JP7526232B2 - Fire Receiver - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a fire receiver equipped with an emergency telephone function.

Conventionally, fire receivers used in fire alarm systems that monitor factors that can cause fires, such as smoke generation, temperature rise, and gas leaks, are installed in disaster prevention centers, control rooms, etc. Fire receivers determine whether or not a fire has occurred by receiving signals from one or more terminal devices installed in each fire monitoring area.

Conventionally, emergency telephone panels equipped with emergency telephones are also installed in disaster prevention centers, control rooms, etc., along with fire receivers. The emergency telephones installed on the emergency telephone panels are capable of communicating with emergency telephone handsets installed in fire hydrant boxes, for example.

JP 2006-171832 A

However, the conventional techniques have the following problems.
In the prior art of Patent Document 1, it was necessary to separately install an emergency telephone panel with an emergency telephone and a fire receiver in a disaster prevention center, control room, etc. In other words, in the prior art, in order to realize a call function by an emergency telephone, it was necessary to prepare an emergency telephone panel and a fire receiver separately. This resulted in an increase in cost and required separate installation space for each.

The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide a fire receiver that also functions as an emergency telephone board and can reduce costs and the need for installation space.

The fire receiver of the present invention is a fire receiver having a configuration that can be connected to a maintenance telephone, and further includes an emergency telephone base unit for conducting calls between an emergency telephone handset connected to an external device, and a control unit that distinguishes between incoming calls from the maintenance telephone and the emergency telephone handset , and the control unit distinguishes between incoming calls from the maintenance telephone and the emergency telephone handset by notifying the user of different alarm sounds for incoming calls from the maintenance telephone and the emergency telephone handset .
The fire control device according to the present invention is a fire control device having a configuration that can be connected to a maintenance telephone, and includes an emergency telephone master unit for communicating with an emergency telephone slave unit connected to an external device;
The telephone system further includes a control unit that distinguishes between incoming calls from a maintenance telephone and an emergency telephone handset, and the control unit distinguishes between incoming calls from the maintenance telephone and an emergency telephone handset by displaying the calls with different character colors or background colors.

According to the present invention, the fire receiver is equipped with an emergency telephone base unit and is configured to be able to communicate with an emergency telephone handset. As a result, it is possible to obtain a fire receiver that also functions as an emergency telephone board and can suppress increases in costs and installation space.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a fire alarm system according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a fire receiver according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displaying a case where three overlapping events are detected in the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a conventional fire alarm system that includes an emergency telephone panel and a conventional fire receiver and that performs emergency telephone calls. FIG. 1 is a first explanatory diagram showing a configuration in which an emergency telephone call function is added to a fire control panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a second explanatory diagram showing a configuration in which an emergency telephone call function is added to the fire control device of embodiment 1 of the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram of a fire control panel having a communication function using an emergency telephone according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

Below, a preferred embodiment of the fire receiver according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1.
First, the functions of the fire receiver other than the emergency telephone function will be described.
Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a fire alarm system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The fire alarm system shown in Fig. 1 is configured to include a fire receiver 10, four terminal devices 20(1) to 20(4), and a repeater 30. Here, the two terminal devices 20(1) and 20(2) and the repeater 30 are directly connected to the fire receiver 10. In addition, the two terminal devices 20(3) and 20(4) are directly connected to the repeater 30, and are connected to the fire receiver 10 via the repeater 30. Note that the numbers of the terminal devices 20 and the repeaters 30 are not limited to those shown in the example of Fig. 1.

The fire alarm system shown in Figure 1 is a so-called R-type fire alarm system. Therefore, the four terminal devices 20(1)-20(4) output measurement results, detection results, etc. as analog signals, and the fire receiver 10 determines whether or not there is a fire based on the reception of these analog signals.

Representative examples of the terminal device 20 include a photoelectric analog sensor and a thermal analog sensor as described below.
- Photoelectric analog detector A smoke detector that can detect the occurrence of smoke as an analog value in a fire monitoring area when the light emitted from the light-emitting unit is dimmed by the influence of smoke and received by the light-receiving unit; or a smoke detector that can detect the occurrence of smoke as an analog value when the light emitted from the light-emitting unit is scattered by smoke particles and received by the light-receiving unit.
- Heat analog detector: This corresponds to a heat detector that can detect heat as an analog value in a fire monitoring area.

