JP5638839B2 - Alarm - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an alarm device that is installed in a general house or the like and monitors and alarms a fire by battery drive.

  Conventionally, alarm devices that detect and warn of abnormalities such as fires and gas leaks in homes have become widespread. Of these, residential disaster alarms are referred to as residential alarms.

  In such a house alarm, a sensor unit and an alarm unit are integrated in the house alarm, and a fire alarm is issued when a fire is detected. Therefore, it is easy to install and inexpensive, and it has become widespread with the obligatory installation in ordinary houses.

  For example, a warning sound such as “Woooo is a fire” is output as an alarm when a conventional house alarm detects a fire. Here, the first half “woo-woo” is called a sweep sound, and the frequency is linearly changed with respect to time in a range that is easy to hear, such as 2-3 KHz.

  The alarm sound output composed of such sweep sounds and voice messages is prepared by storing voice data in a ROM of a processor known as a one-chip CPU, and converts the voice data read from the ROM into PWM pulses. The PWM pulse (pulse width modulation pulse) is converted into an audio signal waveform by passing through a low-pass filter provided as an external circuit, amplified by an audio amplifier provided as an external circuit, and then output from a speaker.

  As described above, the PWM conversion method that converts the audio data into PWM pulses and outputs an alarm sound does not require an expensive AD converter for analog conversion of the audio data, and can output audio at low cost.

  In recent years, as a result of efforts to reduce the power consumption of residential alarms, a long battery life of, for example, 10 years or more is guaranteed, and no battery replacement is required during that period. When the battery life is approached after a long period of use and a decrease in battery voltage is detected, an alarm is given to notify that the battery is dead (battery capacity is reduced). (Here, this is called a battery warning warning.)

  Conventionally, as such a battery exhaustion warning, a fire alarm that outputs a battery exhaustion warning alarm from a speaker after a predetermined time has elapsed since detecting a decrease in battery voltage in order to reduce the battery exhaustion warning alarm from night to early morning. If the battery voltage is lower than the specified voltage (Patent Document 3) or if the battery voltage is lower than the predetermined voltage, the power lamp is turned on or blinked to notify the battery drop. A battery-type alarm device (Patent Document 4) that outputs a voice message including a prompting content from a speaker is known.

  In addition, if a battery voltage drop is detected while the user is absent for a long time, the battery warning notice will continue to be output for as long as possible with the minimum power consumption, and when the user returns home In addition, an alarm device has also been proposed in which a battery is surely noticed and a battery operation is known by a switch operation (Patent Document 5).

  In addition, the battery voltage is detected by conducting a battery load test in which a test current having a value close to the current at the time of a fire alarm is passed through a dummy load resistor by driving a transistor, and measuring the dropped battery voltage in the battery load test. Whether or not the battery voltage has dropped is determined.

JP 2005-44317 A JP 2004-54356 A JP 2005-44317 A JP 2004-54356 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-11828

  However, in such a conventional house alarm device, the battery voltage is detected by conducting a battery load test in which a test current is passed through the dummy resistor by driving the transistor. In some cases, the difference between the current and the test current increased.

  For example, if the test current is shifted to the positive side with respect to the current required for the fire alarm, the voltage drop in the battery load test becomes large, and the battery voltage when performing the fire alarm is normal, but early. There is a problem that a warning message for battery exhaustion is output.

  In addition, if the test current is deviated to the negative side with respect to the current required for the fire alarm, the voltage drop in the battery load test will be small, and if the fire alarm is issued, the battery voltage will be below the threshold voltage. Regardless, there is a problem that the battery capacity reduction is not determined and the notification is delayed.

An object of the present invention is to provide an alarm device that can detect and notify a decrease in battery capacity more accurately.

Further, the present invention is an alarm device that operates by a battery, detects an abnormality in a monitoring area, and outputs an alarm sound.
A test signal that does not output audible sound is amplified by the sound amplification unit to the sound output device that outputs the alarm sound, and a driving current corresponding to the output of the alarm sound is supplied to reduce the power supply voltage supplied from the battery at that time. depending increases the gain of the sound amplification section, the power supply voltage, wherein Rukoto to output the battery power warning alarm when the drops below a predetermined level.

