JP2009169669A - Portable gas alarm - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable gas alarm capable of reliably preventing water such as a water droplet in the atmosphere from entering a space inside a housing where an electronic component is disposed, and issuing a warning sound having a sufficiently large sound pressure. <P>SOLUTION: The portable gas alarm comprises a housing of a size that allows it to be held in a hand in which a buzzer chamber is formed at the rear side. A circuit board for controlling operation is disposed in the housing in a manner to extend along the front face and the back face of the housing. A panel-like display mechanism is disposed on the surface side of the circuit board, and a compartment having a hollow portion partitioned in a mutually watertight state with a space where the circuit board is disposed is formed on the rear side. The compartment communicates with the buzzer chamber, and also with the outside through an opening for giving off a warning sound formed at least on the front of the housing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable gas alarm device including an alarm buzzer that operates when a detection target gas is detected.

In general, for example, in underground construction sites, tunnels, places where people enter, work areas, etc., there is a risk that dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide gas or hydrogen sulfide gas may be contained in the air of the environment. In many cases, there is a possibility that the air in the environmental atmosphere is in a dangerous state or in a dangerous state, such as when the oxygen gas concentration in the air may be lowered.
And when it becomes dangerous to humans due to the high concentration of dangerous gas contained in the air or low oxygen gas concentration, it is necessary to immediately know that From such a demand, portable gas alarm devices comprising an alarm notification mechanism by an alarm sound from a buzzer that operates when a gas to be detected is detected by a gas sensor are widely used (patents) Reference 1).

  Usually, in a portable gas alarm device having a buzzer, an alarm sound emission opening is formed in the housing, and a buzzer arrangement portion is provided so as to communicate with the opening of the alarm sound emission opening. A buzzer having a structure that vibrates by magnetic force is arranged, and a dustproof mesh having countless minute through holes is provided so as to close the opening of the alarm sound emitting opening.

Thus, in such a portable gas alarm device, it is desired that a loud alarm sound is generated. For example, a display mechanism (LCD) and a switch are provided on the front surface of the gas alarm device. Therefore, it is not possible to adopt a configuration in which the buzzer is arranged on the front side.
In addition, a waterproof structure is used to prevent water such as water droplets in the atmosphere from entering the inside of the housing from the opening of the alarm sound emitting opening of the housing that communicates with the outside through the hole of the dustproof mesh, for example. It is required to have

JP 2002-116169 A

  The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and reliably prevents water such as water droplets in the atmosphere from entering a space in which electronic components such as a circuit board for operation control are arranged. Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable gas alarm device that can emit an alarm sound having a sufficiently large sound pressure.

The portable gas alarm device of the present invention comprises a housing having a buzzer arrangement chamber in which an alarm buzzer is arranged, formed on the back surface, which can be held and held by hand,
Inside the housing, an operation control circuit board is disposed so as to extend along the front and back of the housing, and a panel-like display mechanism is provided on the surface side of the operation control circuit board. On the back surface side, a compartment having a hollow portion partitioned in a watertight manner with a space in which the operation control circuit board is arranged is formed,
The compartment is characterized in that it communicates with the buzzer arrangement chamber and communicates with the outside through an alarm sound emitting opening formed at least in front of the housing.

  In the portable gas alarm device of the present invention, it is preferable that an opening for alarm sound emission communicating with the compartment is further formed on the upper surface of the housing.

  In the portable gas alarm device of the present invention, a configuration using a buzzer made of a thin plate-like piezoelectric element can be used.

According to the portable gas alarm device of the present invention, the buzzer is activated when the gas sensor detects the detection target gas, but the buzzer is formed on the front surface of the housing and the compartment that communicates with the buzzer arrangement chamber formed on the back surface of the housing. Since the alarm sound is emitted to the outside through the alarm sound emission opening, the alarm sound can be set to a sufficiently large volume, and water such as water droplets in the atmosphere can pass through the alarm sound emission opening. Even if it has entered, it can be completely prevented from entering the space in which the electronic components such as the operation control circuit board are arranged, and thus can be configured to have a predetermined waterproof structure. .
In addition, although the alarm sound emitting opening is configured to open on the front surface of the housing, the gas alarm device itself can be configured to be sufficiently small by forming the buzzer arrangement chamber on the back surface. it can.

In addition, an alarm sound emitting opening that communicates with the compartment is further formed on the upper surface of the housing, so that an alarm sound with a larger volume can be emitted to the outside of the housing.
Furthermore, since a buzzer made of a thin plate-like piezoelectric element is used, it is possible to use a buzzer having a relatively large size. Also from this point, a sufficiently loud alarm sound is emitted.

