Fire extinguishers – Special applications – For vehicles
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-24
2001-07-24
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3752)
Fire extinguishers
Special applications
For vehicles
C169S013000, C169S016000, C169S056000, C169S054000, C239S207000, C239S208000, C239S303000, C239S565000, C239SDIG001, C137S266000, C137S347000, C137S565330, C137S899000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263974
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a power source for supplying water-based liquid to a system, the power source comprising a container for the water-based liquid and a pump unit which consists of a pump and a power source for the pump and is arranged to supply the water-based liquid from the container to the system via a pipe system filled with a liquid.
Here the term ‘water-based liquid’ means pure water or different water-containing additives, depending on the purpose for which the liquid is used.
Such a power source is particularly commonly used in various systems, e.g. in houses, for supplying water from a fresh water source, such as a well, to the pipe system of the house. Another application for a power source of this kind is a fire extinguishing installation.
The present invention also relates to a fire extinguishing installation, and particularly to a fire extinguishing installation comprising a spray head and a power source for supplying water-based liquid to a unit which is to be protected against fire, the power source comprising a container for the water-based liquid and a pump unit which comprises a pump and a power source for the pump and is arranged to supply the water-based liquid from the container to the unit via a pipe system filled with a liquid.
Certain environments where water or water-based liquid is to be supplied involve a risk of freezing. This problem is common in various situations in countries where the temperature drops below the freezing point of water. Some applications are related to a system without recirculation, i.e. a system where the amount of liquid decreases as it is used for a specific purpose. An example of the last-mentioned is a fire extinguishing installation which uses water-based liquid as extinguishant. In these it is particularly important that the extinguishant does not freeze because in that case the installation cannot work.
In several applications the problem of freezing is solved by mixing a substance which prevents freezing into water. However, the substances which prevent freezing, or antifreezes, are expensive; in fact much more expensive than water or water-based liquid. The larger the system and the liquid volume, the more expensive addition of antifreeze is. Because of this, the use of antifreezes in power sources with large containers involves the problem of high costs.
An example of applications where the above-mentioned problems occur is a fire extinguishing installation which is dimensioned for larger fires and in which the consumption of extinguishant is high. Furthermore, if antifreeze is mixed into water or water-based liquid in a fire extinguishing installation which uses water-based liquid, the resulting extinguishant will have a poorer extinguishing capability than a liquid into which antifreeze has not been mixed. Thus the use of antifreezes leads to a further problem of poor function.
To avoid high costs, substances which prevent the risk of freezing are sometimes omitted from the water-based liquid, which can have serious consequences in fire extinguishing installations, for example. The water-based liquid may also be replaced with a fluid which is harmful to the environment. Furthermore, in some cases the amount of water can be reduced, but in fire extinguishing installations, for example, this naturally involves a risk.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a power source for supplying water-based liquid which enables supply of water-based liquid to the system without the risk of freezing and by using only a small amount of expensive substances which prevent freezing of water.
To achieve this object, the present invention provides a power source wherein the pipe system is filled with antifreeze and the power source comprises an additional container filled with antifreeze and an additional pump unit with a pump and a power unit for the pump, the additional pump unit being arranged to maintain a stand-by pressure in the pipe system via a pipeline and to supply for this purpose antifreeze from the additional container to the pipe system if the pressure in the pipeline drops below the stand-by pressure, whereby the pump unit for pumping water-based liquid is arranged to feed water-based liquid which has a tendency to freeze into and out of the pipe system in liquid phase.
Since antifreeze is needed only in those sections of the system which may be exposed to frost, the volume of the additional container can be several times smaller than that of the container where water-based liquid is used. Naturally this requires that the container filled with water-based liquid has to be situated in a place where the water-based liquid cannot freeze.
The preferred embodiments of the power source are disclosed in appended claims
2
to
10
.
The major advantage of the power source is that it allows to minimize the use of expensive substances which prevent freezing of water, which is particularly significant when the container is large, i.e. in connection with a system which uses large amounts of liquid which should not freeze.
The present invention provides a fire extinguishing installation wherein the pipe system is filled with antifreeze and the power source comprises an additional container filled with antifreeze, and an additional pump unit with a pump and a power unit for the pump, the additional pump unit being arranged to maintain a stand-by pressure in the pipe system via a pipeline and to supply for this purpose antifreeze from the additional container to the pipe system if the pressure in the pipeline drops below the stand-by pressure, whereby the pump unit for pumping water-based liquid is arranged to feed water-based liquid which has a tendency to freeze into and out of the pipe system in liquid phase.
A basic idea of the invention is that a liquid with the risk of freezing is replaced with antifreeze only when it is necessary, i.e. in environments where there is time for the liquid with the risk of freezing to freeze and in which liquid with the risk of freezing can be used for a short period, i.e. when there is no time for the liquid with the risk of freezing to freeze.
The fire extinguishing installation is particularly suitable for trains. This application allows to lower the costs of the extinguishant considerably.
The preferred embodiments of the fire extinguishing installation are disclosed in appended claims
12
to
14
.
The major advantage of the fire extinguishing installation is that the costs of the extinguishant can be kept low, especially in applications where the amount of extinguishant should be large. At the same time, the extinguishant has a good extinguishing capability and cannot practically freeze.
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Gahey Steven J.
Ladas & Parry
Scherbel David A.
LandOfFree
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