Patent Application
20130279097
The present invention relates to the field of wall mounted electrical elements. More particularly, the invention relates to a smart autonomous housing for wall mounted electrical elements, such as numerous types of outlets (e.g., electrical, RJ45, phone, TV, etc.), controllers (e.g., lights, curtains, HVAC, etc.), switches and other common control elements which will look like a part of that wall surface when not in use, by automatically concealing any operational parts of the electrical element and leaving only a visible contour on the wall surface.
The existence of wall mounted electrical elements in homes today comes out of a necessity, or a need, and not out of a choice. Many appliances require these electrical elements as a power source (e.g., electrical outlet) or control unit (e.g., light switch or HVAC controller). Oftentimes those electrical elements are not in use (i.e., not connected to any device, in the case of a plug, or only used infrequently to increase the room temperature, in the case of an HVAC controller, etc). Conventional wall mounted electrical elements, such as outlets, switches and the like, usually have an accommodating box or housing which contains one or more of such electrical elements. Such housings usually have a traditional faceplate which leaves the operational part of the electrical element revealed. However, this conventional arrangement (i.e., the housing and its corresponding faceplate) detracts from the appearance of the wall. The result is a wall surface with visible electrical elements and faceplates which damage the continuous and clean appearance of the wall's surface. Moreover, such conventional arrangements are usually exposed and therefore might not be safe for children who can insert metal objects into the live terminals of the receptacle. This exposure furthermore allows unauthorized persons to touch switches or other controllers, which might be unwanted by the proprietor.
Certain newer prior art wall mounted electrical elements try to be more appealing by applying design, illumination, or colors. Other applications aim to achieve minimum visibility by concealing, as much as possible, the electrical element and its visible contours. WO 2008/033181, commercially known, as “Trufig”, discloses a method for flush mounting an electrical element. However, the operational parts of the outlet are still exposed and can easily be seen. The result is a non-plain wall surface with visible switches or receptacles/outlets.
Another product commonly known in the art as the “Concealite”, or the “Concealite Discover Series” (hereinafter, “Concealite”) is described under the following URL address: http://wwww.concealite.com/discover_series.html. The Concealite device essentially is a housing for outlets which allows receptacles/outlets to be concealed in a standard piaster wall behind a manual rotating door and is finished (e.g., by paint) to approximate or to relatively match the interior wall color, texture or finish when the door is in the closed position. The term “plaster wall” herein refers to any commonly known type of plaster wall, drywall, or gypsum wall.
Such prior art devices have several drawbacks. A first drawback arises from the discrepancy between keeping the wall mounted electrical element concealed, and at the same time user-friendly. Those elements are in many cases used frequently, which means that minimising the user's effort is of high relevance. Unfortunately, such a manual rotating door as referred to above usually causes extra efforts each time someone wants to use the electrical element. For example, using an electrical outlet will require three steps instead of one: 1) opening the door; 2) using the electrical outlet; and 3) closing the door. The result might be that a person prefers to leave the rotating door open or altogether avoids installing the product, as using it is more complicated than resorting to conventional arrangements where the operational part of the electrical element is revealed.
A second drawback emerges from the difficulty to identify the electrical element when it is concealed. When the door is in a closed position, different types of wall mounted electrical elements (e.g., light switch, electrical outlet, and RJ45 outlet, etc.) look the same, making it cumbersome for the user to both locate them on the wall and identity their type. To address these problems and to provide a flush and esthetic solution for wall mounted electrical elements, an enhanced housing is required.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wall mounted arrangement which will not detract from the appearance of a wall or will not damage the wall's exterior appearance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an autonomous housing for wall mounted electrical elements which will look like a part of the wall when not in use by automatically concealing any operational parts of the outlet and leaving only a visible contour on the wall surface.
It is another object of the present invention to maximize the time the housing is in a closed position, concealing the wall mounted electrical elements.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a way to easily identify, locate and operate the wall mounted electrical elements when the housing is in a closed position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a safe and secure arrangement for wall mounted electrical elements.
Other objects and advantages of the invention, will become apparent as the description proceeds.
The present invention is generally directed to an enclosure box or housing for wall mounted electrical element(s) which is provided with an automatic power door. The present invention provides a smart automatic and autonomous housing for wall mounted electrical elements which minimizes the user's effort and maximizes the time the electrical element is concealed. The said functionality is achieved by providing a housing comprising one or more sensors, a motor and a door that can switch between open/closed positions automatically. Moreover, the present invention provides the housing with a capability to perform certain tasks related to the operations or status of the electrical element also when the door is in a closed position.
The door and the housing are flush mounted on the wall thereby providing an esthetic solution for wall mounted electrical elements. The housing's door can he opened by input signals received from at least one of the sensors which enable the detection of a person's intention to use the electrical element. Optionally, gestures detection may signal the electric motor to move the door to an open position only when a specific combination is detected, very similar to a security code. In this manner, an enhanced safety and secure mechanism can be achieved.
