiment] In the above-described embodiment, the alarm lamps 9B to 9F are reciprocated in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the alarm lamps 9B to 9F are juxtaposed. Can be swung so as to draw an arc.
That is, a portable gas detector provided with a display unit 9 in which a plurality of light-emitting display bodies individually controlled so as to be able to blink are arranged side by side. It is also possible to provide a display control mechanism 10 that individually controls switching on and off of the light emitting display so that the display forms an afterimage of light emission. In such a case, by synchronizing the angular velocity of shaking the main body 1 with the display control for switching on / off of each of the alarm lamps 9B to 9F, the afterimage due to the blinking light emission of the light emitting display is expanded in area, and characters and the like are enlarged. Video appears.

It is also possible to provide an electronic buzzer to emit a notification sound immediately before the binary counter starts clock counting. When such a configuration is adopted, the user starts the reciprocating motion of the main body 1 in response to the electronic buzzer sound, and the electronic buzzer sound is generated again each time one cycle of the displayed image is completed. It is easy to stably synchronize the phase of the electronic buzzer sound and the reciprocating motion of the main body 1, and it is possible to obtain an image easily and clearly.

All of these status display controls are controlled by the CP.
You can do it in U.

In the above-described embodiment, the afterimage of light emission is represented by a character string such as "sensor". However, it is also possible to represent a corresponding failure content by a figure, a symbol, or the like having a predetermined shape that can be recalled.

The portable gas detector to which the present invention is applied can be applied to any type of device as long as it can move a portion including a light emitting display as a terminal. The gas detecting element to be used is not limited to a semiconductor type gas detecting element, and various known gas detecting elements suitable for carrying, such as a constant potential electrolytic type and a galvanic cell type, can be applied.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a portable gas detector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a display control mechanism of the portable gas detector according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view when a portable gas detector according to the present invention is moved to form a light emission afterimage.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a state display control unit provided in the portable gas detector according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Gas suction port 3 Drain filter 4 Sensor part 5 Pump 6 Power supply 7 Power switch 8 Alarm set knob 9 Display part 10 Display control mechanism 10A Mode switching part 10B Gas detection part 10C State detection part 11 State display control part

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2G046 AA01 BA02 BC03 BE02 BE07 DB05 DC12 DC14 DC16 DC17 DC18 DD01 FB02 FE39 2G060 AA01 AE19 AF07 BA01 BA05 BB09 HA01 HC13 HC19 HC21 HC22 HD01 HE01 5C094 BA15 BA25 CA18 CA19 HA10

Claims (1)

[The claims] 1. A portable gas detector provided with a display unit in which a plurality of light-emitting display members individually controlled so as to be able to blink are arranged side by side, wherein an operation state of the portable gas detector is detected. A state detection unit, such that when the display unit is moved in a direction intersecting with the direction in which the light-emitting display bodies are arranged, the light-emitting display body forms a light emission afterimage based on a detection result of the state detection unit. A portable gas detector, further comprising: a state display control unit for individually controlling switching on and off of the light emitting display.