The present invention also provides
Therefore, it works on batteries,
A sensor unit that detects a phenomenon in the monitoring area and outputs a detection signal;
An acoustic output device for outputting an alarm sound;
An alarm processing unit for outputting a notification sound indicating an abnormality from an acoustic output device when an abnormality is detected based on a detection signal of the sensor unit;
In an alarm device equipped with
An acoustic amplification unit that amplifies the acoustic signal and outputs the amplified acoustic signal to the acoustic output device;
A gain control unit for controlling the gain of the acoustic amplification unit;
A battery voltage detector for detecting a power supply voltage supplied from the battery;
When performing a battery load test at predetermined intervals, the gain control unit instructs the gain control to the same gain as at the output of the notification sound indicating abnormal, the acoustic output unit amplifies the test signal at the sound amplification portion A battery test unit for detecting a step-down of the battery voltage based on the voltage detected by the battery voltage detection unit in a state in which an audible sound is not output while a driving current corresponding to the output of the notification sound indicating abnormality is passed;
A battery capacity monitoring unit that detects a low battery failure when the power supply voltage supplied from the battery drops below a predetermined level detected by a battery load test, and intermittently outputs a battery deadline warning from an acoustic output device; ,
It characterized in that the provided.

When the alarm processing unit detects an abnormality, it converts the acoustic data read from the storage unit into a PWM signal, converts the PWM signal into an acoustic signal by a low-pass filter, and then amplifies it by the acoustic amplification unit to drive the acoustic output device. ,
When performing a battery load test , the battery test unit outputs a DC pulse signal instead of the PWM signal as a test signal.

Furthermore, as the volume of the alarm sound indicating an abnormality when the supply voltage is lowered to maintain the above predetermined level, it provided an alarm volume control unit which instructs the gain control to the gain control unit,
When the battery load test is performed, the battery test unit instructs the gain control unit to perform the same gain control as when the alarm sound indicating abnormality by the alarm volume control unit is output.

In addition, the battery test section detects disconnection of the sound output device and outputs a failure alarm sound to the sound output device if the battery voltage does not vary with the load when the battery load test is performed. Provide a part.

Alarm processing unit and the alarm volume control unit is a function realized by execution of a program by the CPU provided in the processor,
The sound amplification unit and the gain control unit are configured by an analog circuit built in the processor.

  According to the present invention, when the battery load test is performed regularly or irregularly, by passing the drive current to the speaker in a state where the gain of the audio amplifying unit is controlled to the same gain as that of an abnormal alarm including a fire, During the test, the same load condition as when an alarm alarm is output from the speaker can be created, the battery voltage is accurately detected in the battery load test, and based on this, the battery capacity drop is accurately determined and notified. be able to.

  Also, the alarm sound output from the speaker by the audio amplifying unit converts the audio data read from the ROM into a PWM signal, and converts it into an audio signal through a low-pass filter. By using the signal, an accurate battery load test can be performed without producing sound from the speaker.

  Further, since the current is actually passed through the speaker, if the battery voltage does not change when the battery load test is performed, it can be detected and notified as a disconnection of the speaker.

  In addition, in order to keep the alarm volume from the speaker substantially constant when the battery voltage drops, the gain control unit is instructed to increase the amplification gain of the voice amplifying unit by instructing the gain control. By reflecting it in the gain control of the audio amplifier when performing the test, it is possible to perform a battery load test that is intended to keep the alarm volume substantially constant even if the battery voltage drops, and more accurately reduce the battery capacity. It is possible to detect and notify that the battery has run out.

  Further, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by configuring the audio amplification unit and the gain control unit with an analog circuit built in the processor.

  When an alarm sound with a different volume is to be output with a conventional house alarm, a plurality of audio data with different volumes is stored in a ROM or RAM, and the corresponding data is read and output as necessary. It is necessary to store one piece of audio data in the same manner and generate desired data in the microprocessor each time by changing the on-duty width of the PWM pulse based on this single piece of audio data. However, since the former has a large amount of audio data, a ROM or RAM having a large storage capacity has to be used, resulting in an increase in cost. In the latter, the processing load on the processor is increased for generating a PWM pulse for volume adjustment. There is a problem.

  In order to solve these problems, it is sufficient to perform AGC in which the gain is controlled by the processor with the gain control circuit provided as the voice amplifier of the voice amplifying unit provided as an external circuit. The audio amplifier has a complicated circuit configuration, which increases the cost and increases the layout space for circuit components, making it difficult to reduce the size of the circuit board. In addition, the processor uses a port register and a DA conversion port for outputting a gain control signal externally. There is another problem that an external interface such as is necessary, and it is not a sufficient solution.

