The invention pertains to safety harnesses. More particularly, the invention pertains to harnesses which automatically provide condition indicia to a user of the harness.
Safety Harnesses are used in extreme conditions and environments on a regular basis. Examples include construction sites, building structures, wind mills, petrochemical refineries, sandblasting environments, shipyards, etc. The material used for the harnesses could degrade with normal use in a long period of time or short period of time. This is not linear verses the life cycle. Such damage could include impact damage, ultra violet degradation, corrosion, moisture, cuts & holes, tearing, stitching damages and the like all without limitation.
Sometimes the damage is just not apparent to the user. At other times, the damage seems minor at the first look. However, all defects can have a big impact on the performance of the product when it is time to perform and potentially save lives, especially for fall protection products.
There are some known “fault indicators” for safety harnesses. Known harnesses do not provide indicators of UV degradation, corrosion, moisture, cuts & holes, tearing, or stitching damage.
While embodiments of this invention can take many different forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and will be described herein in detail with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention, as well as the best mode of practicing same, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated.
In one aspect of the invention, webbing can communicate to a user when there is critical damage to a harness. This allows the user to know when the harness is not safe anymore for the application. An indicator can emit visual, audible indicia, or transmit a wireless communication to a safety officer, or manager. In another aspect of the invention, the webbing used for the harness can be made with a %’ of ‘conductive fibers’ which can provide a signal when one or more fibers has been altered or damaged. The webbing can be manufactured with electrically conductive fibers, for example steel or copper fibers, and/or optical fibers incorporated into the material itself during the original manufacturing operation. In the case of electrically conductive fibers, a small electric current can flow through some or all of the harness, from shoulders and neck to the legs.
When an incident occurs that might damage the material, for example due to abrasion, degradation, corrosion, moisture, cuts & holes, tearing, stitching damages, impacts and the like the steel fibers integrated into the material will be affected, causing a variation of the conductivity of at least a portion of the harness. This variation can be sensed and used to provide a fault signal. This signal which can be used to activate a visual, an audible, or an electronic indicator of the existence of a fault.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a manually operable fault indicating device, a button or switch lever, can be carried on the harness. A user can manually actuate the device and automatically transmit a warning signal or notice to a displaced monitoring unit.
In other aspects of the invention, the sensitivity of a harness in accordance can be calibrated not only by the number of conductive fibers incorporated into various webbing elements, which may vary depending on the location of a given element, but also by the location of the fiber(s) in the woven material.
Integrated, programmable, control circuitry carried by the harness can evaluate the received signals, indicative of harness condition and activate one of a variety of alarms depending on the nature and extent of the detected damage. Different harnesses can be programmed to behave differently depending on the expected environment, use and size
A source of electrical energy 14, which could be a replaceable battery, can be coupled via a connector 14-1 carried on webbing 12-2, to the strands 12a, 12b. The source 14 can couple electrical or optical signals along webbing 12-i to be detected by a sensor 20, also carried on webbing, such as 12-3. The sensor 20 could detect, for example a current flow in strands 12a, 12b or a received optical intensity. Determination circuitry 22, carried on webbing 12-3 and coupled to sensor 22 can respond to changes in output from the sensor 20 as the condition of the harness changes.
Circuitry 22 can be implemented at least in part with a programmable controller. The associated control program can be varied depending on the application and environment.
Harness 10 can also carry a manually operable device 26 actuatable by a user to transmit a warning message, such as message 30 to remote monitoring unit U indicating that the user has detected a fault.
Further various types of warning indictors can be generated by harness 10. Exemplary variations include but are not limited to, manually generated alarm messages, impact, or fall indicating alarms or messages, alarms that indicate one or more cuts have been detected on webbing material, tearing or abrasion of webbing material, or other variations or degrading conditions that might be detected as indicated by variations of the signal detected in the sensor 20, all without limitation.
If one or more webbings, such as 12-i becomes damaged through use, then the sensed signal, at sensor 20 will change from that illustrated in
As a result of damage D, the sensor 20 will receive a signal of lower amplitude, less power, less intensity or the like. In such event, circuitry 22 can activate alarm device 24 to warn the user.
From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific apparatus illustrated herein is intended or should be inferred. It is, of course, intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3912939 | Quantz et al. | Oct 1975 | A |
5605035 | Pethrick et al. | Feb 1997 | A |
5697329 | Bell et al. | Dec 1997 | A |
6211793 | Smithson | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6289742 | De Angelis | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6572148 | Wittenberg | Jun 2003 | B2 |
7005976 | Hagenbuch | Feb 2006 | B2 |
20040119599 | Stevenson et al. | Jun 2004 | A1 |
20070182534 | Gregory | Aug 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20120050036 A1 | Mar 2012 | US |