Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Unitary injection nozzle and pump or accumulator plunger
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-18
2002-08-13
Doerrler, William C. (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Unitary injection nozzle and pump or accumulator plunger
C239S533150, C169S033000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06431465
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and process for delivering a pulsed fluid jet that can be used to extinguish a fire, launch a projectile and/or perform other useful work.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is a well known fact that rapidly extinguishing uncontrolled fires can be a very difficult task due to the complex nature of present day fires and the associated urgency of saving lives or minimizing economic loss and environmental damage. Many different types of fire occur today because of a presence of many man-made materials that combust with unusual characteristics and extinguishing such fire rapidly requires unusual approaches. Worldwide cities are now more crowded than ever and more people are living inside high-rise buildings which also contributes to the problem. And yet, the available fire-fighting technologies have not appreciably changed over the years and are known to be inadequate in many ways. There is a demanding need for improved fire extinguishing processes.
One most common process for extinguishing fires is to pour water over a burning object. The basic scientific principle involved in extinguishing fire with water is to reduce a temperature of the burning object as each combustible material has its unique flammability temperature. A flame can be extinguished if the temperature of the burning object is reduced below a threshold temperature by wetting and cooling the burning object with water. However, the flame can resume when the water is evaporated and the object is again raised above this flammability threshold temperature. There are many materials, such as plastics, that are not water absorbent and that combust at very high temperatures or that combust in vapor form; water has very limited usefulness in extinguishing a fire of such materials.
Current water-based fire fighting processes also have shortcomings because of the delivery method. As a fluid, water flows down due to gravity such that its contact time with materials in a vertical, flowing downward, and inclined position is usually very short unless the spray is continuously applied over a period of time. The water spray is also often not powerful enough to travel a long distance, to reach a considerable height, or to break through common barriers such as windows, doors, roofs, and walls. In many cases, most of the water flows downward and is wasted. A good example is forest and bush fires in which a long contact time between the water and the burning branches is literally impossible to maintain, except by rain. Extinguishing common house fires within a house can be troublesome because of difficulties with pouring water into a house interior and onto burning surfaces. Fire can exist between the exterior walls and the interior walls or on ceilings, where water cannot be easily delivered into such space and onto such surfaces. As a result, much of the water consumed in fighting house fires causes water damage to the extent that even if a house is saved it is frequently damaged beyond repair.
A fire which occurs in a high-rise building is also a difficult fire to extinguish because of the difficulty in reaching the fire with water. Common sprinkler systems can be ineffective for various reasons. Likewise, fire which occurs at locations where water is scarce, or where fire equipment cannot be transported to the site, can be a problem where effective portable fire extinguishing equipment is unavailable. There are many other examples of ineffective currently available water-based fire fighting processes. Fires on oil storage tanks and on oceangoing oil tankers are very difficult to extinguish with conventional water processes. Airplane fires are another example of difficult fires to extinguish because of the presence of jet fuels and the large quantity of plastics materials. In some unusual cases, the water consumed in fighting fire can result in very severe environmental damage if it is not properly contained, as evidenced years ago in a fire that occurred in a chemical plant in Switzerland, in which the fire fighting water dissolved a large quantity of toxic chemicals and then flowed into the Rhine River and severely impacted the ecosystem of the Rhine River.
Since water is ineffective against certain types of fire and under certain conditions, more effective fire retardants have been developed and made available in various forms and packages over the years. These fire retardants, when released from their containers, can be in the form of a powder, a foam, or a liquid. They function in different ways and therefore should be used differently. Some produce inert gas such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen when they are heated, thus suffocating the fire; examples include sodium bicarbonate and azodicarbonamide. Others produce vapors that act as diluent and heat sinker to combusting gases or as a free radical trap that stops or slows flame propagation; examples include halogenated flame retardants. Still other fire retardants function on solid phase by forming a protective layer on combusting substances to inhibit heat transfer; examples include many phosphorous compounds. Then there are many common materials that are very effective fire retardant when they are spread over a burning object by isolating the burning object from the ambient air; examples include many earth minerals such as clay, alumina, and sand. These earth minerals are particularly effective when they are wet and impervious. There are also materials that are very absorbent to water and can swell to form a gel that can be very useful for extinguishing fires by acting as a wet blanket; examples include polyacrylamide polymers and copolymers, and some natural gums. All these materials have some very useful features that can be used to fight fires.
Unfortunately, the currently available processes involving the use of various fire retardants have a common shortcoming, namely poor delivery distance, accuracy, and coverage. For example, powders and foams are very light and they cannot be pumped easily or blown in air over a distance with any accuracy. Once delivered, powder and foam may have difficulty remaining on top of a burning object. For example, powder fire retardants are currently used to fight forest fires and are dropped from an airplane, with questionable effectiveness. Hand-operated fire extinguishers are effective only on small fires and in confined space because of limited delivery distance and light weight characteristics of the retardants. Sand is a good fire retardant, but there is no good way to throw sand over a distance. The currently available fire extinguishing processes based on fire retardants are also not powerful enough for breaking through barriers to reach interior fires. For example, the current practice of fighting ship fires is to spray water on the ship until it is virtually sunk. Therefore, to take advantage of the positive features of available fire retardants requires a more effective retardant delivery method. Further, a synergistic approach must be adopted to combine one or more materials to fight fires. For example, water can be used in conjunction with another fire retardant to create a slurry that can smear and stick to burning surfaces like a wet blanket rather than merely touch it which then flows downward.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of this invention is to provide an improved fire extinguishing process that combines the positive features of water and selected fire retardants with other suitable materials and devices to form a combination that can more effectively fight various types of fire, under a wide range of conditions.
Another object of this invention is to provide a process and apparatus that are useful for performing many other work tasks.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process and apparatus for extinguishing fire of many types.
Another object of this invention is to provide a process that uses a high-speed pulsed waterjet or other fluid jet to extinguish fires either by the fluid jet alone or in combinat
Doerrler William C.
Jetec Company
Kim Christopher S.
Pauley Petersen Kinne & Erickson
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