Patent Application
20240153372
The present invention relates to an electrical safety alarm apparatus and, more particularly, to an electrical safety alarm apparatus installed (attached) to the front/rear side of a switchgear panel, capable of strongly reminding operators to pay attention to safety during inspection and maintenance of extra-high and low voltage boards, power MCC boards, distribution boards, plant control boards, and the like, preventing electric shock accidents in advance, and providing a working environment optimized for safety during electrical work or maintenance inspection.
A customer's switchgear, which is equipment for receiving 22.9 kV extra-high voltage electricity from the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and supplying safe and high-quality low-voltage electricity, comprises Automatic breakdown switch (AISS), instrument transformer (MOF), power fuse (PF), vacuum circuit breaker (VCB), transformer, air circuit breaker (ACB), branch circuit breaker (MCCB), other protective relays (OCR, OCGR, UVR, OVR), emergency generator linkage and automatic transfer system (ATS), rectification base, and so forth and is installed in a protective fence or inside a building to control outsiders access.
A switchgear or an electric power distribution system, which is an installation for converting extra-high voltage to low voltage, involves the risk of occupational hazards to operators. According to the 2010 electrical disaster statistical analysis of the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation, out of a total of 579 cases of electric shock, 203 electrical engineers were killed or injured, and by type, direct contact with live parts was the most common at 48.7%, and electric shock accidents caused by arcs was at 83%.
The main purpose of the conventional access alarm system is to detect the access of a person or animal, using infrared rays or a human body sensor, and the conventional access alarm system is not sufficient as a safety apparatus for operators. That is, when an operator makes access for periodic inspection of high-voltage equipment, the access alarm system must be turned off, and a worker must inspect the high-voltage equipment in an uninterrupted state, i.e., in a live wire state, in order to supply good quality electricity without blackout. Accordingly, if an inspection time gets longer or a gap occurs while the access alarm system is off, no warning or alarm will be sounded, resulting in an electric shock accident by not securing a safe distance during work.
To solve such problems, Patent Document 1 suggested an electric shock hazard warning device for a switchgear using a complex sensor that issues a warning if a person approaches the switchgear within a set distance, wherein the switchgear is installed in a dangerous area or an area requiring protection, and keeps records of managers (inspectors, operators, and so on) so that they can be used as data to identify the cause of an accident later in the case of the accident. However, since the electric shock hazard warning device cannot set an exact detection distance, the power of a detection device must be turned off. In addition, operation and failure of the detection device cannot be visually recognized, rendering maintenance difficult. Also, in the case of a failure, a long gap until recovery may cause an accidental electric shock.
The prior art suggested in Patent Document 2 relates to a method, wherein, when a human body or an object come into contact with the charging part of a switchgear, an infrared light emitting network formed by the interaction of a plurality of transmitting and receiving infrared sensors senses the contact, issues an alarm differentially according to entry distances, and shuts off the internal power of the switchgear when the human body or the object approaches within the risk of electric shock. However, the prior art merely generates an alarm by detecting the approach of the human body or object entering the inside of the switchgear and does not comprise an alarm or a safety device in case of electric shock that may occur during inspection to thus entail a risk of electric shock during the inspection.
The present invention is to solve the various disadvantages and problems of the prior art as described above. Switchgear equipment (a cubicle) that houses various transformers are installed in a substation room that converts 22.9 KV extra-high voltage to low voltage 380/220V. As electrical safety personnel have to inspect the switchgear equipment on daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, electric shock accidents frequently occur due to exposure to high voltage and high current. An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical safety alarm apparatus capable of providing a working environment optimized for safety during electrical work or maintenance inspection by strongly reminding workers to pay attention to safety, wherein, to remind workers to work safe, the present invention not only displays various safety phrases before opening a door, but also reminds the electrical safety personnel of a voice event, thereby preventing electrical disasters in advance, and wherein the present invention is installed (attached) on the front/rear side of a switchgear panel to strongly remind an operator to pay attention to safety during the inspection and maintenance of extra-high and low voltage boards, power MCC boards, distribution boards, plant control boards, and the like.
