JP2004252662A - Gas alarm - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas alarm for preventing the changeover of an alarm sound due to mischief and changing over an alarm sound with a simple operation in a state that a gas alarm is mounted. <P>SOLUTION: When the concentration of gas to be detected exceeds a predetermined level, a CPU 13a makes a speaker 15 generate an alarm sound to announce the result. A tact switch 12 is turned on in accordance with an operation performed by using a specific tool from the outside of a housing box 14 in a state that the tact switch 12 is housed in the housing box 14. The CPU 13a switches the alarm sound to be generated by the speaker 15 from a voice to a buzzer sound and vice versa when the tact switch 12 is turned on. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a gas alarm device, and more particularly to a gas alarm device that, when the concentration of a gas to be detected exceeds a certain level, generates an alarm sound to notify the user of the fact.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Gas alarms, such as gas leak alarms and incomplete combustion alarms, generate an alarm sound to notify the user of the danger when the concentration of the gas to be detected in the atmosphere exceeds a certain level. I have.
[0003]
By the way, gas alarms are classified according to laws and regulations into those for general household use and those for business use where the installation environment such as a kitchen in a restaurant is severe. In general household gas alarms, sound is used for the alarm sound, and consideration is given to the user to easily understand the contents of the alarm, such as "Is gas leaking?" On the other hand, in the commercial gas alarm, a buzzer sound is used to avoid giving a visitor an unnecessary misunderstanding and giving a bad impression of the store.
[0004]
In view of the situation described above, Patent Literature 1 includes a changeover switch that switches the alarm sound between the above-mentioned sound and the buzzer sound other than the sound, and has compatibility between home use and business use. Gas alarms have been proposed.
[0005]
However, in the above-described gas alarm device, if the changeover switch is provided in a place where the user can easily operate, the alarm sound may be switched due to mischief or the like. For example, if the alarm sound of a gas alarm installed for business use is switched from a buzzer sound to a sound, when a customer is eating at a restaurant, "No gas is leaking from the cooking place "Is announced, and the store is confused.
[0006]
Therefore, in order to avoid such a situation, a changeover switch is provided on the sticking surface of the gas alarm, and when the gas alarm is attached to a wall or a ceiling, the changeover switch is hidden, and the changeover switch is arbitrarily set. It is also conceivable to prevent the operation from being performed. However, in general, the changeover switch is often used also as an operation switch for instructing the start of electrical inspection of the gas alarm device. For example, when a slide switch is used as a changeover switch, an electrical check is started when the slide switch is switched from sound to buzzer sound to sound.
[0007]
For this reason, if the changeover switch is hidden as described above, electrical inspection cannot be performed with the gas alarm installed on the wall or ceiling, and once the gas alarm is removed, the changeover switch is operated. There was a problem that had to be done. In addition, if the gas alarm is installed on a wall or ceiling with the alarm sound set incorrectly, remove the gas alarm first and then operate the changeover switch to reset the alarm to the correct alarm sound. Had to be done.
[0008]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-147266 [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-16068
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In view of the above, the present invention focuses on the above-described problems, and can prevent the switching of the alarm sound due to mischief or the like, and can switch the alarm sound by a simple operation with the gas alarm device attached. It is an object to provide an alarm device.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention according to claim 1 has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem. When the concentration of the gas to be detected exceeds a certain level, an alarm sound generating means for generating an alarm sound to notify the user of the concentration, and housed in the housing box. In this state, a special changeover switch that is turned on or off in response to an operation using a special device from outside the storage box, and the alarm sound is generated in response to the special changeover switch being turned on or off. There is provided a gas alarm device comprising: switching means for switching an alarm sound generated by the means between a sound and a sound other than the sound.
[0011]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the concentration of the gas to be detected exceeds a certain level, the alarm generating means generates an alarm sound for notifying the fact. The special changeover switch is turned on or off in a state of being stored in the storage box in response to an operation using a special device performed from outside the storage box. The switching means switches the alarm sound generated by the alarm sound generating means between a sound and a sound other than the sound in accordance with ON / OFF of the special changeover switch.
[0012]
According to the above configuration, the special changeover switch can be easily turned on or off only by performing the operation using the special appliance. In addition, the special changeover switch is provided inside the storage box, and it is necessary to use a special device to turn it on or off. Therefore, a person who does not have the special device turns the special changeover switch on or off without permission. Never be.