On the other hand, in the present invention, since the analog circuit constituting the audio amplification unit and the gain control unit is built in the processor, it is not necessary to provide an audio amplification circuit with a gain control function as an external circuit of the processor. Space can be reduced. In addition, since the audio amplifying unit and the gain control unit are built in the processor, direct gain control can be easily and easily performed by executing an internal command by the CPU, without executing a transmission command using an external interface. Without increasing the processing load on the CPU, various fine volume control as described above can be realized, which can greatly contribute to the improvement of the total performance of the alarm device.

Explanatory drawing which showed the external appearance of the house alarm device by this invention The block diagram which showed embodiment of the residence guard by this invention The time chart which showed the volume change by the gain control with respect to the fall of the battery voltage in the house alarm device of FIG. Time chart showing changes in volume when the gain of audio amplification is constant as the battery voltage drops The flowchart which showed the monitoring process in embodiment of FIG.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the external appearance of a residential alarm device that monitors and alerts a fire in a predetermined monitoring area according to the present invention. FIG. 1 (A) is a front view, and FIG. Shows a side view.

  In FIG. 1, the housing of the residential alarm 10 according to this embodiment includes a cover 12 and a main body 14. The cover 12 is provided with a protrusion at the center, a plurality of smoke inlets are opened around it, and a smoke detector 16 is disposed inside the cover 12 to detect a fire when smoke from the fire reaches a predetermined concentration. I am doing so.

An acoustic hole 18 is provided on the lower left side of the smoke detector 16 provided in the cover 12, and an acoustic output device such as a buzzer or a speaker is built in behind this so that an alarm sound or a voice message can be output. An alarm stop switch 20 is provided below the smoke detector 16.

  The alarm stop switch 20 includes a switch cover formed of a translucent member and a tact switch (not shown) arranged inside the switch cover. In the vicinity of the tact switch inside the switch cover, an LED 22 for displaying an alarm is disposed as indicated by a dotted line. When the LED 22 is turned on, blinks, or blinks, the LED 22 is transmitted through the switch cover portion of the alarm stop switch 20. The operating state of the system is made known from the outside.

  The alarm stop switch 20 functions as an alarm stop switch and an inspection switch according to the operating state of the home alarm device 10 when the switch is operated.

  For example, it functions as an alarm stop switch that stops the alarm when the alarm stop switch 20 is operated while the house alarm 10 detects a fire or during a fire alarm. Further, when the alarm stop switch 20 is operated in the normal state of the home alarm device 10, it functions as an inspection switch that executes a predetermined inspection operation and outputs an inspection result by a voice message.

Also on the back side upper portion of the main body 14 and mounting hook 15 is provided having an insertion hole at a substantially central portion, screwing and screw on the wall of a room or the like to be installed, by passing the through hole of the mounting hook 15 bis The residential alarm 10 can be fixedly installed on the wall surface or the like in a so-called wall-hanging manner.

  In the residential alarm 10 of FIG. 1, a smoke detector 16 is provided as an example, and a residential alarm that detects smoke due to fire is taken as an example. However, the temperature of a thermistor or the like that detects heat due to fire is also taken as an example. House alarms with detection elements, house alarms that detect other physical phenomena associated with fires, alarms that detect gas leaks in addition to fires, various alarms that detect intruders, earthquakes, and other abnormalities, etc. Alarm devices formed by combining these are also included in the subject of the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the residential alarm shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the residential alarm 10 includes a processor 24 known as a one-chip CPU, and the processor 24 includes a sensor unit 26, an operation unit 28, a battery voltage detection unit 30, a notification unit 32, and a battery 34. Yes. Each unit operates by receiving power from the battery 34.

  The sensor unit 26 includes a smoke detector 16 that detects smoke and outputs a signal. As described above, the sensor unit 26 may be provided with a temperature detection element such as a thermistor for detecting a temperature due to a fire and various elements for detecting other phenomena associated with a fire, instead of the smoke detection unit 16.

  The operation unit 28 is provided with an alarm stop switch 20. The alarm stop switch 20 functions as an alarm stop switch or an inspection switch according to the operating state of the home alarm device 10 at that time.

  The battery voltage detection unit 30 detects the power supply voltage supplied from the battery 34 when a battery load test, which will be described later, is performed.

