Monitoring modules for hand hygiene dispensers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11272815-B2
Application number	US-201815912999-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2018
Priority date	Mar 7, 2017
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

Monitoring modules for hand hygiene product dispensers may be installed in existing manual or touch free hand hygiene product dispensers to provide wireless communication of dispenser data to or from a dispenser. In one example, a manual dispenser beacon module is configured to be used with a manually actuated hand hygiene product dispenser to monitor hand hygiene compliance events (such as dispense events) associated with the dispenser, and to wirelessly transmit dispenser data to or from the manual dispenser. In another example, a touch free dispenser beacon module is configured to be used with a touch free hand hygiene product dispenser to monitor hand hygiene compliance events (such as dispense events) associated with the dispenser, and to wirelessly transmit dispenser data to or from the touch free dispenser.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dispenser beacon module that provides for wireless communication of dispenser data from a manually actuated product dispenser, comprising:
a module housing sized to fit within the manually actuated product dispenser, the module housing having a module base and a module cover;
a bottle presence trigger on an outer surface of the module housing that when closed provides a bottle presence signal indicative of presence of a product container in the hand hygiene product dispenser;
a dispenser actuation switch that when closed provides a dispenser actuation signal;
the module base including a slot configured to slidably receive a portion of an actuator of the manually actuated hand hygiene product dispenser;
an actuation slider configured to slidably engage the portion of the actuator and close the dispenser actuation switch when the actuator is manually actuated by a user; and
a controller that receives the dispenser actuation signal, detects a corresponding dispense event, and stores corresponding dispense event data,
wherein the controller determines product container presence or absence in the manually actuated product dispenser based on the bottle presence signal,
wherein the controller wirelessly transmits the dispense event data to a remote computing device, the dispense event data including a time and date of the detected dispense event and a bottle presence indicator indicative of the product container presence or absence in the product dispenser, and
wherein the controller detects the product container replacement and compares a number of dispenses remaining associated with the hand hygiene product container to a predetermined alert level to determine whether the product container was replaced before the predetermined alert level was reached.

2. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the module housing is sized to be received into a receptacle within the manually actuated product dispenser.

3. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to communicate with an identification badge associated with a user upon detection of the dispense event and to receive user identification information from the identification badge.

4. The dispenser beacon module of claim 3 wherein the dispenser data further includes the user identification information associated with the dispense event.

5. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the controller further determines status information corresponding to the dispense event, including a battery level associated with the dispenser beacon module, a dispense event count, and a number of dispenses remaining.

6. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the dispense event data further includes a battery level associated with the dispenser beacon module, a dispense event count, and a number of dispenses remaining.

7. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the bottle presence trigger includes a switch that is moved to a closed position when a hand hygiene product container is present in the manually actuated product dispenser.

8. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 further comprising a power source that provides power to the controller.

9. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 further comprising a battery compartment within the module housing.

10. The dispenser beacon module of claim 9 wherein the battery compartment is sized to receive one or more batteries that provide power to the controller.

11. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the manual product dispenser is a manually actuated product dispenser.

12. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the product container is a hand hygiene product container.

13. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the controller is internal to the module housing.

14. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 wherein the actuation slider and the dispenser actuation switch are internal to the module housing.

15. The dispenser beacon module of claim 1 , wherein the module controller detects a change in the bottle presence trigger from closed to open to detect removal of the product container from the hand hygiene product dispenser, and detects a subsequent closure of the bottle presence trigger to detect installation of another product container into the product dispenser, and generates a product bottle replacement indication upon detection of the subsequent closure of the bottle presence trigger.

16. A dispenser beacon module that provides for wireless communication of dispenser data from a touch free product dispenser, comprising:
a module housing sized to fit within the touch free product dispenser, the module housing having a module base and a module cover;
a bottle presence trigger on an outer surface of the module housing that when closed provides a bottle presence signal indicative of presence of a product container in the touch free product dispenser;
a controller that receives an indication of a touch free dispenser actuation from the touch free product dispenser, detects a corresponding dispense event, and stores corresponding dispense event data,
wherein the controller determines product container presence or absence in the touch free product dispenser based on the bottle presence signal,
and wherein the controller wirelessly transmits the dispense event data to a remote computing device, the dispense event data including the time and date of the detected dispense event and a bottle presence indicator indicative of product container presence or absence of a product container in the product dispenser,
wherein the controller wirelessly transmits the dispense event data to a remote computing device, the dispense event data including a time and date of the detected dispense event and a bottle presence indicator indicative of product container presence or absence in the product dispenser,
and wherein the controller detects a product container replacement and compares a number of dispenses remaining associated with the hand hygiene product container to a predetermined alert level to determine whether the product container was replaced before the predetermined alert level was reached.

17. The device of claim 16 further including an indicator that is illuminated by the controller upon receipt of the dispenser actuation signal.

18. The device of claim 16 wherein the bottle presence trigger includes one of a plunger switch, a pin switch, or a rocker switch.

19. The dispenser beacon module of claim 16 wherein the module controller is further configured to communicate with an identification badge associated with a user upon detection of a dispense event and to receive user identification information from the identification badge.

20. The dispenser beacon module of claim 19 wherein the dispenser data further includes the user identification information associated with the dispense event.

21. The dispenser beacon module of claim 16 wherein the controller further determines status information corresponding to the dispense event, including a battery level associated with the dispenser beacon module, a battery level associated with the touch free product dispenser, a dispense event count, and a number of dispenses remaining.

22. The dispenser beacon module of claim 16 wherein the dispense event data further includes a battery level associated with the dispenser beacon module, a battery level associated with the touch free product dispenser, a dispense event count, and a number of

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Rospierski Jeffrey
• Snodgrass David L
• Schultz Andrew M
• Slobodyan Viktor
• Littau Cheryl A
• Dobizl Kenneth T

Classifications

• G16H40/20

  for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms · CPC title

• A47K5/1217 Primary

  Electrical control means for the dispensing mechanism · CPC title

• G08B21/245

  Reminder of hygiene compliance policies, e.g. of washing hands · CPC title