[0013]
The invention according to claim 2 is the gas alarm device according to claim 1, wherein the special changeover switch is a tact switch arranged at a position corresponding to a switch opening provided in the storage box. A gas alarm characterized by the following.
[0014]
According to the invention described in claim 2, the special changeover switch is a tact switch arranged at a position corresponding to the switch opening provided in the storage box. Therefore, if a switch opening smaller than the thickness of the finger is provided, the tact switch cannot be turned on or off without using a special tool such as a pen tip. For this reason, a person who does not have a special tool such as a pen tip does not arbitrarily turn on or off the special changeover switch.
[0015]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the gas alarm device according to the first or second aspect, the switching means performs a long-press operation by the special appliance, the operation continuation time of the special changeover switch exceeding a predetermined time. The gas alarm device is characterized in that the alarm sound is switched when it is touched.
[0016]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the special tool performs a long-pressing operation for which the operation duration of the special changeover switch exceeds the predetermined time, the switching unit switches the alarm sound. Therefore, even if an operation on the special changeover switch is performed using a special appliance for the purpose of mischief, the alarm sound is not switched unless the long press operation is performed.
[0017]
The invention according to claim 4 is the gas alarm according to claim 3, wherein when the special tool performs a short-pressing operation in which the operation continuation time for the special changeover switch is equal to or shorter than a predetermined time, the gas is turned off. The gas alarm device further comprises an electric inspection means for starting an electric inspection of the leak alarm device.
[0018]
According to the invention as set forth in claim 4, when the special tool performs a short-pressing operation in which the operation continuation time for the special changeover switch is equal to or shorter than the predetermined time, the electric inspection means performs the electric inspection of the gas leak alarm device. Start. Therefore, the electrical inspection can be easily started only by performing a short push operation with a special device. Moreover, even if an operation is performed on the special change-over switch by using a special device for the purpose of mischief, only an electrical check is performed.
[0019]
The invention according to claim 5 is the gas alarm according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when the switching is performed by the switching unit, the gas alarm is switched to one of the sound and a sound other than the sound. The gas alarm device further comprises an informing means for informing whether the switching has been performed.
[0020]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the switching unit performs the switching, the notifying unit notifies the user of the switching between the sound and the sound other than the sound. Therefore, the switching content can be easily recognized.
[0021]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the gas alarm of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a front external view of the gas alarm shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a side external view of the gas alarm shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the gas alarm device shown in FIG.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 1, the gas alarm device includes, for example, a gas sensor 11 that outputs a concentration signal corresponding to the concentration of a gas to be detected such as CO or CO ₂ , a tact switch 12 that turns on when pressed, A microcomputer (hereinafter, μCOM) 13 to which the gas sensor 11 and the tact switch 12 are connected is provided.
[0023]
The μCOM 13 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter, CPU) 13a that performs various processes and controls according to a predetermined program, a ROM 13b that is a read-only memory that stores programs for the CPU 13a, a CPU 13a that stores various data, And a RAM 13c, which is a readable and writable memory having an area necessary for the above processing work.
[0024]
The gas alarm device includes a speaker 15 for generating an alarm sound to notify a danger by hearing when a gas leak occurs, and an LED 16 for notifying the danger visually by lighting or the like. . The speaker 15 and the LED 16 are connected to the μCOM 13, and the operation thereof is controlled by the μCOM 13.
[0025]
Further, the above-described gas sensor 11, tact switch 12, and μCOM 13 are housed in a housing box 14 of a gas alarm. On the other hand, the speaker 15 and the LED 16 are provided on the surface of the storage box 14 as shown in the front external view of the gas alarm in FIG.
[0026]
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the tact switch 12 is disposed at a position corresponding to the switch opening 14a provided in the storage box 14. Reference numeral 17 denotes a circuit board on which the tact switch 12 is provided. The size of the switch opening 14a is, for example, smaller than a fingertip of a person. For this reason, unless the special tool 20 smaller than the switch opening 14a such as the tip of a pen is used, the tact switch 12 inside the storage box 14 cannot be pressed. The tact switch 12 corresponds to a special changeover switch in the claims.
[0027]
The switch opening 14a described above is provided on the side of the storage box 14 of the gas alarm as shown in FIG. 2B. In the gas alarm device having such a configuration, the switch opening 14a is not hidden if the gas alarm device is installed on the wall or ceiling with the back surface of the storage box 14 as a surface to be attached to the wall or ceiling.