In addition, measuring instruments that measure temperature, air pressure, humidity, CO gas, etc. can be used as terminal devices that can measure the surrounding conditions in the fire monitoring area.

Furthermore, various sensors such as those listed below can also be used as terminal devices.
- Pressure sensor By connecting a pressure sensor in the piping route of the fire extinguishing system and monitoring the pressure inside the piping, it is possible to know the status of sprinkler discharge, etc.

In addition, by using a repeater that measures 4-20mA current, it becomes possible to freely connect commercially available sensors that support the industry standard of measuring 4-20mA current as terminal devices 20. Specific examples of such sensors include gas sensors and flame sensors.

It is also possible to use the terminal device 20 as a transmitter that reports the occurrence of a fire when a button is pressed. That is, the terminal device 20 used in this embodiment 1 transmits, as transmission information, fire-related information that is used by the fire receiver 10 to determine whether or not a fire has occurred. The transmission information is composed of various types of detection result information, measurement result information, operation result information, etc., as described above.

The results of detection by the terminal device 20 can be displayed on the fire receiver not only as real-time current values, but also as time-series data over a certain period of time as trend history. By providing the device with the ability to display such trend data, it becomes possible to more quickly pinpoint the cause of a false alarm.

For example, if the detection results of a pressure sensor are recorded as a trend history of time-series data, it will be possible to verify after the fact whether the pressure was released all at once or gradually.

When a gas sensor is used as the terminal device 20, the trend history of the gas concentration obtained as the time series data of the detection results can be used for subsequent verification. Similarly, when a flame sensor is used as the terminal device 20, the trend history of the flame size obtained as the time series data of the detection results can be used for subsequent verification.

Furthermore, when detecting air pressure using a differential heat detector as the terminal device 20, a sudden drop in air pressure may result in a false alarm. Even in such a case, the cause of a non-fire alarm from the differential heat detector can be identified by referring to the trend history of air pressure obtained as time-series data of the detection results.

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of a fire receiver 10 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention. Note that the multiple terminal devices 20(1)-20(4) shown in Figure 1 are simply illustrated as multiple terminal devices 20 in Figure 2. The multiple terminal devices 20 may be various sensors and measuring instruments as described above, and may be installed in the desired fire monitoring area.

The fire receiver 10 shown in FIG. 2 is configured with the following mechanisms: a receiving unit 11, a memory control unit 12, a fire determination unit 13, a display control unit 14, an operation control unit 15, a memory unit 16, an alarm unit 17, a display unit 18, and an operation unit 19. Note that the functions of the receiving unit 11, the memory control unit 12, the fire determination unit 13, the display control unit 14, and the operation control unit 15 can be performed collectively by a single control unit.

The receiving unit 11 acquires the analog signals output as transmission information from each terminal device 20 at a predetermined sampling interval, and then performs analog/digital conversion to generate digital values. Note that the sampling interval does not need to be a common value for all terminal devices 20, and can be set to an appropriate value individually depending on the physical quantity to be measured, the fire monitoring area, etc.

The memory control unit 12 sequentially stores the digital values of the detection results by each terminal device 20, generated by the receiving unit 11, in the memory unit 16. At this time, the memory control unit 12 updates the stored data so that time series data for a predetermined period of time remains in the memory unit 16. For example, for time series data in which 10 pieces of data are obtained within a certain period of time, the memory control unit 12 performs an update process for the time series data so that the latest 10 pieces of data are stored in the memory unit 16. Therefore, by performing the sequential update process, the transition state of the latest measurement value in the most recent specified period is stored in the memory unit 16.

The fire detection unit 13 determines whether or not a fire has occurred based on the latest time series data or the latest real-time data stored in the memory unit 16. Furthermore, if the fire detection unit 13 determines that a fire has occurred, it can notify the fire outbreak via the notification unit 17. Note that the determination process by the fire detection unit 13 is the same as that of the conventional technology, and a detailed description will be omitted.

The display control unit 14 performs display control to display the detection results of the terminal devices on the screen of the display unit 18 based on time-series data, which is the detection history of each terminal device, stored in the memory unit 16.

