PH12016000418A1 - Full gear detector - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is designed to provide a system that utilizes the use of Personal Protective Equipment for every worker for strict safety compliance in ay workplace. The said system is comprises of sensors (5)(8), indicators (7)(9)(13)(14) and a microcontroller (6). It uses a vision sensor(5) that responds to an object through color recognition, prior to this study, responds to verify the PPE compliance of each worker upon entering the production. The system created a database for the storage of monitoring and logging activities. It has designed program that enables the system to determine if the worker wears a proper PPE and recognizes the worker's identification based on the corresponding color codes attached on its gears.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD -

The study relates generally to the field of personnel safety, and more particularly to a system. 8 and method for ensuring the safety of personnel in areas requiring protective gear, clothing, and the - like. ol

BACKGROUND po

Industries are concerned with safety practices to achieve zero accidents a day. Safety, standards must be regulated and implemented in different working field to be more aware with hazardous encounter. Dickson (2013) stated that Personal Protective Equipment is designed to help” those working in the various industries that utilize PPE or Personal Protective Equipment as a means to protect the worker from the natural harm that comes into their working area. This Personal

Protective Equipment such as hand wear, footwear, face protection, eye protection, garments, partial garments and other equipment are used to protect physical body. Leonard (1999) said that 19 monitoring of the complete protective equipment that appropriate to the workplace is a great factor to eliminate accidents. Non-compliance is one of the factors which cause accident that cause “injuries and sometimes lead to death during work hours. According to Read (2002), presently, there is no existing automated process or system for ensuring that personnel wear the required articles and adhere to safety precautions regarding protective gear, clothing, and the like. It is commonplace for 29 individuals to simply forget certain items, particularly in highly stressful situations. It is generally up to the individual, or a supervising individual, to ensure that such articles are worn by visual inspection.

Upon entering the production area, checking of the protective equipment for monitoring must take place before workers proceed to their corresponding working area. It should be done to ensure that the workers are adequately equipped with the necessary equipment for carrying out a specific task or activity, These situations paved to the development of PPE detection system.

Boccola (2014) stated that visual and manual inspection that is commonly used by several industry 1s impractical, disorganized and sometimes the issue of bias. According to De Luca (2012), there is a need for a system that accurately monitors individuals as they use machinery, tools, and vehicles, to assure that proper safety protocol is followed to avoid injury to themselves and others in the vicinity, as well as avoiding damage to products and production equipment. It is also the aim of the study to preclude cases of theft and intrusion in the work place. Advantage of technology is more effective and efficient that is able to handle the industrial safety through a single period of time.

RFID technology for example, merely detects the presence of the PPE in an area and does not 3% verify that the PPE is being worn at all times while the employee is within the hazardous area based on Wing (2013). The present invention concerns a system for monitoring the utilization of personal protective equipment by workers as they enter the workplace. With the latest developed technology: known as “Pixycam” that can detect an object through color recognition, it can be used to reinforce. the safety of the workers in the workplace by detecting the proper wearing of PPE for each entry of

Hy personnel in specific work areas. o

One proposed approach includes the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)” technology to help promote worker compliance with workplace safety rules. For example, U.S. Pat.

No. 6,853,303 titled “RFID System and Method for Ensuring Personnel Safety” discloses a RFID, marking scheme may be used to control access to a restricted area by marking required PPE with an’

RFID tag. Limitations with RFID technology, however, prevent such systems from detecting”, whether the PPE on a given individual is being worn properly or merely present in the area of the, individual e.g. an individual holding a hardhat, or wearing safety glasses on their forehead. Another one is U.S, Pat. No. 4,684,933 to Dill discloses a system which discriminates between a person who is wearing a small metal object and a person who is not. Unfortunately, this system can only be used in circumstances where the wearing or not wearing of a small metal object is tightly controlled, such as in certain types of institutions

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The problem of accidents has always beset the world of work. Unfortunately, the size of this problem is very significant. In addition to fatal accidents, countless more or less serious accidents are also regrettably recorded every day, Among other things, beyond the human aspects of the problem, the so-called social costs of the problem must also be taken into account.

