Patent Application
20230293915
The present application generally relates to an electric breathing apparatus, especially an air filter device for the electric breathing apparatus.
An electric breathing apparatus, as a constituent part of a life environment support system, is widely used in various harmful situations so as to ensure that a user is able to safely and reliably breathe clean air at a site hazardous to a human body, such as a harsh welding work site or even an emergency medical diagnostic site where there is a risk of infection of respiratory disease.
The electric breathing apparatus generally comprises a blower unit capable of being worn on the waist of a user's body, a filter unit releasably installed onto the blower unit, a breaching mask (or alternatively a welding helmet for a welding application), as well as a connecting pipe between the filter unit and the breathing mask. Ambient air is driven by a part of the blower unit so as to be sucked into the blower unit and further supplied by the connecting pipe to the breathing mask for inhalation by the user.
The filter unit as a consumable has to be replaced by a new one after a period of usage. However, when the filter unit is installed to the blower unit rather than in place (i.e. the filter unit is not in a correct position relative to the blower unit although the former has been installed to the latter), air, which is not effectively filtered, may possibly be sucked into the blower unit for inhalation by the user via the connecting pipe, thus damaging the health of the user. At busy building or work sites, after the filter is installed to the blower unit, the user usually has no time to check whether the filter unit is installed thereto in place and/or whether the connecting pipe is installed in place. Therefore, such a case needs to be avoided. Otherwise, if the blower unit is rashly activated with the filter being not installed onto the blower unit in place and/or the connecting pipe being not installed onto the filter and/or the blower unit in place, the user will breathe harmful air and thus his/her health is damaged.
Furthermore, after being purchased, the electric breathing apparatus may be used by the user at various work sites. As the various work sites require that various filter units are equipped for the blower unit and the blower unit's operating mode has to be reset with respect to the various filter units, the user will have to manually adjust the blower unit's configuration. This puts forward a higher request to the user's operation proficiency, thus going against that the user, who is equipped with the electric breathing apparatus, quickly adapts to different work sites.
In order to solve the above issues, the present application is aimed at proposing an improved electric breathing apparatus such that the electric breathing apparatus can be activated only when constituent parts of the electric breathing apparatus are installed relative to each other in place, and that after different filter units are assembled onto a blower unit of the electric breathing apparatus, the blower unit's operating mode is automatically adjustable, bringing great convenience for a user.
According to one aspect of the present application, an air filter device for an electric breathing apparatus is proposed, the air filter device comprising: a blower unit configured to include a housing in which an electric blower is disposed; an air filter unit configured to be releasably connectable to the blower unit, the housing of the blower unit including an interface configured to face towards the air filter unit when the blower unit is connected to the air filter unit, the air filter unit including a casing, the casing including a filter mesh side configured to face towards the blower unit when the blower unit is connected to the air filter unit, wherein the housing of the blower unit also includes a first subset of Hall sensors in the interface, the first subset of Hall sensors comprises N Hall sensors spaced from each other, wherein N is an integer which is equal to or greater than 2; the casing of the air filter unit also includes N alignment positions configured to align with the N Hall sensors respectively when the air filter unit is connected to the housing of the blower unit; the casing of the air filter unit also includes 1˜N magnetic counterparts selectively disposed at the N alignment positions, and the 1˜N magnetic counterparts are configured to be arranged at the N alignment positions in a manner matching with an operating mode of the blower unit with respect to the air filter unit. In the context of the present application, the wording “1˜N” means that the number of relevant part(s) may be 1, 2, 3, . . . , or N.
Optionally, the 1˜N magnetic counterparts are configured to be selectively arranged at the N alignment positions in 2N−1 manners.
Optionally, the Hall sensors are disposed in the housing of the blower unit in such a way that they are invisible from the outside; and/or the 1˜N magnetic counterparts are disposed in the casing of the air filter unit in such a way that they are invisible from the outside.
Optionally, the housing of the blower unit also includes a second subset of Hall sensors in the interface, wherein the second subset of Hall sensors includes at least one Hall sensor; the casing of the air filter unit also includes at least one additional alignment position in the filter mesh side, which at least one additional alignment position is configured to be aligned with the second subset of Hall sensors respectively when the air filter unit is installed onto the blower unit in place; one additional magnetic counterpart is disposed at each of the at least one additional alignment position.
Optionally, the housing of the blower unit is configured to include a first annular edge formed around the interface, the casing of the air filter unit is configured to include a second annular edge formed around the filter mesh side, the first annular edge and the second annular edge are configured to be in complete contact with each other when the air filter unit is installed onto the blower unit in place.
Optionally, the first subset of and/or the second subset of Hall sensors is located in a region surrounded by the first annular edge; and/or the N alignment positions and/or the at least one additional alignment position is located in a region surrounded by the second annular edge.
