Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an emergency evacuation module and system according to the introductory part of the independent claims.

Background

For evacuation of premises in buildings where public or employees are in an emergency situation, there are requirements that signs are mounted at all exits which are suitable for evacuation in an emergency situation. At a location, if there is no room for direct sight to an emergency exit, it is necessary to provide a directional sign indicating direction to nearest emergency exit.

For all these signs at exits or directional signs to exits, in the following referred to as emergency evacuation modules, there is an European standard EN 1838:1999 that members of the CEN (European Committee for Standardization) are obliged to follow. For instance, this standard states that there must be some type of emergency light for emergency evacuation modules which can be used when the ordinary light does not work. For instance, the standard comprises specific requirements of light for locations where public or employees have access. The sight varies from person to person, which implies that it is important that the signs are clearly visible in an emergency situation. Also, good illumination can decrease anxiety and confusion among persons concerned. Also in other countries, which are not CEN members, there is usually some type of requirements that the evacuation signs must be clearly illuminated in an emergency situation.

Also, there are legal requirements that in public areas, such in a shopping mall or at an airport, loudspeakers must be used in emergency situations, so-called recorded spoken evacuation indicating that evacuation must be performed. These loudspeakers must be designed and provided according to certain principles. When constructing or renovating buildings, there are a number of technical units which must be provided nearby an entrance door or at the door leading in/out to/from a company having employees, as well as other technical units necessary, which may be provided in other areas of the building. Technical units with corresponding units which have to be provided nearby a door can be provided for burglar alarm, personal alarm, door alarm, and loudspeakers, surveillance camera, control- and control means for climate control. Other necessary technical units can be provided in other areas of the premises, for instance in sub-centrals, or can be units for passage control systems, burglar alarms, smoke detector, motion detector, surveillance camera and means for climate control. The other technical units can be provided as single units or together in so-called sub-centrals.

During constructing or renovating, a common solution is to try to integrate these technical units in one and the same way, for instance certain units may be provided more or less hidden, for instance above a ceiling. The solution chosen for these units often depends on architect responsible and/or the person responsible for the particular construction/renovation. Today, a common solution is to provide a space in each premises for different types of technical units, normally referred to as electrical niches, in which only a limited number of units can be provided and thus one tries to compromise which units are the most suitable to be provided there.

In the following, documents disclosing prior art devices within this technical field will be given as examples.

DE 20 2004 012 616 discloses a presentation device for emergency routes, comprising a display panel. The illuminated emergency evacuation module in a building has a display panel with different colours indicating the emergency evacuation route to the emergency exit, by means of white light from at least two LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) along at least one side of the panel. The sign is illuminated by means of a control circuit connected to a smoke detector and a control unit for providing flashing light.

DE 10 2008 017 656 discloses an evacuation sign such as for instance the emergency evacuation sign disclosed in the standard EN 1838, which sign is electrically illuminated. This document also discloses an emergency light device in which the evacuation sign is provided. The emergency light device also comprises at least one of the following: a laser diode directed to the floor for projecting a sign thereon pointing in the direction of the exit, a LED flashing with different frequencies depending on how urgent evacuation of the building is and a loudspeaker providing security messages.

Regarding emergency evacuation modules, it is common that service and maintenance is neglected. This may be due to that the signs were originally delivered by a building construction supplier using an electrical supplier as sub-supplier, which may cause a nonexistent agreement for service and maintenance after the building has been finished. For instance, a common problem is that there is no alarm indicating that the illumination of the sign is not working properly, which may be due to errors in the accumulator battery used for back-up power. Therefore, it is not uncommon that illumination of many emergency evacuation modules is out of order without the person responsible being aware of that. Normally, on each sign there are light indicators showing status and error indications, which may often be so complicated that the persons responsible do not correctly understand them.

It is often desirable that the technical units disclosed above are provided hidden as much as possible. In particular in historical buildings there is a problem to find a suitable location for units since there are requirements regarding the interior of the buildings, why a common solution simply is to choose not to have certain technical units considered not being necessary or to provide units in hidden spaces such as for instance in cabinets or the like. Since the units are provided hidden this often leads to problems both during mounting and later during servicing and maintenance, because the hidden mounting provides access problem to them. Also, these units may have an un-logical location in the premise, which is not always indicated in drawings of the premises, which leads to that they are forgotten and maintenance is totally neglected.

As disclosed above, there is a need to verify the operation of emergency modules and a need to find a proper location to arrange technical units in buildings. None of the prior art techniques in the cited documents are specifically adapted to secure the operation of the signs in an intelligent way that also other technical units can be included. Thus, the object of the present invention is to provide an intelligent emergency evacuation module capable to monitor its own operation as well as also being able to monitor other technical units.