  The notification unit 32 is provided with a speaker 36 that outputs an alarm sound or the like and an LED 22 that displays an alarm or the like. The speaker 36 is connected to the spice output terminals 60a and 60b of the processor 24, and the sound amplification is performed by a circuit with a built-in processor, which will be clarified later. The LED 22 displays an abnormality such as a fire or the like by blinking, blinking, or lighting. Note that a buzzer or the like may be used instead of the speaker 36. Further, instead of the LED 22, a two-color LED, a liquid crystal display, or the like may be provided. Of course, an LED and a liquid crystal display may be provided together.

Batteries 3 4 has, for example, a lithium battery or alkaline battery a predetermined number cells, the battery capacity by reducing the power consumption of the overall circuitry in the home alarm 10, ensures for example 10 years battery life ing.

  The processor 24 is also provided with a not-shown transfer circuit unit, and when the fire is detected, the transfer circuit unit outputs a transfer signal to other devices when a fire is detected by connecting the signal line. The transfer signal is, for example, a no-voltage contact open / close signal.

  The processor 24 is provided with a digital circuit unit for executing various processes of the house alarm device by program control and an analog circuit unit for performing sound amplification.

  A CPU 38 is provided as a digital circuit unit, and a control logic 42, ROM 44, RAM 46, AD conversion ports 48 and 52, an input port 50, a PWM output port 54, and an output port 56 are connected to a bus 40 from the CPU 38. The control logic 42 realizes various hardware functions such as bus control accompanying the control processing of the CPU 38.

  The sensor unit 26 is connected to the AD conversion port 48, the battery voltage detection unit 30 is connected to the AD conversion port 52, the operation unit 28 is connected to the input port 50, and the PWM output port 54 is low-pass as an external circuit. A filter 66 is connected, and the LED 22 of the notification unit 32 is connected to the output port 56.

  As the analog circuit unit, an audio amplifying unit 62 that is an audio amplifying unit that amplifies an audio signal as an audio signal and a gain control unit 64 that controls the gain thereof are provided. The audio amplification unit 62 and the gain control unit 64 can use an appropriate circuit having an AGC (automatic gain control) function under the control of the CPU 38.

  The input of the audio amplifier 62 is connected to the audio input terminal 58. The sound data of the notification sound output from the speaker 36 is stored in the ROM 44. The voice data stored in the ROM 44 is amplitude data obtained by performing AD conversion by sampling the amplitude of a voice signal corresponding to a predetermined voice message at a predetermined period. The CPU 38 reads the voice data from the ROM 44 and then turns it on duty according to the amplitude value. Is converted to a PWM pulse that changes, output from a PWM output port 54 to a low-pass filter 66 provided as an external circuit, converted to a continuous analog audio signal, and amplified by an audio amplifier 62 via an audio input terminal 58 After that, the sound is output by driving the speaker 36.

  The CPU 38 is provided with functions of an alarm processing unit 70, a volume control unit 72, a battery test unit 74, a battery capacity monitoring unit 76, and a speaker disconnection monitoring unit 78 as functions realized by executing the program.

  When the alarm processing unit 70 detects a fire from the smoke detection signal from the sensor unit 26, the alarm processing unit 70 outputs an alarm sound indicating the fire from the speaker 36 and drives the LED 22 to display an alarm.

  Specifically, the alarm processing unit 70 compares the smoke detection signal of the smoke detector 16 provided in the sensor unit 26 with a predetermined threshold, detects a fire when the threshold is exceeded, and the speaker of the notification unit 32 A warning sound such as “Woo Woo is a fire is fired” is repeatedly output from 36, and the LED 22 is turned on to display an alarm.

  Further, when the alarm processing unit 70 detects the operation of the alarm stop switch 20 during the output of the fire alarm, the alarm processing unit 70 stops the output of the fire alarm based on the voice message output from the speaker 36 and the alarm display output from the LED 22 (extinguishes). ) In this case, the alarm display output by the LED 22 may be stopped after a predetermined time has elapsed from the stop of the audio alarm output.

  In addition, when the alarm processing unit 70 detects an operation of the alarm stop switch 20 provided in the operation unit 28 in the normal monitoring state, the alarm processing unit 70 performs a predetermined internal inspection and causes the notification unit 32 to output the inspection result. If the inspection result is output normally, an inspection message including an alarm message such as “normal” is output, and if a failure is detected, an inspection message such as “pick failure” is output. The contents to be inspected in the inspection process include presence / absence of smoke detector 16 (sensor) failure, presence / absence of circuit failure, presence / absence of sensitivity abnormality, presence / absence of other failures, and the like.

