Automated dispenser for disinfectant with proximity sensor
AssigneeThe Path-X Corporation
InventorsThomas R. Winings, Robert Samson
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Abstract
A unit suitable for wall mounting contains a supply of disinfectant and a proximity detector that senses an individual's approach. When an approaching individual is detected, the unit issues a visual and/or audible reminder to disinfect. A second proximity detector senses the presence of an individual's hands beneath a disinfectant ejection outlet, and the unit thereupon dispenses a predetermined amount of disinfectant. The invention may display compliance information including a compliance rate based on the ratio of alarms to actual dispensations of disinfectant, and may store historical compliance information for subsequent analysis.
Claims18
Automated dispensing apparatus comprising:
- a. a housing;
- b. contained within the housing, a receptacle for liquid;
- c. outlet means for conducting liquid from the receptacle to a dispensing location accessible to a user's hands;
- d. a first detector for producing an alarm-trigger signal in response to the presence of a user proximate to the housing;
- e. alarm means for generating, in response to the alarm-trigger signal, a user perceivable alarm;
- f. a second detector for producing a valve-actuation signal in response to the presence of a user's hands in the dispensing location;
- and
- g. a dispensing valve, interposed between the receptacle and the outlet means, for sending a predetermined volume of liquid through the outlet means in response to the valve-actuation signal.
A method of controllably dispensing a liquid, the method comprising:
- a. providing a receptacle containing a liquid and an outlet to the receptacle;
- b. providing means for dispensing a predetermined amount of the liquid through the outlet;
- c. sensing the proximity of a user to the receptacle and generating, in response thereto, a user-perceivable alarm;
- and
- d. sensing the presence of a user's hands proximate to the outlet and, in response thereto, dispensing the predetermined amount of the liquid through the outlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.