Battery condition detection in hand hygiene product dispensers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018024202-A1
Application number	US-201615215183-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 20, 2016
Priority date	Jul 20, 2016
Publication date	Jan 25, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for detection and analysis of battery condition information may be used with respect to, for example, battery powered hand hygiene product dispensers. The battery condition information may be used to identify potential low battery conditions, the type of dispenser, the type or form of product dispensed, and/or to detect occurrence of a battery replacement event in a hand hygiene product dispenser. The battery condition information may further be used to determine a number of dispenses remaining for a hand hygiene product dispenser. The battery condition information may further be used to provide battery condition information for battery operated hand hygiene product dispensers in hand hygiene compliance systems.

First claim

1 . A system comprising:
a plurality of dispensers each configured to dispense a hand hygiene product, each dispenser configured to detect a dispense event and transmit a corresponding dispense event signal including dispenser identification information associated with the dispenser, each of the plurality of dispensers having an associated dispenser type and an associated dispensed product type; each of the plurality of dispensers further including:
one or more batteries configured to supply power to the dispenser; and
a voltage sensor that senses voltage information correlated to a battery voltage provided by the one or more batteries;
data storage media that stores low battery threshold data, the low battery threshold data including one or more low battery thresholds each corresponding to a dispenser type and a dispensed product type; and a computing device configured to receive the voltage information, the dispenser identification information, the dispenser type, and the dispensed product type, the computing device further configured to identify one of the one or more low battery thresholds based on the dispenser type and the dispensed product type, the computing device further configured to detect a low battery condition if the voltage information satisfies the identified low battery threshold.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is further configured to detect a battery replacement event if the voltage information received from the dispenser includes a voltage increase having a predefined change in amplitude.

3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is further configured to detect a battery replacement event if the voltage information received from the dispenser includes a voltage increase having a predefined change in amplitude and occurring within a predefined period of time.

4 . The system of claim 1 wherein the dispensed product type includes one of a liquid, a gel, or a foam.

5 . The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is further configured to determine a number of dispenses remaining based on the received voltage information.

6 . A system comprising:
a hand hygiene product dispenser associated with one of plurality of dispenser types and configured to dispense a hand hygiene product, the hand hygiene product dispenser including:
one or more batteries configured to supply power to the dispenser; and
a voltage sensor that senses voltage information correlated to a battery voltage of the one or more batteries;
the hand hygiene product dispenser configured to transmit dispenser data including dispenser identification information associated with the dispenser, the associated one of the plurality of dispenser types, and the voltage information; data storage media that stores a plurality of low battery thresholds each corresponding to one of a plurality of dispenser types; and a computing device configured to receive the dispenser data, the computing device further configured to identify one of the plurality of low battery thresholds based on the one of the plurality of dispenser types associated with the dispenser, the computing device further configured to detect a low battery condition if the voltage information satisfies the identified low battery threshold.

7 . The system of claim 6 wherein the one or more low battery thresholds each correspond to a dispenser type and a dispensed product type.

8 . The system of claim 7 wherein the computing device is further configured to identify one of the one or more low battery thresholds based on the dispenser type and the dispensed product type.

9 . The system of claim 7 wherein the dispensed product type includes one of a liquid, a gel, or a foam.

10 . The system of claim 7 wherein the dispensed product type includes one of a sanitizer, a hand soap, a lotion, or an alcohol-based hand hygiene product.

11 . The system of claim 6 further comprising generating a low battery condition message if a low battery condition is detected.

12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the low battery condition message is one of an electronic mail message, a text message, a voice mail message, an audible indicator, a visual indicator, or in a report.

13 . The system of claim 6 wherein the data storage media further stores a plurality of discharge profiles each corresponding to one of a plurality of dispenser types and one of a plurality of dispensed product types, and
wherein, the computing device is further configured to identify one of the plurality of discharge profiles based on the one of the plurality of dispenser types associated with the dispenser and based on the voltage information received from the dispenser over a period of time;
the computing device further configured to identify one of the plurality of dispensed product types corresponding to the identified discharge profile.

14 . The system of claim 13 wherein the computing device is further configured to generate a report including the identified one of the plurality of dispensed product types.

15 . A system comprising:
a hand hygiene product dispenser including:
one or more batteries configured to supply power to the dispenser; and
a voltage sensor that senses voltage information correlated to a battery voltage of the one or more batteries;
the hand hygiene product dispenser configured to transmit the voltage information; data storage media that stores one or more low battery thresholds each corresponding to a dispenser type, and that stores a plurality of discharge profiles each corresponding to one of a plurality of dispenser types; and a computing device configured to receive the voltage information and identify one of the plurality of discharge profiles based on the voltage information received from the dispenser; the computing device further configured to identify the dispenser type corresponding to the identified discharge profile.

16 . The system of claim 15 wherein the computing device is further configured to identify a low battery threshold based on the identified discharge profile.

17 . The system of claim 15 wherein the computing device is further configured to detect a low battery condition if the voltage information satisfies the identified low battery threshold.

18 . The system of claim 15 wherein the plurality of discharge profiles each further correspond to one of the plurality of dispenser types and one of a plurality of dispensed product types, and wherein the computing device is further configured to identify the dispensed product type corresponding to the identified discharge profile.

19 . A system comprising:
a hand hygiene product dispenser, the dispenser defined by one of a plurality of dispenser types and including:
one or more batteries configured to supply power to the dispenser; and
a voltage sensor that senses voltage information correlated to a battery voltage of the one or more batteries;
the hand hygiene product dispenser configured to transmit dispenser data including the voltage information and dispenser identification information including the defined one of the plurality dispenser types; data storage media that stores one or more discharge profiles each corresponding to one of the plurality of dispenser types and one of a plurality of dispensed product types; and a computing device configured to receive the voltage information and the dispenser identification information, the computing device further configured to identify one of the plurality of discharge profiles based on the voltage information and

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Erickson Joseph P
• Slobodyan Viktor

Classifications

• G08B21/182

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title

• G01R31/3835

  involving only voltage measurements · CPC title

• A47K10/36

  with {mechanical dispensing, roll switching or} cutting devices · CPC title

• G01R19/16542 Primary

  for batteries (charge condition monitoring in G01R31/36) · CPC title

• G01R31/3646 Primary

  for indicating electrical conditions or variables, e.g. visual or audible indicators · CPC title