Security Apparatus

The present invention relates to a safety and control apparatus for an environment which is closed or provided with a perimeter.

It is known in various manufacturing and service sectors to use closed environments, for example, for the storage of products, in particular cold rooms for keeping products at a temperature and/or in a controlled atmosphere which may be critical if an operator is exposed to them for a long period of time.

The interior of these closed environments may be accessed more or less frequently by one or more users, for example in order to move products or perform maintenance of the products or the environment itself.

In these environments, in fact, there are normally present temperatures and/or environmental conditions which may pose a risk for a user who is exposed to them, for example if the user remains exposed to a very low temperature for an excessively long period of time. There exist in fact known harmful effects which the physical agents such as the low temperatures may have on human beings, depending for example on the temperature and/or time spent at said temperature.

Consequently, it is fundamental to ensure the safety and the health of a person who uses cold environments, such as cold rooms, in particular when there exist very low temperature conditions, for example below −18° C., hence freezing or deep-freezing conditions, or an atmosphere which may be dangerous for the user.

The technical problem underlying the present invention is to ensure the safety and the health of a user who is required to operate within a closed environment or environment provided with a perimeter.

The task of a safety apparatus according to the present invention is therefore to provide an instrument which is able to protect a user from the known risks of exposure to hostile environmental conditions, and in particular for example low temperatures, also during long periods.

The object of the present invention is to provide a safety apparatus which allows the user to operate within the closed environment or environment provided with a perimeter in safe conditions and which also allows the user to avoid situations which are dangerous for their health when performing their duties or operation within the closed environment or environment provided with a perimeter.

A further object of the present invention is to propose a safety apparatus which is able to identify automatically a risk situation for a user, for example following a fall or loss of consciousness of said user, within the closed environment or environment provided with a perimeter in which hostile environmental conditions exist.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a safety apparatus which is able to assist the user during their stay within the aforementioned environment or perimeter, so as to allow the user to regulate the activities which may be performed and time spent in the latter before exiting, even momentarily.

This task, as well as these and other objects, which will become clearer below are achieved by a safety apparatus according to the attached claim.

Detailed characteristics features of a safety apparatus, according to the invention, are contained in the dependent claims.

In particular, the present invention envisages providing a safety apparatus which comprises a portable device and a fixed device, which is associated with or can be associated with an environment or a perimeter to be monitored. In particular, the portable device and the fixed device are configured to be able to interact once they approach each other within an interaction distance, while the safety apparatus is configured to process the signals relating to this interaction so as to detect access to the environment or perimeter by the portable device.

Other characteristic features and modes of use forming the subject of the present disclosure will emerge more clearly from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, provided by way of a non-limiting example. It is nevertheless evident that each embodiment may have one or more of the advantages listed above; in any case it is nevertheless not necessary that each embodiment should have simultaneously all the advantages listed.

It is also understood that the scope of the present disclosure includes all the possible combinations of the embodiments indicated above and of those described with reference to the following detailed description.

With reference to the said FIGURE, a safety apparatus, comprising a portable deviceand a fixed device, is denoted as a whole by. The fixed deviceis associated or can be associated with an environment S to be monitored, namely which is intended to be monitored by the said safety apparatus, which environment S has a perimeter P, namely is delimited or enclosed by a perimeter P. Alternatively, the fixed deviceis configured to define the environment S or the perimeter P. In other words, the fixed deviceis connected or can be connected to an environment S, which is preferably closed or defines a perimeter P, or is delimited or enclosed by a perimeter P. Alternatively, the fixed deviceis configured so as to define the environment S or the perimeter P inside which the environment S intended by be monitored by means of the safety apparatusis contained.

For example, in an entirely general manner, the environment S may be defined by the space surrounding an antenna designed to emit electromagnetic radiation in order to define the perimeter P at a distance from this antenna at which said signal is subject to a predefined deterioration, for example in strength.

Clearly, generally, the environment S could be defined by a plurality or by a network of these antennae, and the perimeter P could be correspondingly defined in view of the accumulated effect of their signals.

The portable deviceand the fixed deviceare configured to carry out a mutual interaction following mutual approaching within an interaction distance. The interaction distance, for example, may be chosen depending on the form and the dimensions of the environment S or the extension and form of the perimeter P so that, if a user with which the portable deviceis associated is situated in the environment S, namely within the perimeter P, this situation may be always detected with suitable accuracy and a small margin of error.

For example, the fixed devicemay comprise a plurality of transmitting and/or receiving devices, for example RFID tags, which are designed to interact with the portable deviceand which are distributed along the said perimeter P so to detect with a high degree of reliability the entry or exit of a portable deviceinto/from the environment S and/or the perimeter P.

In other words, in general, the portable deviceand the fixed devicemay be configured so that, when they approach each other within the interaction distance, they are able to carry out a mutual interaction, for example they may communicate and/or interact with each other.

The safety apparatusis configured to process the signals relating to the aforementioned interaction so as to detect access to the environment S by the portable deviceor detect crossing of the perimeter by the portable device.

In other words, the safety apparatusis able to process the signals relating to the interaction between the portable deviceand the fixed deviceso as to ascertain or signal the case where the portable deviceaccesses the environment S or crosses the perimeter P.

Generally, for example, the fixed devicemay comprise a conductor element configured to interact electromagnetically with the portable device. This conductor element may be distributed along a closed trajectory which defines the perimeter P so that, in the case where the perimeter P is crossed by an operator carrying a mobile device, the latter interacts with the fixed deviceso as to detect the entry of the operator in the environment S delimited by the perimeter P.

