Wearable safety device for cutting machine
OwnerJeff Buchanan, Mark Buchananinventors
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Abstract
A safety system prevents cutting machine operators from being accidentally carried through the infeed chute into the machine's cutting mechanism. An operator wears a safety device on his wrist and/or ankle and a sensor array mounts on opposing sides of the cutting machine's infeed chute. The sensor array elements are wound in opposite directions and connect in series opposing. The magnetic field of the safety device induces a current in the sensor array as it moves in the proximity of the sensor array. The safety system generates a signal which is proportional to the sum of the induced currents. When the signal exceeds a threshold, the safety system shuts off power to the feed mechanism and/or the cutting blades of the cutting machine, preventing injury to the operator.
Claims16
A safety device for a safety system that automatically interrupts an operation of a cutting machine, the safety device comprising:
- at least one magnet configured to induce a current in a sensor array;
- and
- an item for fastening the magnet to a human limb;
- wherein the sensor array includes a first sensor element and a second sensor element comprising conductive windings having first and second ends, wherein the conductive windings are not coaxially wound around a cylindrical core, the first sensor element including a first conductive winding that conducts a first current, the second sensor element including a second conductive winding that conducts a second current wherein the first ends of the first and second sensor elements are electrically connected together and the second ends of the first and second sensor elements are electrically connected to a sensor circuit;
- a sensor circuit in communication with the sensor array, wherein either the sensor circuit or the sensor array is configured to sense the first and second currents in the first and second windings and (i) cancel at least a portion of the first and second currents associated with external fields of magnetic flux, and (ii) add at least a portion of the first and second currents associated with moving the magnet near the sensor array to generate an induced current;
- an amplifier that generates a signal proportional to the induced current;
- and
- wherein an operation of a cutting machine is interrupted when the signal is greater than a threshold.
A safety device for a safety system that automatically interrupts an operation of a machine, the safety device comprising:
- means for inducing a current in a sensor array, the sensor array including a first sensor element and a second sensor element, the first sensor element including a first conductive winding that conducts a first current, the second sensor element including a second conductive winding that conducts a second current wherein the first and second conductive windings are not coaxially wound around a cylindrical core, and wherein each of the first and second conductive windings have first and second ends, wherein the first ends are electrically connected together and the second ends are electrically connected to a means for sensing;
- and
- means for fastening to a human limb, the means for inducing;
- the means for sensing that senses the first and second currents in the first and second windings, and cancels at least a portion of the first and second currents associated with external fields of magnetic flux, and adds at least a portion of the first and second currents associated with moving the means for inducing proximate to the sensor array to generate an induced current;
- means for generating a signal proportional to the current;
- wherein an operation of a machine is interrupted when the signal is greater than a threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.