Communications: electrical – Visual indication
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-02
2001-04-10
Lefkowitz, Edward (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Visual indication
C340S330000, C340S331000, C340S573400, C340S870030, C340S991000, C340S993000, C701S211000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06215410
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
This invention relates in general to a rescue guiding system for underground mine personnel, and more particularly to a system for guiding persons during hazardous life-threatening situations from a work area to a refuge bay, and still more particularly to a wireless communication system for mine workers to guide them to a refuge bay.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is well known that in underground mines fire constitutes an ever-present life-threatening hazard to workers. Fires endanger valuable lives of workers and also cause considerable economic losses to the mine operators. Fires occur because of the presence of combustible materials and the use of various mining equipment and techniques, open flames, blasting operations, inadvertent explosions, the use of electricity, the occurrence of friction between various elements, the occurrence of spontaneous combustion, and other possibilities. The product of fires generates smoke and carbon monoxide, both of which are life threatening to workers. It is well known that mine workers carry emergency gear such as oxygen equipment which must be immediately activated in the event of a hazardous situation, and that the workers must evacuate their stations to go to the nearest shelter or refuge bay having life-support equipment and supplies.
It is also well known that the normal life of oxygen equipment carried by a person is about 25 to 30 minutes, but inasmuch as a worker would have a very short time to reach the refuge bay the adrenalin generated in the body due to anxiety substantially reduces the normal life of oxygen equipment.
Additionally, very thick smoke associated with the fire reduces visibility to substantially zero and walking in complete darkness can cause a person to lose orientation as to the correct direction to take to reach a refuge bay before depleting the emergency equipment oxygen supply.
Heretofore, the common practice of evacuating a work station such as the face area in a coal mine would be to follow a conveyer in a passage until reaching a turning point of a branch going to a refuge bay. The turning point would normally be indicated in the form of a brick wall, a rope, or other suitable structure.
If a path along a conveyer run is blocked, another safe way to the refuge bay would be through a return airway or ventilating passage.
Thus, the most significant obstacle facing mine safety management during substantially zero visibility due to thick smoke is providing the workers with a safe and reliable method of reaching the nearest refuge bay in the shortest possible time to preserve their lives.
Heretofore, it has been known to provide guiding ropes and sequential alarm systems for guiding workers to a refuge bay. However, these systems have not proven to be completely safe and reliable primarily because in substantially zero visibility conditions orientation for proceeding to the nearest refuge bay may be lost causing an undue amount of time to safely reach the refuge bay. It has been known that many lives have been lost due to the fact that workers could not find the refuge bay in a timely fashion because of thick smoke and loss of orientation. The present invention overcomes these problems to provide a safe and reliable system for directing workers from a work station to a refuge bay in the shortest possible time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The rescue guiding system of the present invention includes a network of radio transmitters having short ranges and being mounted in a passageway for worker egress between a work station such as the face of a coal mine where coal is being suitably mined or a work station, and a shelter or refuge bay capable of providing life support to the workers during hazardous situations such as fires producing carbon monoxide and thick smoke. The transmitters generate and transmit a digitally coded signal to radio receivers carried by the workers. Each radio receiver includes an indication device that guides the workers' movement toward the refuge bay and indicates if that movement is correct. The indication device includes a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LED's) in a sequential order matching the sequential order of the network of transmitters marking the correct direction to the refuge bay. Additionally, the LED's may be provided with suitable indicia, such as sequential numbers and/or letters, which assists the worker in determining the direction of movement to take to safely reach the nearest refuge bay. Further, the LED's may be of different colors in order to highlight a transmitter at the refuge bay and/or a transmitter at a turning point from the passageway to a branch where the refuge bay is located.
The radio transmitters have short range and may be of varying ranges such as the transmitters mounted along a passageway having a range of between 80 and 100 meters, while the transmitters at the turning point and the refuge bay have a range not exceeding 50 meters.
Thus, the rescue guiding system of the present invention solves the problem heretofore known in underground mines of reliably directing workers to the nearest refuge bay.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved rescue guiding system for guiding underground mine personnel to a safe area or refuge bay during life-threatening environmentally hazardous situations.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an accurate and effective rescue guiding system to a worker for guiding the worker from a work station to a refuge bay whether or not the worker is familiar with the direction to take going to the refuge bay.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved rescue guiding system for underground mines to guide workers toward a refuge bay in the event of an emergency environmental situation by timely alerting and/or timely indicating the correct and/or incorrect direction to be taken by the worker to reach the nearest refuge bay.
A further object or the present invention is to provide a rescue guiding system for underground mining personnel that is simple in design and inexpensive to manufacture, precise in construction, easy to use and efficient in operation.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5898363 (1999-04-01), Altilio
patent: 5900817 (1999-05-01), Olmassakian
patent: 6028513 (2000-02-01), Addy
patent: 6075442 (1999-04-01), Welch
Singer Asher
Steenkamp Andy
Goins Davetta W.
Lefkowitz Edward
Zickert Lloyd L.
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