Additionally, gesture detection according to pre-defined gesture combinations may actuate the electrical element concealed behind the door. This can eliminate the need to open the door for certain frequent operations. This feature of the housing of the present invention further maximizes the time the electrical element remains concealed.
The housing of the present invention operates completely autonomously by receiving all inputs and commands from inbuilt components, such as sensors, a control circuit, etc.
The present invention relates to a substantially concealed smart housing for wall mounted electrical elements, wherein said housing is configured to be installed in a flush manner in a wall, said housing comprises: a) at least one electrical element; b) a door for allowing on demand access to said at least one electrical element, wherein said housing is configured in such a way that whenever said door is completely closed, only a contour around said door is visible on the wall in which said housing is installed; c) an electric motor mechanically connected to said door, for moving said door between closed and open positions: d) a control circuit for performing tasks related to the determination whether to open or close said door automatically or for performing tasks related to the status of said at least one electrical element, wherein said control circuit is electrically connected to said motor; e) one or more sensors, electrically connected to said control circuit, for providing information to said control circuit in order to trigger said control circuit to perform said tasks, wherein said sensor(s) is positioned in said housing in such a way that said sensor(s) is used at least for detecting the intention to use said electrical element(s) and for detecting whenever said electrical element(s) is in use; and f) a power supply source for feeding the electrical components of said housing.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sensors are selected from the group consisting of: proximity, touch, sound, light, movement, micro-switch, or combination thereof.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control circuit comprises a memory module for storing pre-defined information related to the operation of the door and/or information related to the operating or status of at least one of the electrical elements. The pre-defined information may represent a combination of one or more gestures detected by at least one sensor. The pre-defined information can he programmable or preprogrammed.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control circuit is further used in combination with at least one of the sensors for obtaining a correct sequence which represents the stored pre-defined information, wherein the correct sequence is a time based sequence and/or gesture based sequence.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the smart housing further comprises one or more light sources, wherein said light sources emit one or more light colors, either automatically and/or according to one or more gestures. In some embodiments, at least one of the light sources can be used to provide visual information regarding the status of the electrical element, whenever said electrical element is electrically connected to the control circuit. Additionally, at least one of the light sources can be used to provide visual information regarding the type of the concealed electrical element.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electrical element(s) can be attached to the smart housing via corresponding socket(s), wherein said sockets can he used to detach or replace said electrical element(s).
According to some embodiments of the present invention, whenever the door is completely open, it is fully contained in said housing in such a way that said door is minimally visible.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control circuit may control the door as follows:
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control circuit is electrically connected to at least one of the electrical elements in order to operate said electrical element(s) and/or to receive information related to the electrical element(s), thereby the control circuit can operate the electrical element whenever at least one of the sensors detects the intention to use the electrical element(s).
The present invention further relates to a method for allowing to operate and conceal, automatically and autonomously, at least one wall mounted electrical element which is located within a smart housing, wherein said housing is mounted in a flush manner on a wall while said electrical element is substantially concealed behind a door of said housing thus whenever said door is closed, only a contour around said door is visible on the wall in which said housing is installed, said method comprises the steps of: a) normally keeping said door in a closed position until receiving a first signal(s) for opening said door, wherein said first signal is generated by a control circuit according to information received from at least one sensor and/or pre-defined definitions; b) whenever receiving said first signal automatically moving said door to an open position, thereby allowing access to said electrical element until receiving a second, signal(s) for closing said door, wherein said second signal is generated by said control circuit according to information received from at least one sensor and/or pre-defined definitions; and c) whenever receiving said second signal automatically moving said door to the closed position, wherein automatically moving said door between closed and open positions is done by an electric motor.
According to an embodiment of the present invention the pre-defined definitions are selected from the group consisting of: time interval(s), one or more gestures, sensor output data, or any combinations thereof. According to some embodiment of the present invention the method further comprises operating the electrical element by directly using one or more of the pre-defined definitions, thereby eliminating the need to open the door.
In the drawings:
The term “home” herein refers to any structure in which one or more wall mounted electrical elements: are located, such as a residence home, hotel, office, factory, etc.
The terms “wall mounted electrical element” or “electrical element” when referred to herein relate to various types of outlets (electrical, RJ45, phone, TV, etc), controllers (alarm keypad, curtain controller, HVAC controller, etc.), switches (e.g., light switch) and other common control elements (e.g., touch screens) which are wall mounted. It should be noted that the housing suggested by the present invention is used for wall mounted electrical elements which require physical or manual human involvement, e.g., touching a button, or inserting a plug.
The terms “flush” or “flush manner” refer herein to the installation of the housing in such, a way that the doer side of the housing will look like an integral part of the wall.
