Thermographic system to check and prevent fires in a vehicle

Details Thermographic system to check and prevent fires in a vehicle Thermographic system to check and prevent fires in a vehicle

2000-05-12

2002-11-05

Hofsass, Jeffery (Department: 2632)

Communications: electrical

Condition responsive indicating system

Specific condition

C340S578000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06476722

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention consists in a thermographic system to check and prevent the risks arising from a fortuitous fire of a road or rail vehicle (and/or its load) and comprising at least a plurality of sensors held up by an arch structure and apt to detect the temperature of as many parts of the vehicle as the number of sensors (with special attention to the points which are considered dangerous such as brakes, engine, etc) and a logic control unit connected to the above mentioned sensors generating at least an alarm signal (an optical one and/or a visual one) if the temperature detected by at least one of the sensors exceeds a pre-established value which changes (or can change) according to the point of the vehicle checked by the sensor that detected the anomalous temperature.
If the thermographic system is placed near a fixed way (such as a tollgate or the entrance of a station or of a storehouse) further sensors fitted into the ground allow to check even the lower part of the vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The fire of a vehicle (a road one or a rail one) and of the possible carried load is (or can be) a considerable source of danger not only for its driver and its passengers but also for people who are going along the stretch of road (or railway) where there is the fired vehicle.
This danger becomes more serious if the accident takes place along a stretch of motorway and it becomes really serious if the fired vehicle is (or stops) into a tunnel where the means of escaping from the fire effects (including the risk of explosions and of toxic and irritating smokes deriving from the burning of the possible load) are further reduced.
These fires can be set by natural causes (for instance spontaneous combustion of the load), accidental and/or mechanical ones (such as the overheating of the brakes, a malfunction of the lubrication system with falling of the lubrication liquid on the engine, a subsequent fire and so on) and they can “smolder” even for a long time often so violently as any attempt to put them out or keep them under control is useless or belated.
The thermographic system subject of the present invention is an efficacious means to control and prevent fires in road and rail vehicles as not only it does allow to detect fires (which can be put out or kept under control) and/or (at least potentially) situations capable of setting a fire (such as an overheating of the brakes) at the right time but in case of accident and/or fire, it also allows the staff and/or the competent authorities “to monitor” the situation in real time to intervene at the night time and in an effective way in order to avoid (or at least limit) further damages deriving from the accident and/or fire as this system is not “clouded” by fog, darkness, presence of smokes, etc.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Subject of the present invention is a thermographic system to check and prevent fires in a vehicle comprising the following parts combined between them:
a plurality of sensors held up by an arch structure and apt to detect the temperature of specific points of the vehicle;
a logic control unit connected to the sensors and apt to generate an alarm signal if the temperature detected by one or more sensors exceeds a pre-established value.
Preferably, but not necessarily, the sensors are constituted by infrared visual sensors and if the thermographic system is placed near a fixed way, further sensors fitted into the ground allow to keep under control even the lower part of the vehicle.


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