When the fire determination unit 13 determines that a fire has occurred, the memory control unit 12 continues the update process while separately storing data for a predetermined period of time immediately prior to the time when it is determined that a fire has occurred. This allows trend history, with the latest data being the time when it is determined that a fire has occurred, to be stored in the memory unit 16 separately from data that has been normally updated. As a result, by performing display control by the display control unit 14, it is possible to easily display time series data with the latest data being the time when it is determined that a fire has occurred, making it possible to quickly identify the cause of a false alarm.

When the fire detection unit 13 determines that three or more events have occurred at the same time, the display control unit 14 can display the three or more events on one screen using background colors that are individually set according to the attributes of the events. Details of this function will be described later with reference to FIG. 3.

The operation control unit 15 reads the operation input entered by the operator via the operation unit 19, and executes processing according to the operation input. Here, in a fire alarm system such as that shown in FIG. 1, the operator is required to execute appropriate operations according to the event that has occurred, and quickly report fire information, give instructions for firefighting work, etc.

When the fire receiver 10 according to the first embodiment receives information indicating that a fire has occurred from multiple terminal devices during a certain period of time (hereinafter, such information will be referred to as events), the fire receiver 10 provides the operator with information on the multiple events that have occurred, and is equipped with a display function that allows the operator to reliably recognize each of the multiple events and reduces the risk of overlooking them.

More specifically, the fire receiver according to the first embodiment has a display function that allows the operator to recognize all overlapping events when there are overlapping events occurring in a certain time period, thereby reducing the risk of overlooking any of them. Therefore, the specific display function will be described in detail with reference to example screens.

<Screen example: Screen display when three overlapping events are detected>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displaying a case where three overlapping events are detected in the first embodiment of the present invention.

The screen display area in FIG. 3 is broadly divided into an information display area 110 at the top and an operation display area 120 at the bottom. The information display area 110 shows a display example in which a first event 111, a second event 112, and a third event 113 occur at the same time during a certain period of time. Specifically, FIG. 3 shows an example in which the following three events overlap:

First event 111: The fire determination unit 13 receives alert information from one transmitter, determines it as one piece of fire occurrence information, and displays the fact that a fire has occurred.
Second event 112: The fire detection unit 13 receives information from one fire damper that a fire damper has been closed and information that one fire pump has been started, determines this as one piece of fire occurrence information, and displays the fact that the terminal device has been activated.
Third event 113: The fire determination unit 13 receives detection information from one gas leak detector, determines it as one piece of fire occurrence information, and displays the fact that a gas leak alarm has occurred.

The operation display area 120 also includes a text display area 120A on the left and an illustration display area 120B on the right.

In screen example 1 shown in FIG. 3, the display control unit 14 distinguishes and displays the overlapping first event 111, second event 112, and third event 113 on one screen. In particular, the display control unit 14 distinguishes and displays the specific occurrence or operation content in text on the display unit 18 together with the occurrence location. As a result, a fire receiver can be realized that can reduce the risk of the operator overlooking any of the events when multiple events occur at the same time.

When displaying multiple overlapping events, the display control unit 14 can also distinguish the first event 111, the second event 112, and the third event 113 by using different text colors or background colors. By displaying each event in a different color rather than simply displaying multiple events simultaneously, the risk of the operator overlooking any of the events can be further reduced even when multiple overlapping events occur.

It is also possible to specify in advance the text color or background color according to the type of event. For example, a background color pattern can be specified according to the attributes of each event, such as a first event indicating that a fire has occurred, a red background color, a second event indicating that a terminal device has been activated, a blue background color, and a third event indicating that a gas leak alarm has been generated, a yellow background color. This reduces the risk that an operator will overlook any event even when multiple events occur at the same time, and allows the operator to easily identify the attributes of the events based on the background color pattern.

Next, a method for incorporating the functions of the emergency telephone panel 300 into the fire control panel 10 will be described.
Fig. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of a conventional fire alarm system that includes an emergency telephone panel 300 and a conventional fire receiver 200 and that performs emergency telephone calls. As shown in Fig. 4, in the conventional fire alarm system, in order to perform calls with an emergency telephone handset 400a installed in an external device, such as a fire hydrant box 400, it was necessary to install the emergency telephone panel 300 having an emergency telephone panel operation unit 310 with an emergency telephone 310a installed separately from the fire receiver 200. Therefore, the provision of the emergency telephone panel 300 led to increased costs and an increase in installation space.

Therefore, in this embodiment 1, a configuration is realized in which a call function using an emergency telephone via the emergency telephone panel 300 is incorporated into the fire control device 10 shown in Figures 1 and 2, which will be described in detail below.