Optionally, the air filter device also comprises a connector port configured to be releasably connectable to a joint of a connecting hose of the electric breathing apparatus, wherein the connector port is provided with a third subset of Hall sensors comprising at least one Hall sensor, the joint is configured to include at least one additional alignment position configured to be aligned with the third subset of Hall sensors respectively when the joint is installed to the connector port in place, and one additional magnetic counterpart is provided respectively at each of the at least one additional alignment position of the joint.
Optionally, the magnetic counterpart/counterparts comprise a magnetic ball or sheet made of a permanent magnet material.
According to another aspect of the present application, an air filter device for an electric breathing apparatus is proposed, the air filter device comprising: a blower unit configured to include a housing in which an electric blower is disposed; an air filter unit configured to be releasably connectable to the blower unit, the housing of the blower unit including an interface configured to face towards the air filter unit when the blower unit is connected to the air filter unit, the air filter unit including a casing, the casing including a filter mesh side configured to face towards the blower unit when the blower unit is connected to the air filter unit, wherein the housing of the blower unit also includes a first subset of proximity switches in the interface, the first subset of proximity switches comprises N proximity switches spaced from each other, wherein N is an integer which is equal to or greater than 2; the casing of the air filter unit also includes N alignment positions configured to align with the N proximity switches respectively when the air filter unit is connected to the housing of the blower unit; the air filter unit includes 1˜N counterparts selectively disposed at the N alignment positions, and the 1˜N counterparts are configured to be arranged at the N alignment positions in a manner matching with the operating mode of the blower unit with respect to the air filter unit.
According to another aspect of the present application, an electric breathing apparatus is proposed which comprises: the air filter device as mentioned; a breathing mask; and a connecting hose configured to be connected between the breathing mask and the air filter device.
According to another aspect of the present application, a method for operating the air filter device as mentioned is proposed, comprising: connecting an air filter unit of the air filter device to a blower unit; aligning N alignment positions of the air filter unit with N Hall sensors of a first subset of Hall sensors of the blower unit respectively, wherein the N is an integer which is equal to or greater than 2; detecting how many magnetic counterparts are presented at the N alignment positions and/or the layout of the magnetic counterpart or the magnetic counterparts arranged at the N alignment positions; comparing the detected result with pre-stored magnetic counterpart cases and/or layouts to determine a model/type of the air filter unit; and resetting an operating mode of the blower unit depending on the determined model/type of the air filter unit.
Optionally, after the air filter unit is connected to the blower unit and before the model/type of the air filter unit is determined, the second subset of Hall sensors of the blower unit is monitored to determine whether and/or the second subset of Hall sensors is aligned with the additional magnetic counterpart at the additional alignment position of the air filter unit so as to determine whether the air filter unit has been installed onto the blower unit in place.
Optionally, an alarm is sent out and/or the blower unit is deactivated if the air filter unit is not installed onto the blower unit in place.
Using the above technical measures of the present application, it can be checked whether the air filter unit is installed to the blower unit in place and whether the connecting pipe is connected to the air filter device in place, and the model of the air filter unit can be automatically identified out and thus the operating mode of the blower unit can be reset correspondingly. Therefore, the operational reliability and convenience of the electric breathing apparatus according to the present application can be improved.
The principles and various aspects of the present application can be more fully understood by the following detailed description in combination of the attached drawings. It should be noted that the drawings may be given in different ratios for clarity, which shall not be deemed to affect understanding to the present application. In the drawings:
In the drawings of the present application, those features having the same configuration or a similar function are represented by the same reference numerals.
The air filter device 200 has a connector port 210 to which a joint 310 of the connecting hose 300 is releasably connectable. It should be understood by one ordinary person in the art that the shape of the connector port 210 is not limited to that illustrated by
Further as shown by
The air inlet 2230 is formed in an interface 2211 of the housing 220. An annual edge 2212 is provided around the interface 2211. For example, the annual edge 2212 can be integrally formed on the housing 2210 or alternatively can be made by an elastic seal material and then be attached on a surface of the housing 2210. Besides, a plurality of snap-fit parts, for example three snap-fit parts 2213a, 2213b, 2213c, are formed on an outer surface of the housing 2210 adjacent to the annular edge 2212 respectively.