On the basis of what has been described so far, it is easily understandable how, in recent years, the need has become increasingly felt to ensure the safety of workers in the workplace. In particular, in the past, it was attempted to find a solution to the problem of accidents in the workplace only on a regulatory basis.

The present invention entitled “DEVELOPMENT OF FULL GEAR DETECTOR USING

VISION SENSOR,” is designed to provide a system that utilizes the use of Personal Protective

Equipment for every worker for strict safety compliance in any workplace. The said system is comprises of sensors (5) (8), indicators (7) (9) (13) (14) and a microcontroller (6). It uses a vision 306 sensor (5) that responds to an object through color recognition, prior to this study, responds to verify the PPE compliance of each worker upon entering the production.

The system created a database for the storage of monitoring and logging activities. It has a designed program that enables the system to determine if the worker wears a proper PPE and recognizes the”, -5 worker's identification based on the corresponding color codes attached on its gears. =

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION =

The invention is composed of LDR circuit (4), Vision sensor (5), Microcontroller (6), Relay ~

Circuit (3) and Indicators (7) (9) (13) (14). The LDR Circuit (4) operates when the worker interrupt the door sensor (8) in the entrance and the exit. Then the vision sensor (5) recognizes the color 1c” coded badge attach in the worker's PPE. The green enter light indicator (13) will turn off and the red standby light indicator will turn on. The camera data that the vision sensor (5) gathered will be send to Microcontroller (6) module and the data will be match from the database. The LDR Circuit (4)

LL vision sensor (5) and Microcontroller (6) is supplied by a 5Vdc power supply (2).

The Microcontroller (6) module controls the data from the vision sensor (5) and the signal 16 from the LDR Circuit (4). It sends an output to the relay circuit (3). The relay circuits (3) will drive the buzzer (7) and light indicators (9) (13) (14). It is supplied by a 12 Vdc power supply (2).

Base on the program, if the data has matched, it will be send back to Microcontroller (6) module and the green light indicator (9) inside the PPE detection room will tum on and the door sensor (8) in the exit is bypass. And if the data has not matched and the worker exits the detection room, the buzzer (7) will enable for 5 seconds. The green light indicator (9) inside the room will turn off, the green enter light indicators (13) will turn on and the red standby light indicator (14) will turn off.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows the components of the main panel.

Figure 2 shows the components of the Controller Unit (10).

Figure 3 shows the position of door sensors (8) and other devices inside the detection room.

Figure 4 shows the entrance side of the detection room.

Figure 5 shows the source code of the microcontroller ar {6).

Figure 6 shows the flow chart of the system. .30 Figure 7 shows the schematic diagram of the relay circuit (3).

Figure 8 shows the schematic diagram of the power supply (2) circuit.

Figure 9 shows the block diagram of the system. -

Figure 10 shows the data log file containing the personal information of personnel. o

Figure 11 shows the vision sensor module with its main processor and camera. “

Figure 12 shows the placement of color coded badge for every protective equipment. -

Detailed Description of Drawing ~

With reference to the drawings, as shown in Figure 1, the main panel transformer (1) is the” device that converts 220Vac to 12Vac and connects to the input of power supply (2) which converts” j0 12Vac to 12Vdc and 5Vdc output that will supply the relay circuit (3), LDR circuit (4), buzzer a), green light indicator (9), green enter light indicator (13) and red standby light indicator (14).

Together in the main panel is the relay circuit (3) which is responsible for controlling higher voltage and current devices like light indicators (9) (13) (14) and buzzer (7) from the output of the controller unit (10). Included in the panel is the LDR circuit (4) that controls the sensitivity of the 5 door sensor (8) and provides input signal to the microcontroller (6).