Figure 5 is a first explanatory diagram showing a configuration in which a call function using an emergency telephone is added to the fire receiver 10 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in Figure 5, an emergency telephone master unit 10a is newly installed in the fire receiver 10. Furthermore, the fire receiver 10 and the fire hydrant box 400 are interconnected via an emergency telephone repeater 50 to enable voice calls between the emergency telephone master unit 10a on the fire receiver 10 side and the emergency telephone handset 400a on the fire hydrant box 400 side.

Figure 6 is a second explanatory diagram showing a configuration in which a call function using an emergency telephone is added to the fire control device 10 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention. The operation of the fire control device 10 when an incoming call is received from the emergency telephone handset 400a will be described in detail with reference to Figure 6.

The outgoing signal from the emergency telephone handset 400a is received by the communication unit 11a in the fire receiver 10 via the emergency telephone repeater 50. The communication unit 11a will be described later in FIG. 7. When the communication unit 11a receives the outgoing signal, it notifies the display control unit 14 in the fire receiver 10 of the incoming call information from the emergency telephone handset 400a. As a result, the display control unit 14 displays the information shown on the left side of FIG. 6 in the screen display area of the fire receiver 10.

Specifically, the upper information display area 110 displays incoming call information informing you that there has been an incoming call from the emergency telephone handset 400a, and the lower operation display area 120 displays specific operation guidance for the emergency telephone base unit 10a for making a call with the emergency telephone handset 400a.

The operator can therefore easily use the emergency telephone master unit 10a provided on the fire receiver 10 to make a voice call with the emergency telephone handset 400a via the emergency telephone repeater 50. In this way, a fire receiver 10 can be realized that combines the functions of the emergency telephone board 300 and can suppress increases in costs and installation space.

Figure 7 is a functional block diagram of a fire receiver 10 with a call function using an emergency telephone, according to embodiment 1 of the present invention. Compared to the functional block diagram shown in Figure 2 above, the fire receiver 10 shown in Figure 7 has a communication unit 11a instead of a receiving unit 11. Here, the communication unit 11a has both a receiving function for receiving fire-related information from each of the multiple terminal devices 20, and a communication control function for realizing a call between the emergency telephone master unit 10a and the emergency telephone handset 400a.

The fire receiver 10 is also configured to be able to connect to a maintenance phone used by workers during construction and maintenance. When the maintenance phone handset is plugged into a telephone jack installed on the site, such as a transmitter, the fire receiver 10 outputs a ring tone. When an operator then plugs the maintenance phone handset into a telephone jack installed on the fire receiver 10, communication with the site becomes possible. Therefore, when incorporating the functions of the emergency telephone board 300 into the fire receiver 10, it is important to distinguish between the ring tone when a maintenance call is received and the ring tone when an emergency call is received.

Furthermore, in addition to receiving calls from the emergency telephone handset 400a, it is possible that the fire receiver 10 may receive duplicate fire occurrence information from the terminal device 20, etc. Therefore, it is also important to know how to identify and notify the multiple pieces of information that are received in duplicate by the fire receiver 10. Therefore, below, the notification process when information is duplicated will be explained in detail based on a concrete example.

<Example 1: Distinguishing between emergency calls and maintenance calls>
The fire control device 10 can distinguish between incoming calls from the emergency telephone handset 400a and incoming calls from the maintenance telephone by making the two sounds different and notifying them from the notification unit 17. For example, when there is an incoming call from a maintenance telephone, an alarm sound such as "pururu-ru" is output, and when there is an incoming call from the emergency telephone handset 400a, an alarm sound such as "piroriro-ro" is output.

<Example 2: When three or more events occur simultaneously, notification processing is performed taking into account the priority order>
When three or more events occur simultaneously, it is conceivable that, according to a predetermined priority order, the top two events will be notified using an alarm sound and a voice, and the other events will be notified only using voice. By carrying out such notification processing, it is possible to avoid a situation in which three or more events are notified using an alarm sound at the same time, and it is possible to notify using voice and display text information for all events.