To this end, the present invention provides an electrical safety alarm apparatus comprising: a speaker unit 110 configured to output a voice to remind electrical safety personnel of voice events on various safety phrases before opening the door of a switchgear, an extra-high voltage board, a low voltage board, a power MCC board, a distribution board, or a plant control board panel; a display unit 120 configured to display the voice events on the various safety phrases in text to remind the electrical safety personnel before opening the door of the switchgear, extra-high voltage board, low voltage board, power MCC board, distribution board, or plant control board panel; a first display unit 130 and a second display unit 131 configured to respectively display an electricity transmission state or a power failure state of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100; a DI INPUT port 140 and a DO OUTPUT port 141, an AC 220 input port 150, and a DC 125 input port 151 constituting a DI 4CH (NO) port, a DO 4CH (no voltage) port, a use power port, and a high-voltage transmission detection port of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100; a first communication unit 160 comprising a LAN port and configured to transmit the state of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 to an electrical safety server 200 via a communication network; a door detection switch 190 configured to detect the opening/closing of a door of a cubicle comprising the switchgear, extra-high voltage board, low voltage board, power MCC board, distribution board, and plant control board; an electrical detection relay 191, which is a relay that detects electricity transmission/failure of the cubicle comprising the switchgear, extra-high voltage board and low voltage board, power MCC board, distribution board, and plant control board; and a controller 180 configured to control the speaker unit 110, the display unit 120, the first and second display units 130 and 131, the DI INPUT port 140, the DO OUTPUT port 141, the AC 220 input port 150, the DC 125 input port 151, and the first communication unit 160, wherein:
the control unit 180 comprises a memory in which various texts or voices is stored and information for Bluetooth connection with the smart phone of the operator or electrical safety personnel is stored;
the electrical safety alarm apparatus accesses, through the first communication unit 160, the AP (Access point) and transmits, to the electrical safety server 200 through a communication network such as Wi-Fi, an event log including door opening/closing to be recorded and stored; and
the controller 180 also controls the speaker unit 110 to output voice according to results detected by the door detection switch 190 and the electrical detection relay 191, and performs control to display the various texts through the display unit 120, and to display the state of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 through the first and second display units 130 and 131, and to transmit state information of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 to the electrical safety server 200 through the first communication unit 160.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there are the following effects:
First, switchgear equipment (a cubicle) that houses various transformers are installed in a substation room that converts 22.9 KV extra-high voltage to low voltage 380/220V. As electrical safety personnel have to inspect the switchgear equipment on daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, electric shock accidents frequently occur due to exposure to high voltage and high current. To remind a worker to work safe, the present invention not only displays various safety phrases before opening a door, but also reminds the electrical safety personnel of a voice event, thereby preventing electrical disasters in advance.
Second, since the present invention is installed (attached) on the front/rear side of a switchgear panel, it can strongly remind an operator to pay attention to safety during the inspection and maintenance of extra-high and low voltage boards, a power MCC board, a distribution board, a plant control board, and the like, prevent electric shock accidents in advance, and provide a working environment optimized for safety during electrical work or maintenance inspection.
Third, by adding a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi function to the switchgear panel and registering the smart phone or smart device of the worker or operator, the present invention can send various safety phrases or events related to safety to the smart phone or smart device of the worker or operator, further improving the worker or operator's safety.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The terms used in the present invention have been selected from general terms that are currently widely used as much as possible. In certain cases, there are terms arbitrarily selected by the applicant; however, since the meaning has been described in detail in the description of the corresponding invention, it is intended to clarify that the present invention should be understood as the meaning of the term rather than the simple name of the term. In addition, in describing the embodiments, descriptions about techniques that are well known in the technical field to which the present invention pertains and that are not directly related to the present invention will be omitted. This is to more clearly convey the gist of the present invention without obscuring it by omitting unnecessary descriptions.
As illustrated in
The electrical safety alarm apparatus according to the present invention is, for example, to prevent electrical accidents due to exposure to high voltage and high current when electrical safety personnel inspect switchgear equipment on daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, wherein the switchgear equipment (a cubicle) that houses various transformers are installed in a substation room that converts 22.9 KV extra-high voltage to low voltage 380/220V, and is also to prevent electrical disasters in advance not only by displaying various safety phrases before opening a door, but also by reminding the electrical safety personnel of a voice event. The present invention relates to an electrical safety alarm apparatus that is installed (attached) to the front/rear side of a switchgear panel, capable of strongly reminding an operator to pay attention to safety during inspection and maintenance of extra-high and low voltage boards, a power MCC board, a distribution board, a plant control board, and the like, preventing electric shock accidents in advance, and providing a working environment optimized for safety during electrical work or maintenance inspection.
The speaker unit 110 of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 of the present invention outputs voice events on various safety phrases as a voice to remind the electrical safety personnel of the various safety phrases, before opening the door of a switchgear, an extra-high voltage board, a low voltage board, a power MCC board, a distribution board, or a plant control board. For example, a voice output during power transmission continuously says, “Power is being transmitted. Please pay attention to your work,” and an electrical safety voice output continuously says, “Power failure is in progress. Please pay attention to your work.”
The display unit 120 displays text to remind electrical safety personnel of voice events on various safety phrases before opening the door of the switchgear, extra-high and low voltage boards, power MCC board, distribution board, or plant control board panel. For example, regarding the current status of the switchgear, “Power being transmitted” and “Electrical safety” are displayed in text. In addition, notification messages are displayed at the bottom of the current status of the switchgear, such as “High voltage current being transmitted!” during the power transmission and “High voltage power failure!” during power failure.
The first and second display units 130 and 131 respectively display the electricity transmission state or power failure state of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100. The first and second display units 130 and 131 may comprise LEDs. For example, an LED status during power transmission may be displayed by a blinking red LED and an LED status during power failure may be displayed by a steady green LED.