1 is a front view showing a configuration of an example of an explosion-proof gas alarm device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view of the explosion-proof gas alarm device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in FIG.
The explosion-proof gas alarm device 10 includes a rear housing member 12 and a front housing member 13 made of, for example, a transparent resin material connected and fixed to the rear housing member 12 via a frame-shaped packing P. The entire housing 11 having a substantially box shape is formed. The housing 11 has a size that can be held and held by hand. Inside the housing 11, a flat operation control circuit board 30 on which various necessary functional elements are mounted is disposed so as to extend along the front and back surfaces of the housing 11, and this operation control circuit board is provided. A panel-like display mechanism 31 is provided in the central region on the front surface side of 30, and a cavity portion that is partitioned in a watertight manner from a space in which electronic components such as the operation control circuit board 30 are disposed on the back surface side. A compartment 25 having 25A is formed, and columnar secondary batteries (storage batteries) 50 are disposed on the left and right sides of the compartment 25.

In the lower part of the housing 11, for example, four button-type gas sensors for detecting different types of gas, a sensor holder 37 formed with a sensor holding part for holding the gas sensors in a state of being arranged in the plane direction, A sensor unit mounting portion 17 in which a sensor unit 35 held in a fixed state is detachably mounted is formed by a sensor cap 38 in which a gas flow path leading to each sensor holding portion is formed. Yes. Reference numeral 39 denotes a sensor substrate.
As the gas sensor, for example, a gas sensor 36A for oxygen gas detection composed of a galvanic gas sensor element, for example, a hydrocarbon gas composed of a catalytic combustion type gas sensor element is detected in a measurement range of% LEL (lower explosion limit concentration). A gas sensor 36B, for example, a gas sensor 36C for detecting carbon monoxide gas composed of a constant potential electrolytic gas sensor element, for example, a gas sensor 36D for detecting hydrogen sulfide gas composed of a constant potential electrolytic gas sensor element, and the like. .

As shown in FIG. 6, the rear surface of the housing 11 is configured by a stepped recess having, for example, three steps that form a substantially columnar space portion having a diameter that decreases toward the front side. The buzzer arrangement chamber 20 is formed, and a lid 14 is provided so as to close the buzzer arrangement chamber 20.
The buzzer 40 is composed of a thin plate-like piezoelectric element made of a vibrator in which a disc-like piezoelectric ceramic 42 is bonded to the central portion on one surface of a disc-like metal plate 41, for example. The member 45 is disposed so as not to be directly fixed to the housing 11.

  The support structure of the buzzer 40 will be described in detail. The buffer member 45 has a mortar-shaped recess 46 that is convex inward at the center position of the disk-shaped base material, and a peripheral portion. And a mounting portion 47 extending in parallel with the bottom wall portion of the recess 46 through a tapered portion extending outward, and the peripheral edge of the metal plate 41 constituting the buzzer 40 The other surface is bonded to the outer surface of the flat portion positioned around the recess 46 of the buffer member 45 by, for example, an annular double-sided adhesive tape 48, and the inner surface of the mounting portion 47 of the buffer member 45 is buzzer It is fixed to the flat surface 20A of the first step in the arrangement chamber 20 by, for example, ultrasonic welding. Therefore, a gap is formed between the buzzer 40 and the buffer member 45 at a position corresponding to the piezoelectric ceramic 42 of the buzzer 40. With C are formed, there is a state where the gap S is formed between the cushioning member 45 and the housing 11 at a position corresponding to position the buzzer 40 is arranged.

The buffer member 45 is preferably made of, for example, a material having non-water permeability, and examples thereof include polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and vinyl chloride (PVC).
The thickness of the cushioning member 45 is preferably, for example, 0.1 to 0.4 mm, whereby a sufficient cushion function is obtained and sufficient deformability to follow the vibration of the metal plate 41 is obtained.

The buzzer arrangement chamber 20 has, for example, a specific structure as shown below, whereby the gap S formed between the buffer member 45 and the housing 11 can be used as a resonance space, which is larger. Sound pressure warning sound can be emitted to the outside.
That is, a circular opening 21 communicating with the compartment 25 inside the housing 11 is formed in the central portion of the bottom wall in the buzzer arrangement chamber 20, and outward toward the periphery of the opening 21. The protruding protrusion 22 is formed in a non-contact state with respect to the buffer member 45 so as to extend over the entire circumference.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, four holes 23 communicating with the compartment 25 inside the housing 11 are formed at positions spaced at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the flat surface of the second step. The peripheral surface of the second step is formed in a tapered shape (see FIG. 6).
Further, it is preferable that the gap S between the housing 11 and the buffer member 45 has a separation distance in the thickness direction of the buffer member 45 in the range of 0.3 to 1 mm.