For example, consider a case where the following three events, Event 1 to Event 3, occur simultaneously, in descending order of priority.
Event 1: Fire confirmed
Notification using alarm sound "Peep"
Voice notification: "Fire has broken out. Please check the area."
Event 2: Emergency call
Notification using alarm sound "Piroriro"
Voice notification: "An emergency call has been received."
Event 3: Gas leak
Notification using alarm sound "beep beep beep"
Voice notification: "Gas leak has occurred. Please check the site."

If these three events 1 to 3 occur at the same time, the alarm sound notification will be "beep" for event 1 and "piroriroro" for event 2, and the "beep beep beep" alarm sound notification for event 3 will be omitted.

Meanwhile, audio alerts will be issued for all events 1 to 3, and text information will be displayed in the information display area 110. It should be noted that by stopping the alerts using alarm sounds for events 1 and 2, an alert using a "beep beep beep" alarm sound for event 3 can be issued. In this case, the alarm sounds and voices are repeated in the following order: "Beep," "A fire has broken out. Please check the site," "Pee-ro-ro," "An emergency call has been received," and "A gas leak has occurred. Please check the site."

<Example 3: Events with low importance, such as the operation of terminal devices or fire protection equipment>
Consider a case where, in addition to the events 1 to 3 shown in the second specific example, the following events 4 to 6 occur simultaneously.
Event 4: Fire door operation
Notification using alarm sound "Boo"
Voice notification: "Fire doors have been activated. Please check the area."
Event 5: Fire shutter operation
Notification using alarm sound "Boo"
Voice notification: "Fire shutters have been activated. Please check the area."
Event 6: Terminal device activation
Notification using alarm sound "Boo"
Voice notification: "Terminal device has been activated. Please check the site."

These three events, Event 4 to Event 6, are assumed to have a lower priority and are determined in advance to be events with lower importance compared to Event 1 to Event 3. In this case, it is possible to prevent either the alarm sound or voice notification from being executed for Event 4 to Event 6.

In this case too, the alarm sounds and voices will be repeated in the following order: "Beep," "A fire has broken out. Please check the site," "Pee-ro-ro," "An emergency call has been received," and "A gas leak has occurred. Please check the site." At this time, events 4 to 6 may be displayed in the information display area 110 together with events 1 to 3, or may be displayed by the operator scrolling the screen.

Also, by stopping the notification using the alarm sound for events 1 to 3, it is possible to execute the notification using the alarm sound "buzz" for events 4 to 6.

By performing the notification processing as shown in the above-mentioned specific examples 1 to 3, the fire receiver 10, which also has the functionality of the emergency telephone board 300, is able to distinguish between emergency calls and maintenance calls, and appropriately identify and notify overlapping fire-related information and incoming call information according to priority.

The number of events that will be notified using both the alarm sound and voice that have been preset for each event can be set as desired depending on the usage environment, etc., as a predetermined number of events from the top of a pre-defined priority order.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to realize a fire receiver that also functions as an emergency telephone panel and can suppress increases in costs and installation space. Furthermore, by performing notification processing according to priority, it is possible to distinguish between incoming emergency calls and maintenance calls, and to appropriately notify overlapping fire-related information.

10 Fire receiver, 10a Emergency telephone base unit, 11a Communication unit, 12 Memory control unit, 13 Fire judgment unit, 14 Display control unit, 15 Operation control unit, 16 Memory unit, 17 Notification unit, 18 Display unit, 19 Operation unit, 20 Terminal device, 30 Repeater, 50 Emergency telephone repeater, 400a Emergency telephone handset.

Claims (3)

A fire control device having a configuration capable of being connected to a maintenance telephone,
an emergency telephone base unit for communicating with an emergency telephone handset connected to an external device;
A control unit that distinguishes between the maintenance telephone and the emergency telephone handset ,
The control unit performs the call identification by notifying the call tone from the maintenance telephone and the call tone from the emergency telephone handset using different alarm sounds.
Fire receiver. A fire control device having a configuration capable of being connected to a maintenance telephone,
an emergency telephone base unit for communicating with an emergency telephone handset connected to an external device;
A control unit that distinguishes between the maintenance telephone and the emergency telephone handset ,
The control unit distinguishes between the incoming call from the maintenance telephone and the incoming call from the emergency telephone handset by displaying the incoming call in different character colors or background colors.
Fire receiver. The control unit distinguishes between the incoming call from the maintenance telephone and the incoming call from the emergency telephone handset by displaying the incoming call in different character colors or background colors.
The fire receiver according to claim 1 .