Fire extinguishers – Mount – cabinet or guard – Movable relative to fire
Patent
1997-07-31
1999-03-09
Kashnikow, Andres
Fire extinguishers
Mount, cabinet or guard
Movable relative to fire
169 61, 239171, 244136, A62C 302, B64D 118
Patent
active
058788190
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for assisting with the extinguishing of fires by water-bombing aircraft. It is particularly applicable to firefighting.
DISCUSSION OF THE BACKGROUND
The development of firefighting techniques using water-bombing aircraft has greatly increased in popularity, particularly for combating fires in places which are particularly difficult to access over land or are remote from reserves of water.
However, manoeuvring these aircraft and dropping the water accurately are still difficult areas and there have regrettably been a number of failures or accidents in these problematic phases.
At the present time there are barely any systems dedicated to detecting and pinpointing the sources of fires. The systems employed are in fact the location systems with which an aircraft is conventionally equipped, using procedures of flying by sight and visually identifying the sources.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to allow the crew of water-bombing aircraft, particularly when smoke is present, to better pinpoint the source of the fire, and therefore the point to be extinguished, and possibly to transmit the location to other carriers, optimise the route of the aircraft and the route of the water and finally secure a safe escape route for the water bombers. In particular, the system assists with avoiding obstacles hidden by the smoke.
Thus the subject of the invention is a device for assisting with the extinguishing of fires by a water-bombing aircraft, characterized in that it has at least one sensor for sensing the source of the fire, means for pinpointing the position of the aircraft, a geographical database and means for calculating the route of the aircraft as a function of the position of this aircraft and of the position of the source as pinpointed in the database.
The main advantages of the invention are that it adapts to all types of relief of the ground and all types of weather conditions, that it is simple to use and that it is economical.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other features and advantages of the invention will become clear from the description which follows, given with reference to appended drawings which represent:
FIG. 1 a water-bombing aircraft approaching the source of a fire;
FIG. 2 in a block diagram, one possible embodiment of a device according to the invention;
FIG. 3 an example of a possible embodiment of a device according to the invention.
DISCUSSION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 shows a water-bombing aircraft 1 approaching the source of a fire 2, the aircraft being equipped with a device according to the invention. It comprises at least one sensor for sensing the source of the fire. This sensor is, for example, an external sensor sensitive to temperature. This sensor is, for example, an infrared camera which allows the source of the fire to be located precisely in terms of elevation and bearing relative to the aircraft by human identification and/or automatic processing.
The aircraft 1 also has means for pinpointing its position, for example in altitude, latitude and longitude, as well as attitudes. These means are, for example, known navigational systems.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of one possible embodiment of a device according to the invention. The device has at least means 21 for pinpointing the position of the aircraft in which they are placed, a sensor 22 for sensing the sources of fires, a geographical database 23 and algorithmic computation means 24 allowing, for example, location, guidance and dropping.
The geographical database 23 which is in fact a terrain database, has in memory a grid of the surrounding terrain in latitude, longitude and altitude. The positions of the aircraft 1 and of the source 2 are pinpointed in the database relative to the aforementioned grid. This pinpointing is performed, for example, by the algorithmic computation means 24. These then calculate, for example, the route which will allow the aircraft to fly in in the sa
REFERENCES:
patent: 3901467 (1975-08-01), Hawkshaw
patent: 5549259 (1996-08-01), Herlik
patent: 5749889 (1998-08-01), Bailey
Denoize Xavier
Faivre Fran.cedilla.ois
Parus Roger
Kashnikow Andres
Nguyen Dinh Q
Sextant Avionique
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