The air filter unit 230 is configured to include a casing 2310 which is generally in the form of a square box. It should be understood by the ordinary person in the art that the casing 2310 can be in the form of any other suitable shape such as a flat shape. Further as shown by
An annual edge 2312 is also provided around the filter mesh side 2311. For example, the annular edge 2312 can be integrally formed on the casing 2310 or alternatively can be made of an elastic seal material and then be attached on a surface of the casing 2310. Besides, a plurality of snap-fit parts, for example three snap-fit parts 2313a, 2313b, 2313c, are formed on an outer surface of the casing 2310 adjacent to the annular edge 2312 respectively. The snap-fit parts 2313a, 2313b, 2313c of the air filter unit 230 are paired to the snap-fit parts 2213a, 2213b, 2213c of the blower unit 220 respectively, such that they can be mated with each other and thus the air filter unit 230 can be snapped onto the blower unit 220. When the air filter unit 230 is correctly connected to the blower unit 220 (i.e. the former is installed onto the latter in place), the filter mesh side 2311 of the air filter unit 230 opposes the interface 2211 of the blower unit 220; and the edge 2312 of the air filter unit 230 is in complete contact with the edge 2212 of the blower unit 220 so as to form a seal interface therebetween. In this way, air filtered through the air filter unit 230 can be ensured to be driven into the air inlet 2230 of the blower unit 220 without any contact with the external environment.
However, in case that the air filter unit 230 is not installed onto the blower unit 220 in place, the edge 2312 of the air filter unit 230 and the edge 2212 of the blower unit 220 may not be in complete contact with each other even if the snap-fit parts 2313a, 2313b, 2313c and the snap-fit parts 2213a, 2213b, 2213c have been in engagement with each other respectively to connect the air filter unit 230 with the blower unit 220. In this case, any gap probably existing between the edges 2312 and 2212 may result in that harmful ambient air is sucked into the blower unit 220 and then is inhaled by the user.
Furthermore, as already mentioned, at various work sites, different filter mediums shall be installed into the air filter unit. This means that when the air filter unit is installed with the different filter mediums, the blower of the blower unit is required to operate in different modes, for example at different rates of the blower, at different interval time running cycles or the like. Therefore, in the prior art, this requires that the user has to manually reset the blower, especially its blower's operating mode after different air filter units are replaced. However, this will result in the increased usage complexity of the electric breathing apparatus by the user. Then, if the user forgets to reset the blower unit, there is a risk that air which is not clean enough is sucked there.
In order to solve the above issues, the technical solution of the present application requires that a plurality of proximity switches (or proximity sensors) spaced from each other are arranged between the air filter unit 230 and the blower unit 220, such that only when these proximity switches are all identified to correctly match with counterparts cooperating with them, it is determined that the air filter unit 230 has been installed on the blower unit 220 in place; and depending on the identified and combined manner of the proximity switches, the model or type of the air filter unit 230 can be automatically determined and correspondingly the blower unit 220, especially the respective blower 2220's operating manner can be automatically reset.
In a preferred embodiment of the present application, the proximity switches mentioned above are Hall sensors. Therefore, take the Hall sensors for example to illustratively and non-limitedly explain the present application below. However, it should be understood by the ordinary person in the art that any other suitable devices such as photoelectric proximity switches, eddy current proximity switches or the like can be adopted as the proximity switches or similar devices in the technical solution of the present application.
According to an embodiment of the present application, as shown by
For illustrative purposes only,
Here, take the three alignment positions 260a, 260b, 260c of the air filter unit 230, at each of which positions a magnetic counterpart is arranged, for example to explain the present application. For instance, each magnetic counterpart may be a magnetic sheet, a magnetic ball or a component made of a permanent magnet material. In a preferred embodiment, each magnetic counterpart is invisibly provided in the casing 2310 of the air filter unit 230. For example, the magnetic counterparts are configured to be embedded in the casing 2310 in such a way that they cannot be observed from the outside. In case that the blower unit 220 is powered on for its activation, the ECU of the blower unit 220 is configured to constantly monitor the statues of the Hall sensors 250a, 250b, and 250c. Therefore, when the air filter unit 230 is installed onto the blower unit 220 in place, the magnetic counterparts located at the alignment positions 260a, 260b, 260c can be first adjacent to and then aligned with the respective Hall sensors 260a, 260b, 260c such that the Hall sensors 250a, 250b, and 250c can generate triggering signals respectively. The ECU of the blower unit 220 is configured such that when it is determined that all of the Hall sensors 250a, 250b, 250c have generated their respective triggering signals, the air filter unit 230 can be deemed to be already installed on the blower unit 220 in place and thus some hint showing such installation can be provided for the user via the display screen 2214, a beeper, a vibrator, or any other suitable prompting device (not shown here); and/or only in case of such determination, an activating key of the blower unit 220 is enabled to be pressed by the user to further operate the blower unit.
It should be understood by the ordinary person in the art that in an alternative embodiment only one magnetic counterpart can be provided on the air filter unit 230 to match with one Hall sensor of the blower unit 220 so as to determine whether the air filter unit 230 is installed onto the blower unit 220 in place. Of course, if two or more magnetic counterparts can be arranged in the air filter unit 230 to match with two or more Hall sensors provided in the blower unit 220, the accuracy of the installation determination can be further enhanced.