Clearly, the environment S may be delimited by walls which mainly define the perimeter P and which limit the access to the said environment S via apertures or openings provided in said walls.

In this case, the fixed deviceand the mobile devicemay be for example made of or comprise a device which is active or reactive to radiofrequency, also known by the specialist term RFID tag, and an associated antenna or network of antennae designed to interact with it in the event that one of the apertures or openings is crossed.

A safety apparatusaccording to the present invention may specifically, even though not exclusively, be advantageously applied in the sector relating to the safety of cold rooms.

In fact, a cold room constitutes for an operator who must access it and carry out activities inside it a hostile and dangerous environment.

Firstly, the temperature inside the room is generally incompatible with the survival of human beings and, therefore, the operator must be exposed to said temperature for as little time as possible.

Furthermore, owing to the low temperature of the environment inside the cold room, especially following access thereto by the operator, condensation and/or frost tends to form on the internal surfaces of the cell, due in particular to the different relative humidity of the air entering the room following access by the operator.

The floor of the room may thus be slippery with the risk of operator falling.

In the case where an operator should lose consciousness inside the room, the hostile environment which it defines could result in damage—also of a severe nature—to the organism of said person, also to the point of death; therefore, there exists an urgent need to provide a safety apparatuswhich, where implemented in a cold room, is able to increase greatly the safety thereof. According to the present teaching, therefore, the safety apparatusmay comprise or be incorporated in or be associated with a cold room, which in turn comprises a chamber provided with at least one access point.

Via the access point, a user may access the environment S by crossing the perimeter P. Namely, the chamber may delimit or define the environment S and may comprise walls which delimit or define the perimeter P.

In particular, the fixed devicemay comprise a controller. Preferably, the controller is able to regulate the temperature of the environment S. More preferably, the controller is designed to keep the temperature of the environment S at a predefined value or in the region thereof, for example so as to achieve the cooling of products housed inside the said room.

In the case where the environment S consists of a cold room or comprises a cold room, said controller may be designed to regulate the temperature of the environment S by activating the cold room.

Furthermore, the portable devicemay be a device designed to be attached to an operator, or can be transported by the operator, in order to detect the access and/or the presence of the said operator inside the cold room. In other words, the portable devicemay be associated in a fixed or removable manner with an operator of the cold room, so that the interaction between the portable deviceand the fixed devicemay be used to detect when the operator accesses and/or is situated inside the cold room.

For example, the portable devicemay be configured to form a pendant or may be for example fastened in the manner of a bracelet, for example to a wrist or a heel, depending on the greater comfort requirements of the operator.

Preferably, the signals processed by the safety apparatuscomprise or consist of electromagnetic radiation. For example, said electromagnetic radiation may comprise electromagnetic fields which have a frequency in the infrared range or in the visible radiation range which may be used by means of continuous or pulsed emissions, for example using sensors known in the sector as time-of-flight sensors.

Furthermore, if the portable device is reactive and/or active, the aforementioned electromagnetic radiation may be in the range of ultra wideband radiation.

Furthermore, the portable deviceand the fixed devicemay be configured to transmit and receive the processable electromagnetic radiation so as to define a position of the portable devicewith respect to the environment S and/or the perimeter P.

The portable deviceand the fixed devicemay also comprise means designed to transmit and/or receive the electromagnetic radiation.

The portable deviceand the fixed devicemay also comprise an electronic processor, which is connected to the transmission means and configured to cause interaction between the portable deviceand the fixed devicevia the transmission means in order to identify the relative position of the portable devicewith respect to the environment S and/or the perimeter P. For example, the electronic processor may be configured to cause the portable deviceand the fixed deviceto interact with each other in order to detect whether the portable deviceis situated inside the environment S and/or the perimeter P.

The portable device, for example, may be chosen from among a smartphone, a smartwatch, a smart-tag or a portable tag. In particular, the portable tag is preferably a device configured to be able to interact directly with the fixed device, for example without having to be programmed or activated by an operator using the cold room. The smartphone or smartwatch may perform the role of a portable device, namely in such a way as to be able to interact mutually with the fixed device, once they have been provided with a specific application for determining and/or allowing mutual interaction between the portable deviceand the fixed device.

The transmission means may, for example, comprise electromagnetic radiation sensors, for example sensors designed to detect radiation in the infrared range or in the visible radiation range.

These sensors may be configured to use and/or detect continuous or pulsed emissions, for example may comprise sensors known in the sector as “time-of-flight” sensors.

Furthermore, if the portable device is reactive and/or active, it may comprise an ultra wideband electromagnetic radiation sensor.

The cold room, in a per se conventional manner not further described, may comprise a refrigerating apparatus having a cold exchanger which is in fluid communication with the environment S so as to absorb heat therefrom.

The electronic processor may be configured and/or programmed to operate the controller so as to switch the refrigerating apparatus from a normal operating modeto an access operating mode, following detection of an access condition.

Insaid detection has been indicated by way of a non-limiting example as a verification operationconfigured to check whether the access conditionhas positively occurred, this situation being exemplified by means of the branch extending towards the access operating modein the flow diagram, or has negatively occurred, represented by the branch extending on the left in the flow diagram.

In particular, the access conditionmay occur if a presence of the portable devicein the environment S and/or entry of the portable devicewithin the perimeter P is detected by the portable deviceand/or by the fixed device, following their interaction.