  In addition, as described below, a low battery failure in which the battery (power supply) voltage (remaining battery capacity) decreases is regularly inspected internally even under normal monitoring conditions. Can be.

  When the volume control unit 72 detects a gradual battery voltage (power supply voltage) drop in comparison with the threshold voltage set in advance in multiple stages by the alarm processing unit 70, the volume control unit 72 sends the audio amplification unit 62 to the gain control unit 64. The gain control is instructed, and the output volume from the speaker 36 is controlled to be substantially constant.

  FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the gain control of the sound amplifying unit and the change of the output volume with respect to the decrease in the battery voltage by the volume control unit 72 of FIG.

  FIG. 3 (A) shows the change in battery voltage with respect to time t. The battery voltage gradually decreases as the usage period elapses. When the battery voltage falls below the threshold voltage Vd, a low battery failure is determined and a failure warning (battery warning warning) ) Is notified. For the battery voltage changing in this way, threshold values Vth1 to Vth5 are set in stages for output volume control. The target of the volume control may be only the sound output of the fire alarm or may include other notification sounds.

FIG. 3B shows the gain of the gain controller 64, and the initial gain is G1. At this time, a predetermined volume VLo having a peak of 70 dB / m or more determined according to the standard for fire alarm sound is output from the speaker 36 by the battery voltage. When the battery voltage is successively below the threshold Vth1～Vth5, which gain G1 is detected is increased by switching stepwise as shown in G2~G 6.

  Due to the increase in the gain accompanying such a decrease in the battery voltage, the output volume from the speaker 36 is recovered at the time when the gain switching is performed as shown in FIG. As a result, the control is performed so that the predetermined volume range equal to or higher than the peak predetermined volume VLo is maintained. In the region where the battery voltage is lower than the battery voltage Vd, which is a low battery failure, the above-mentioned standard volume may be lowered. However, in this region, the same volume control may be performed as appropriate.

  In general, even during a low battery failure, the fire monitoring and alarm functions continue to be valid until the battery runs out (the operation of the residential alarm 10 is stopped). 72 hours of continuous operation is possible. In other words, the battery should be replaced within 72 hours from the start of the output of the low battery warning alarm, which is a low battery failure alarm.

  In the present embodiment, the peak output volume is controlled to exceed VLo. However, on the condition that this is satisfied, for example, the minimum volume and the average volume may be controlled to exceed a predetermined level.

  FIG. 4 shows a case where a constant gain G is set without controlling the gain with respect to a decrease in battery voltage as a comparative example. In this case, since the gain is constant as the battery voltage decreases, for example, when the battery voltage drops below Vth1, the peak volume falls below the specified volume VLo, and when the battery voltage decreases, There is also a risk of lower than 70 dB / m.

  Referring to FIG. 2 again, the volume control unit 72 detects a failure such as a battery voltage drop or a sensor unit failure with respect to the fire alarm volume output when the alarm processing unit 70 detects a fire. In this case, the gain control unit 64 can be instructed to perform gain control so as to reduce the failure alarm volume output. The same applies to the volume of the notification sound of the inspection result.

  The battery test unit 74 performs a battery load test periodically, for example, every 4 hours, and gains for obtaining a predetermined output volume exceeding the same peak 70 dB / m as the fire alarm in the gain control unit 64 according to the test result. Control is instructed (this is not the case when the battery voltage is lower than VLo), and a signal based on the test voice data is amplified by the voice amplifying unit 62, and the driving current corresponding to the abnormality (fire) alarm is given to the speaker 36 The power supply voltage detected by the battery voltage detection unit 30 is read from the AD conversion port 52 and detected.

  Here, when the alarm processing unit 70 detects a fire, the alarm sound is output by converting audio data corresponding to the fire alarm read from the ROM 44 into a PWM signal, and the PWM signal is converted into an audio signal by the low-pass filter 66. After the conversion, the sound amplifying unit 62 amplifies and drives the speaker 36. However, when a battery load test is performed by the battery testing unit 74, a DC pulse signal for testing is output instead of the PWM signal. A direct current pulse signal is input to the audio amplifying unit 62 via the low-pass filter 66, and at that time, the gain control unit 64 is instructed to amplify the signal with the gain set for switching, and a driving current is supplied to the speaker 36. The battery load test is performed without outputting the audible sound.