  Further, at a position near the buzzer arrangement chamber 20 on the back surface of the housing 11, an internal space of the buzzer arrangement chamber 20 and the housing 11, specifically, a space in which electronic components such as the operation control circuit board 30 are arranged. Is formed independently of the cavity 25A in the compartment 25 (see FIG. 5), and leads for connecting the buzzer 40 and the operation control circuit board 30 to the space 28 (see FIG. 5). (Not shown) is wired.

On the other hand, in the compartment 25 inside the housing 11, the surface side opening of the partition wall formed so as to surround the four sides at the position corresponding to the buzzer arrangement chamber 20 on the inner surface of the back side housing member 12 is closed by the partition wall 26. Thus, a hollow portion (tunnel portion) 25A is formed inside.
A cylindrical portion 27 having a substantially oval cross-sectional shape is formed at a position below the partition wall 26, and an alarm sound is emitted when the cylindrical portion 27 is formed at a position below the display portion 18 in the surface-side housing member 13. A sound opening (hereinafter referred to as “front sound emission opening”) 15 is fitted via a packing so that the internal space of the compartment 25 is provided with a dustproof net ( (Not shown).
Also, the internal space of the compartment 25 is an alarm sound emission opening (hereinafter referred to as an “upper sound emission opening”) formed in the upper wall of the back-side housing member 12 that forms a part of the compartment 25. 16 and a dustproof net (not shown) provided in the upper sound emitting opening 16 and communicates with the outside.

The secondary battery (storage battery) 50 that is a driving power source uses, for example, an AAA size (single type) nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery, a nickel-cadmium (NiCd) battery, etc., and is a sleeve-like heat dissipation member made of metal. For example, 51 is disposed in the housing 11 in a state of being closely attached over the entire outer peripheral surface of the secondary battery 50 and being held by the holding frame member 52.
By providing the sleeve-like heat radiating member 51, the degree of temperature rise of the secondary battery 50 at the time of a short circuit can be suppressed within a specified range, and the explosion-proof specification required for the power supply unit is satisfied. Become.

  The explosion-proof gas alarm device 10 is configured to further include an alarm notification mechanism by light emission of the alarm light emitting element 32 and vibration by the alarm vibration generator 33 in addition to the alarm notification mechanism by the buzzer sound ( (See FIG. 4).

Further, in the explosion-proof gas alarm device 10, a protective cover 60 made of, for example, a conductive thermoplastic elastomer composition is attached. When the protective cover 60 is attached, the housing 11 exposed to the outside is mounted. The size of the continuous resin surface portion is regulated to a predetermined size, for example, 100 cm ² or less, and as a result, the countermeasure against static electricity is sufficient and the explosion-proof property is high. In addition, since the material constituting the protect cover 60 also functions as a buffer material (protective material) for the explosion-proof gas alarm device 10 due to the impact resistance of the material itself, the explosion-proof gas alarm device 10 is prevented from being broken or damaged. Can be maintained in a proper operating state.

  In the above, reference numeral 55 in FIG. 1 is a first operation button that serves as both a main switch and a mode change switch in which “POWER” and “MODE” are displayed in two stages, and 56 is indicated as “AIR”. The second operation button 19 for adjusting the function for changing the alarm generation standard according to the type of gas sensor, that is, the type of gas to be detected by the gas sensor, 19 is the front surface of the housing 11 and the upper surface, both sides 2 in FIG. 2 is an infrared communication port for reading out gas concentration data detected by a gas sensor and recorded in a storage element of the operation control circuit board 30, for example. is there.

In the explosion-proof gas alarm device 10 configured as described above, air in the environmental atmosphere diffuses to reach the gas sensors 36A to 36D, the concentration of the target gas is detected, and the result is displayed on the panel-shaped display mechanism 31. Is displayed. And when the density | concentration of detection object gas exceeds the reference value set about the said gas, an alarm operation signal is emitted and the buzzer 40 is act | operated by this.
For example, when the detection target gas is oxygen gas (O ₂ gas), the reference value is, for example, 18.0% by volume (vol%), and an alarm operation signal is issued when the reference value is lower than that. The reference value is, for example, 10% LEL (gas concentration with respect to the lower explosion limit concentration) when the detection target gas is hydrocarbon gas (HC gas), and when the detection target gas is carbon monoxide gas (CO gas). For example, it is 25 ppm, and in the case of hydrogen sulfide gas (H ₂ S gas), for example, it is 10 ppm. When the reference value is exceeded, an alarm operation signal is issued.
The explosion-proof gas alarm device 10 is provided with a plurality of types of alarm notification mechanisms, but it is not necessary for all of them to be driven all at once, and each alarm notification mechanism is sequentially driven for a predetermined time. Preferably, a cyclic alarm action is performed.