DI INPUT port 140, DO OUTPUT port 141, AC 220 input port 150, and DC 125 input port 151 of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 belong to AC220V input (for detecting high voltage transmission) and comprise DI4CH (NO) and DO 4CH (no voltage), wherein DC 125V is used for power, so each power line or terminal is connected.
The first communication unit 160 comprises, for example, a LAN port and transmits the state of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 to the electrical safety server 200 through a communication network (Internet network, and the like). The first communication unit 160 allows for remote monitoring (1:N) and recording and storing event logs (second, minute, hour, day, month, year) including door opening/closing. Alternatively, by connecting to a nearby access point (AP)) through the first communication unit 160, event logs including door opening/closing (second, minute, hour, day, month, year) are transmitted, to the electrical safety server 200 through a communication network such as Wi-Fi, to be recorded and saved. That is, wired and wireless networks can be selectively used.
The second communication unit 170 comprises, for example, Bluetooth so that the current state of the switchgear can be transmitted when the second communication unit 170 is connected to a smart phone of an operator or electrical safety personnel.
The door detection switch 190 is, for example, a switch that detects opening/closing the door of the switchgear.
The electrical detection relay 191 is, for example, a relay that detects electricity transmission/failure of the switchgear.
The controller 180 controls a speaker unit 110, a display unit 120, first and second display units 130 and 131, a DIINPUT port 140, a DO OUTPUT port 141, an AC 220 input port 150, the DC 125 input port 151, the first communication unit 160, and the second communication unit 170, and performs control to output a voice through the speaker unit 110 according to results detected by the door detection switch 190 and the electrical detection relay 191, to display various texts through the display unit 120, to display the state of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 through the first and second display units 130 and 131, to transmit the state information of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 to the electrical safety server 200 through the first communication unit 160, to transmit the status information of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 to smart phones of an operator and electrical safety personnel when comprised of Bluetooth through the second communication unit 170, and to transmit the state information of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 to the electrical safety server 200 through a nearby access point (AP) and a communication network when comprised of Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, to this end, the control unit 180 further comprises a memory where the various texts or voices are stored and where information for Bluetooth connection with the smart phone of the operator or electrical safety personnel is stored.
As illustrated in
The product features of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 of the present invention are as follows:
In addition, the product standards may be configured as follows:
Speaker: 8 ohm, 3 W Operating temperature: −10° C.-60° C.
The product standards are described above.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
each of the plurality of cubicles 101-107 houses one of the power distribution board, power MCC board, distribution board, and #plant control board; the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 is installed in the DOOR as illustrated in
The electrical safety server 200 receives status information of the switchboard, power MCC board, distribution board, and #plant control board, wherein the status information Status information is transmitted from each of the plurality of cubicles 101-107 from the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 of each of the switchboard, power MCC board, distribution board, and plant control board. The electrical safety server 200 also stores log records for door opening/closing events from the door detection switch 190 and the electrical detection relay 191 connected to the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100.
When the plurality of access points (APs) 301 and 302 are connected to the first communication unit 160 and configured through Wi-Fi communication, the state of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 is transmitted to the electrical safety server 200 through Wi-Fi. Accordingly, monitoring (1:N) is possible in the electrical safety server 200 at a remote location, and events (second, minute, hour, day, month, year) including door opening/closing is transmitted.
When a worker, an operator, or electrical safety personnel carrying smart phones access cubicles for inspection and repair of the extra-high and low voltage boards, power MCC board, distribution board, and plant control board, the plurality of smart phones 401-403 are connected to the second communication unit 170 of the electrical safety warning apparatus 100 through a Bluetooth method, receive information, output from the speaker unit 110, display unit 120, and first and second display units 130 and 131 of the electrical safety warning apparatus 100, and display the information on the speakers or display units of the smart phones. Of course, necessary apps may be installed in advance for the purpose. Accordingly, if the information output from the speaker unit 110, the display unit 120, and the first and second display units 130 and 131 of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 is transmitted via the Bluetooth method, the worker, operator, or electrical safety personnel can be strongly reminded of caution via the smart phones 400-402 during the inspection and maintenance of the extra-high voltage and low voltage board, power MCC board, distribution board, and plant control board, and the like, even in case where a failure occurs in one or more of the speaker unit 110, the display unit 120, and the first and second display units 130 and 131 of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100.
As illustrated in
the communication unit 201 communicates with the first communication unit 160 of the electrical safety alarm apparatus 100 of each of the plurality of cubicles 101-107 to collect information on the extra-high and low voltage boards, power MCC board, distribution board, and plant control board from the plurality of cubicles 101-107;
While the present invention has been described in accordance with the foregoing embodiments, it is not necessarily limited thereto. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the described embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical idea of the present invention, but should be considered in a descriptive sense only, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by the embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the claims below, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as being included in the scope of rights of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2021-0055518 | Apr 2021 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2022/003432 | 3/11/2022 | WO |
