WO2018224105A1

WO2018224105A1 - A device for pests

Info

Publication number: WO2018224105A1
Application number: PCT/DK2018/050123
Authority: WO
Inventors: Preben FRITZBØGER
Original assignee: Anticimex Innovation Center A/S
Priority date: 2017-06-08
Filing date: 2018-06-06
Publication date: 2018-12-13

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for pests comprising: a trap housing comprising a power supply unit and a control unit. Moreover, the device has a detector capable of detecting a pest within a detection zone. The trap housing comprises a startling device capable of giving off or emitting a startling means in a direction towards a pest detected by the detector.

Description

A device for pests

The invention relates to a device for pests comprising:

a trap housing comprising a power supply unit and a control unit;

a detector capable of detecting a pest within a detection zone.

Rats in the sewer system is an increasingly growing problem that entails considerable problems of both a technical and a sanitary nature. For instance, rats may cause damage by perforating sewer pipes or building nests in the soil surrounding the pipes. Thereby the pipes may unsettle and become leaky; however, they may also be clogged due to actual rat nests, or the pipes may even collapse when the surrounding soil yields due to, at times, very large rat nests. Thereby sewer water seeps into the surroundings with ensuing increased risks of spreading of diseases. Besides, the rats per se are also spreaders of disease, and since they are capable of travelling across considerable distances, they are, unfortunately, a substancial source of propagation of diseases. It is consequently important - not only from a health-care point of view, but also from a financial point of view - to exterminate rats in general and including also in the sewer network.

Attempts have consequently also been made to destroy rats, both by mechanical and by chemical means, but both methods are associated with deficiencies and weaknesses. For instance, rats are extremely adaptable which is also reflected in a unique ability to develop resistance to the poisons used, which is why it has been necessary, on an ongoing basis, to develop and use increasingly more aggressive poisons that are poisonous not only to humans, but also to many of our beneficial animals that are thereby unintentionally exposed to a serious risk of poisoning. The purely mechanical solutions, such as eg snares or clap traps have been found to have weaknesses, rats being very intelligent animals with a great capacity for learning. Precisely those properties entail that the rats are very aware that eg a dead rat is a clear sign of danger, and that is why they avoid, to a very large extent, areas where dead rats have been present or where dead animals still remain in such mechanical traps. Such behaviour thus brings about problems in the context of the mechanical traps that, consequently, need to be emptied with great care and/or moved on a regular basis, the rats being, as mentioned, quick to avoid the environments where those traps occur.

Today, alternatives exist to traps that kill the pests; for instance so-called rat stops are inserted into sewer pipes today. Typically the rat stops function by means of flaps that serve as One-way valves', since, usually, they are capable of letting water through in one direction, and blocking for water and pests in the opposite direction. The drawback of that kind of mechanical solutions is that they delimit the throughput area of the sewer pipes, and thereby there is an increased risk of actual blockings of the sewer pipes in which rat stops have been arranged. Object and brief description of the invention

It is an object of the invention to remedy such drawbacks.

It has surprisingly been found that, by the invention, it is possible to easily and efficiently prevent the presence of pests while obviating the above-referenced drawbacks by providing the device for pests such that it comprises a startling device capable of giving off or emitting a startling means in a direction towards a pest detected by the detector. By configuring the device for pests with a startling device capable of giving off or emitting a startling means it is accomplished that the device for pests can be arranged at a distance from the throughput area of the sewer pipe, while simultaneously the startling means is capable of hitting within same.

Embodiments of the invention will appear from the dependent claims.

In this application the phrase 'device for pests" is used, while at the same time only rats are mentioned. However, this choice of words is not to be relied upon for an interpretation to the effect that the invention can be used only against rats in sewer pipes. As it is, the invention may, of course, also be used in the context of other animals living in sewers, including mice or snakes for that matter. Moreover, the invention may, of course, also be arranged elsewhere than in sewer pipes, but it is preferably used for rats in sewers.