  Even if it cannot be completely eliminated, it should be within a range that does not substantially hinder use. That is, even if some audible sound is output, it should be excluded to the extent that does not cause a substantial problem.

  When a DC pulse signal is passed through the speaker 36 as it is, noise noise is instantaneously output at the rising and falling portions, but the rising and falling edges change smoothly by passing through the low-pass filter 66, and the noise from the speaker 36 changes. Suppressing the output of sound.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the volume control unit 72 instructs the gain control unit 64 to perform gain control so that the alarm volume from the speaker 36 is maintained in a substantially constant range when the battery voltage is lowered. However, in response to this, when performing the battery load test, the battery test unit 74 instructs the gain control unit 64 to perform gain control by the volume control unit 72, and the battery load test is also performed when the battery voltage decreases. The gain setting state by this gain control is reflected, and an accurate battery load test can be performed in accordance with the current situation.

The battery capacity monitoring unit 76 determines that the battery capacity has decreased when the battery voltage detected in the battery load test by the battery testing unit 74 falls below a predetermined threshold Vd, and intermittently issues a battery exhaustion warning from the notification unit 32. Then, the battery load test is periodically prohibited by the battery test unit 74 .

  In the present embodiment, the battery voltage when the battery load test is performed by driving the speaker 36 at the current gain setting by the battery test unit 74 with respect to the rated voltage of the battery 34, for example, 5.0 volts. For example, when the threshold voltage Vd is decreased to 2.35 volts or less for two consecutive times, it is determined that the battery (remaining) capacity has decreased, that is, a low battery failure state, and a battery deadline warning is issued. This is to prevent erroneous detection when the battery capacity temporarily decreases due to, for example, a change in temperature environment.

  Further, the battery capacity monitoring unit 76 instructs the gain control unit 64 to perform gain control so that the output volume of the battery exhaustion warning to be output from the notification unit 32 is smaller than the output volume of the fire alarm.

  When the low battery is determined, the battery deadline warning by the battery capacity monitoring unit 76 is repeatedly output, for example, “Battery is dead” three times, and at the same time, the LED 22 blinks in synchronization with the alarm sound. After that, as a regular ringing sound, for example, an alarm sound “battery exhausted” is output once every minute. When the inspection operation by the alarm stop switch 20 is detected, “battery exhausted” is output once and the LED 22 blinks.

  In addition, once the low battery failure is determined and the output of the battery warning notice is started, the battery load test is prohibited, the battery capacity further decreases with time, and the processor 24 operates. Until the predetermined reset voltage to stop, for example, 2.0 volts is lowered, the battery warning notice is periodically output from the notification unit 32 as described above.

  When the battery load test is performed by the battery test unit 74, the speaker disconnection monitoring unit 78 is caused by the disconnection of the output line to the speaker 36 when there is no change in the battery voltage (voltage change due to the load change). Therefore, the disconnection failure of the speaker 36 is detected and the notification unit 32 outputs a failure alarm. In this case, since the speaker 36 cannot be used for the failure alarm, a notification is output by a display such as blinking of the LED 22.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the processing operation in the residential alarm 10 of FIG. In FIG. 5, when the power supply by the battery 34 of the mortgage alarm device 10 is started, initialization and self-diagnosis are executed in step S1, and if there is no abnormality, the process proceeds to step S2 to determine the presence or absence of fire detection, If it is determined that there is a detection, the process proceeds to step S3, and a fire alarm is output by outputting a voice message from the speaker 36 and an alarm display output by turning on the LED 22.

  Subsequently, in step S4, it is determined whether or not there is a fire recovery in which the smoke detection signal from the sensor unit 26 is reduced and the fire state is resolved. If it is determined that there is a fire recovery, the process proceeds to step S6 and an alarm sound is output from the speaker 36. Is stopped and the alarm display by turning on the LED 22 is turned off to stop the fire alarm output. The LED 22 may be turned off after a lapse of a predetermined time from the stop of alarm sound output.

  If it is not determined in step S4 that there is a fire recovery, it is determined whether or not the alarm stop switch 20 is operated in step S5. If it is determined that there is a switch operation, the fire alarm output is stopped in the same manner as described above in step S6. That is, at this time, the alarm stop switch 20 functions as an alarm stop switch for stopping the fire alarm.