Summary of the invention

The above objects are achieved by the invention defined in the independent claims.

Preferred embodiments are defined in the depending claims.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an emergency evacuation module comprising a presentation unit configured to display information in an emergency situation, a control unit, and a power supply unit configured to power the module. The module further comprises a loudspeaker and at least a first technical unit. The control unit is configured to control and monitor illumination of the presentation unit, the operation of the loudspeaker, and the operation of at least a first technical unit. The module also provides a unitary housing comprising the presentation unit, the control unit, power supply unit, loudspeaker and first technical unit, wherein these are arranged such that they are powered by the power supply unit.

This implies a number of advantages, for instance the following. Mounting of technical units is simplified at the same time as access during service is simplified. Also the operation is more secure than before since the maintenance of the units does not risk to be neglected in the same way as when units are located un-logically in the premises. Also economic benefits are obtained due to the units being arranged at one and the same location.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an emergency evacuation system comprising at least two emergency evacuation modules, wherein the control unit in each of the contained emergency evacuation units is configured to control the operation of the other modules of the system.

Description of drawing figures Figure 1 illustrates a front view of an emergency evacuation module, Figure 2 illustrates a rear-view of an emergency evacuation module, Figure 3 illustrates a view from below of an emergency evacuation module, Figure 4 illustrates a right side view of an emergency evacuation module, Figure 5 illustrates a left side view of an emergency evacuation module, and Figure 6 illustrates a system for an emergency evacuation module.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention

Right/left side is defined in a frontal direction in which a person looks at the sign.

Figure 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of an emergency evacuation module 1 in a front view. This module 1 comprises a presentation unit 2b for displaying information in an emergency situation, a control unit 11 and a power supply unit configured to power the module. The presentation unit 2b can as illustrated in figure 1 be embodied to comply with the European standard EN 1838:1999, but can also be embodied differently indicating direction to an exit. The module 1 also comprises a loudspeaker 10 and at least a first technical unit 3-9. The control unit 11 is configured to control and monitor illumination of the presentation unit 2b, the operation of the loudspeaker 10 and the operation of at least a first technical unit 3-9. The module also provides a unitary housing comprising the presentation unit, the control unit, the power supply unit, the loud speaker and the first technical unit, wherein these are arranged such that they are powered by the power supply unit.

Preferably, the power supply unit is configured to receive power by means of a cable. It also comprises one or more batteries, which secure back-up power when main power supply is neglected. Typically, the control unit 11 can be a printed circuit board or any other similar electronic unit. The control unit 11 can also be configured to control and monitor at least one second technical unit 13, 14, 15 provided externally to the module 1. The control unit 11 can also comprise connection to a receiver central for transferring alarms thereto. The module can essentially be embodied as a linear block 2a. But it can also be embodied differently, such as a sphere or a linear block having rounded corners or have any other geometric form.

Figure 2 illustrates the preferred embedment of the emergency evacuation module seen in a rear-view. Typically, the loudspeaker 10 is provided on the rear side, as seen in the figure. Also the control unit 11 configured to be mounted inside the module is illustrated and hence marked with a dashed line.

The size of the emergency evacuation module can be adapted to the size of the presentation unit when the presentation unit 2b is embodied as a sign according to the European standard EN 1838:1999. Then, the size of the emergency evacuation module 1 is about 30x40 cm (height x width). Also a larger or smaller module can be suitable depending on how many technical units are intended to be contained and how large these units are. The module can be manufactured in plastics or any other suitable relatively light weight material.

Figure 3 illustrates the preferred embodiment of the emergency evacuation module having its technical units illustrated in a view from below. Similarly, figure 4 illustrate the emergency evacuation module in a view from the right side and figure 5 the emergency evacuation module in a view from the left side. Thus, Figure 1-5 illustrate a preferred embodiment of the emergency evacuation module provided with the technical units therein. Also other arrangements of the technical units are possible.

Furthermore, the control unit 11 disclosed above can be configured to control and monitor at least one or more of the following technical units

-the operation of temperature detector 3,

-the operation of light indicator 4 indicating door alarm triggered,

-the operation of motion detector 8, and

-the operation of surveillance camera 9. The control unit 11 can also be configured to control and monitor at least one or more of the following technical units

-the operation of light indicator 5 indicating alarm triggered,

-the operation of light detector 6, and

-the operation of glass breakage detector 7.

Typically, the temperature detector 3 is configured to indicate fire and to signal the heating- and cooling gear of the building. Typically, the light detector 6 is configured to control the light of the premises. Furthermore, the glass breakage detector 7 can be provided for burglar alarm and the motion detector 8 for burglar alarms, light control and control of the heating- and cooling gear of the building. Furthermore, it is suitable that the surveillance camera 9 stores images locally.