This application furthermore uses the phrase 'irritant substance'. Usually such substance will be a chemical substance capable of making eyes tear up and causing eyes to burn, such as Capsaicin in pure form or in the form of chilli powder. However, the irritant substance may also be more powerful, such as eg tear gas, without that being in contravention of the fundamental idea of preventing the presence of animals, without it being at the detriment of a through- put area. However, for many reasons, the irritant substance is advantageously constituted by chili in concentrated or diluted form or by pure Capsaicin. Experience has shown that this involves a minimal risk to the environment, including also to humans who, during their work, come into contact with the devices for pests and their means of action/startling means.

The word 'gas' is used several times in this application. That word comprises any kind of gas or combinations thereof.

In the following, an embodiment of the invention will be explained with refer- ence to Figure 1 , wherein: Figure 1 shows how the device for pests can be arranged in a sewer well underneath a cover.

From Figure 1 a device 1 for pests will appear that is arranged in a sewer well 2. The device for pests is arranged suspended underneath the cover of the sewer well which is shown to be open in Figure 1 . The device for pests comprises a trap housing 4 arranged above a sewer pipe 5 that traverses the bottom of the sewer well 2. The device for pests is, in the shown embodiment, attached - via a wire 6 - to a fitting 7 secured completely at the top of the well just underneath the cover. The trap housing 4 comprises, in the shown embodiment, a power supply, a control unit and a detector, but none of these is shown in the figure. Moreover, the trap housing is provided with an interface 8 to the effect that the operational parameters of the device for pests can be outputted, but also that the device for pests can be programmed via same. Usually the programming and communication with the control unit of the device for pests will happen wirelessly, however, as will be explained below.

From underneath the device for pests, a lighter and striated triangular area 10 will appear; that area symbolises or illustrates the area in which the startling device and detector(s) of the device for pests operate. Those areas may coincide, but need not do so. To the left, at the bottom of that area, the outline of a rat 1 1 kan be made out.

Albeit the device for pests is shown as an independent unit, it may, of course, be interconnected with other units, such as eg in units that kill rats by means of spikes. The purpose of integrating/interconnecting a device for pests with a startling means into/with a trap that kills may be to optionally enable/program whether the trap is to kill or startle. One may even configure the trap such that, in some scenarios, the trap kills and, in other scenarios, startles or it may even do both. Several devices for pests may also partake in a systematic method, whereby a number of sewer pipes in an area of a network of sewer pipes are provided with devices for pests, while other sewer pipes in the same network of sewer pipes are provided with traps that kill pests. By using a combination of the two types of traps systematically in such area of mutually interconnected sewer pipes, it is possible to accomplish that pests that are present in the area become so affected by stress by the devices for pests with startling means that they are compelled to travel past traps that kill. The devices for pests with startling means usually being simpler and more inexpensive to manufacture/use than traps with killer mechanisms, it it thereby also possible to minimize the overall costs that are associated with the elimination of pests in an area.

The control mechanism of the device for pests may comprise a notification device (not shown in the figure) which is capable of emitting a signal/message when the device for pests has been affected, including parameters for operational status such as remaining battery life, remaining reservoir capacity, temperature, error messages or every time the detector has detected a pest. Typically that reporting device will operate via the mobile-telephone network, and the signal will travel via the cable 6 and an antenna (not shown) arranged at the well cover.

The startling means as such may, as mentioned, be chili; however, air and sound have also been found to be potent startling means. The time as such for emitting startling means, including also the amount thereof, is usually con- trolled by the control unit to the effect that it is emitted for an adapted period of time following detection of a pest by the detector. The power for the emission of chili or air may, according to one example of the invention, be accomplished by providing the device for pests with a reservoir comprising a pressurized receptacle from where the startling means can be discharged in doses. The device for pests may, of course, also comprise several such pressurized re- ceptacles/reservoirs, and, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, it comprises several reservoirs/pressurized receptacles to the effect that the device for pests is capable of emitting several different startling means either simultaneously or separately in response to the programming of the con- trol unit. However, the power can also be provided in other ways, including eg from actual pumps as they are known from eg "hard ball" guns.