Thus, according to the explosion-proof gas alarm device 10 configured as described above, the buzzer 40 operates when the gas sensors 36 </ b> A to 36 </ b> D detect the detection target gas, but in the buzzer arrangement chamber 20 formed on the back surface of the housing 11. Since the alarm sound is emitted to the outside through the communicating chamber 25 and the front sound emission opening 15 and the upper sound emission opening 16 formed in the front of the housing 11, the alarm sound can be set to a sufficiently large volume. In addition, even when water such as water droplets in the atmosphere enters through the front sound emission opening 15 and the upper sound emission opening 16, a space in which electronic components such as the operation control circuit board 30 are disposed. Can be completely prevented from entering, and thus can be configured to have a predetermined waterproof structure.
In addition, the buzzer arrangement chamber 20 is formed on the back surface while the alarm sound emitting opening is configured to open to the front surface of the housing 11, so that the gas alarm device itself is configured to be sufficiently small. be able to.

  Furthermore, since the buzzer 40 made of a thin plate-like piezoelectric element is used, a relatively large one can be used. Also from this point, a sufficiently loud alarm sound is generated.

  In particular, the thickness of the buffer member 45 and the gap S between the housing 11 and the buffer member 45 have a specific size, and the buzzer arrangement chamber 20 has a specific structure. The space S between the two can be a so-called resonance space, and an alarm sound with a larger sound pressure can be emitted to the outside.

  Furthermore, since the buzzer 40 made of a piezoelectric element is disposed via the film-like buffer member 45, water such as water droplets in the atmosphere is separated from the front sound emission opening 15 and the upper sound emission opening 16. 25, and even when entering the buzzer arrangement chamber 20, it is completely prevented from entering outward from the buffer member 45, so that the operation of the buzzer is not hindered. Moreover, since the opening 21 and the hole 23 formed in the buzzer arrangement chamber can also function as an opening for draining water, the water that has entered by discharging the entire explosion-proof gas alarm 10 is discharged to the outside. Can do.

It is a front view which shows the structure in an example of the explosion-proof gas alarm device of this invention. It is a top view of the explosion-proof gas alarm device shown in FIG. It is the sectional view on the AA line in FIG. It is the BB sectional view taken on the line in FIG. It is CC sectional view taken on the line in FIG. It is sectional drawing for description which shows the support structure of a buzzer. It is a top view which shows roughly the structure of a buzzer arrangement | positioning chamber.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Explosion-proof type gas alarm device 11 Housing 12 Back surface housing member 13 Front surface side housing member 14 Cover 15 Front sound emission opening (alarm sound emission opening)
16 Upper sound emission opening (alarm sound emission opening)
17 Sensor unit mounting portion 18 Display portion 19 Light emitting portion for alarm 20 Buzzer arrangement chamber 20A Flat surface 21 Opening 22 Protruding portion 23 Hole 25 Partition chamber 25A Hollow portion (tunnel portion)
26 Bulkhead 27 Cylindrical portion 28 Space 30 Operation control circuit board 31 Panel-shaped display mechanism 32 Alarm light emitting element 33 Alarm vibration generator 35 Sensor unit 36A, 36B, 36C, 36D Gas sensor 37 Sensor holder 38 Sensor cap 39 Sensor board 40 Buzzer 41 Metal plate 42 Piezoelectric ceramics 45 Buffer member 46 Recess 47 Mounting portion 48 Double-sided adhesive tape 50 Secondary battery 51 Sleeve-shaped heat radiation member 52 Holding frame member 55 First operation button 56 Second operation button 57 Infrared communication port 60 Protect cover P Packing C Cavity S Cavity

Claims (3)

A buzzer arrangement chamber where an alarm buzzer is arranged is provided on the back surface, and has a housing that can be held and held by hand,
Inside the housing, an operation control circuit board is disposed so as to extend along the front and back of the housing, and a panel-like display mechanism is provided on the surface side of the operation control circuit board. On the back surface side, a compartment having a hollow portion partitioned in a watertight manner with a space in which the operation control circuit board is arranged is formed,
The compartment chamber communicates with the buzzer arrangement chamber and communicates with the outside through an alarm sound emission opening formed at least on the front surface of the housing.   2. The portable gas alarm device according to claim 1, further comprising an alarm sound emitting opening that communicates with the compartment, on the upper surface of the housing.   The portable gas alarm device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the alarm buzzer comprises a thin plate-like piezoelectric element.

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