[0028]
The operation of the gas alarm having the above configuration will be described below. When detecting a gas leak, the CPU 13a performs, in parallel, a gas leak monitoring process for notifying the detection and a switching process for switching an alarm sound when the tact switch 12 is operated.
[0029]
First, the processing procedure of the CPU 13a in the gas leak monitoring processing will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, the CPU 13a determines whether or not the concentration of the detection target gas has exceeded a certain level based on the concentration signal from the gas sensor 11 (Step S1). If it exceeds the certain level (Y in step S1), the CPU 13a determines whether or not the alarm sound flag F is on (step S2). The alarm sound flag F is a flag indicating that the sound is set in the ON state and that the sound is set to the buzzer sound in the OFF state.
[0030]
If the alarm sound flag F is on (Y in step S2), the CPU 13a outputs an audio signal to the speaker 15 (step S3). In response to the output of the audio signal, the speaker 15 outputs a sound such as "Is gas leaking?" And notifies the danger of gas leak by sound. Further, the CPU 13a outputs a lighting signal to the LED 16 (Step S4). The LED 16 is turned on in response to the output of the lighting signal to visually notify the danger of gas leakage.
[0031]
On the other hand, if the alarm sound flag F is off (N in step S2), the CPU 13a outputs a buzzer sound signal to the speaker 15 (step S5), and then proceeds to step S4. The speaker 15 outputs a dummy sound “boo” in response to the buzzer sound signal, and notifies the danger of gas leakage by voice. As is clear from the above, in steps S3 and S5, the CPU 13a functions as an alarm sound generating means.
[0032]
Next, a processing procedure of the CPU 13a in the switching processing will be described below with reference to a flowchart of FIG.
First, the CPU 13a determines whether the tact switch 12 is turned on (Step S6). If it is on (Y in step S6), the CPU 13a determines that the gas operator is pressing the tact switch 12 using the special tool 20 such as the tip of a pen, and proceeds to the next step S7.
[0033]
In step S7, the CPU 13a counts the time until the tact switch 12 is turned off, that is, the duration of the pressing operation on the tact switch 12. Next, the CPU 13a determines whether or not the time counted in Step S7 exceeds a predetermined time (Step S8). If it exceeds the predetermined time (Y in step S8), the CPU 13a determines that the continuous operation of the pressing operation on the tact switch 12 exceeds the predetermined time, and proceeds to steps S9 to S13 to issue an alarm. Perform sound switching.
[0034]
First, the CPU 13a determines whether or not the alarm sound flag F is on (step S9). At this time, if the alarm sound flag F is off (N in step S9), the CPU 13a determines that the buzzer sound has been set, and turns on the alarm sound flag F to switch from the buzzer sound to the sound. (Step S10). Further, the CPU 13a causes the speaker 15 to output a dummy sound “beep” or a sound “voice setting”, and notifies that the buzzer sound has been switched to the sound (step S11), and then returns to step S1.
[0035]
On the other hand, if the warning sound flag F is on (Y in step S9), the CPU 13a determines that the sound is set, and turns off the warning sound flag F to switch from the sound to the buzzer sound. (Step S12). Further, the CPU 13a causes the speaker 15 to output an onomatopoeic sound of "beep, beep" or a sound of "buzzer setting" to notify that the sound has been switched to the buzzer (step S13), and then returns to step S1. . As is clear from the above, the CPU 13a functions as a switching unit in steps S10 and S12, and functions as a notification unit in steps S11 and S13.
[0036]
On the other hand, if the time does not exceed the predetermined time (N in step S8), the CPU 13a determines that the duration of the pressing operation on the tactile switch 12 has been short-pressed for a predetermined time or less, and acts as an electrical inspection means. After performing the electrical inspection operation (step S14), the process returns to step S1. The electric check operation is a check to make sure that an alarm sound is generated at the time of gas leakage, and an audio signal and a buzzer sound signal are output to the speaker 15.
[0037]
According to the above-described gas alarm, the tact switch 12 can be easily turned on only by performing an operation using the special device 20. In addition, the tact switch 12 is provided inside the storage box 14, and it is necessary to use a special device 20 to turn on the tact switch 12. For this reason, the tactile switch 12 is not turned on by a person who does not have the special device 20 arbitrarily, and the switching of the alarm sound due to mischief or the like is prevented, and the simple operation with the gas alarm attached is performed. Can switch the alarm sound.