Figure 2 the Vision sensor (5) module is made up of a programmable embedded computer vision sensor (5) with the main processor of NXP LPC430 32bit dual core ARM processor (16) and an Omnivision 9715 image sensor (15). It is configured to detect seven color signature then store in its internal memory and recognize the color codes that have been set. In setting the color code the 120 colors should first to teach in the vision sensor (5) then the user will set it to its corresponding signature number. This can be done in the pixymon an application used to program and reprogram the Vision sensor (5). After that, all the colors are registered in the internal memory of the Vision sensor (5) module. It is now then ready for color recognition applications. In our case, we configure the microcontroller (6) in such a way that it would detect and read only at least two color "25 combination and a maximum of four color combination. It is also programmed to detect only three set of color codes (two colors for safety shoes, four colors for body suit and two colors for head gear). This means that only one person is allowed to recognize by the controller unit (10). It also programmed to communicate with the computer database. The database is programmed to store color codes intended for the desired personnel. It has a GUI for easy access of the user to encode, change, update and delete color codes and personnel information. The database has also a safety features such as entry password for limited users access. Microcontroller (6) was also programmed to control output indicators (9) (13) (14) and buzzer (7).

Figure 3 is view of the detection room where the controller unit (10) is set up 0.8 meters” above the floor in front of the foot marker which is the typical elevation for the detection of the~ ~5 camera. The green light indicator (9) is installed behind the controller unit (10) to easily notice if- the detection of the PPE is proper. It will light up if proper PPE is detected. A fluorescent lamp (12) was placed in both sides of the room for a uniform distribution of light for the color brightness: affects the recognition of the camera. Door sensors (8) are installed in both entrance and exit in such a way that a person that enters and leave the detection room can be monitored. The foot marker (1 - is an area where the personnel should stand for detection of PPE. It was placed 4 feet from the-. controller unit (10) based on the distance that the vision sensor (5) can effectively detect the person: wearing the PPE.Once the worker enters the detection area, the vision sensor (5) will read the color, coded badge attached in the worker's PPE: 2 color codes in helmet, 4 in overall suit and 2 in safety iy shoes, to check if the worker is wearing it properly. The codes read by the camera will then be sent to the microcontroller (6) to identify if it is the right codes or not. The microcontroller (6) will send a signal to the buzzer (7) and green light indicators (9) to provide notification whether it detects a proper PPE or not. A buzzer (7) alarm indicates an error.

Figure 4 is the entrance of the detection room showing wherethe light indicators (13) (14) are installed. The green ENTER light indicator (13) lights up to notify the employee that the detection room is empty/not in use otherwise the red STANDBY light indicator (14) is on signifying that the room is occupied.

Figure 12 is the illustration of proper PPE of personnel with color codes attached on equipment. The headgear badge (17), over-all suit badge (18) and safety shoes badge (19) must be present and properly attached in specified location as shown in the figure enable to be detected by the vision sensor (5) asproper PPE wearing, The safety shoes badge (19) for each gear must be alignedtogether for proper detection.

Figure 9 is the displayed window of the data log file that contains the log-in information of the personnel after the successful PPE detection process. It displays the employee ID, the complete name of the worker, position, as well as the log-in date and time. Information is successfully ‘30 registered on the database if the worker wears complete and proper PPE.

A I

Claims (5)

-- CLAIMS Cpe

1. A method for ensuring that personnel are properly outfitted with necessary equipment for. the performance of particular procedures, said method comprising: - Ft detecting (20) the color-coded badge attached on the personal protective. oo equipment(PPE) of an individual requesting access to a restricted area, wherein. access to the requested area requires that the individual wear one or more PPE items. within the restricted area; 2 JO conducting a verification check (21) of the individual's PPE upon entrance of the, . workplace through the use vision sensor (5); - upon analyzing (22) through color recognition, determining whether complete gears are being worn properly by the individual based on one or more predefined dimensions configured on the system;

2. The method as in claim 1, where in the vision sensor (5) is disposed upon entrance of the workplace at a security check-point.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein the required equipment includes protective clothing or devices.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the color-coded badge are permanently affixed to the pieces of the equipment.

5. A system, comprising: A computer-readable storage medium containing a program configured to detect compliance with requirements for using personal protective equipment, the program including instructions for performing an operation; og Electronically storing respective profiles of individuals; A vision sensor (5) that sends data to microcontroller (6) that accesses the datgbase for the input and output peripherals; Visual indicators configured to provide notice to the individual of the detection room’s vacancy and notify if proper PPE is being worn, 20 A sound indicator that give notice if an individual attempt to enter the workplace after the system denied the access by detecting an improper wearing of PPE. ye