Patent Application
20100238973
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to heat detectors and particularly to heat detector connectors.
Heat detectors may be used in a variety of applications including, for example, engine enclosures, industrial spaces, and high value locations and are often used to detect fires. When a heat detector is serviced or replaced, a technician often disconnects and reconnects wires from connection terminals on the heat detector. The connection terminals on the heat detector are difficult and time consuming to manipulate. An improved heat detector is desired.
According to one aspect of the invention, a heat detector comprising, a housing member, a first hermetic connector portion connected to the housing member, a sensor member disposed in the housing member operative to detect a temperature, and a first contact portion disposed in the first hermetic connector portion, wherein the contact portion is connected to the sensor member.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of fabricating a heat detector comprising, fabricating a housing member, disposing a sensor member in the housing member operative to detect a temperature, connecting a first hermetic connector portion to the housing member, and connecting a first contact portion in the first hermetic connector portion to the sensor member.
These and other advantages and features will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings.
The subject matter, which is regarded as the invention, is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The detailed description explains embodiments of the invention, together with advantages and features, by way of example with reference to the drawings.
Heat detectors are used in a number of industrial applications, to detect fires, trigger alarms and control the release of extinguishing agents. Installation and servicing heat detectors is difficult and time consuming in many applications since access to the electrical connectors may be limited.
In an example of operation, when, for example, a fire or other event heats the housing member 102, the sensor member 302 closes internal contacts (not shown) that complete a circuit that includes the conductors 304 and the contacts 202. The contacts 202 are electrically connected to a sensing circuit (not shown) that detects the closed circuit and may direct an appropriate action, such as, for example sending an alarm signal and triggering an extinguishing system.
Referring to
The connector portion 104 may be attached to the housing member 102 with a weld, a braze, fasteners such as, for example, machine screws, a crimp, or a press fit in the shaded region 110 (of
The use of the connector portion 104 allows the line connector portion 108 to be easily attached and unattached without using tools. The use of the illustrated connectors decreases the labor costs of using tools to connect the heat detector 100 to a monitoring system.
While the invention has been described in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, while various embodiments of the invention have been described, it is to be understood that aspects of the invention may include only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