  Subsequently, in step S7, it is determined whether or not there is a low battery failure that is determined based on the battery voltage detected in the battery load test that is carried out by passing a current corresponding to the fire alarm volume through a direct current pulse signal to the speaker 36 periodically. If it is determined that there is a low battery fault, the process proceeds to step S8, a battery warning notice is output by the voice message output from the speaker 36 and the blinking output of the LED 22, and then the process proceeds to step S9, in which a low area is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 46. Set the battery flag. In the set state of the low battery flag, for example, an alarm sound such as “Battery is dead” is output once as a periodic ringing every minute and the LED 22 is blinked.

  Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S10, in which it is determined whether or not the alarm stop switch 20 is operated in the normal state. If it is determined that there is a switch operation, the process proceeds to step S11. The inspection process is executed for the presence / absence and the presence / absence of other faults and the result is notified. When the alarm stop switch 20 is operated in the normal state, an operation acceptance sound such as “beep” is output.

  The above “normal state” may be defined in any way, but at least a state where no fire is detected, that is, a state where no fire alarm is output.

  In step S12, it is determined whether or not the low battery flag of the RAM 46 is set. If it is determined that the low battery flag is not set (reset), the process proceeds to step S13. Is output by a voice message from the speaker 36.

  That is, if there is no abnormality in the inspection result, the result is notified by, for example, a “normal” voice message, and if there is an abnormality, a voice message such as “abnormal” or “failure” or the content of the abnormality or failure is indicated The result is notified by voice message or the like. Of course, in addition to this, the LED 22 may be appropriately operated for notification.

  In addition, the inspection processing includes speaker disconnection detection. In the case of speaker disconnection detection, only the failure display by the LED 22 is displayed.

  If it is determined in step S12 that the low battery flag is set, the process proceeds to step S14, and a battery low warning is output as in step S8.

  When the alarm stop switch 20 is operated after the low battery flag is set in step S9, the inspection process may not be performed and the process may immediately proceed to step S14. The low battery flag set in step S9 is reset in step S1 after battery replacement, but may be reset when the low battery is not determined in step S7 after the next time.

  On the other hand, if there is no switch operation in step S10, the process proceeds to step S15. At that time, the detected battery voltage is compared with threshold values Vth1 to Vth5 set in multiple stages as shown in FIG. When it is determined that the battery voltage drop has been detected to be less than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S16 to instruct gain switching control corresponding to the gain control unit 64 to increase the gain of the audio amplification unit 62. Of course, when the battery voltage has changed to a higher threshold range than the previous time, the gain control unit 64 performs gain switching control for reducing the gain to the corresponding gain.

  Here, the gain control is performed so that the notification output volumes in steps S8, S13, and S14 are reduced with respect to the set output volume of the fire alarm in step S3.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the processor includes an audio amplification unit and a gain control unit as analog circuits is taken as an example. However, either or both of the audio amplification unit and the gain control unit are provided as external circuits of the processor. It can also be applied. Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to an acoustic output other than sound such as a buzzer sound. Moreover, it does not necessarily have to output using a PWM pulse.

  In the above embodiment, the audio data stored in the ROM is converted into the PMW pulse and then converted into the audio signal by the low-pass filter. However, the audio data may be stored in the RAM.

  In addition, the battery (power supply supplied from) voltage can be detected and decreased by directly detecting the voltage supplied from the battery, or by detecting the voltage at an appropriate point in the circuit indirectly. Based on this, it may alternatively be determined to decrease.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment took the residence alarm device which detects and alarms a fire as an example, it is applicable also to various alarm devices, such as a gas leak alarm device, a CO alarm device, and a security alarm device. . Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to a residential alarm device and an alarm device of an alarm system in which a plurality of residential alarm devices and alarm devices are arranged and alarms are linked.

  When interlocking alarms, etc., with multiple residential alarms and alarm devices, each residential alarm device and alarm device should have a wireless communication unit, and send and receive interlocking signals between other residential alarm devices and alarm devices. To do.

  Further, the operation means shown as the alarm stop switch 20 in the above embodiment is not necessarily a switch, and any means or method such as an instruction input by external communication using a remote control device or the like. May be applied.

  In addition, the flowcharts in the above-described embodiments have described a schematic example of processing, and the order of processing is not limited to this. Further, it is possible to provide a delay time between processes or between processes, insert other determinations, and the like.