The light indicator 4 indicates door alarm triggered. This door alarm can be triggered by unauthorised opening of the door for instance by enforcement or use of sealed emergency evacuation door handle. The glass breakage detector 7 is provided for indicating burglar alarm being triggered. Normally, indication of burglar alarm is provided on the glass screens arranged nearby the exit door.

The first technical units 3-9 arranged nearby the control unit 11 are directly connected to the control unit for instance by means of electrical contacts. However, they may also be wirelessly connected to the control unit. Nearby the control unit an additional unit may be provided securing wireless communication.

A second technical unit arranged externally to the module 1 can be at least one or more of the following units

-card reader for passage systems 13,

-magnetic contact for door 14, and

-opening means for motor lock in door 15. The second technical unit arranged externally to the module 1 can also be at least one or more of the following units

-electric lock in door embodied as 24 h lock, -electric lock in door embodied as night time lock,

-detector for motor lock in door for control of electric lock with night time lock, -opening means for opening electric lock with 24 h lock operation, - manual activation of fire-/evacuation alarm,

-motion detector for burglar alarm, light control and control of heating- and cooling gear of the building,

-glass breakage detector for burglar alarm,

-alarm glass embodied as alarm glass panel in which one or more alarm circuits are built-in,

-surveillance camera,

-detector for personal alarm, -smoke-/heat detector for detecting fire,

-spot detector for surveillance of valuable goods,

-liquid detector for surveillance of water damages, and

-temperature detector for heating- and cooling gear.

The loudspeaker 10 arranged in the module can comprise the following types of light indicators. Ringing signal, for instance embodied as motor controlled fire alarm bell, for evacuation signal according to international standards. Recorded message for evacuation in multiple languages, for instance Swedish, English, or any other language spoken in the actual country. Other recorded instructions of importance in an emergency situation such as not to use elevators may also be recorded.

The sound indicators of the loudspeaker can for instance be used in the following situations. Warning for activation of burglar alarm and night locking, which implies for instance that a motor operated lock in the door is activated. This warning can be provided as a sound signal or a recorded message or any combination thereof. It is important that persons still being in the premises are warned about activation since this is often connected to motion detecting alarm. Furthermore, light indication in case of alarm triggered can be provided as a sound signal or a recorded message or be any combination thereof.

Preferably, no light indication is provided in the part of the premises where alarm has been triggered, which could otherwise lead to worse hostile situation. At break-in alarm triggered, it may be suitable with a loud ringing signal for scaring the person having triggered the alarm so he runs away. Moreover, it may be suitable with a recorded message about door alarm triggered, for instance by seal broken for emergency evacuation door handle. The recorded message may for instance sound "door alarm triggered. Door alarm handle should only be used in an emergency situation. Please, await service personnel".

Typically, the control unit 11 is connected to the central unit of the premises. The central unit can comprise basic central gear for instance for entrance systems, break-in alarms, fire alarms etc.

Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of an emergency evacuation system 100. The emergency evacuation system can comprise at least two emergency evacuation modules 1 , wherein the control unit 11 in each of the contained emergency evacuation modules 1 is configured to control the operation with other modules of the system.

The control unit 11 of the emergency evacuation system 100 can be configured to control the operation with other modules by means of wireless communication. This wireless

communication can for instance be so-called Bluetooth. It is also possible to use

communication by wire, which may be suitable when two modules are arranged within a relatively distance to each other.

The control unit 11 of the emergency evacuation system 100 can also be configured to control the operation with other modules according to predetermined protocols. These protocols can contain predetermined schedules of in which order the control of the operation of the other modules should occur.

Furthermore, the emergency evacuation system 100 can also be configured such that the control unit in each of the contained emergency evacuation modules 1 can be configured to control the operation with at least one of the second technical units 13-15, as illustrated in figure 6. The second technical units 13-15 are in a first aspect wirelessly connected to the control unit 11. Since the second technical unit is arranged within suitable, relatively short distance to the control unit, also wired connection can be possible. The second technical units 13-15 can be arranged individually in the premises or nearby the premises. The externally arranged technical units 13-15, which the control unit 11 is configured to control and monitor, can also be arranged in an emergency evacuation module 1 of the premises. The emergency evacuation system 100 can also comprise further or other technical units than those illustrated in figure 6, such as the technical units disclosed in relation to figure 1-5.

The present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments disclosed. Other alternatives, modifications and equivalents thereof can also be used. The above disclosed embodiments are not to be considered as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.