Usually the detection zone 10 of the device for pests coincides, at least partially, with the zone in which the startling device can emit a startling means.

Usually the device for pests is configured with a detector registering emission of infrared radiation from the pests. However, it may also be configured with several detectors. The purpose of several detectors is, on the one hand, to increase the accuracy of fire of the device for pests, but by providing it with several detectors each having its separate detection zone (eg situated longitudinally of the sewer pipe (5)) it is possible to detect the direction of movement of the pests, and such information can be used to charter the presence of the pests in an area, the direction of escape being determined and recorded. According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the device for pests may be provided with a camera (not shown) or a movement sensor as it is known from eg intruder alarm systems. This provides the advantage that the device for pests is also capable of monitoring whether there are animals that, for some reason or other, do not enter the device for pests. The internal com- puter is thus capable of being programmed to record footage everytime the sensor/camera is activated. Moreover the detector can be coupled, via the communication explained above, to the effect that a user is also capable of connecting to the camera if he/she needs eg status checks (eg water level) in a sewer pipe in which the invention is arranged.

Claims

C l a i m s

1 . A device for pests comprising: a trap housing comprising a power supply unit and a control unit;

a detector capable of detecting the presence of a pest within a detection zone, characterised in that the trap housing comprises a startling device capable of giving off or emitting startling means in a direction towards a pest detected by the detector.

2. A device for pests according to claim 1 , characterised in that the device for pests comprises a killer mechanism capable of killing a pest within a given radius, said killer mechanism being activated by the control mechanism when the detector detects a pest within the given radius.

3. A device for pests according to claim 1 and/or 2, characterised in that the control mechanism of the device for pests comprises a notification device capable of emitting a signal when the detector has detected a pest.

4. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -3, characterised in that the startling device of the device for pests comprises a reservoir in which an irritant substance is kept and from where said irritant substance can be discharged in a direction towards the pest when the detector has detected a pest.

5. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -4, characterised in that the reservoir of the startling device comprises capsaicin in pure or diluted form.

6. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -5, characterised in that the startling device contains a pressurized receptacle to the effect that the star- tling means is discharged towards the pest by means of such pressure.

7. A device for pests according to claim 6, characterised in that the pressurized receptacle comprises the reservoir of the device for pests.

8. A device for pests according to any one of claims 7, characterised in that the device for pests contains several reservoirs, wherein each reservoir can, but need not, contain individual startling means.

9. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -8, characterised in that the control mechanism is capable of interrupting the startling device or the de- tector.

10. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -9, characterised in that the startling device is able to emit a gas, eg atmospheric air, in a direction towards a pest.

1 1 . A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -10, characterised in that the startling device is able to emit a gas admixed with capsaicin in a direction towards of a pest.

12. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -1 1 , characterised in that the startling device emits chili in a direction towards the pest.

13. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -12, characterised in that the startling device is able to emit sound or light in a direction towards a pest.

14. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -13, characterised in that the device for pests comprises an attachment means by which the device for pests can be mounted in a suspended manner.

15. A device for pests according to claim 13, characterised in that the device for pests comprises an attachment means by which the device for pests can be mounted to be suspended from the top of a sewer well; and such that the startling device of the device for pests can hit a pest present in a sewer pipe travelling through the bottom of the sewer pipe.

16. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -15, characterised in that the detection zone of the detector coincides, at least partially, with the zone into which the startling device is capable of emitting a startling means.

17. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -16, characterised in that the device for pests comprises a registration unit capable of recording operational parameters, including but not limited to remanining battery life and startling means supply and the number of emissions of startling means.

18. A device for pests according to any one of claims 1 -17, characterised in that the device for pests comprises detectors capable of registering the direction of movement of the pests.

19. A device for pests according to any one of claims 8-18, characterised in that the control unit can be programmed to emit combinations of individual startling means from several reservoirs, eg light or sound simultaneously with chili or chili along with gas and/or sound.