  Further, depending on the standard of the alarm device, the display by the LED of the above embodiment may not be recognized as “alarm”, but in the present invention, the alarm display is performed regardless of whether it is included in the “alarm” according to the standard. It is described as a display accompanying an alarm or simply as a display. Here, any display means may be used as long as the object of the present invention can be achieved. And the alerting | reporting part including a display part may be provided separately from the alarm device.

  Further, the above-described embodiment is applicable not only to residential use but also to various types of alarm devices such as buildings and offices.

  In the above embodiment, the sensor unit, the other processing unit, and the control unit are integrally provided in the alarm device. However, as another embodiment, the sensor unit, the other processing unit, and the control unit are separately provided. It may be a body alarm.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, includes appropriate modifications that do not impair the objects and advantages thereof, and is not limited by the numerical values shown in the above-described embodiments.

10: House alarm 12: Cover 14: Body 15: Mounting hook 16: Smoke detector 18: Sound hole 20: Alarm stop switch 22: LED
24: processor 26: sensor unit 28: operation unit 30: battery voltage detection unit 32: notification unit 34: battery 36: speaker 38: CPU
40: Control logic 44: ROM
46: RAM
48, 52: AD conversion port 50: Input port 54, 56: Output port 58: PWM output terminal 60a, 60b: Speaker output terminal 62: Audio amplification unit 64: Gain control unit 66: Low pass filter 70: Alarm processing unit 72: Volume control unit 74: battery test unit 76: battery capacity monitoring unit 78: speaker disconnection monitoring unit

Claims (6)

In an alarm device that operates by battery, detects an abnormality in the monitoring area and outputs an alarm sound,
A test signal that does not output an audible sound is amplified by an acoustic amplifier in the sound output device that outputs the warning sound, and a driving current corresponding to the output of the warning sound is passed, and the power supply voltage supplied from the battery at that time increasing the gain of the sound amplification portion with a decrease of alarm device the power supply voltage and said Rukoto to output the battery power warning alarm when the drops below a predetermined level.

Therefore, it works on batteries,
A sensor unit that detects a phenomenon in the monitoring area and outputs a detection signal;
An acoustic output device for outputting an alarm sound;
An alarm processing unit that outputs a notification sound indicating an abnormality from the acoustic output device when an abnormality is detected based on a detection signal of the sensor unit;
In an alarm device equipped with
An acoustic amplifier for output to the audio output unit amplifies the acoustic signal,
A gain control unit for controlling the gain of the acoustic amplification unit;
A battery voltage detector for detecting a power supply voltage supplied from the battery;
When performing a battery load test at a predetermined period, the gain control unit, said instructs the gain control to the same gain as at the output of the notification sound indicating abnormality, the amplifying the test signal in the sound amplification portion Detects a gradual decrease in battery voltage based on the voltage detected by the battery voltage detection unit in a state where an audible sound is not output while a driving current corresponding to the sound output indicating the abnormality is supplied to the acoustic output device A battery testing unit to
A battery capacity that is detected by the battery load test and determines that a low battery failure has occurred when a power supply voltage supplied from the battery drops below a predetermined level, and intermittently outputs a battery deadline warning from the acoustic output device. A monitoring unit;
An alarm device characterized by providing.
In the alarm device according to claim 2 ,
When the alarm processing unit detects an abnormality, the alarm processing unit converts the acoustic data read from the storage unit into a PWM signal, converts the PWM signal into an acoustic signal by a low-pass filter, and then amplifies the acoustic signal by the acoustic amplification unit. Drive the instrument,
The battery test unit outputs a DC pulse signal instead of the PWM signal as the test signal when performing a battery load test.
In the alarm device according to claim 2 or 3 ,
Furthermore, as the volume of the notification sound the supply voltage is indicative of the abnormality when reduced to maintain a higher than a predetermined level, provided an alarm volume control unit which instructs the gain control to the gain control unit,
The battery test unit, when performing a battery load test, instructs the gain control unit to perform the same gain control as when an alarm sound indicating abnormality by the alarm volume control unit is output.
In the alarm device according to what Re one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising battery test unit, when performing a battery load test, if the battery voltage, there is no variation due to the load, the acoustic An alarm device comprising a disconnection monitoring unit that detects disconnection of an output device and outputs a failure alarm sound to the acoustic output device.
In the alarm device according to what Re one of claims 2 to 5,
It said alarm processing unit and the alarm volume control unit is a function realized by execution of a program by the CPU provided in the processor,
The acoustic amplification section and a gain control unit, the alarm device, characterized in that is constituted by an analog circuit built in the processor.

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