Alternatively and/or additionally, how to determine different models/types of air filter units which can be used in the blower unit 220 of the present application will be explained for example by referring to the Hall sensors 250a, 250b, 250c and selective arrangement of a magnetic counterpart or magnetic counterparts at the alignment positions 260a, 260b, 260c of the air filter unit 230.
As shown by
That is to say, it is assumed that there are N Hall sensors provided in the blower unit 220 and there are N alignment positions in the air filter unit, wherein the N is an integer which is equal to or greater than 2, and 1˜N magnetic counterparts can be selectively arranged at a designated one or some designated ones or all of the N alignment positions, so as to recognize the concrete model or type of the air filter unit. Therefore, for the air filter unit 230, there will be 2N−1 possible layouts of the magnetic counterpart(s) so as to distinguish the different models or types of possible air filter units which will be used as a replacement one of the air filter unit 230.
As shown by
According to the present application, a plurality of Hall sensors are provided in the blower unit 220 and a plurality of alignment positions are allocated in the air filter unit 230, which alignment positions are configured to determine whether the air filter unit 230 is installed on the blower unit 220 in place. The plurality of Hall sensors can be divided into a first subset of Hall sensors by which it can be determined whether the air filter unit 230 is installed onto the blower unit 220 in place; and into a second subset of Hall sensors by which the model or type of the air filter unit 230 can be recognized. The first subset of Hall sensors is configured to include one or more Hall sensors. The second subset of Hall sensors is configured to include N Hall sensors, wherein the N is an integer which is equal to or greater than 2. Therefore, the plurality of alignment positions of the air filter unit 230 can be correspondingly divided into a first subset of alignment positions matching with the first subset of Hall sensors, and a second subset of alignment positions matching with the second subset of Hall sensors.
In the air filter unit 230, one magnetic counterpart is arranged at each alignment position of the first subset of alignment positions, and the second subset of alignment positions are configured to be arranged selectively with one magnetic counterpart or a desired number of magnetic counterparts depending on the model or type of the air filter unit 230 in a manner as similarly shown by
At a step S10, the air filter unit 230 is installed onto the blower unit 220. At a step S20, it is determined whether each Hall sensor of the first subset of Hall sensors has detected a magnetic counterpart. If no magnetic counterpart or not all magnetic counterparts are detected, the air filter unit 230 will be deemed not to be installed on the blower unit 220 in place and then an alarm message could be sent to the user via the display screen 2214, the beeper, the vibrator, or any other suitable prompting device (not shown here), so as to inform the user that the process need return to the step S10 such that the air filter unit 230 shall be reinstalled onto the blower unit 220. If at the step S20 all of the first Hall sensors have detected their respective magnetic counterparts, the process returns to a step S30. At the step S30, it is determined what the layout of the respective magnetic counterparts detected by the second subset of the Hall sensors will be (i.e. what the triggering signal combination is). At a step S40, a pre-stored operating mode library will be queried to identify whether there exists a layout manner corresponding to the layout of the respective magnetic counterparts detected by the second subset of the Hall sensors. If the query result is YES, the process goes to a step S50. If the query result is NO, the process goes to a step S60. At the step S50, the blower unit 220 is configured such that its operating mode is automatically reset depending on the identified model/type of the air filter unit, and the user is allowed to control the operation of the blower unit 220. At the step S60, some alert information could be provided to the user via the display screen 2214, the prompting device (not shown here) such as the beeper, the vibrator or the like, such that the user can know that the model/type of the air filter unit is not identified, the air filter unit shall be replaced by a new one or the operation of the blower unit 220 is forbidden to be controllable.
Similarly, the proximity switch configuration/design, for example the configuration of the Hall sensor and the magnetic counterpart, could be adopted between the joint 310 of the connecting hose 300 and the c of the air filter device 200. As shown by
Therefore, using the inventive technical measures, it can be detected whether the air filter unit has been installed onto the blower unit in place and whether the connecting hose 300 is installed onto the air filter unit in place. Besides, the model/type of the air filter unit can be automatically identified after the installation, such that the operating mode of the blower unit can be reset. Therefore, the electric breathing apparatus according to the present application can be operated more reliably and conveniently.
Although some specific embodiments and/or examples of the present application have been described here, it should be understood that they are given for illustrative purposes only and cannot be deemed to constrain the scope of the present application in any way. Furthermore, it is understood by the ordinary person in the art that the embodiments and/or examples mentioned in the description can be combined with each other as desired. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application, various modifications, alternations and/or replacements can be thought out.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202010704664.1 | Jul 2020 | CN | national |
| 202021443693.9 | Jul 2020 | CN | national |
This application is a 371 National Stage of International Application No. PCT/CN2021/107077, filed Jul. 19, 2021, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010704664.1 filed on Jul. 21, 2020 and Chinese Patent Application No. 202021443693.9 filed on Jul. 21, 2020, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2021/107077 | 7/19/2021 | WO |
