Fall protection equipment event generation and monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10496045-B2
Application number	US-201715782645-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2017
Priority date	Oct 14, 2016
Publication date	Dec 3, 2019
Grant date	Dec 3, 2019

Abstract

In some examples, a system includes a self-retracting lifeline (SRL) comprising one or more electronic sensors, the one or more electronic sensors configured to generate data that is indicative of an operation of the SRL; and at least one computing device comprising one or more computer processors and a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to: receive the data that is indicative of the operation of the SRL; apply the data to a safety model that predicts a likelihood of an occurrence of a safety event associated with the SRL; and perform one or more operations based at least in part on the likelihood of the occurrence of the safety event.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a self-retracting lifeline (SRL) comprising one or more electronic sensors, the one or more electronic sensors configured to generate data that is indicative of an operation of the SRL; and
at least one computing device comprising one or more computer processors and a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to:
receive the data that is indicative of the operation of the SRL;
apply the data to a safety model stored in the memory, the safety model characterizing the activity of the SRL;
identify regions within a work environment in which the at least one SRL is deployed to predict, based on the identified regions being associated with a number of known safety events identified with an anomalous behavior of a user of the at least one SRL relative to known safe behavior characterized by the safety model, a likelihood of an occurrence of a safety event associated with the SRL; and
wirelessly send to the SRL a set of rules that are based on the safety model that predicts, based on the identification of regions within the work environment in which the self-retracting lifeline is deployed, the likelihood of the occurrence of the safety event associated with the SRL.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions that cause the one or more computer processors to perform the one or more operations the memory comprise instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to:
generate an alert in response to the predicted likelihood of the occurrence of the safety event; and
transmit the alert to the SRL,
wherein the SRL is configured to:
receive the alert; and
generate an output in response to receiving the alert.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a hub configured to communicate with the SRL and the at least one computing device, wherein the SRL is configured to transmit the usage data to the hub, and wherein the hub is configured to transmit the usage data to the at least one computing device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one computing device is configured to transmit an alert to the SRL via a hub.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to:
generate the set of rules based on the safety model; and
transmit the rules to a hub that is configured to communicate with the SRL, and wherein the hub is configured to generate a second alert based on the set of rules.

6. A self-retracting lifeline (SRL) comprising:
a first connector configured to be coupled to an anchor;
a second connector configured to be coupled to a user of the lifeline;
one or more electronic sensors, the one or more electronic sensors configured to generate usage data that is indicative of an operation of the SRL;
a communication unit that is configured to:
wirelessly transmit the data that is indicative of the operation of the SRL to a second device; and
wirelessly receive a set of rules based on a safety model that predicts, based on identification of regions within a work environment in which the self-retracting lifeline is deployed as being associated with a number of known safety events identified with anomalous behavior of the user of the self-retracting lifeline relative to known safe behavior characterized by the safety model, a likelihood of an occurrence of a safety event associated with the SRL;

a memory configured to store the rules; and
one or more user interface devices configured to communicate an output based on a comparison of the usage data to the rules.

7. The self-retracting lifeline of claim 6 , wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive alert data based on application of the usage data to one or more safety models for predicting a likelihood of an occurrence of a safety event associated with the SRL, and wherein the self-retracting lifeline further comprises an output unit that is configured to generate the output based on the alert data.

8. The self-retracting lifeline of claim 6 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least one of an extension sensor, a tension sensor, an accelerometer, a location sensor, or an altimeter.

9. The self-retracting lifeline of claim 6 , further comprising one or more environment sensors configured to generate data indicative of an environment in which the self-retracting lifeline is located.

10. The self-retracting lifeline of claim 9 , wherein the one or more environment sensors are configured to generate data indicative of at least one of temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, particulate content, or ambient noise.

11. A computing device comprising:
one or more computer processors; and
a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to:
obtain usage data from at least one self-retracting lifeline (SRL), wherein the usage data comprises data indicative of operation of the at least one SRL;
apply the usage data to a safety model stored in the memory, wherein the safety model characterizes activity of a user of the at least one SRL;
identify regions within a work environment in which the at least one SRL is deployed to predict, based on the identified regions being associated with a number of known safety events identified with an anomalous behavior of the user of the at least one SRL relative to known safe behavior characterized by the safety model, a likelihood of an occurrence of a safety event associated with the at least one SRL based on application of the usage data to the safety model; and
wirelessly send to the SRL a set of rules that are based on the safety model that predicts, based on the identification of regions within the work environment in which the self-retracting lifeline is deployed, the likelihood of the occurrence of the safety event associated with the SRL.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the safety model is constructed from historical data of the known safety events from a plurality of SRLs having similar characteristics to the at least one SRL.

13. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the memory comprises instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to update the safety model based on the usage data from the at least one SRL.

14. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the memory comprises instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to construct the safety model from data of the known safety events from one or more devices other than SRLs that are in use with the at least one SRL.

15. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the memory comprises instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to select the safety model based on at least one of a configuration of the at least one SRL, the user of the at least one SRL, an environment in which the at least one SRL is located, or one or more other devices that are in use with the at least one SRL.

16. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the usage data is representative of activity of users of the at least one SRL during a time period, and wherein the usage data comprises data indicative of at least one of extension and retraction of a lifeline of the SRL, a force applied to the lifeline of the at least one SRL, an acceleration of the at least one SRL, a location of the at l

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Hu Jia
• Blackford Matthew J
• Mattson Keith G
• Jesme Ronald D
• Anderson Nathan J

Classifications

• A62B35/0093 Primary

  Fall arrest reel devices · CPC title

• A62B35/0037

  Attachments for lifelines and lanyards (lifelines, lanyards A62B35/0043) · CPC title

• A62B35/0043 Primary

  Lifelines, lanyards, and anchors therefore (attachments A62B35/0037) · CPC title

• G05B9/02 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• G05B17/02

  electric · CPC title