The term “gesture” refers herein to any operation performed by a user, such as body movement, touching, sound (e.g., voice), etc.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, housing 10 is attached to a wall in such a way that when door 22 is in a closed position, from a perpendicular view of the wall, housing 10 will look like a part of that wall concealing any operational parts of the electrical element located within housing 10 and leaving only a visible contour on the wall surface (the outline(s) of the visible contour corresponds to the shape of the door(s) of housing 19), by being substantially flush and finished to approximate or relatively match the wall color and texture. For an even more aesthetic appearance, when door 22 is in an open position, from a perpendicular view of the wall door 22 can be fully contained within housing 10 in such a way that door 22 is minimally visible.
Control circuit 12 is used to decide when door 22, one or more electrical elements 5, and, optionally, the LED 26 are actuated. The control circuit 12 acts according to input signals provided from at least one of the following elements: one or more of the sensors (e.g., sensors 20 and/or 21), electrical element(s) 5 or any combination thereof. For example, control circuit 12 can be any suitable controller, micro-controller, PCB, ASIC or other programmable control units.
According to some embodiments of the present invention, control circuit 12 may also be used for determining the time elapsed. For example, control circuit 12 will count a pre-defined number of seconds starting at the moment door 22 moves to an open position. At the end of that counting, control circuit 12 instructs the motor 11 to move door 22 to a closed position. This way, the door is closed automatically after having given the user sufficient time to perform one or more tasks related to the electrical element 5. Housing 10 may comprise several types of sensors for allowing the operation of the door and/or at least one of the electrical elements installed, within said housing by performing at least the following two types of detection operations:
According to some embodiments of the invention, the pre-defined information can he stored in a memory module (not shown) associated with control circuit 12 and may represent gesture combinations as well as the associated operation of the door 22 and/or at least one electrical element 5.
Any combination of gestures detectable fey the sensor(s) is possible (e.g., waving the hand a certain number of times and/or one or more taps on the door 22). A combination may further include a correct sequence based on time elapsed and/or gestures (e.g., two taps on the door 22, 1 second pause, and another tap).
According to some embodiments of the present invention, detecting a person's intention to use the electrical element can actuate the door 22. For example, a touch sensor 21 (e.g., a piezoelectric sensor) which by exerting touching pressure against the door will actuate the electric motor to move the door to its open position. In that case, sensor 21 can be located on the internal side of door 22, in order to provide a better response while a user touches door 22.
Another example would he to employ a proximity sensor 21B (
According to some embodiments of the present invention, door 22 can only be actuated if certain pre-defined gestures are detected, similarly to a security code. In this manner, the electrical element 5 will be concealed from and unreachable to unauthorized persons (e.g., children).
According to some embodiments of the present invention, detecting a person's intention to use the electrical element can actuate key operations (e.g., most common tasks) of the electrical element 5 concealed behind the door 22 without the need to open door 22 by detection of pre-defined gesture combinations. For example, one touch or hand wave can actuate a multi-light switch within the housing in order to turn on the main lights.
The sensors, such as sensor 20 or 21 may he proximity, touch, pressure, movement, sound sensors, etc. It should be noted that the sensors' functionalities of detecting whenever the electrical element(s) is in use and of detecting the intention to use said electrical element(s) 5 may be obtained by the same component (i.e., by the same sensing unit).
As mentioned hereinbefore, housing 10 may farther comprise one or more light sources, such as LED 28. According to some embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of light colors may be combined in order to provide different indicative information. Preferably, the lighting source is positioned in such a way that the wavelengths emitted by it will pass through the exposed niche surrounding door 22 (for example, such a niche is indicated by numeral 19 in
According to some embodiments of the present invention, the electrical elements 5 are attached to housing 10 via a corresponding socket or sockets. The socket can be used to attach/detach an electrical element or replace an existing one in a plug-and-play manner. For example, this can be done by connecting the electric network wiring to the socket, while the socket itself includes connectors which electrically connect the electric element attached to it.
Hereinafter, some of the operations, advantages and optional implementations of the housing of the present invention will be demonstrated by way of example.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
This example refers to a case when two different electrical elements, such as electrical outlet 14 (
In this example, the user would like to use one of the light switches 44. In order to identify which housing contains the light switches 44, waving the hand in front of them will cause the proximity sensor of both separate housings to initiate their corresponding LED light each in different colors, thereby allowing the user to distinguish between these two closed housings. For example, the LED of electrical outlet 14 will emit white light, while the LED of the light switch 44 will emit blue light. Therefore, the type and location of the electrical element is now easily identified by color. A touch on door 22 (of
According to
According to
According to
Set of
The installation of such smart housing can he implemented in various other ways and with different construction elements, in plaster walls, concrete walls, brick walls, wood wails or other types of walls mutatis mutandis.
While some embodiments of the invention have been described by way of illustration, it will be apparent that the invention can be earned into practice with many modifications, variations and adaptations, and with the use of numerous equivalents or alternative solutions that are within the scope of persons skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 210651 | Jan 2011 | IL | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IL11/00190 | 2/24/2011 | WO | 00 | 7/11/2013 |