[0038]
Further, according to the above-described gas alarm device, the alarm sound is switched only when the tact switch 12 is long-pressed using the special device 20. For this reason, even if the tactile switch 12 is operated using the special device 20 for the purpose of mischief, the alarm sound is not switched unless the long press operation is performed. Switching can be prevented.
[0039]
Further, according to the above-described gas alarm device, when the special tool 20 performs a short-press operation in which the operation continuation time for the tact switch 12 is equal to or shorter than a predetermined time, the electrical inspection operation of the gas alarm device is started. For this reason, the electrical inspection operation can be easily started only by performing a short push operation with the special device 20. Moreover, even if the tactile switch 12 is operated using the special device 20 for the purpose of mischief, only the electrical inspection is performed.
[0040]
Furthermore, according to the above-described gas alarm device, when the alarm sound is switched, it is notified which of the sound and the buzzer sound has been switched. For this reason, the switching content can be easily recognized.
[0041]
According to the above-described embodiment, the sound and the buzzer sound are switched as the alarm sound. However, the sound corresponding to the buzzer sound may be other than the sound, and may be, for example, an electronic sound.
[0042]
Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the tact switch 12 housed in the housing box 14 and arranged at a position corresponding to the switch opening 14a is used as the special changeover switch. However, for example, it is also conceivable to use a magnet switch that is housed in the housing box 14 and that is turned on or off when the magnet approaches, as the special changeover switch.
[0043]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the special changeover switch can be easily turned on or off only by performing the operation using the special appliance. In addition, the special changeover switch is provided inside the storage box, and it is necessary to use a special device to turn it on or off. Therefore, a person who does not have the special device turns the special changeover switch on or off without permission. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a gas alarm device that can switch the alarm sound by a simple operation with the gas alarm device attached, while preventing the alarm sound from being switched due to mischief or the like.
[0044]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, if a switch opening smaller than the thickness of the finger is provided, the tact switch cannot be turned on or off without using a special tool such as a pen tip. For this reason, the special changeover switch is not turned on or off without permission by a person who does not have a special tool such as a pen tip, so that a gas alarm is installed while preventing switching of the alarm sound due to mischief etc. It is possible to obtain a gas alarm device that can switch the alarm sound with a simple operation in the closed state.
[0045]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, even if the special changeover switch is operated using a special device for the purpose of mischief, if the long press operation is not performed, the alarm sound will not be switched, so that it is more reliable. In addition, it is possible to obtain a gas alarm device that can prevent switching of alarm sounds due to mischief or the like.
[0046]
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the electrical inspection can be easily started only by performing a short push operation with a special tool. Moreover, even if an operation on the special change-over switch is performed using a special device for a mischief purpose, a gas alarm device requiring only an electrical check can be obtained.
[0047]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the contents of switching can be easily recognized, so that it is possible to obtain a gas alarm device that can easily and reliably switch to a different installation location.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a gas alarm device of the present invention.
2 (a) is a front external view of the gas alarm shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2 (b) is a side external view of the gas alarm shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line AA of the gas alarm device shown in FIG. 2 (b).
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a CPU 13a in a monitoring process.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a CPU 13a in a switching process.
[Explanation of symbols]
14 accommodation box 20 special instrument 13a CPU (alarm sound generating means, switching means, electric inspection means, notification means)
14a Opening 12 for switch Tact switch (special changeover switch)

Claims (5)

When the concentration of the gas to be detected exceeds a certain level, an alarm sound generating means for generating an alarm sound to notify that effect,
A special changeover switch that is turned on or off in response to an operation using a special device being performed from outside the storage box while being stored in the storage box,
Switching means for switching an alarm sound generated by the alarm sound generation means between a sound and a sound other than the sound in accordance with ON or OFF of the special changeover switch. . It is a gas alarm of Claim 1, Comprising:
The gas alarm device, wherein the special change-over switch is a tact switch arranged at a position corresponding to a switch opening provided in the storage box. The gas alarm according to claim 1 or 2,
The gas alarm device, wherein the switching means switches the alarm sound when the special tool performs a long-pressing operation on the special switching switch for more than a predetermined time. It is a gas alarm of Claim 3, Comprising:
When a short push operation in which the operation duration of the special changeover switch is equal to or shorter than a predetermined time is performed by the special appliance, an electric inspection unit that starts an electric inspection of the gas leak alarm device is further provided. Gas alarm. It is a gas alarm according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A gas alarm device, further comprising: a notifying unit for notifying whether the sound is switched to the sound or a sound other than the sound when the switching by the switching unit is performed.

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