Universally accessible smoke detector

Abstract

A wall-mounted stand-alone smoke detector has an elongated housing. The housing has two ends. One end forms a base. The other end houses a sensor head remote from the base. A rigid member supports the sensor and connects the sensor to the base. The sensor head has a smoke sensor, a signal conditioner and a preamplifier for respectively detecting, conditioning, amplifying and providing signals from the sensor to a signal processor in the base. A positioning probe is attached to the sensor head end of the housing for positioning the sensor spaced from a ceiling of a room. The end housing the sensor may be angled for spacing the sensor from a wall on which the detector is mounted. All mounting, display control interaction and routine maintenance can be performed within easy reach, without climbing. The base has a power supply. A signal processor in the base is connected to the sensor head. Circuitry analyzes and processes signals, recognizing an alarm state and activating audible and visual alarms. Displays on the base which are at user eye level provide output of the signal processor. Buttons are provided on the base to test the detector and to cancel alarms. The buttons have distinct visual and tactile indicators to differentiate them from one another. A drop flag attached to the base communicates with the sensor and persistently indicates the reduced power supply status within the detector. Several such smoke detector units (DU) are combinable with a remote output unit (ROU) communicating with the detector units.